AI in the Oil Wells

The market for AI in oil and gas is expected to nearly double by 2025—from $2 billion in 2019 to $3.8 billion in 2025. The growth stems not only from advancements in technology but also in a growing trend: too much data, too few insights. 

Operators are collecting endless amounts of well data, but engineering and analysis resources are limited to interpret and apply insights from it. With AI, data can be processed, analyzed, and even acted upon without human intervention, freeing up resources and improving efficiency. 

Ambyint, with offices in Houston and Calgary, provides AI-powered optimization for the oil and gas operators to automate operations and optimize production workflows across wells and artificial lift systems. According to its site, Ambyint solutions increase production up to 7% and lower operating costs up to 30%.

Ambyint in Action

In the Bakken, many of Equinor’s wells were under pumping and even more were overpumping. It deployed Ambyint’s InfinityRL, which gave production engineers real-time access to well performance data. At first, engineers would conduct recommending interventions and optimizations, but after an initial test period, Equinor allowed automatic setpoint updating. Equinor’s Bakken assets saw a 6% increase in production volume and a 14% increase in pump efficiency with the use of AI.

Due to a lack of operations staff, an operator in Eagle Ford had its lift wells overpumping, leading to high failure rates and electricity costs. Ambyint InfinityRL helped the operator establish connectivity at remote well locations, view AI-driven setpoint recommendations, and automate controller updates. The optimized production translated into less energy expended, lower costs, and increased revenue. This operator saw a 17% decrease in strokes per minute, an 11% decrease in power consumption, and a 13% decrease in emissions.

An operator in the Marcellus basin had one-third of its lift wells producing below plan. With more than 200 wells, that led to a big impact on the bottom line. Ambyint SmartStream started monitoring for off-plan conditions and used AI to detect anomalies impacting well performance. The solution detected anomalies with more than 90% accuracy, and the operator increased production volumes 2%. 

Using AI to monitor and optimize well operations is helping oil and gas companies improve production volumes, reduce emissions, increase efficiency, and more. Which means AI works pretty well.