Microsoft hosts Oil & Gas Roundtable in Qatar

Microsoft Qatar, located at Qatar Science and Technology Park, today announced that it has hosted an Information technology roundtable for the Oil & Gas sector in Qatar in association with its partners Schlumberger Information Solutions, Wipro and Honeywell. The event highlighted how Microsoft and partner information technology solutions facilitate the integration of the upstream, refining and petrochemical operations, as well as operational components common to oil and gas businesses.

According to Naim Yazbeck, Country Manager, Microsoft Qatar, “We are working with prominent industry partners to deliver innovative services to all the stakeholders of the value chain. By building optimal methods of interaction between people, we will be able to realize higher efficiency levels and support decision makers with knowledge they need, at the time they need it. Microsoft is also committed to supporting the Qatar government’s vision of a strong energy sector powered by the latest technology solutions to support the overall economic development of the nation.”

At the event, Microsoft presenters spoke about opportunities of using the Microsoft Upstream Reference Architecture (MURA) as a systematic approach for developing Intelligent Digital Oil Fields. The MURA Initiative was developed through collaboration between Microsoft & the leading industry partners in Oil & Gas as a common IT (Information Technology) framework. The model describes a set of foundational “pillars,” or principles that are intended to provide an enhanced user experience, optimize a domain-specific infrastructure, create a rich application platform, and achieve comprehensive interoperability.

Honeywell’s session at the roundtable focused on solution offerings and market coverage based on Microsoft technologies with examples of these solutions, such as advanced Well Performance Management, large scale information infrastructures over large plant sites or over wide area facilities, including visualisation & integration features.“This event is unique”,said Tathagata Basu, Head of Advanced Solution Business, Honeywell Middle East, “It brought together traditional IT knowledge and expertise and operations knowledge to lay down the future of how Oil and Gas industries will manage and visualize critical information using state of the art technology.”

Schlumberger Information solutions presented one of their flagship suite of products, MERAK. They went on to describe the value life cycle developing from evaluation, to confirmation, to development and optimization as part of a holistic approach to exploration and production optimization. Mohamed Mehdi Jabbes, SIS Sales Manager at Schlumberger Information Solutions Qatar and Yemen said, “We thank Microsoft for organizing this event as it encourages the collaboration with the key players in the industry and highlights how the technology is used to serve the business needs.”

WIPRO talked about Digital Oil Field(DOF) conceptual designs and how important it is to use elements of an overall consulting approach including proven methodologies that will allow the sponsoring group to take an informed investment decision. This is based on a phased approach that includes discovery, analysis of the current state, development of a blueprint of the future state and a feasibility phase.“I believe that the delegates who attended the Oil & Gas Day appreciated that Microsoft’s Industry partners very effectively presented their points of view and industry observations.”, said Philip Camp, Business Development Manager – ENU, Wipro Technologies. “These events are incredibly important and continue to provide a forum enabling participants to collaborate and share best practice across various companies within our Oil & Gas community.”