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Upstream, Downstream and Midstream: AI for Oil & Gas A Sign of Vertical Solutions to Come?

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It’s been challenging enough to get IoT implementations to move from proof of concept to large, distributed systems and solutions; will the advent of more sophisticated (and practical) AI layers accelerate the time to value, or slow it down?

Flutura believes the future is in the combination of IoT (and Industrial IoT) and AI that will lift both domains by delivering immediate value to enterprises – but only if the solutions meet specific needs and demands of vertical markets.

A software and networking company, with a focus on decision sciences, Flutura rolled out a “Cerebra” AI suite for oil and gas companies “aimed at optimizing drilling, fracking, production and supporting autonomous operations for customers.”

The fast-growing Houston, TX-based company has been serving the O&G industry for the last five years, also working with related specialty chemicals and OEM industries, but this is the first time the company has debuted so specific a solution as this.

Cerebra is Flutura's artificial intelligence platform offering advanced analytics and the ability to integrate artificial intelligence to provide advanced diagnostics and prognostics for asset- and process-heavy industries.

Greg Slater General Manager, Flutura said, “We’re proud to have already played a vital role in transforming the O&G industry’s operations by powering radically new business models. Our platform has historically delivered significant economic savings to leading oil and gas companies. What makes this solution more advanced is our new set of surgical oil and gas AI applications designed and engineered specifically for drilling operations, fracking, oil and gas production, supporting the advancement of more autonomous operations.”  

Cerebra’s connected asset and operations environment is holistic in that it addresses the upstream, mid-stream and downstream oil and gas sector.

“We’ve learned by working closely with our customers and partners that the future of AI is Vertical AI,” Slater  continued. “Our definition is simple: vertical AI is AI applied to specific business problems. For example, our fracking AI applications were purpose built to solve specific problems faced during fracking process.”

Slater said that gathering the insight required to develop these solutions required investment. Flutura has in-house specialists across upstream and downstream operations, who work closely with the product and platform development team, and with customers and partners.

“We love tackling the hardest challenges, as this is where the most value is being created,” Slater said. “The O&G industry requires features like the ability to handle high frequency time series signals from sensors at the edge in ruggedized environments, including extreme temperature and no cloud infrastructure. We’re solving these challenges and are being rewarded by our customers by doing so. This led us to create a more formal offering for the entire industry, which stands to benefit through greater use of connectivity and data, with very sensitive and at the same time rugged sensors and solutions.”

Flutura prebuilt set of digital twins include fracking pumps, top drives, mud pumps and more. Digital twin refers to a digital replica of physical assets, processes, people, places, systems and devices that can be used for various purposes, according to Wikipedia. The digital representation provides both the elements and the dynamics of how an Internet of things device operates and lives throughout its life cycle.

“We’ve also built a unique network of relationships which are accelerating our go to market with verticalized AI apps, including Siemens Mindsphere and Hitachi Vantara.”

“With our Cerebra solution’s advanced prediction capabilities, helping avoid downtime, increase asset reliability, and improve operational efficiency, Flutura has been unlocking business value for our oil and gas customers for the last five years,” Slater said.  “We are pleased to debut an entirely new and optimized set of focused oil and gas applications to provide a whole new level of diagnostics and prognostics never before seen in this industry. We are looking forward to having our customers continue to benefit extensively from Cerebra.”




Edited by Ken Briodagh
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Contributing Writer

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