Bits, Bytes, and Barrels: The Digital Transformation of Oil and Gas Paperback – January 8, 2019

Excellent book providing clear insights into how digital technologies are already changing the oil and gas industry and, more importantly, how digital can help the industry achieve a step change in performance through further adoption. I now have a better understanding of how digital technologies can transform the part of the industry where I work, major capital projects, though the book touches on all sectors. I highly recommend this book to anyone currently in or contemplating a career in the oil and gas industry!

This book has two primary audiences, those with an Information Technology background, and those with an Energy sector background. This is important to understand because as someone coming from an IT background, I grew quickly frustrated with just how much time and effort was being spent seeming to make the case for "digital". This is because so much modern industry is technology-centric, that someone coming from a technical background just assumes that ALL industry shares that perspective. When I stopped and thought about why the author was spending SO much time and effort breaking down every aspect of how the Energy sector "could" be digital, I quickly realized that assuming it "should" be digital was probably the key mistake in every attempt to bring technology into the Energy sector.What the author was doing is creating a Rosetta Stone between these two perspectives! In IT, our focus is on a quick iterative turnaround. This makes us rather blasé about risk because whatever's wrong in this release, we'll quickly identify and fix it in the next. I would say this is why bringing technology into healthcare has been a long slow road.My takeaway from this book is understanding that any IT group that is trying to bring new technology to this sector has to understand just how different your perspective IS from the perspective of the Energy sector. And I'm using "perspective" in a very all-encompassing way because to successfully bring technology to this sector you must understand just how fundamentally different its perspective is. Said another way, to successfully implement technology in the Energy sector, you must question your EVERY assumption.When I understood that, I was then able to reference my assumptions in this book, and be presented with very detailed ways to test those assumptions and translate perspectives.This isn't a guidebook, of how/what technology needs to be implemented, it's an attempt to translate how two very different perspectives view a problem and its possible solution!So why only 4-stars? I listened to this book as an Audible audiobook. Frankly, this kind of information is simply not compatible with an unabridged audio format. It's too dense and number-oriented. After several hours that honestly felt like droning, it finally clicked that what the author was trying to do was provide a way for two very divergent perspectives to understand one another. Thus this "book" is really more of a reference, than a sequential "read". Audio will just not allow you to quickly scan to find a particular reference you're looking for. I could see one of those corporate executive Cliff-Notes-style digest services creating a much more palatable presentation, otherwise, it's frankly a drudgery to listen through.

First of all this book does not JUST apply to Oil & Gas - The Title IMO - should be "The Digital Transformation of Industrial Engineering"The Oil & Gas / Energy Industry is awash with an absolute plethora of "Buzzwords" Digital Twin - Digital assets - Digitisation - Blockchain - VR - AI - The internet of things, the list goes on and on.If you need a resource to put it all into perspective - this is the book for you.A must read for every Engineer young and old - there is an Industrial Revolution happening right beneath our feet.Read this book to understand why.

This is a great book for those that are tasked with understanding current digital trends in Oil and Gas and translating for upper management. The author starts with digital foundations, illustrates with some leading tech examples, and then coaches on how to get this information up to the C-Suite. Easy to read style with relevant industry content. Very practical read.

This book gives incredible insight into the shifting market of Canadian and global energy. Geoffrey Cann has sifted through the noise of data and painted a clear picture of where and what will be effected by technology in the near future. A must read for any professional or decision maker within the energy industry.5 beaming stars !!!

Great read as it was simple to understand the different technologies and which offer what benefits. The use cases were great examples of how emerging technologies are helping enable the Energy Sector through digital transformation for increased business effectiveness.

An important read for anyone interested in the oil and gas digital world.It discusses the latest digital advancements and their current/ possible applications in our industry. Written with no jargons, is a perfect book to whet the appetite for deeper understanding.

An Oilman, Geoffrey Cann is one of those "Domain Experts" that looks beyond the rim of his box (and his hat) to assess big picture and adjacent opportunities. I will be borrowing plenty of this book for my team and our partners... since we aspire to be Jetsons ... not Flintstones.