ARMONK, EHNINGEN, Aug. 1, 2023 – IBM (NYSE: IBM): 2023: Wintershall Dea, one of Europe's leading independent natural gas and oil companies and currently evolving into a leading gas and carbon management company, is working with IBM Consulting to establish an AI Center of Competence (CoC) to advance multiple value-creating AI use cases in support of efficient energy production. Both companies maintain a strong relationship with Microsoft as a technology partner: Wintershall Dea already uses Microsoft Azure for its data platform, and IBM Consulting maintains collaboration with Microsoft for the delivery of data and AI projects based on Azure.
Wintershall Dea has launched a comprehensive initiative to scale AI to get more out of its data and drive process and productivity improvements across the enterprise.
Founded in 2019 by the merger of Wintershall and DEA (Deutsche Erdoel AG), Wintershall Dea is committed to technological innovation, employee empowerment and environmentally responsible energy production. When the two companies joined forces, it became clear that AI was needed to connect and leverage data from across the organization. In addition, the company must operate in a standardized environment, rely on a strong partner ecosystem and meet regulatory guidelines. To make better use of its vast amount of enterprise data assets, the company established a comprehensive AI approach. Implementing AI at the core of the company allows Wintershall Dea to coordinate its use across the company, not only as small, easy-to-implement “fireflies” but also as traditional large-scale projects. This allows the company to work more efficiently and save costs to further invest in innovative energy production methods. In addition, it ensures efficient data exchange and access for Wintershall Dea's large ecosystem of partners.
“We are exchanging more data both internally and externally than ever before,” says Kathrin Dufour, senior vice president of digitalization and technology at Wintershall Dea. “We work in a standardized environment, so smooth and efficient data exchange is a very important process for us and we want to make collaboration within our ecosystem as easy as possible. Leveraging AI is key to achieving this goal.”
To optimize its AI approach, Wintershall Dea worked with IBM Consulting to select a centralized platform and methodology to support its data journey. IBM Consulting provides access to a vast repository of AI experience, with experts having worked with Wintershall Dea on previous projects for over four years. As the technical foundation for the AI approach, Wintershall Dea's team developed a component-based architecture using cutting-edge services for data management, data visualization, Microsoft Azure OpenAI services, and developing and running AI models on Azure. In particular, IBM provided an adapted version of the IBM® AI at Scale methodology for Azure to maximize the power of the existing platform.
Ulrich Lorang, VP Data Science, Data Governance and Data Hub at Wintershall Dea, sums up the core idea of the AI initiative: “Creating value through AI is without a doubt our top priority in every step we take with the CoC, and we already have some demonstrated results that show that our AI projects empower our employees and support our business goals. Looking back, we've built everything in just two and a half years, from creating the vision to fully implementing the CoC. I'm really impressed with how quickly we were able to achieve this as a team.”
Wintershall Dea's new AI at Scale approach enables the company to build scalable AI projects from the get-go. The CoC community was formed by data scientists from the headquarters as well as Citizen Data scientists from a variety of backgrounds, including geologists, engineers, economists, and others with strong mathematical programming skills. These scientists help drive data science projects within each team in the field. Through a series of workshops and trainings, the oil and gas company upskills its employees and helps its growing community understand the business value of AI and the benefits of working with the CoC.
Wintershall Dea primarily runs two types of AI projects: small, easy-to-implement “fireflies” and traditional, large-scale projects. “Fireflies” are Wintershall Dea's concept of running quick, scalable AI projects to solve simple problems, such as extracting key values from over 2,000 PDF documents and automatically populating a spreadsheet with that data. Other “fireflies” use the power of Generative AI to efficiently summarize reports or search Wintershall Dea's knowledge base for relevant information, improving productivity across the company. “Generative AI is driving a new era of efficiency and optimization, helping to unlock untapped sources of productivity,” said Max Schemmer, engagement lead at IBM Consulting.
Beyond Firefly, the company is working on larger AI projects that create foundational technology leadership within the industry. One example is an AI-driven solution for gas and oil well maintenance that was launched in Norway and is now being deployed worldwide. In particular, data from operating subsea wells is analyzed with AI capabilities, allowing engineers to more accurately detect potential leaks. This benefit of using AI not only helps Wintershall Dea maintain wells, but also helps protect the environment and make energy production safer and cleaner.
Reflecting on the collaboration, Stephan Bloehdorn, AI & Analytics Practice Leader, IBM Consulting, said, “Reaching a level of maturity where AI is routinely and effectively used at enterprise scale requires a dedicated effort that combines business strategy, organization, technology and company culture. We are thrilled that Wintershall Dea trusted us to support their AI journey. Their holistic, integrated approach and their drive and energy to achieve real results at every stage of their journey make them pioneers in AI management.”
Find out more about Wintershall Dea and how we work together here.
IBM Consulting leverages an open partner ecosystem to accelerate clients' business transformation through hybrid cloud and AI technologies. With deep industry expertise across strategy, experience design, technology and operations, we're a trusted partner to more than 3,000 of the world's most innovative and valuable companies, helping them modernize and secure their most complex systems. Our 160,000 consultants embrace an open way of working and apply IBM Garage, a proven co-creation methodology, to turn ideas into outcomes.
About Wintershall Dea:
Wintershall Dea is transforming from a leading European independent gas and oil company into a leading European independent gas and carbon management company. We have more than 120 years of experience as an operator and project partner across the entire E&P value chain. With German roots and headquarters in Kassel and Hamburg, we explore and produce gas and oil in 11 countries around the world in an efficient and responsible manner. Operating in Europe, Latin America and the MENA region, Wintershall Dea has a global upstream portfolio and is also active in midstream thanks to its participation in natural gas transportation. We are also developing carbon management and low-carbon hydrogen projects, contributing to the achievement of climate goals and the security of energy supply. Find more information in our annual report.
As a European gas and oil company, we support the EU's 2050 carbon neutral goal. As our contribution, we have set ourselves ambitious targets. We aim to be net zero across our operational and non-operational upstream businesses by 2030. This includes scope 1 (direct) and scope 2 (indirect) greenhouse gas emissions on an equity holding basis. Wintershall Dea intends to reduce its methane emissions intensity to less than 0.1% by 2025. We support the World Bank's “Zero Routine Flaring by 2030” initiative and continue to support initiatives that aim to eliminate routine flaring in our operational assets by 2030. Furthermore, we intend to support global decarbonization efforts by building a carbon management and hydrogen business that could potentially save 20-30 million tonnes of CO2 per year by 2040. For more information, please see our sustainability report.
Wintershall Dea was founded through the merger of Wintershall Holding GmbH and DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG in 2019. The company currently employs more than 2,000 people in around 60 countries worldwide.
For more information, please visit http://www.wintershalldea.com or twitterFacebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, etc.
About IBM:
IBM is a leading global provider of hybrid cloud, AI and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries use data insights to streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain a competitive edge in their industries. More than 4,000 government agencies and enterprises in critical infrastructure sectors, including financial services, communications and healthcare, rely on IBM's hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to drive digital transformation quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM's breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting provide clients with open and flexible options. All of this is underpinned by IBM's renowned commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusion and service. For more information, visit www.ibm.com.
Press contact IBM:
Kerstin Pehl
IBM DACH Corporate Communications
Phone: +49-176-10185348
Email: kerstin.pehl@de.ibm.com
Media Contact:Wintershall Dea:
Fatima Drich Fromm
Communications Manager and Spokesperson
Phone: 0049-5613013301
Email: mailto:fatima.dolic-fromm@wintershalldea.com
