Late last year, Paradigm unveiled Paradigm k, a new cloud-based software solution for production engineers. When did the company begin to develop the platform?
We have always been focused on bringing advanced science to exploration and production (E&P), so Paradigm k is the product of research that spans over 10 years into advanced computational methods for physics-based reservoir simulation and production optimization as well as cloud computing.
Who do you see as the primary target for this technology? How might it change their operations?
The primary users are reservoir and production-engineering organizations in E&P companies that focus on shale. Paradigm k offers faster, more-accurate answers in the design and optimization of new wells. Furthermore, it enriches production data—in both the real time and predictive sense—to support better decision-making aimed at optimizing production.
Why is a collaborative component so important for a software platform of this kind?
To ensure that our customers benefit from maximum situational awareness before they act, we have added the Connect collaboration tool. Connect is similar to many of the social networking platforms we use in our daily personal lives. The key difference is that the subjects of interest are the company’s oilfield assets—most critically, wells. It is intended to replace email, which is a great communication tool, but a poor tool for collaboration. The decision maker has ready access to a permanent timeline of all discussions, operations reports, studies, maintenance reports, photos, and data tables about the well. Queries can be made of the well’s community, which consists of both people and machines, and can send orders to the field and supporting organizations using the same tool.
Paradigm was recently acquired by Emerson. What opportunities does this development offer Emerson and the Paradigm software portfolio?
The acquisition by Emerson combines the reservoir and software expertise of Paradigm with the existing Roxar software business to provide an end-to-end solution from an independent provider. This, along with the production and operations equipment that Emerson offers, will help deliver on the vision of connecting subsurface intelligence with real-time surface operations data to better optimize production. In addition, the ability to leverage Emerson’s global distribution network allows the provision of even higher service levels to Paradigm software customers all over the world.
How would you describe your experience at the 2017 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE)? Aside from the unveiling of new products, did you take any unusual or new approaches at the meeting?
We were excited to be at the 2017 ATCE. After a long downswing in the industry, it was clear from the mood at the conference that expectations are much more positive moving forward. We took this opportunity to introduce a new approach to how organizations can support their upcoming growth without having to resort to some of the old approaches that proved inflexible in the recent downturn. For example, all of our Paradigm k demonstrations were done from the Cloud, as the product is cloud-native. This means customers using it can scale up on the solution without any upfront cost, and pay for only what they use.
Are there other technologies or products in the pipeline for 2018?
Emerson has a significant release of its Paradigm solution suite coming up later this year that, among other innovations, further extends cloud and machine-learning capabilities. And we’ll be announcing another major addition to the Paradigm k product line in the second half of this year.
There will also be further enhancements to the Roxar reservoir characterization workflow over the coming months with the latest version of its production management suite, Roxar METTE, and new reservoir characterization and simulation tools based around its Big Loop workflow. The workflow tightly integrates static and dynamic domains and offers the propagation of uncertainties from seismic characterization through to geological modeling and simulation.
