Big Data in the Oil & Gas Upstream Industry - A Case Study on the Norwegian Continental Shelf

This case study is focused on the impact of big data in exploration and production of oil & gas in the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Overall, the industry is currently transitioning from mere data collection practices to more proactive uses of data, especially in the operations area. Positive economical impacts associated with the use of big data comprise data generation and data analytics business models, commercial partnerships around data, and the embracement of open data by the Norwegian regulator. On the negative side there are concerns regarding the future of existing business models and the reluctance of oil companies to share data. Positive social and ethical impacts include mitigation of safety and environment concerns with big data, personal privacy not really a problem, and creation of new jobs for data scientists; on the other hand cyber-threats are becoming a serious concern and there are trust issues with data.