The downstream oil and gas sector is a complex eco-system whereby numerous different parties are required to interact with each other in order to successfully operate. However, these days downstream companies trade more than just oil and gas; they also exchange data – and a lot of it.
The exchange of data is a complex but useful tool for oil and gas operators. However, it becomes significantly more complex if the involved companies use different data formats, just like how speaking two completely different languages can make ‘real-life’ communication difficult.
Inconsistent capitalisation, punctuation, obscure acronyms, values in the wrong fields or non-alphanumeric characters in places that they shouldn’t be are also challenges organisations can face when trying to leverage their data as a strategic asset. However, by structuring the vast amounts of shared data in a standardised format, suppliers, contractors and even customers can understand each other a lot easier.
This is the basic premise of standardised data.
Standardised data has a range of benefits for the industry
Standardised data can be extremely useful when new data is being put into a system. Customer name data provides a good example. Names may be represented in thousands of semi structured forms, and a good data standardiser would be able to separate the different components of a customer name (e.g.,first name, middle name, last name, initials, titles, generational designations) and then rearrange those components to allow other data services to manipulate it. It can also be used to format all other alphabetical characters or remove unnecessary characters from phone numbers.
The use of standardised data provides considerable time savings, and as with many industries, time equals money in the oil and gas sector. If everyone involved is on the same page, this can greatly reduce communication errors and potential setbacks from occurring.
Similarly, standardised data is ideal for collaborative analyses, by enabling companies to work from a unified perspective. It also helps to define clear and robust parameters to review and test data, and to form objective conclusions.
Next, if data standardisation is used, oil and gas companies can benefit from selecting software packages that may be cheaper and that suit their needs better – since their data will be transmitted in a standard format and not in a specific format of a single provider.
German petroleum industry meets to discuss modern data exchange
International File Exchange XML (IFLEXX) is an example of a type of standardised format for exchanging data and is predominantly used by German oil and gas companies. It is the successor of the more than 30 years old Mineral Oil Partner Communication System (MPKS).
Data exchange using IFLEXX offers the petroleum industry many advantages. Not only does it permit the transfer of large volumes of standardised data, but it also enables the bi-directional exchange of loading data: both to the tank truck’s on-board computer and to the petroleum company’s accounting system.
In September 2018, leading representatives from the German petroleum industry, including from the refinery, tank terminal, trade, service station, software and consulting sectors, came together for the IFLEXX meeting in Bochum, Germany.
The attendees first looked back on the 10-year success story of IFLEXX. What began as a shared idea in 2008 is now regarded as the de facto standard for data communication in the German oil and gas industry. The delegates of the attending companies also assessed the benefits offered by IFLEXX and discussed the challenges ahead.
In a segment titled ‘Compartment Handling’, they exchanged ideas on what the ideal data transfer between freight forwarders and tank terminals should look like in practice. Another key point of discussion was the synchronisation of the IFLEXX standard with the widely-used Petroleum Industry Data Exchange (PIDX) standard.
“In regard to data communication, the German petroleum industry is very well positioned – not least because of the open IFLEXX format and the many possibilities it offers,” said Managing Director at Implico GmbH and IFLEXX specialist, Stephan Buhre, not long after the meeting was held.
“The community meeting was a full success. On the one hand, the strong participation and the active exchange show the great importance IFLEXX has achieved within the oil and gas industry in the last 10 years. And on the other hand, we also managed to discuss key points to render cross-company data exchange even more effective in the future.”
Sources: Standardized data communication in the downstream oil and gas sector, Supply Chain Times; Using Data Standardization Technology as a Competitive Advantage, Finextra; Standardised technologies forsecure real-time drilling data, Process Technology; Data Exchange Standards in the Oil & Gas Industry, Javier J. Ceballo C. and Osmer R. Parabavire M.; Master Data Management, David Loshin, 2009
