The future of drilling starts now

Introduction

Good morning, everyone.

What a fantastic crowd.

Jeff – thank you for inviting me to this year’s LIFE event.

You and the team have done a great job. Congratulations.

And Florida is the perfect place to host this session.

The birthplace of life-changing innovations.

There’s air conditioning, for one.

That was invented here.

And space travel, of course.

And now, together, we can create a third great innovation.

One that could be life-changing for our industry, and for oil and gas drilling.

It’s the part of the business I am privileged to lead at bp, and the business many of you may be in.

I’ll come on to that life-changing innovation in a moment.

But let me start with the context of what is happening at bp right now.

We have announced a reset to our strategy.

As part of that, bp has a growing upstream.

That includes more investment in oil and gas.

And more production.

Me and my team are focused on helping bp deliver new barrels.

Higher reserves, through exploration and infill drilling.

And higher unit margins through the decade.

Doing that, in a big way, by investing in America – bp’s biggest market.

Growing offshore production in the Gulf of America.

And growing onshore production in our bpx business.

Going from 740 thousand barrels a day to a million a day, in the US by 2030.

With global demand for oil and gas remaining strong, we are playing our part delivering energy to the world, today and tomorrow.

Technical capability is a core strength for bp, and when we complement our strengths with technology and digital we win.

Today we use digital twins of key facilities to help optimize operations remotely.

We use AI to help us plan new wells.

Reducing well design time: from months down to a few days.

We use cutting edge seismic imaging to help us find the most profitable barrels.

And being here this week, I know many of you are also embracing and enabling these technologies.

But for all this great innovation, one area, I feel hasn’t yet fully embraced change to its full potential.

What could be life-changing innovation.

And that’s the rig floor.

Despite progress on safety, if you step foot on the floor of drilling rig, it looks largely the same as it did 20 years ago, when I first set foot on one.  

And, as we all know, the work on rig floors is not easy. 

We are drilling deeper and further than ever, with narrow drilling windows and harsh conditions.

We are threading a needle miles away from that rig floor.

Life on a rig floor

And life on a rig floor is high-stakes environment, where businesses are made, and a lot can go wrong.

Many of you will know what it is like.

How you enter the rig floor, ready, as if you were competing in an extreme sport.

But you are not dressed for flexibility and agility.

Instead, you are head-to-toe in PPE.

On the rig floor, there is a massive amount of activity, on surface and down hole.

The smell hits you straight away. 

Tonnes of steel that move constantly, and in different directions. Entwined with human beings. 

Our people – amongst the machine.

How many industries still put their people inside a machine?

And there is the weather that plays a role too. 

Sometimes it's hot. And feels like an oven in your protective gear. 

Or where I am from, cold and windy and horizontal rain.

It’s a physical toll.

It is like competing in a HYROX event – like you had at Miami beach earlier this month.

The fitness race where you alternate eight 1000 metre runs with workouts like push-ups, sled pushes, rowing, or burpees.

I’ve competed in these events, and they are tough going.

That’s why working on a rig is – I believe – one of the toughest jobs in the world.

But there is no question that you get an immense sense of satisfaction and achievement once you’ve completed the job.

We are making history delivering energy the world needs.

Energy that keeps people moving – helping fuel people’s lives.

And if you believe, as I do, that everyone is entitled to a reliable supply of energy, then it makes it extra special. 

I have nothing but the utmost respect for those who do it.

But now that I am in a leadership position. With responsibility for people and a business.

The single most important part of my job is people’s safety.

And, of all the high hazard aspects of the energy industry.

We know, the rig floor is an area where most hazards are concentrated.

Time to automate

So, what I’m proposing today is that we take steps to fully automate the rig floor.

Take people out of harm’s way. Remove people from Inside the machine!

It’s easy to agree on this, but none of us can do it alone.

In our industry, rigs pass from operator to operator.

They can be jointly owned.

So, if we are to automate, for greater safety and efficiency.

We need everyone in this room – in our industry – to make it happen.

To work together.

Yes there are hurdles to overcome.

The need to retrofit ageing equipment and systems with new technology.

And also, the elephant in the room, the idea that we would be pushing people out of work.

That more automation equals fewer jobs, or different jobs.

We will still need the expertise and experience of rig floor operators.

But do we need to put them ‘inside’ the machine?

And we owe it to them, to keep them as safe as possible.

It used to be common practice to send divers underwater to carry out inspections, maintenance and repair work. 

Sometimes to depths of hundreds of feet.

Most of this work is now undertaken by Remote Operated Vehicles.

And the result is far safer, more efficient, precise and cost-effective subsea work.

So, what I am advocating for is evolution.

Where we raise the bar, together, as an Industry.

Like we have done before. 

Conclusion

We are judged by our actions, not words and presentations.

Our industry is focused on safety and efficiencies.

And we find ourselves in the unique position this week.

Where every person and company in this room can make so much happen.

Operators, service companies, finance companies, digital companies.

Remember, nothing new needs inventing.

There is no technical reason we cannot automate rig floors.

It’s in our gift.

And in our best interest.

And it’s the right time to get on with it.

Today is full of sessions on this topic. Here in Florida.

Thinking back to those other Florida innovations.

Can any of us imagine life now without air conditioning?

As a Brit in Florida, I for one am grateful for it.

Can we imagine a life without the internet, cell phones, GPS and weather forecasting?

Everything that satellites provide – and only possible due to space travel.

And that’s not to mention the advances in medicine, STEM and energy efficiency.

These are life-changing innovations that began right here in Florida.

And this week we can start the next one.

This time a life changing innovation for our industry.

So that when we look back in the future, maybe at an event just like this one.

We celebrate the people who drove our industry forward.

But also struggle to imagine life before automated rig floors.

And this week offers the perfect opportunity to start the journey.

Because the future of drilling is here, in this room.

What we do with it, is up to us.

Let’s embrace automation.

Not in how we talk about it, but how we act.

As we deliver the energy the world needs. Safely, efficiently and to the best of our innovative potential. Today and Tomorrow.

Thank you for listening.

And thank you to Halliburton and Landmark for bringing us together.