Company News
Scientists Turn To Big Data To Find New Oil Deposits
Friday 18th August 2017
As a market leader for hydraulic instrumentation equipment, the use of Hy Lok fittings is always at the cutting edge of advancements in the oil industry.
This week, reports from the likes of Reuters have described how the search for oil deposits has changed in the 'data age' and how new discoveries are being made beyond the scope of traditional geology.
The technology, likened to that used by popular entertainment and online shopping organisations such as Netflix and Amazon, is used to sift through enormous quantities of data and has already helped to pinpoint 10 carbon-bearing minerals, which could lead to the discovery of new deposits.
Robert Hazen, executive director of the Deep Carbon Observatory at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, described the science of mineral clusters behind the technology: "When you see minerals together it's very like the way that humans interact in social networks such as Facebook," he says. "[Scientists] are using vast amounts of data and make correlations that you could never make."
The same algorithms are applied when Amazon suggests a book based on previous purchases and Netflix suggests new programmes based on past viewings.
Shaunna Morrison, a lead author on the study which employs the technology, said that the traditional route for discovering new deposits took a lot of luck on the part of geologists. This technology aims to make discovering new deposits more systematic, aiming to propel the industry into new levels of efficiency.
The technology's application to geology also aims to map out the mineral history of the moon and Mars.
