In January 2023, a gaggle of 5 oil & gasoline giants — ConocoPhillips, Equinor, Shell, TotalEnergies, and Vår Energi — signed an settlement to take part within the growth of a digital spare components stock platform, known as the Trade Collaboration Challenge (ICP). Joined later in 2023 by Australian agency Woodside Power, ICP has now additionally welcomed ExxonMobil and BP to its ranks.
On the heart of the venture is software program as a providers (SaaS) supplier Fieldnode, a 2020 spinoff of provide chain digitalization agency Fieldmade AS. Along with the standardization of digital half information for and decarbonization of the oil & gasoline trade, a serious function of the ICP’s creation is to reinforce provide chain resilience by enabling manufacturing nearer to the point-of-need.
In a press launch about BP’s becoming a member of the ICP, the Lifetime of Area Self-discipline Lead at BP, Chelsea Inexperienced, mentioned, “By integrating digital provide chain ideas with [AM] capabilities, we purpose to cut back waste, decrease prices, and improve agility in response to quickly altering operational calls for. This partnership aligns with BP’s dedication to sustainability and technological development.”
In a press launch about ExxonMobil’s becoming a member of the ICP, Martin Andersson, venture supervisor at Fieldnode, mentioned, “ExxonMobil’s inclusion as our ninth associate represents a major milestone within the evolution of our ground-breaking collaboration between Fieldnode and the worldwide vitality trade’s leaders. Within the firm of a few of the world’s largest vitality firms, ExxonMobil’s participation enhances the collective power of our venture, additional solidifying our dedication to redefine trade requirements and drive innovation. Collectively, with these esteemed companions, we’re forging a path in direction of sustainable and environment friendly options that can form the way forward for the vitality sector.”
For almost so long as I’ve been writing at 3DPrint.com, I’ve been arguing that AM will likely be pivotal to the way forward for the oil & gasoline sector. These days, it has been beginning to appear like the oil & gasoline sector will likely be simply as pivotal to the way forward for AM.
The addition of ExxonMobil and BP to Fieldnode’s digital stock venture is likely one of the greatest items of proof of that to date — and never solely as a result of they’re such huge, rich organizations. Equally, their involvement confirms how severe the oil & gasoline sector as a complete is about to get concerning the acceleration its AM exercise, due to the timing of this announcement in opposition to the backdrop of Houthi assaults on international maritime site visitors by the Purple Sea.
In December 2023, BP was one of many first corporations — and maybe the primary non-shipping firm — to pause its shipments by the Purple Sea in response to the Houthi assaults. For the reason that Center East is chargeable for properly over 1 / 4 of worldwide oil manufacturing and holds practically half of worldwide oil reserves, it could be troublesome to overstate the importance to the worldwide economic system of any long-term disruptions within the Purple Sea vitality provide chain.
The relevance right here is that the priority isn’t simply getting petroleum and gasoline merchandise out of the Purple Sea, but in addition, getting oilfield providers gear into the Gulf area. Alongside these traces, oil giants could be anticipated to prioritize the buildup of as a lot manufacturing capability as doable, as near the point-of-need as doable. In flip, it will naturally enhance digital stock administration in all the world’s different oil markets, because the Center East is sufficiently dense and strategically situated to catalyze the scaling of digital manufacturing applied sciences all over the place else, as soon as the method has been initiated there.
Photographs courtesy of Fieldnode
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