Today Drillinginfo announced the acquisition of Transform, Inc. to bring rich seismic analysis software and much more to our subscribers. I thought about simply regurgitating the press release, but then I thought it might be fun to give you a little inside perspective on why we made this acquisition.
As far as business transactions go, it wasn’t anything that will make the front page of the Wall Street Journal. It wasn’t Google, Apple or ExxonMobil. So who cares?
Anyone in oil and gas that wants to increase their bottom line ROI should pay attention.
The Transform Revolution
There have been some transformative technologies in the past 40 years that have had major impacts on our industry, but there are probably only a handful of people that can remember when they first happened.
3D seismic, interpretation systems, hydraulic fracturing and directional drilling have all been revolutionary technologies that forever changed the industry. In today’s world, combining hydraulic fracturing and directional drilling has produced yet another revolution.
It is possible the next revolution will happen by combining two or more existing technologies.
Transform software brings together interpretation, modeling and predictive analytics into one platform to help users find and produce oil and gas more efficiently. It is the only package on the market today that combines all three technologies into one package for the geoscientist. If you are not familiar with predictive analytics and you are working in the unconventional space, now really is the right time to learn more and take advantage of this powerful tool.
Companies doing predictive analytics sometimes use packages like SpotFire or Tableau, but these are general tools and not a fit for purpose tool like Transform. The ability to look at well logs, perform seismic analysis with various attributes and use statistical analysis to determine the best place to drill, the optimal place to complete and the number of wells to effectively produce a reservoir is an amazingly powerful tool that can directly affect the bottom line.
One Stop Seismic Analysis
But, in order to do analytics, modeling and interpretation you need data. And in order to make use of the complex data the industry generates, you need analytics, modeling and interpretation software. That part is fairly obvious.
However, the ability to seamlessly join the data and tools customers need is something the industry has never had. With tools like DI Desktop we believe we have the expertise and knowledge to seamlessly integrate a massive and complex database with a desktop system over the Internet. Imagine never having to transfer data again – it’s simply there. I suspect that would be Transformative (pun intended).
The other reason we acquired Transform is the company is a great cultural fit. Drillinginfo is a very unique place to work. We have been named one of Austin’s Top Work Places three years running. We take special pride in our culture and guard it very carefully to make sure we remain a great place to work. Anything that would upset that “specialness” is something we would walk away from.
But, the last several visits I made to our Denver office have shown me it is a great group of people that work very hard in a really relaxed environment. They are creative and yet put out very practical products that have a great reputation in the industry. To me it seems like a great fit.
So what is on the product forecast for the next 6-12 months?
Well I can’t really talk about it yet but, stay tune to these pages. The announcements will be coming shortly, but for now I can give you a hint … One of our programmers called the small piece that he is working on “a cup full of awesomeness.” I measure everything in barrels.
Your Turn
Any geoscientists out there interested in being a beta tester? We would love to hear from you. Please, leave a comment below.