Starting the Energy Conversation: Corvacon 2022

From the Wright brothers creating the first flying plane to the teams at NASA sending people to space, we’ve seen through the decades that invention doesn’t happen alone. Instead, it takes teams collaborating over multiple years on a variety of ideas before something new can be both created and refined.

The Energy industry is no different. This is why Corva sought to bring people together and Join the Energy Conversation at our 2022 Corvacon.

In his keynote address, Chief Corvanaut Ryan Dawson sets the stage for the event by revealing the three pillars of Corvacon: Community, Collaboration, and Connection. To move the industry forward, we’ll need to foster discussions between like-minded innovators and ignite the spark of digital transformation.

Ultimately, our industry is evolving faster than ever with challenges such as increasing the speed of operations, improving operational efficiencies, and doing more with less. At the heart of these problems are two things–people and data.

By looking deeper into some of the drilling operation numbers from this past year, this evolution becomes evident. Across the lower 48, we saw a 17% improvement in on-bottom drilling speed and a 12% increase in footage drilled per day.

We’re seeing efficiencies gained across the industry alongside the advancement and adoption of new technology. Historically, drilling operations have relied on company men to log all activities on location. But by using new technology and data optimization techniques, you can eliminate rounding errors and get a completely agnostic view of efficiencies in the field. This has helped companies target areas of improvement - whether that means incorporating better workflows or training new personnel with their most efficient personnel.

These improvements are mirrored in completions, with many companies tackling the challenge of how they can bring wells online as quickly as possible. By using these new data strategies, crews in the Permian are decreasing the number of stages per well, addressing bigger chunks at once to result in saving a day in pumping time.

You can check out the full keynote here.

To facilitate innovation built on teamwork, Corva has been actively working with partners within the Dev Center – our unique app-building platform and hub for interconnecting industry-advancing solutions with speed and capital efficiency.

Keeping up with this ever-evolving industry means we need to continue to accelerate the advancement and implementation of modern solutions. The Corva Dev Center simplifies development and takes the process of creating your own app from years to days, allowing you to do more with less alongside a dedicated team tailored to help you create your apps with ease.

Check out what our current partners have to say about their experience with building their own solutions quickly within the Dev Center:

To reiterate our discussions of collaboration moving industries forward, we were excited to have our featured speaker, Ryan Prouty, Manager of the International Space Station Research Integration Office with NASA, talk with us about the evolution of practices at NASA.

Throughout her talk, she highlighted the topics of innovation and partnership, saying that it takes not only her team at NASA, but multiple teams around the world, to accomplish the goal of sending someone into space safely. Ultimately, her message was that sustainability, partnership, and innovation are all interconnected, and that true progress will require building up those three concepts together as one.

To go along with our themes of community and collaboration, we wanted to break away from the long line of lecture series and instead open up conversations with our attendees and leading experts in our industry through a series of short, valuable panel breakouts surrounding: People, Safety & Automation, Drilling & Completions, and Sustainability, Partnership, & Innovation.

Here’s the breakdown of what was featured across the 10-panel sessions:

The People, Safety, & Automation topic saw multiple discussions centered around how to leverage the power of data analytics and new technologies to get people out of danger zones and improve overall onsite safety.

Remote work and operations were likewise consistently mentioned as key ways a company can help its workers stay out of harm’s way. Digitizing their operational data and automating the process, and methods such as camera-monitored red zones with instant alerts were all discussed as part of open conversations on digital solutions that mitigate safety risks.

At the end of the day, company culture is what sits at the nexus of safety. Investing in your people will only result in more growth and better ideas. Below are the specific panel sessions covered under the People, Safety & Automation track:

One of the biggest challenges faced in drilling and completions is managing the flow of data, with more technology and information now than ever before. The majority of conversations on this topic centered around how to leverage or integrate these massive data streams seamlessly into operations.

Consolidating these big data streams is a key method to ensuring that high-quality data gets into the hands of those who need it faster. This results in making more confident, real-time decisions to drive operational safety and efficiency.

Additional ways discussed to utilize data to improve efficiency in the field included utilizing new smart bit technology, which simultaneously grabs drilling data during real-time operations and empowers you to make key decisions faster. Below are the specific panel sessions covered under the Drilling & Completions track:

Ensuring that we meet new and increasing ESG guidelines is at the forefront of the industry’s mind. Sustainability, Partnership, & Innovation all go hand-in-hand to ensure we rapidly develop innovative solutions that both meet these expectations while still addressing operational requirements.

In all sustainability efforts, from emissions management to water reuse, data digitization and aggregation is still a key component in driving solutions, creating new opportunities for the energy industry. Below are the specific panel sessions covered under the Sustainability, Partnership, & Innovation track:

Interested in being a panelist for future panel discussions? Contact us here.

While talking about next steps is one thing, it's always better to see ideas put into action. This was the purpose of our Technical Showcase, where Corva and our partners demonstrated app solutions built within our Dev Center.

Corvacon attendees were able to browse a variety of cutting-edge solutions that were built in Corva’s own Dev Center, all designed to tackle unique industry challenges. Here’s a look at our partners who featured their app solutions during the day:

MGB presented the Fuel Cell app, which monitors and analyzes frac fleet idle fuel usage and allows operators to reduce excessive fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. This provides concise data regarding fleet idle times during operations–particularly the time between frac stages–making operators' monthly reporting of emissions easy.

IWS showcased their InVision SIMOPS app, which provides real-time situational awareness at the well site during completion operations and allows operators to increase operational efficiency while reducing HSE risks.

Developers from NexTier demonstrated the LateralScience app, which displays the key components in hydraulic fracturing treatment stages alongside respective stage Gamma Ray and Mechanical Specific Energy logs generated from drilling data.

Engineers for Drill2Frac presented their Completion Hazard Analysis app, which shows the results of their proprietary calculations and interpretations of drilling data, including information regarding rock hardness, stage level heterogeneity, and locations of depleted fractures, to help operators make smart completion decisions.

In addition to our Dev Center partners, we additionally had Industrial Network Solutions (INS) and Solve Networks, who jointly showcased the connectivity equipment that Corva utilizes to enhance our Completions data processing. The use of their equipment helps provide faster connection speeds, a better flow of data, the reduction of potential downtime, and the lowering of associated costs.

If you would like to learn more about our partnership program, please talk to a member of our team!

With more information than ever before moving all around us, our industry must foster community and collaborative innovation. Corva will continue to use our app store and Dev Center as a means of ensuring safety, speed of operations, increasing efficiencies, and doing more with less across our entire industry.

We look forward to staying on this journey into the future of energy with you. If you’d like to learn more about Corva and our innovative collection of energy apps, reach out to us here.

We’ll see you next fall at Corvacon 2023!