The Calgary-based integrated oil and gas company is partnering with Amazon and IBM Services to help boost its digital transformation. That includes moving its data out of two local centres and into Amazon Web Services’ cloud, and the use of Amazon’s cloud computing services to analyze large amounts of data and employ reservoir simulations, as well as modeling greenhouse gas improvements for oilsands projects. (Financial Post)
Talking point: Canadian oil companies are following in the footsteps of their global counterparts like U.S.-based Anadarko Petroleum and the U.K.’s BP, who have partnered with Silicon Valley firms to improve performance using data. Cenovus’s announcement comes weeks after Suncor forged a deal with Microsoft for a digital transformation of its own. A recent analysis by EY Canada and American Express Canada found that digital technology “offers the greatest impact and highest returns to oil and gas companies” in helping boost efficiency and reduce cash leakage. Cenovus seems aware of this, with Ian Enright, the company’s vice-president and chief information officer, telling the Financial Post, “I don’t want this to be our grandfather’s industry.”