OREANDA-NEWS. The OPEC Secretariat and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ministry of Energy are pleased to announce the launch of the first phase of the Oil and Gas Big Data Project, which will take place during the 3rd GCC Petroleum Media Forum in Abu Dhabi on 19–20 April 2017.

Today, large volumes of granular oil and gas data are readily accessible to the public on various platforms, as well as through the media. However, the available data are rarely used collectively and in an optimal manner, due mainly to the lack of data ubiquity and data centralization and a unifying tool that is both comprehensive and simple enough to take advantage of the plethora of data. Such a tool needs to enhance the understanding of the messages that big data conveys, as well as take on board the complex and often multi-dimensional interactions of data and advance overall transparency.

The platform will consist of a set of high standard analytic tools, employing data-driven approaches, optimization and statistical analysis techniques, as well as interactive maps, charts and data tables, which will be presented on a user-friendly IT platform. The facility will initially be linked to publicly available relevant oil market databases and will have the capacity to display raw figures, cross-comparing time series between countries, flows and products. Future planned expansions of the project will introduce advanced information technology, web and text mining techniques, as well as statistical, econometric and optimization methods.

The Oil and Gas Big Data Tool has the potential to fill the existing data analytics gap, placing available oil and gas data at the fingertips of market stakeholders and becoming the go-to analysis platform for comprehensive, well-presented, user-friendly and transparent oil and gas-related information.