Dan Sutherland

Opportunities for Optimisation in Oil and Gas & Considerations for Uptake

Oil and Gas currently account for over 50% of the world’s energy demand, and according to the IEA World Energy Outlook, this demand will continue beyond 2040. In fact, gas demand is expected to be the only fossil fuel to substantially increase over the coming years becoming the largest fuel in the global energy mix. These trends highlight the importance of efficiency in gas supply.

Given the ever-increasing pressure from global competitors, the need for improved efficiency is more important than ever. Accessing the insights held within organisations data drives the ability to assess, react, and shift priorities. Given the huge volumes of data and its complexities, this talk will focus on opportunities for mathematical optimisation in gas, primarily focusing on upstream gas production.

We will deep-dive and focus on optimisation opportunities across both developing and operating projects, and core and auxiliary functions. Finally, I will finish with some considerations for the optimisation community on uptake and implementation of algorithms.

Source: https://www.iea.org/weo2018/fuels/

Dan Sutherland

Biarri EMI

Dan Sutherland is the algorithmic leader of Biarri EMI, a company that enables organisations to make better business decisions, create and leverage efficiencies powered by data and mathematics. He uses the power of mathematics to deconstruct and predict patterns and changes in business process and activity focusing on improving operational efficiencies of machinery, schedules, people rostering and equipment maintenance.

As CEO, Dan has consulted and overseen successful projects in the resources sector using mathematics as the driving force to optimise;

  • short interval control & shift planning – Newcrest Mining
  • people and activity scheduling at large scale high capital assets – Origin Energy, Shell, Santos
  • cross-industry people rostering to proactively manage the movement & rosters of people – Harmony Gold, Origin Energy, BMA
  • asset auto design for intensive capital projects including design of CSG & Conventional Gathering Networks
  • further strategic and operational analytics projects for international companies – BP, Shell, Santos, Newcrest, Harmony Gold & more

Dan graduated from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Science (Mathematics) First Class Honours, University Medal and as Class Valedictorian. He incorporates his background in Computational Neuroscience (field of study in which mathematical tools and theories are used to investigate brain function) to help solve complex problems in the business world. His experience fuels his passion for creating swift and innovative solutions for the Energy, Mining and Infrastructure industry.