Latest news with #AnnDavies
South Wales Guardian
22-05-2025
- Politics
- South Wales Guardian
Call for faster progress on rural broadband in Caerfyrddin
Ann Davies, MP for Caerfyrddin, met with Sir Chris Bryant, Minister of State at the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT), to discuss rural broadband and mobile coverage earlier this month. The meeting, held in Westminster, was also attended by senior officials from DSIT and Building Digital UK (BDUK). These are the executive agencies delivering the government's major digital infrastructure programmes, including Project Gigabit and the Shared Rural Network. Project Gigabit aims to provide gigabit-capable broadband to hard-to-reach areas, while the Shared Rural Network is designed to improve 4G mobile coverage in rural and remote communities. Around 3 per cent of the Caerfyrddin constituency remains in 'not spot' areas where no broadband is currently available. Ms Davies said: "Reliable broadband and mobile coverage are not luxuries — they are essential services that rural communities rely on to live, work, and thrive. "Whether it's running a farm, studying from home, or accessing vital healthcare, people in Caerfyrddin must not be left behind." "I will continue working to ensure that the voices and concerns of our rural communities are heard loud and clear in Westminster." She remains in regular contact with Openreach, who keep her updated on local infrastructure progress, and she frequently meets with Carmarthenshire County Council's broadband development officer to ensure residents' concerns are heard and acted upon.
Reuters
14-03-2025
- Business
- Reuters
CERAWEEK AI leading to faster, cheaper oil production, executives say
HOUSTON, March 13 (Reuters) - (This March 13 story has been corrected after Devon Energy amended data to say that it saw a 15% improvement in drilling efficiency, not a 25% improvement in productive life of its oil and gas wells, in paragraph 12, and to remove garble from headline) Artificial intelligence is speeding up oil and gas drilling and prompting companies to take a second look at places they had viewed as too difficult or expensive to develop, executives detailed during the CERAWeek conference in Houston. AI took center stage in many sessions at the world's largest energy gathering. Oil producers are seeking ways to remain profitable in an environment of plummeting oil prices and worries that U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs could slow global energy demand. UK oil major BP (BP.L), opens new tab is using AI to steer drill bits and predict potential problems in wells before they happen, said Ann Davies, BP's senior vice president of wells. "We are able to drill more wells per year and have a better capital allocation," she said. BP announced last month it would boost annual spending on oil and gas production as part of a major strategy shift to improve investor confidence. AI has helped U.S. oil producer Devon Energy (DVN.N), opens new tab drill in areas where it was unfeasible before, said chief technology officer Trey Lowe in an interview. For example, the company can gather information about a fault in a formation, then drill on the other side to avoid it, he said. Chevron (CVX.N), opens new tab is using AI-powered drones that fly over its shale operations in Texas and Colorado to remotely monitor potential problems like emissions leaks and alert field workers. In three months of testing drones through a partnership with autonomous drone company Percepto, Chevron reduced the amount of time that production was shut in for repairs or maintenance, said Russell Robinson, a deputy program manager of facilities and operations at Chevron, in an interview on the sidelines of the conference. The drones helped workers spend less time criss-crossing the shale field performing routine inspections, he said. "We've continued to have more assets that are running at a longer time, so this is all around just producing more oil or gas," he said, adding Chevron is evaluating whether to expand use of drones to monitor its refineries. Devon Energy has machine learning models monitoring each of its oil rigs across the U.S., Lowe said. The company has seen a 15% improvement in drilling efficiency. AI is also speeding up offshore drilling. BP is evaluating vast amounts of seismic data in the Gulf of Mexico in just eight to 12 weeks with the help of AI, versus six to 12 months previously. This helps geoscientists determine where to drill a well and predict difficulties, a spokesperson said. While the oil and gas industry has used AI for years, recent advances like large-language models are revolutionizing the sector, said Chicheng Xu, founder of OpenPetro AI, a company building AI tools for the energy industry, and a former petrophysicist at Aramco. For example, building three-dimensional visualizations of features deep beneath the ocean floor would be time-consuming for humans, he said. "AI can dig through the data and find the features you want to see and visualize it to you. That's the real difference," Xu said. Cutting time and costs means gaining a competitive advantage. "Companies that don't deploy it (AI) will get left behind at this point," said Devon's Lowe. Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.
Reuters
13-03-2025
- Business
- Reuters
CERAweek: AI leading to faster, cheaper oil production, executives say
HOUSTON, March 13 (Reuters) - Artificial intelligence is speeding up oil and gas drilling and prompting companies to take a second look at places they had viewed as too difficult or expensive to develop, executives detailed during the CERAWeek conference in Houston. AI took center stage in many sessions at the world's largest energy gathering. Oil producers are seeking ways to remain profitable in an environment of plummeting oil prices and worries that U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs could slow global energy demand. UK oil major BP (BP.L), opens new tab is using AI to steer drill bits and predict potential problems in wells before they happen, said Ann Davies, BP's senior vice president of wells. "We are able to drill more wells per year and have a better capital allocation," she said. BP announced last month it would boost annual spending on oil and gas production as part of a major strategy shift to improve investor confidence. AI has helped U.S. oil producer Devon Energy (DVN.N), opens new tab drill in areas where it was unfeasible before, said chief technology officer Trey Lowe in an interview. For example, the company can gather information about a fault in a formation, then drill on the other side to avoid it, he said. Chevron (CVX.N), opens new tab is using AI-powered drones that fly over its shale operations in Texas and Colorado to remotely monitor potential problems like emissions leaks and alert field workers. In three months of testing drones through a partnership with autonomous drone company Percepto, Chevron reduced the amount of time that production was shut in for repairs or maintenance, said Russell Robinson, a deputy program manager of facilities and operations at Chevron, in an interview on the sidelines of the conference. The drones helped workers spend less time criss-crossing the shale field performing routine inspections, he said. "We've continued to have more assets that are running at a longer time, so this is all around just producing more oil or gas," he said, adding Chevron is evaluating whether to expand use of drones to monitor its refineries. Devon Energy has machine learning models monitoring each of its oil rigs across the U.S., Lowe said, adding the company has seen a 25% improvement in productive life of its oil and gas wells. AI is also speeding up offshore drilling. BP is evaluating vast amounts of seismic data in the Gulf of Mexico in just eight to 12 weeks with the help of AI, versus six to 12 months previously. This helps geoscientists determine where to drill a well and predict difficulties, a spokesperson said. While the oil and gas industry has used AI for years, recent advances like large-language models are revolutionizing the sector, said Chicheng Xu, founder of OpenPetro AI, a company building AI tools for the energy industry, and a former petrophysicist at Aramco. For example, building three-dimensional visualizations of features deep beneath the ocean floor would be time-consuming for humans, he said. "AI can dig through the data and find the features you want to see and visualize it to you. That's the real difference," Xu said. Cutting time and costs means gaining a competitive advantage. "Companies that don't deploy it (AI) will get left behind at this point," said Devon's Lowe.
