Software major Microsoft has bagged a 7-year Cloud deal from US-based energy company Chevron Corporation to drive performance and improve efficiencies.
Chevron, based in San Ramon, aims to accelerate the application of advanced technologies including analytics and the Internet of Things (IoT).
Joe Geagea, Chevron’s executive vice president of Technology, Projects and Services, said: “We already have a head start in digitizing our oilfields, but we want to accelerate our deployment of new technologies that position us to increase our revenues, lower our costs, and improve the safety and reliability of our operations.”
The Microsoft partnership is part of Chevron’s overall digitization initiative in order to streamline information technology (IT) operations around a digital core connecting the company’s engineers and operations through nimble analytics and increased automation.
Deployment of Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform will allow Chevron’s IT workforce to evolve from supporting infrastructure to enable more advanced technologies, as well as optimize exploration, reservoir management, production operations, midstream logistics and marketing operations.
“Chevron understands scale, and the cloud at hyper-scale is something we intend to leverage for agility and efficiency. Through this partnership, Chevron will have a competitive advantage,” said Bill Braun, chief information officer (CIO) of Chevron.
“The volumes and velocity of real time data we obtain from the reservoir through refineries to the retail pump grows at a dramatic pace every year. Our Microsoft relationship will advance our high-performance computing, IoT, and help capitalize on innovation in data science and machine learning,” Bill Braun said.
Chevron and Microsoft will also focus on joint innovation from a technology and business process perspective. This will include identifying areas to influence Microsoft’s roadmap of future products and where Microsoft solutions can help solve Chevron’s business challenges.
Jason Zander, corporate vice president of Microsoft Azure, said: “Our global cloud infrastructure – which has more regions around the world than any other cloud provider – will enable Chevron to leverage our capabilities across areas like high-performance computing and Internet of Things to become a truly digital business.”