1. Akash Sharma, Director, Product Innovation & Management – Enverus
Presenting: From Theory to Practice: Bringing Generative AI to the Energy Industry
The energy industry stands at a crossroads. Decades of research sit dormant while GenAI models offer revolutionary potential. We bridge this chasm with a product suite, wielding a first-of-its-kind Energy LLM empowered by a RAG-based knowledge extraction system. Imagine forecasting oil production, optimizing grids, and crafting personalized energy solutions – all powered by this AI-fueled synthesis. But our vision extends beyond. We harness the LLM’s core Transformer architecture for temporal applications, opening doors to pinpoint demand forecasting and dynamic resource allocation. Join us as we transform theory into practice, unlocking a sustainable future powered by GenAI’s boundless potential.
Akash Sharma - As Director of Product Innovation at Enverus' Ventures Division, Akash spearheads strategic initiatives that drive growth by leveraging his expertise in analytics, data science, and complex systems engineering for decision intelligence solutions.
Currently, Akash leads the strategy and development of Generative AI across Enverus' entire product portfolio, positioning the company at the vanguard of AI transformation in the energy sector. His work is instrumental in shaping how AI technologies are revolutionizing energy industry practices and decision-making processes.
With over a decade of experience spanning petroleum engineering, data science, product management, and consulting, Akash has established himself as an internationally recognized thought leader and trusted advisor on digital transformation. His unique perspective is shaped by advanced degrees in petroleum engineering from the University of Houston and computational data analytics from Georgia Tech.
A prolific contributor to industry knowledge, Akash's research papers, which have amassed over 130 citations, reflect his significant impact in the field. He regularly shares insights through publications, conferences, podcasts, and committee work. As a published author with SPE and AAPG and an active member of the Digital Energy Technical Section and Digital Transformation Committee, he continues to push the boundaries of innovation in the energy sector.
2. David Johnson Snr. Staff Engineering Worldwide D&C Performance & Systems – Oxy
Nico Richey - Oxy
Presenting: D&C Digital Transformation: Workflow Automation to Developing AI Projects
Occidental Petroleum performed manual processes for planning, executing, and analyzing their wells within drilling and completions. A holistic approach was developed utilizing cloud technology to centralize, standardize, and automate our drilling data into a digital environment. With the capabilities of the cloud and edge devices in the field, we aim to improve productivity and execute wells using advanced analytics to drive data informed decision making.
David Johnson has 17 years of oil and gas industry experience covering directional drilling services, engineering R&D, drill site management, drilling engineering, and analytics development. At Oxy, David helped form and lead the drilling and completion Digital Transformation team called the Delta Initiative, where they strategize and develop cloud-based automation and analytics applications that encompasses simple analytics to complex GenAI and machine learning algorithms. He is a graduate of Louisiana State University in Petroleum Engineering.
Nico Richey received his Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering from Marietta College in 2013. Upon graduation, Nico began his career in the Oil and Gas industry in the Accelerated Development Program for drilling engineers at Chevron and quickly moved into privately managed Independence Resource Management as a drilling engineer in 2016, eventually specializing in developing drilling engineering and operational analytics to drive well optimization through 2021. In 2021, Nico utilized his skills in data analytics at Corva LLC as a drilling data analyst and customer success manager. In October of 2022, he joined the Occidental Petroleum team as a drilling technologist in the Delaware business unit, and transitioned to the Drilling Engineer and Analyst role for digital transformation projects.
3. George Voneiff, SVP Unconventional Solutions – Datagration Solutions Inc.
Presenting: The Evolving Role of the Human in Al-Driven Workflows and Decisions
This presentation discusses why and how a human should play a role in Artificial Intelligence (Al)-driven workflows and decisions, and how that role is evolving with time. Examples illustrate the shortcomings of existing Al systems and where human intervention is needed to guide and QC those systems. The human involvement is described in detail for a completion optimization Al workflow both as of today and 5+ years from now. The presentation defines Al, describes how Al creates value, and spotlights a fundamental limitation of Al in its application to 'extrapolated' situations.
The one idea members should take away from this lecture is that Al is not magic, needs human guidance and QC, and the human role will evolve and remain needed even as Al systems become increasingly sophisticated.
Professor George Voneiff has forty years of oil and gas experience, primarily in unconventional reservoirs. He founded, built, and sold several E&P companies in the US and Canada, teaches graduate-level Petroleum Engineering classes at Texas A&M University, and is SVP Unconventional Solutions at Datagration Solutions Inc. Honors include the Texas A&M Petroleum Engineering Academy of Distinguished Graduates (2013), the Sproule Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Society for Unconventional Gas (2005), the #1 Company in the Texas A&M Mays Business School Aggie 100 (2005), and Finalist/runner-up in the Ernst & Young Canadian Entrepreneur of the Year (2004).