AI Articles and Analysis in Natural resources

The oil and gas industry is usually divided into three major operational sectors: upstream, midstream, and downstream. Upstream involves the exploration and production of oil and natural gas. Midstream usually refers to transportation and storage stages. Downstream encompasses the various processes involved in refining and selling oil.

McKinsey reported that most oil and gas operators have not maximized the production potential of their assets. A typical offshore platform, according to the 2017 report, runs at about 77% of its maximum production potential. Industry-wide, the shortfall comes to about 10 million barrels per day, or $200 billion in annual revenue.

A recent PricewaterhouseCoopers study revealed that the global market for drone-powered business solutions was valued at $127.3 billion in 2016. For agriculture, prospective drone applications in global projects were valued at $32.4 billion.

Global spending on utility customer information systems (CISs) and analytics is expected to total nearly $37 billion from 2014 to 2023, according to a report from Navigant Research. Some of the top utilities companies in the United States have been using predictive analytics to enhance operations, cut costs and improve customers’ experience.

Agriculture plays a vital role in India’s economy. Over 58 percent of the rural households depend on agriculture as their principal means of livelihood, according to an IBEF report. Agricultural exports constitute 10 percent of the country’s exports and is the fourth-largest exported principal commodity category in India.

The U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA) defines renewable energy as an energy source that naturally regenerates, such as solar or wind. In contrast, fossil fuels are considered finite. The EIA reports that in 2016, 10 percent of all energy consumed in the U.S. was derived from renewable energy sources. This is equivalent to roughly “10.2 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) —1 quadrillion is the number 1 followed by 15 zeros”.

Mining is a major worldwide industry producing everything from coal to gold. According to a PWC annual report, the top 40 mining companies have a market capitalization of $748 billion as of April 2017. The industry as a whole saw a slump in 2015 but since then the sector has recovered due to rising commodity prices.

Artificial intelligence is gaining traction in the agricultural industry and is steadily being integrated in robotics developed for this sector. As automated technologies penetrate the market, we aim to answer the important questions that business leaders are asking today: