08 Nov
How are chatbots transforming the oil and gas industry?
While oil and gas (O&G) is one of the most valuable commodities, the industry witnessed a severe slump in demand amidst movement restrictions and social and economic challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, with the O&G market on its way to recovery, leading players are looking for methods to increase efficiencies in every aspect of the supply chain, maximize production, and enhance revenue.
Oil and gas companies are exploring new ways to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to automate and digitize processes, increase productivity, and solve complex and straightforward engineering challenges.
According to research by Mordor Intelligence, “The global AI in Oil and Gas market was valued at USD 2,040.89 million in 2019, and it is expected to reach a value of USD 3,349.89 million by 2026 while registering a CAGR of 10.14% year-on-year.”
AI chatbots, in particular, are aiding O&G companies in their relentless pursuit of transforming operations in both upstream and downstream activities.
Let’s explore further.
Chatbot Use Cases in the Oil and Gas Industry
1. Upstream Oil and Gas Production
Upstream oil and gas companies, also known as exploration and production companies, identify deposits, drill wells, and extract raw materials from underground.
AI chatbots help meet the specific needs of upstream oil and gas companies. Some of the use cases include –
A) Provide on-demand support for workers, both on-field and in the office
AI chatbots help workers in the field ask questions, access real-time information, and call for help in case of an emergency, within minutes and without having to stop what they were initially doing.
The chatbot connects to the company’s external and internal sources to quickly fetch information such as lube specifications, average reservoir porosity, details around faults, etc.
Additionally, voice-enabled bots can answer questions and provide status reports to operators as they move from one place to another.
B) Offer real-time solutions to onsite workers
An AI chatbot can receive unstructured inputs from workers currently performing maintenance on the field. It can then analyze these issues and offer real-time solutions, basis an extensive archive of expertise and insight.
C) Ease the learning curve for new hires
AI chatbots maintain an extensive repository of information about processes that can prove valuable for new hires.
Moreover, they can help reduce the time spent on the collection, interpretation, and simulation of data. The bot can leverage the company’s software programs to help workers prioritize infill drilling locations, find optimal well spacing, build type curves, and much more.
D) Prevent potentially costly issues
The oil and gas industry is prone to various upstream issues, such as problems in pipelines and drilling, oil spills, health and safety hazards, etc. For example, a defect in the production line can cause severe damages and result in the loss of millions in revenue.
When used properly, AI chatbots can alert users about events with potentially catastrophic consequences and suggest appropriate solutions.
2. Downstream Oil and Gas Production
Downstream oil and gas production is related to activities post the production of crude oil and natural gas.
Downstream O&G players are closer to the end consumer. With their natural language abilities, AI chatbots can answer customer queries, provide product information, and make tailored product suggestions.
Take the following example.
Shell Lubricants launched the first AI chatbot for B2B customers called LubeChat. LubeChat allows customers to find the best products for their equipment and the closest authorized dealers. Users can also ask questions about physical characteristics and specifications of the lubes and lube testing.
Let’s take another example.
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) launched an AI-enabled chatbot, “Urja,” to provide its customers a seamless self-service portal to get their queries resolved. Trained in more than 600 use cases, the chatbot offers services like LPG booking, price and payment status, the delivery status of booked LPG cylinder, and refill history. Moreover, users can update mobile numbers, change LPG distributors, request mechanic services, locate the nearest petrol pump, and seek doorstep delivery of fuel. Urja now speaks in 13 languages, including Hindi, Tamil, Telegu, Gujarati, Marathi, and Urdu.
The above cases are just a few examples of how chatbots play a pivotal role in customer-facing downstream oil and gas business activities.
- With a faster response time, chatbots can handle hundreds of customer conversations simultaneously.
- A majority of customer service queries asked are simple, repetitive questions. AI chatbots help deflect queries and are designed to handle surplus demand on customer service agents. This eases the load off their backs and allows them time to focus on tasks that add business value.
- AI chatbots help create sales opportunities. They can understand customer needs and pitch the perfect products to them. Moreover, RPA integrated chatbots can automate the entire process, from initial conversation to recording customer details in the CRM system and completing the sale.
How can Acuvate help?
At Acuvate, we help clients in the oil and gas (O&G) industry deploy AI-enabled chatbots with our enterprise bot-building platform called BotCore.
BotCore’s minimal coding requirements and graphical design interface allow enterprises to build and deploy chatbots within a few weeks. As a Microsoft Gold Partner, we leverage the best of Microsoft’s AI, ML, and NLP technologies to build intelligent bots that can cater to both employees and end-users.
Our bots can be deployed on several channels and support multiple languages, including French, German, Italian, English, and many more.
Additionally, we use Microsoft’s low-code, graphical interface bot-building solution Power Virtual Agents (PVA) to help clients build rich, conversational bots quickly – without the need for extensive coding knowledge.
To know more about BotCore and PVA, please feel free to schedule a personalized consultation with our experts.
Abhishek is the AI & Automation Practice Head at Acuvate and brings with him 17+ years of strong expertise across the Microsoft stack. He has consulted with clients globally to provide solutions on technologies such as Cognitive Services, Azure, RPA, SharePoint & Office 365. He has worked with clients across multiple industry domains including Retail & FMCG, Government, BFSI, Manufacturing and Telecom.
Abhishek Shanbhag