SLB and Venezuela's state-run PDVSA signed a contract last week granting the U.S. company access to coveted oilfield data and allowing it to organize and upgrade PDVSA's vast but outdated databases following years of neglect and a recent cyberattack. Many details of the contract, including duration and payment mechanism, remain unknown, but SLB will be able to use new technology, including artificial intelligence, to expand, modernize, and make Venezuela's oil data reliable again. Venezuela has not published routine oil statistics in more than a decade, and the latest annual bulletin released by the oil ministry was in 2015; except for limited production data reported monthly to OPEC, the lack of information has become a major obstacle to promoting oilfields for investment. PDVSA has managed to patch its main applications since it was the target of a ransomware attack last year that knocked down applications and key contract administration software, but it needs to migrate systems, particularly its geological and production databases, to new providers and implement modern tracking tools. Venezuela's oil ministry confirmed last week that an agreement with SLB had been signed with PDVSA to modernize exploration and production.
SLB N.V.SLB signs contract to modernize PDVSA's oilfield data, expanding its services business.
Schlumberger NVSLB signs contract to modernize PDVSA's oilfield data, expanding its services business.
