https://phys.org/news/2018-07-ai-future-oil.html

IBM and Galp are helping to solve that. Petrogal Brasil and IBM Research-Brazil undertook a three-year research project under the Brazilian National Petroleum Agency (ANP) R&D incentive regulatory framework. We developed a prototype tool that acts as an advisor to geoscientists in the identification and evaluation of exploration prospects and in the interpretation of seismic images. The tool uses AI and other state-of-the-art technologies to interact with scientists and help them to create enhanced geological models, perform faster and more efficient risk assessment of new prospects, and optimize the placement of new oil wells.

The tool has been trained on acquired knowledge generated from previous seismic interpretations and experiences and captured on a practice-driven knowledge representation system. It continuously improves its capabilities, learning from interaction with users or from ingestion of more data. AI-based visual comprehension is used to assist geoscientists in sifting through large 3-D seismic data sets and quickly identifying geological structures that could bear oil and gas.