Woodside Energy revamps tech strategy with 'intelligent assets'

Woodside Energy has revised its technology strategy, introducing a new “intelligent assets” pillar that formally recognises its prior work with internet of things, data science and robotics.

The liquefied natural gas (LNG) operator said the new technology strategy was approved by its board of directors in Q3 this year.

The technology strategy is not confined to being an IT strategy but takes a broader view of the term, encompassing innovations in material science and other industrial domains.

However, one of the four strategic priorities in the new strategy has an IT bent; “intelligent assets”, which Woodside said combined “developments in data science, IoT, robotics and artificial intelligence.”

Woodside is no stranger to any of those particular areas.

Its data science efforts have previously won it the top iTnews Benchmark Award, and were expected to reap payback in the billions of dollars.

The company is also experimenting with a NASA humanoid robot, and it has several IoT projects either underway or completed.

Technology vice president Sean Salter made clear that the company had seen enough from its efforts so far to keep investing in intelligent systems.

“We’ve been monitoring these trends and we’re now confident they offer sufficient opportunity value for us to actively engage with, rather than maintaining a watching brief,” Salter said.

Woodside said that formally adopting intelligent assets as a priority constituted a “significant shift for Woodside because they do not represent traditional areas of interest for an oil and gas company.”

“And because they lie outside our traditional experience, we will have to adopt new approaches to make collaboration effective,” it said, though it did not elaborate on how the priorities would shape future spending.