Four Ways XLSTAT’s Excel Data Analysis Can Help Oil & Gas Companies Improve Operations

Address key energy sector business challenges in Microsoft Excel through informed decision-making with these four XLSTAT data analysis examples 

In the oil and gas sector, managing operational factors is key to minimizing costs and staying competitive and profitable. This means effectively navigating constant hurdles and uncertainties such as unplanned downtime, transportation delays, market volatility, and regulatory compliance.

This blog will explore four ways XLSTAT’s advanced Excel data analysis can help oil and gas executives and analysts make more timely and informed decisions to improve business operations in the face of these challenges.

Oil & Gas Industry Challenges

Unplanned Downtime: The need to shut down operations for any period of time, no matter how small, can be extremely detrimental to your energy sector organization. Operational disruptions can happen during any part of the business process (drilling, extraction, refining, or distribution) and for a variety of reasons ranging fromequipment failures to natural disasters. Regardless of the cause, interruptions can impact production and lead to financial losses.

Take, for example, an oil rig that is conducting undersea drilling and experiences a critical malfunction with a crucial piece of machinery or equipment. Drilling will need to come to a halt until the equipment can be repaired or replaced, and in the meantime, the halt will affect the financial bottom line. 

Transportation Delays: The movement of petroleum products along each stage of the supply chain, from exploration to distribution, is fundamental to oil and gas operations, and any delay can result in increased costs, revenue loss, contractual penalties, and unplanned downtime. A few reasons for delays include leaks or spills in the pipeline, trucking or shipping problems, and border crossing constraints.

One common example of transportation delays are issues within the trucking industry including driver shortages, vehicle breakdowns, traffic closures, and congestion, as well as regulatory requirements like maximum number of driving hours. The longer these delays take to resolve, the larger the impact on your company’s reputation, costs, and financial performance. 

Market Volatility: The unpredictable nature of the market is a constant operational challenge for oil and gas companies. Fluctuations can impact key business factors like production levels and supply chain management, forcing you to adjust production rates and operational strategies to continue to maximize efficiencies and minimize costs in the face of market swings. 

One of the most common examples of market volatility negatively affecting oil and gas operations is a rapid decline in oil prices. Since revenues are typically highly reliant on the sale of crude oil, this can lead to decreased profitability and cash flow, and instigate cost-cutting measures or even the cancellation or delay of key projects. 

Regulatory Compliance: Like other industries, the oil and gas industry has a long list of regulations they must adhere to at all levels — local, regional, national, and sometimes international. These regulations span a wide range of areas from health and safety and environmental protection to labor practices and land use. Noncompliance with any of these laws and standards comes with a long list of problems for your business operations.

A high-profile accident could include a situation where a large, multinational oil and gas company experiences a major spill in a subsea pipeline – causing significant impact to marine ecosystems. Incidents like this negatively affect operations by prompting regulatory scrutiny, possible shutdowns or interruptions, and massive litigation costs, among other issues. 

Four Ways XLSTAT Data Analysis in Excel Can Help

1. Time Series Analysis: This feature can play a crucial role in operational efficiency by offering you insights about areas such as production trends, oil reservoir behavior, well and energy performance, and equipment behavior, while its predictive modeling techniques can provide critical information such as future equipment and maintenance needs, and price forecasting and risk assessment to better navigate market volatility. 
2. Regression Analysis: This type of analysis can help you quantify the relationship between dependent and independent variables such as price, demand, and supply and better understand how any changes can potentially impact each other. Depending on the nature of the variables, this analysis can be a classical regression, an ANOVA, or an ANCOVA. For example, the regression analysis feature could be used to optimize drilling performance by looking at historical drilling data and the relationships between things like bit design, rotary speed, drilling mud flow rate, and rate of penetration, drilling costs, etc. 

With this analysis, you can also use XLSTAT’s intelligent pivot tables in Excel to help you identify which variables have the most influence on your output. XLSTAT’s dynamic pivot table tool lets you dig deeper into the dataset in your Excel spreadsheet as it includes a hierarchy among the variables. Plus, the target variable can be a quantitative variable or qualitative variable (with a target category). Therefore, this feature provides deeper insight than the pivot table Excel function.

3. Quality Control Charts: This data analysis tool can help you improve operational efficiency by monitoring processes and detecting anomalies within areas like environmental parameters, flow rates, and emissions quality and levels. It also helps you ensure regulatory standards compliance by tracking key standards parameters, identifying any deviations from standards, supporting continuous improvement, and facilitating proper documentation, reporting, and audits. 
4. Statistical Process Control (SPC): SPC enables real-time monitoring of oil and gas process parameters and early detection of quality issues, providing more reliable, efficient, and safe operations. For example, SPC can help manage and reduce downtime and delays in operations by identifying root causes, monitoring performance, taking corrective actions, and monitoring supplier performance.

Free XLSTAT Trial – Get Powerful Data Analytics in Excel

To learn more about how XLSTAT for advanced Excel data analysis to navigate challenges in energy, watch our on-demand webinar Business Insights Through Data Using Excel and request your free XLSTAT trial today.