Oil & gas executives at the KPMG’s Global Energy Conference in Houston named the quantum computer technology as the next big breakthrough for the oil and gas sector.

Quantum computers are powerful machines that build on the principles of quantum mechanics to solve complex tasks.

According to them the breakthrough will lie in applying quantum computers to the industry’s data-intensive processes.

COO of Woodside Energy Mike Utsler said that quantum computing has remarkable potential.

It can speed up the [time needed for data processing] from 12 hours to 12 minutes to 12 seconds,” he said. “That’s the level of potential of quantum computing in the hydrocarbon supply chain.

According to Morag Watson – Vice President of Digital Innovation at BP, many companies would need to redefine some of their processes and in order to keep pace with the computer technology.

I’m looking at emerging digital technologies that will change every single aspect of how we do business. In fact, it will make some elements redundant,” she said. “[Quantum] speeds things up so much that it will radically change them.

As computers become more of a part of the oil and gas industry, executives realize that they are in need of computer scientists to operate the complex systems in place. The difficulty here is to have the practical industry-specific information or a problem “translated to a computer scientist.

Keeping up with cutting edge technologies is no longer optional for the industry. If you don’t want to get with this technology, someone else will” said Morag Watson.

Source: S&P Global