Big Data: a big opportunity for the petroleum and petrochemical industry

Abstract The Petroleum and Petrochemical (P&P) industry is home to the most traded commodity in the world, i.e. oil. Recently, this industry has been struggling to make ends meet with top lines being affected by falling oil prices and bottom lines being squeezed further via increasing operational costs. It is against this backdrop that this paper seeks to identify and summarise the positive influence that the adoption of Big Data can have on the P&P industry. Exhaustive research is carried out on the industry's engagement and adoption of Big Data in upstream, midstream and downstream operations to concisely summarise the varied applications and the potential benefits. Our research indicates that the upstream sector is actively engaging with Big Data to achieve efficiency gains while the midstream and downstream sectors are lagging behind. Overall, it is evident that the P&P industry can find solutions to its aching financial and productivity issues by embracing of Big Data.