Data Gumbo Corp., a Houston-based technology company that has developed the blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) platform GumboNet™ to streamline smart contracts for oil & gas, today announced that the Offshore Operators Committee (OOC) Oil & Gas Blockchain Consortium has awarded the company its first contract to implement a pilot blockchain in water haulage. This pilot is the first industry-wide use of a blockchain-native network for water haulage, and the consortium will tap the power of GumboNet for real-time data transparency and accuracy, and automation of contract payments. The pilot is being conducted in the Bakken shale.
“Blockchain is a promising instrument for industry collaboration in oil & gas benefiting all connected parties. This pilot with Data Gumbo is a significant step towards our goal of proving non-manned volume validations can trigger automated payments to vendors,” said Rebecca Hofmann, chairman of the OOC Oil & Gas Blockchain Consortium. “The consortium looks forward to leveraging learnings from this pilot, and establishing key blockchain frameworks and guidelines for the oil & gas industry, maximizing opportunities to reduce costs, increase timeliness and eliminate disputes.”
The OOC Oil & Gas Blockchain Consortium includes 10 oil & gas member companies, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Equinor, ExxonMobil, Hess, Marathon, Noble Energy, Pioneer Natural Resources, Repsol and Shell, that have partnered to study and define blockchain use cases across the industry value chain to solve common pain points. The consortium, residing under the Offshore Operators Committee, aims to build a foundational network of business partners to collaboratively advance blockchain technology within exploration, finance, IT, land, operations and supply chain, while leveraging learnings among members for broader adoption by the industry.“Blockchain is a promising instrument for industry collaboration in oil & gas benefiting all connected parties. This pilot with Data Gumbo is a significant step towards our goal of proving non-manned volume validations can trigger automated payments to vendors,” said Rebecca Hofmann, chairman of the OOC Oil & Gas Blockchain Consortium. “The consortium looks forward to leveraging learnings from this pilot, and establishing key blockchain frameworks and guidelines for the oil & gas industry, maximizing opportunities to reduce costs, increase timeliness and eliminate disputes.”
“The promise of blockchain is reimagining how we do business, and the consortium is excited about our first use case with Data Gumbo,” said JD Franke, vice chairman of the OOC Oil & Gas Blockchain Consortium. “We look forward to exploring additional benefits and industry opportunities for blockchain.”
“The consortium selecting Data Gumbo for its first blockchain pilot validates us as a leading oil & gas industry solution provider and signifies the promise of our network,” said Andrew Bruce, CEO of Data Gumbo. “As GumboNet continues to add users for water haulage, the ROI becomes more compelling. As additional best-in-class operators and counterparties come aboard, the value and network effects of our blockchain will only increase.”
Water haulage invoicing and reconciliation is currently a manual process with data existing in siloes and self-reported among parties. Operators take volume measurements at wells, then from truck tickets and finally at salt water disposal wells. GumboNet synchronizes data across parties for complete transparency, enabling reduced disputes, decreases in fraud, lower administrative costs, improved safety and automated transactions. GumboNet insights allow all parties to share a single source of truth for guaranteed and secure transactions. Understaffed and overburdened local government regulators will also benefit from data certainty and transparency.
“Water haulage is a prelude to blockchain for all bulk commodity haulage, including sand, oil, natural gas and crude, and we look forward to alleviating the bottlenecks for prolific shale plays,” said Bruce. “GumboNet is company and commodity agnostic, and is not just a solution for one company but all oil & gas companies.”
The GumboNet network collects data between parties, runs complex and legally enforceable smart contracts, interfaces with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and generates automated invoices, as well as provides a user-friendly user interface, enabling value as soon as a company subscribes.
About the OOC Oil & Gas Blockchain Consortium
The OOC Oil & Gas Blockchain Consortium was founded to advance industry blockchain technology learnings for the purpose of defining industry frameworks and solutions enabled by blockchain technology. The consortium was established under the not-for-profit organization Offshore Operators Committee and offers membership-based participation. For more information, visit www.oocblockchain.com.
