From complexity to control: strengthening digital execution in oil and gas

Each year, forums such as International Petroleum Technology Conference provide a clear snapshot of where the oil and gas industry’s priorities are heading. This year, the emphasis is unmistakable. The conversation is no longer centered on experimenting with digital tools, but on how operators translate digital capability into consistent, day-to-day operational performance. That shift—from adoption to execution—sets the context for the next phase of digital progress in oil and gas.

The oil and gas industry has spent years investing in digital technologies. Dashboards, analytics, automation, and AI are becoming commonplace across upstream and integrated operations.

What has changed is the conversation.

The challenge today is no longer whether digital tools exist or whether they work. It is whether organisations can use them consistently to improve day-to-day operational decisions — across assets, disciplines, and time horizons.

That shift, from adoption to execution, defines the next phase of digital progress in oil and gas.

Digital Has Increased Visibility — Not Always Clarity

Most operators now have access to unprecedented volumes of data. Subsurface models, real-time production data, maintenance systems, planning tools, and external datasets are widely available.

Yet many teams still struggle to answer a small set of critical questions:

• What is happening right now?
• What is likely to happen next?
• Where should attention be focused today?

The issue is rarely a lack of data. More often, it is fragmentation — information spread across systems, teams, and workflows. When insight is disconnected from execution, decision-making slows and operational risk increases.

At scale, this becomes a control challenge rather than a technology one.

Operational Complexity Is Increasing

Complexity in oil and gas operations continues to grow. Assets are ageing. Fields are more interconnected. Production systems are more tightly optimised. At the same time, expectations around efficiency, safety, emissions, and cost discipline remain high.

Decisions that were once local or sequential now have system-wide implications. A change in one part of the operation can affect production, maintenance, safety, and energy use elsewhere.

In this environment, execution depends on seeing and managing the system as a whole, not simply optimising individual components.

From Digital Tools to Operational Systems

This is where the industry’s digital focus is evolving — from standalone tools to integrated operational systems.

Operators increasingly need environments where:

• Engineering intent is preserved from design through operations
• Real-time data is placed in operational context
• Scenarios can be tested before decisions are executed
• Teams across disciplines work from a shared operational picture

Digital twins, simulation, and integrated work surfaces support this shift — not as technology initiatives in isolation, but as execution infrastructure.

They connect data, models, and workflows so decisions are made with context, not hindsight.

Execution Is a Leadership Issue

Importantly, this is not only a technical challenge. It is an organisational one.

Execution improves when:

• Decision ownership is clear
• Information flows across disciplines
• Teams trust the operational picture they are working from
• Leaders focus on performance outcomes, not tool deployment

Digital capability delivers value only when it supports how work actually gets done.

This is a primary focus at Kongsberg Digital — helping operators move from fragmented digital initiatives to connected, end-to-end operational workflows that support consistent execution across upstream and integrated energy operations.

Why This Matters Now

The industry understands its challenges well. The technical capability exists. The experience exists.

What increasingly differentiates performance is the ability to connect insight to action — reliably, repeatedly, and at scale.

The next phase of digital progress in oil and gas will not be defined by new tools, but by better execution:

• Faster, more confident decisions
• Fewer surprises between plan and outcome
• Stronger alignment between engineering, operations, and leadership

Organisations that focus on execution — and on the systems that enable it — will be better positioned to manage complexity, reduce risk, and sustain performance over time.

That is where digital delivers its real value.

 

Discover how Kongsberg Digital's Industrial Work Surface empowers teams and delivers value here.