MADRID—The Radiant joint software development project between Shell and Baker Hughes, a collaboration that got underway in 2013, looks set to eventually benefit not only the two companies but also their partners and clients.

At EAGE 2015 a presentation by Baker Hughes trumpeted the official commercial release of its JewelSuite 6 software applications, aimed at providing effective subsurface modeling solutions to help operators increase certainty in their operations, reduce costs and improve productivity.

The contractor has worked closely with the Anglo-Dutch major throughout the development of the software applications, with teams from both companies co-located at Delft in the Netherlands.

Shell Perspective

Shell’s Bettina Bachmann, vice president for subsurface and wells software, production and technology, was on hand at EAGE to explain some of the reasons why the operator chose Baker’s software platform and why it was important for it to be a commercial success for the contractor as well as for the operator.

The process started, she said, when Shell decided “two or three years ago that it needed to embark on a refresh of our platform.” The operator already had an existing portfolio of proprietary and commercial geoscience software technologies but wanted to have an overall platform that would bring all of its modeling and optimization capabilities together—a software platform it now calls PetroSigns, the first version of which was just recently launched by Shell in April.

On the lookout originally for additional technical ingredients and user friendliness, Bachmann said that Shell found Baker Hughes’ JewelEarth software platform and JewelSuite applications “had much of what we were looking for. Baker had some early stage tools that we liked. It was a very good experience. We are both companies with a very high commitment to technology. It allowed us to start up on this road in late 2013, and so far it has delivered on everything we had hoped for.”

She went on to add that the collaboration has “even surpassed our expectations, and that’s not something you can often say about software.”

Partner Potential

It is important to Shell that Baker Hughes has commercial success with the software platform, she continued, because the more of the operator’s partners that pick it up and use it, the easier it will be for the company to work together with them.

The purpose of the platform, essentially, is to be more effective, faster and more robust in delivering field development plans. Shell is hoping to conduct at least one field trial before the end of this year using a limited first version of the new platform.

Baker says a software development kit, introduced simultaneously with the JewelSuite 6 software, will allow developers to easily create and integrate new technology into the JewelEarth 6 platform.