
Oil Firms Learn to Move an Ancient Product with New-Age Tech - redcastle
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/14/business/energy-environment/oil-firms-learn-to-move-an-ancient-product-with-new-age-tech.html
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hydrox24
> Inspired by apps like Shazam that recognize the voices of pop stars, they
> figured how to distinguish the sonic signature of sand from other sounds,
> like flowing oil.

It is interesting that the Music industry and Oil industry have a few
connections through signal processing now. Andy Hildebrand, the inventor of
autotune, developed it using ideas and methods imported from the oil
industry[0]

> What “clicked” for Hildebrand was that he could utilize some of the very
> same processing methods he’d used in the oil industry to build a pitch
> correction tool.

[0]: [https://priceonomics.com/the-inventor-of-auto-
tune/](https://priceonomics.com/the-inventor-of-auto-tune/)

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agumonkey
If it has the same impact it had on music then the oil industry is about to
die of a slow death.

~~~
gumby
Let us hope you're right!

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fnwx17
> On weather-battered offshore platforms in Britain’s North Sea, for instance,
> technicians still walk around with “big pieces of paper in the rain, wind,”
> said Claire Day, a BP operations engineer. “It is not an ideal way to work.”

Wait, actual pieces of paper? wouldn't it make more sense to have at least
some kind of screen?

Such an interesting contrast between using Shazam-like technology to discover
oil/sand and using paper on the rigs.

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jobu
It's likely weatherproof paper and a grease pencil. We deal with EMS agencies
and modern technology is often useless for them in harsh weather. Screens can
be difficult to read outdoors and any touch devices are unresponsive in a
downpour or very cold weather. Not to mention they often have blood on their
hands so contamination is also an issue with any tech. I'm sure the greasy
filth of an oil rig doesn't play well with most tech either.

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pm90
I was talking to my friend who works in a Big Oil co in their research
division about this the other day. I'm no fan of Oil and Gas, but
breakthroughs in drilling and exploring Oil and Minerals are really important
for the future of humanity. Taking a super long term view, this stuff would be
very useful once we begin to mine asteroids, other planets and stuff.

