Oil, Gas Majors Join Blockchain Consortium

A group of seven major oil and gas companies, including ExxonMobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips (COP), announced a partnership to establish the first industry blockchain consortium in the United States.

With several use cases across the industry value chain, the consortium intends to conduct proofs of concept with this emerging technology in 2019, said a press release from OOC Oil & Gas Blockchain Consortium.

The OOC Oil & Gas Blockchain Consortium was founded to advance industry blockchain technology learnings for the purpose of driving industry standards, frameworks and capabilities around emerging blockchain technology. The consortium was established under the not-for-profit organization Offshore Operators Committee (OOC) and offers membership-based participation.

“Creating the OOC Oil & Gas Blockchain Consortium is a significant step toward establishing key blockchain standards, frameworks and capabilities for the oil and gas industry,” said Rebecca Hofmann, chairman of the board of directors.

“Blockchain technology is a catalyst for reimagining the way we do business and this consortium represents a collaborative effort to explore the technology’s potential and leverage learnings to drive industry adoption,” Rebecca added.

Blockchain technology uses distributed ledgers to allow digital assets to be transacted in a real-time, immutable manner.

A board of directors will oversee consortium funding, ensure operating procedures are maintained and provide project approval. The board is comprised of representatives from the seven founding member companies: Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Equinor, ExxonMobil, Hess, Pioneer Natural Resources (PXD) and Repsol.

“The consortium is eager to begin building a foundational network of business partners to collaboratively advance use cases within exploration, finance, IT, land, operations and supply chain, while also leveraging learnings amongst our members,” said JD Franke, vice-chairman of the board of directors.