Founded in oil & gas exploration and production, GMVi is all about wells: making software so drilling, production and well integrity engineers can manage wells to be safe, productive and cost effective.
Eikos and Empirica, in their focussed domains, empower well experts to make high-value decisions, with clear insights that bring great outcomes.
The Eikos story
“I’m not going to buy your software, and I’m going to tell you why"
At a 2006 meeting in Aberdeen John McIntosh was told by a Drilling Engineering Manager he wasn’t going to buy the software John was offering to support cost estimation. On the wall of his office was a giant flowchart illustrating the complexity of his Well Delivery Process and the scale of the challenge he was wrestling with. Cost estimation was just one small part of the process. This conversation sparked the idea that an application to support the entire process would be far more valuable.
Wells project management deliverables are similar from one company to another. The Subsurface team outline the well, Well Engineering provides the design and construction process, and the project is supported by the supply chain. Regulations must be complied with, risk is assessed and costs estimated and approved.
These basic elements (and a few more) are part of every well project. This commonality meant that one application could be used by multiple operators, and nothing on the market met those requirements. Eikos was born in 2007. The origin of Eikos is project management and the application has grown around that core.
The software space for Drilling & Wells is now much more hotly contested. Most well engineering applications focus on technical questions; the engineering from the original target and surface location through to the Driller’s instructions. The gap addressed by Eikos is the project management of all that work, from conceptual design to end of well reporting.
Eikos has stayed true to this mission. Now in version four, Eikos has become the most advanced and trusted well delivery process management software available.
The Empirica story
This is clearly different
Stuart Girling saw that commercial well integrity management software was good at managing day-to-day records. However, conversations with many well integrity and production engineers showed it did not help them understand well risks objectively. He resolved to look at that problem differently.
We started by developing a WIMS software platform, Empirica, as a foundation for a more demanding well risk modelling application.
Though already technically advanced in some ways to other commercially available WIMS software, in reality it was not clearly different yet. We continued to develop our ideas and with the support of Total E&P Denmark and Premier Oil we launched the well risk modelling capability in 2021.
Oil company engineers working with Empirica now realise clear and impressive benefits. Most importantly they can be confident their wells are safe, though also realise valuable efficiency gains as well as surprising well availability and production gains.
GMVi Team
Stuart Girling
I remember very well the first time I was on a wellsite. I was just 22 and felt so excited to be part of a pioneering, frontier industry. Since then I have worked all over the world, in fascinating locations and with many great people, but always around wells and production engineering. Every week of my career I have been inspired by the ideas and innovation in the oil & gas wells business.
Today our industry faces huge challenges and changes. It is clear that the impacts of pollution, climate change and biodiversity loss are real. At the same time we face increasing demand for energy and energy security concerns. It is important that our industry, companies and individuals do what we can to tackle these great challenges of our time.
All these years later I am still excited. Now I work with drilling and production engineers helping them make a big difference, combining their ideas and innovations with ours.
John McIntosh
In 2002 I started to look at the potential to develop better applications for problems I’d frequently experienced, after 12 great years travelling the world as a drilling contractor.
It has never made sense to limit our toolkit to the basics of word processing, spreadsheets and presentations. Designing and making better applications for the professional world of E&P is endlessly rewarding work - and getting to work directly with our customers is the best part of it.
The response to climate change impacts everything done today by the worldwide E&P industry. I believe that responsible production of hydrocarbons is both inevitable and necessary. Our customers are the custodians of vast reserves of primary energy that the human population depends on until alternatives can replace them.
Tomorrow, I will wake up inspired to improve what we already do and perhaps to create something new.
john.mcintosh@gmvi.co.uk
Robert Farrell
I’ve always been an analytical person, someone who wants to understand why things are the way they are.
Over my lifetime I’ve seen technology evolve at such a tremendous pace, but it’s only since my time working that I’ve seen the real challenge of achieving cultural change within an organisation.
As the industry adapts to the energy transition, I believe technology and people are the two factors that will support this challenge. I don’t believe success will be delivered without both. Technology can be an incredible enabler for change, however it’s often the people, who are incredibly adaptable, that shape success.
As a business analyst my job is to ask the questions "What, Why, Where, Who, How and When". My motivation is to bridge the gap between the current way and the future vision; by listening to the problems that keep people awake at night.
Since working in the industry there is one common thread I have seen repeatedly, it's that change is never instant, it takes time and patience for true transformational change to be sustainable.
robert.farrell@gmvi.co.uk
Moulshree Kumar
When I was a kid, I noticed everything around me go digital. I no longer needed a separate device for my alarm, I didn’t need to wait months before my handwritten letter was delivered to my father working overseas, and I didn’t have to wait in the queue to get movie tickets. Life was becoming better, and I had the tech world to thank for it.
I have been working with software since 2014 and I believe any challenge in today’s world can be tackled with the right expertise and technology. The oil and gas industry is no different. The industry faces huge challenges today, but the need for energy is only increasing.
I know my generation doesn’t approve of oil and gas, but I am excited to work here. Collaborating with knowledgeable teams, using technology to innovate and improve the way the industry works is a great motivator for me.
We are ready to help you
Implementation support
Your well delivery process can be mapped into Eikos with our support. Similarly, we can help you build well designs, well types, and well failure models in Empirica. This can save you time, get results quicker and help recognise improvements where required.
Objectives & progress reviews
Objectives setting and periodic reviews are invaluable for you to understand and communicate what you want to achieve using Eikos or Empirica. They help us help you achieve you goals and correct things when they go wrong.
Supporting you all the way
Your team can benefit from one-on-one training. Getting started training helps all new users, setting them up for success. We are also always ready to help experienced users get more from our applications.
Long-term improvements
You can use the implementation stage to identify bigger picture process development and well risk management improvements, creating long-term benefits and value.
Working with you
Your unique culture, processes and standards shape how you use your systems. You know what you do best; we strive to supplement this and add value to it.
Never too early
You may be at an early stage, with under-developed processes, or in the conceptual design phase, but early implementation of Eikos and Empirica will benefit you throughout your project life cycle.