Building the Workforce of the Future
Digital Innovations in Oil and Gas with Geoffrey Cann
Release Date: 01/31/2025
Methane Matters
Digital Innovations in Oil and Gas with Geoffrey Cann
The oil and gas industry is sitting on a ticking environmental and financial liability. Around the world, millions of wells have been drilled to date, many more will be drilled, and all will eventually need to be plugged and abandoned. Today, the US alone has thousands of orphaned and marginal wells, many leaking methane, a greenhouse gas many times more potent than carbon dioxide. With underfunded asset retirement obligations and inconsistent plugging practices of the past, the sector faces mounting pressure to act—but struggles to finance solutions at scale. There is a potential...
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700 Ways to Boost Cash Flow in Oil and Gas
Digital Innovations in Oil and Gas with Geoffrey Cann
The oil market is once again bracing for change, with OPEC signaling their interest in unlocking supply that has been withheld. For producers, this looming oversupply translates into a fresh imperative: cut costs. The oil and gas sector, long accustomed to volatility, must now sharpen its cost control strategies in the face of intensifying pressure on margins. Matthew Hatami, a professional engineer, entrepreneur, and author, joins me on this episode to discuss the tools and tactics operators can use to improve free cash flow. With experience spanning Halliburton, Hess,...
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Fracking Reinvented
Digital Innovations in Oil and Gas with Geoffrey Cann
For decades, hydraulic fracturing—or fracking—has relied heavily on water and sand to crack underground rock and release oil and gas. Fracking is safe, proven, and reliable, and in collaboration with horizontal drilling, has resulted in the huge growth in hydro carbon production in the US and Canada. But fresh water is a scarce resource particularly in arid settings, and in many places under stress because of climate change. Disposal of used water is a technical challenge and costly. The sand resource, or proppant, is both costly to mine and heavy to ship. The mechanical...
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Mapping The Wet Frontier
Digital Innovations in Oil and Gas with Geoffrey Cann
Despite covering over 70% of our planet, the oceans and seas remain largely unmapped and poorly understood. Collecting useable data about the oceans is hard and expensive--reliant on specialized costly vessels, old-school technologies, and plenty of labour. The comparison to land mapping technologies (like Google Earth) is stark--we have near-total visibility of land-based infrastructure, continuously updated, and collected by satellite. Subsea infrastructure, like pipelines and cables, are managed with minimal, outdated, and isolated datasets. This gap in oceanic intelligence is an...
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Empirical Gas
Digital Innovations in Oil and Gas with Geoffrey Cann
Natural gas producers have long struggled to differentiate their product in a market that treats gas as a commodity. When it comes to carbon intensity (CI), the industry is reliant on emission factors and self-reported data, and lacks a credible, data-driven approach to proving their gas carries a lower CI. With new regulations like the Inflation Reduction Act’s Waste Emission Charge and Europe’s carbon border tax, the opportunity to produce verifiable low-emission gas has grown dramatically. Enter “empirical gas”—natural gas measured in real time with actual data instead of...
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Opening Oil & Gas to the World: Tokenization and the Future of Investment
Digital Innovations in Oil and Gas with Geoffrey Cann
The oil and gas industry has traditionally relied on financial instruments like futures and private equity—frameworks that have largely benefitted institutional investors while leaving little room for broader participation. But as digital assets continue to reshape capital markets, tokenization presents a new way forward. With blockchain technology and regulatory frameworks maturing, real-world asset-backed tokens are gaining traction - even in sectors once considered too complex for digital finance. In this episode, I speak with , Co-Founder of a security...
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How Big Oil Fell Behind In The Digital Race
Digital Innovations in Oil and Gas with Geoffrey Cann
Twenty years ago, Big Oil companies like Shell and Exxon were the stars of the capital markets. Huge revenues, stellar profits, high share prices, robust price/earning ratios and reliable dividends placed these companies among the world’s best, magnets for top engineering talent and voices of influence in the halls of governments globally. But no more. They lost the market leadership crown to the digital giants, including Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google. Oil and gas concerns are still market...
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Beyond the Lens
Digital Innovations in Oil and Gas with Geoffrey Cann
Industrial operations have long depended on the OODA loop—Observe, Orient, Decide, Act—a military-inspired decision framework that works, but at great cost. It requires physical presence, human expertise, and often misses key variables hidden from view. This age-old method is embedded across energy infrastructure—from wells to refineries. The digital age, however, is transforming our ability to observe. With billions of video-capable devices generating colossal amounts of data, and artificial intelligence now capable of interpreting this data in real time, there’s a game-changing...
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The Future of Offshore Connectivity
Digital Innovations in Oil and Gas with Geoffrey Cann
Offshore oil and gas operations are among the most complex and remote in the world. From harsh weather to limited physical access, these environments demand reliable, high-speed communications to enable modern digital workflows and keep operations running safely and efficiently. As offshore operations become more autonomous and data-driven, the traditional telecom models fall short. Legacy systems struggle to meet rising demands for bandwidth, low latency, and mobility—especially when platforms are unmanned or vessels are constantly on the move. is addressing this head-on by delivering...
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Corrosion Under Insulation
Digital Innovations in Oil and Gas with Geoffrey Cann
Pipes are the silent workhorses of the process industries—hidden in plain sight yet essential for daily operations. But what happens when these unassuming assets begin to fail? A recent catastrophic water main rupture in Calgary serves as a stark reminder that even the most robust infrastructure is vulnerable, especially when degradation hides under insulation. The challenge of inspecting and maintaining piping is immense. Facilities house millions of miles of pipe, much of it exposed to harsh climates, inaccessible locations, and made from materials with complex corrosion profiles. Layer on...
info_outlineThe energy industry faces a dual challenge: addressing the growing skills gap as experienced workers retire, and attracting a tech-savvy younger workforce. Meanwhile, digital transformation is reshaping the landscape, introducing complex tools like AI and automation into traditional workflows.
In this episode, I interview Ron Crabtree, CEO of MetaOps and MetaExperts, about bridging the workforce gap. The interview considers how companies can identify critical skills for the future, implement effective mentorship programs, and create the kinds of roles that attract and retain young talent. We flag the “wisdom gap” caused by retiring baby boomers and consider steps to build a digitally capable workforce.
Ron has worked across a broad range of industries, and brings this experience from a career in lean Six Sigma, digital transformation, and talent solutions. I like this episode because energy leaders are already grappling with workforce sustainability in a competitive and evolving market.
About the Guest
Ron Crabtree is the CEO of MetaOps and MetaExperts, a leader in lean Six Sigma and talent solutions. With over two decades of consulting experience across industries like manufacturing, healthcare, and energy, Ron specializes in digital transformation, workforce optimization, and process improvement. A Master Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, he has authored five books and designed training programs used by leading corporations worldwide. Ron also hosts the MetaPod podcast, tackling business challenges in tangible goods sectors.
✨ Connect with Ron:
🌐 MetaExperts Website: MetaExperts
💼 LinkedIn: Ron Crabtree LinkedIn
Additional Tools & Resources
📖 Blog Series: Geoffrey Cann’s Digital Oil and Gas Insights
📚 Online Training: Digital Strategy Course for Oil and Gas
🎙 Podcast Archive: Digital Innovations in Oil and Gas
Connect with Me
🌐 Website: GeoffreyCann.com
💼 LinkedIn: Geoffrey Cann LinkedIn
🐦 Twitter: @GeoffreyCann
Contact for Lectures and Keynotes
🎤 I regularly speak on digital transformation, energy workforce challenges, and emerging technology trends. Let’s discuss your next event. Contact Me Here
Disclaimer
❗ The views expressed in this podcast are my own and do not constitute professional advice.