AI Where the Work Already Happens: Scaling Subsurface Analytics Without Building From Scratch
Listen time 40:20
Most subsurface AI initiatives stall in the same place: a promising prototype that never makes it into production. A data scientist builds something impressive in a notebook, the demo goes well, and then the project quietly dies. It can’t connect to the systems where logs, tops, surveys, and production data actually live, and the geoscientists and engineers who would use it every day were never part of the equation.
This episode examines why operators, service companies, investment organizations, and consultants keep hitting that wall, and why the answer usually isn’t a bespoke application. Building custom software means signing up for data plumbing, security reviews, ongoing maintenance, and the risk that institutional knowledge walks out the door when one key developer leaves. For most organizations, that’s a poor trade. The harder problems, including governed data access, analytics that scale from a single wellbore to an entire basin, and workflows practitioners actually trust, have already been solved in platforms teams use today.
The conversation covers what it takes to move AI from prototype to production in subsurface workflows: where GenAI genuinely helps decision-making right now, where it’s overhyped, and how a platform-based approach serves organizations with very different needs. A multi-basin operator screening thousands of wells, a PE-backed team evaluating acreage without a data science bench, and a small consultancy delivering client work all face the same underlying question of whether to build from scratch or launch from something proven. This episode makes the practical case for the latter, with concrete examples of AI-assisted workflows spanning interpretation, field development, and production analytics, and a realistic view of what getting started actually looks like.
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About our guest
Drew leads the Applications Engineering efforts for Energy & Subsurface as part of the Verticals GTM Strategy team at Spotfire. In his current role, Drew is responsible for growing Spotfire’s footprint within the energy industry through product demos, engaging with customers and partners, guiding feature development, informing GTM & Corporate Strategy, and providing subject matter expertise across the organization. Drew leverages his wide-ranging experience in Geoscience, Data Analytics, and GIS, spanning roles in Exploration, Development, and Operations across multiple basins, both onshore and offshore U.S., to implement Spotfire solutions focused on cross-domain decision-making, reducing subsurface uncertainty, and deploying advanced analytics and AI on heterogeneous technical datasets. He is a contributor in the Spotfire community and in local professional organizations like RMAG. Drew holds multiple degrees in Geology, GIS & Remote Sensing, and currently resides in Golden, CO.
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About the Author
Christopher E. SmithChristopher E. Smith
Editor in Chief
Chris joined Oil & Gas Journal in 2005 as Pipeline Editor, having already worked for more than a decade in a variety of oil and gas industry analysis and reporting roles. He became editor-in-chief in 2019 and head of content in 2025.