Ecopetrol SA, Accenture and Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS) announced a first-of-its-kind solution for water intelligence and management to help advance sustainability and operational efficiencies for energy companies. 

The availability of water, one of the world’s key sustainable development goals, is a critical business imperative for resource-dependent industries. This new solution, to be housed on an open platform, addresses the entire water lifecycle—from access to treatment, recycle/reuse and disposal—enabling organizations to seek water neutrality alongside net-zero carbon emissions for a sustainable future.   

Working closely with Ecopetrol and AWS, Accenture developed the cloud-based water management solution, which will:

• Become an industry platform that creates a single source of data, connecting existing ad hoc information to water volume and quality analyses, as well as costs optimization across the value chain to support decision-making;
• Apply advanced analytics to optimize water management and enhance integrated water efficiency management;
• Build an ecosystem where participants can share data and promote water reuse within and between industries.

The water intelligence and management solution will leverage Accenture industry insights and leading cloud capabilities from AWS, such as high-performance computing, storage, machine learning and artificial intelligence. The solution will help Ecopetrol reduce its water footprint by providing a greater understanding of how to decrease the amount of fresh water it captures from local sources to improve water treatment; and increase the reuse of produced water and wastewater in refining, exploration and production assets.

“Our vision is for the energy industry to lead on technological solutions to achieve water neutrality,” said Felipe Bayón, Chief Executive Officer at Ecopetrol. “Collaboration is needed to truly ignite change because companies cannot solve environmental challenges alone. We will use this platform to accelerate our TESG (technology, environmental, social and governance) strategy, including our goals of reducing 66% of fresh water captured and zero discharges to surface water by 2045, improving the environment for the communities where we operate.”

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“Ecopetrol is visionary in its aspiration to achieve water neutrality—and in helping the energy industry advance toward this critical sustainability goal,” said Julie Sweet, Chair and Chief Executive Officer at Accenture. “We are honored to be working with Ecopetrol and AWS on this industrial-strength solution, which we will continuously evolve as technology advances and industries identify new applications.”

The solution will extend beyond the energy sector to help companies across industries meet their water resource challenges.

“The conservation and sustainable management of water is a priority for communities and companies around the world, and through leveraging the breadth and depth of AWS, Ecopetrol and Accenture are tackling this challenge at scale,” said Adam Selipsky, Chief Executive Officer at AWS. “Like other sustainability initiatives, water conservation is a big data problem. By combining data from previously disparate sources across Ecopetrol’s operations, and using AWS cloud-based machine learning and artificial intelligence services, this technology will enable companies across the energy industry to achieve water neutrality.”  

Source: Accenture