Blockchain is a powerful peer-to-peer network technology
that uses advanced computer science techniques to
efficiently enable completely trustworthy interactions
between parties, even if they don’t completely trust each
other. In a nutshell, it is a shared electronic ledger that
can be accessed and managed by multiple parties—even
those that are unknown or anonymous—yet is extremely
reliable, secure, and immutable (i.e., ledger entries cannot
be modified after they are created).
Much like the impact of the emergence of other modern
payment systems, blockchain is likely to change the
fundamentals of transacting and create opportunity for a
near-infinite number of applications.
With blockchain, companies can execute and record
transactions and information with unprecedented
reliability. They can also achieve “optimal transparency”
when sharing information—controlling exactly what
information gets shared and who it gets shared with—
and can do so not only reliably but also, if desired,
anonymously.
To understand the tremendous value of a trust
mechanism like blockchain, it helps to think about the
various ways businesses have traditionally achieved a
workable level of trust. The oldest and arguably most
important trust mechanism is relationships; however,
those take significant time and effort to create and are
not 100 percent reliable. Another is legal contracts,
but those also require significant time and effort to
create and administer; in addition, they can also involve
costly legal fees and are never air tight, which means,
in practice, adherence often defaults to the strength of
the underlying relationship anyway. Last, but not least, is
the involvement of a third-party intermediary (such as a
bank, broker, exchange, credit rating agency, or regulatory
entity) to provide a neutral and reliable mechanism for
transactions and other interactions that require trust.
Intermediaries are very common in today’s business
processes; however, they tend to be very expensive,
typically charging a commission that is equal to a small
percentage of each transaction but in total reach to a
large dollar amount. Also, the level of trust provided is
still ultimately limited by the trust and reliability of each
intermediary and its supporting operations.
Although blockchain seems to be generating the most buzz in
financial services, the networked infrastructure of the energy
industry makes it particularly suited for blockchain technology
applications. And with the rise of IoT, the entire energy industry
may soon find its operations transformed into a vast global
network of connected devices all feeding digital data into
blockchain-enabled platforms that can capture and share
information in real time.
Here’s a closer look at four specific use cases that illustrate
blockchain’s potential in energy and resources.
Energy transacting
One of the most obvious and powerful uses for a digital
ledger technology like blockchain is to provide a reliable and
efficient platform for executing and recording transactions
(and for tracking ownership as assets change hands multiple
times before settlement). With blockchain, transactions can
be recorded and settled almost instantly, with no need for an
intermediary and with little or no need for reconciliation since all
parties are using the same platform. In fact, there is essentially
nothing to reconcile since there is only one system and one
entry for the transaction, which is shared by all parties. What’s
more, a blockchain entry can include executable computer
code that reflects the terms of the contract—creating a “smart
contract” that automatically validates transactions without
the need for human intervention. Blockchain’s suitability as an
efficient and reliable shared trading platform could be applied
to both physical and financial trading across the full spectrum
of energy commodities. In the power sector specifically, as
distributed energy resources continue to penetrate the grid,
blockchain has the potential to enable peer-to-peer transacting
between end users. These localized trading networks could
alleviate systemic inefficiencies such as transmission line losses,
congestion, and volatile price formation.
Regulatory reporting and compliance
Regulators are increasingly requiring energy and resources
companies to provide vast amounts of data that can be
analyzed to detect non-compliance and other regulatory
issues. With current technologies and methods, gathering and
cleaning up the required data is a huge burden. There’s also
significant risk that the data could fall into the wrong hands
and be misused, exposing sensitive corporate information and
putting a company at a competitive disadvantage. Blockchain
could potentially eliminate most of these issues, enabling
transparency by allowing regulators to securely access clean,
tamper-proof data at the source, while at the same time allowing
companies to retain strict control over what information is
available and who is allowed to access it. An important benefit
of using a blockchain-based platform to share information with
regulators is that it would create a standard data format for key
areas of industry, which is something that is simply unavailable
at the moment.
Global supply network
The end-to-end process of getting hydrocarbons out of the
ground, converting it into a usable form, and then delivering it to
customers involves numerous steps and many different players,
from major energy companies to government inspectors to
individual service providers, and everything in between. At the
moment, the systems and information to support all of these
steps are often highly disjointed and siloed, making it nearly
impossible to get a comprehensive view of what’s happening
and preventing companies from enhancing the process.
We have prototyped a platform that could be used to
support the entire end-to-end process. Such a platform creates
much more value with a digital ledger technology such as
blockchain, which provides the real-time speed and efficiency,
tamper-proof reliability, traceability, and transparency to allow
companies to share information on a common platform
without fear of having their sensitive, business-critical
information compromised.
Such a platform could become even more important as
connected devices are increasingly used to capture real-time
data and artificial intelligence predicts and reacts to demand—
all without the need for human interaction.
Asset optimization across sectors
In both the oil and gas, and power and utilities sectors, one of
the principal challenges is making asset optimization decisions
in a highly siloed environment where separate entities each
have a competitive incentive to hold their cards close to the vest.
In today’s extended enterprise environment, the interaction
with thousands of suppliers, vendors, and counterparties drives
up complexity and cost. Blockchain can help companies monitor
compliance from their suppliers and ultimately reduce costs. By
enabling transparency that allows each entity to reveal only the
information that is necessary for collaboration, while masking
critical proprietary information that is a source of competitive
advantage, a digital ledger technology such as blockchain makes
it possible for the industry to reduce costs while improving
reliability and distribution efficiency. Blockchain may also
supplant the role of major transmission intermediaries by
facilitating the coordination and delivery of power across broad
geographies on a low-cost and automated basis.
Blockchain has the potential to unlock substantial value across the
energy and resources industry, due in part to:
• Improved visibility, collaboration, and operating efficiency made
possible by blockchain’s transparency
• Removal of expensive market frictions and intermediaries
• More efficient back-office processes, including expedited
settlement cycles
• Streamlined regulatory reporting and improved data
standardization
• Creation of new business models and monetization of new
blockchain platforms across the industry
Key strategic questions:
• How can this technology enable transformation in adapting
to new infrastructure models and a challenging commodities
environment? How do we integrate these platforms into
legacy systems?
• Could there be a first-mover advantage similar to what has been
observed through the capture of low-cost licenses in automation?
• As new blockchain-based marketplaces open up, how can
companies maintain relevance and achieve advantaged positioning?
• How should investments be made given the relative lack of
standardization and regulatory approval? How should regulators
be engaged while building these new blockchain-based platforms?
• How can the talent be sourced that is required to innovate in the
blockchain space?
Blockchain is a disruptive technology that will require a significant
investment of time, money, and effort. However, because the
potential strategic impacts and opportunities for value creation
are so compelling, the required investment can be relatively easy
to justify. In reality, the biggest obstacles to blockchain adoption
in energy and resources have nothing to do with technology or
economics and everything to do with people—specifically, getting
the right players to buy into the blockchain vision and then working
together to make it happen.
• Coming together to create a solution: One of the biggest
obstacles to blockchain adoption in energy and resources will likely
be getting companies to cooperate and collaborate—creating a
common vision, developing common standards, and agreeing to
build and use a common platform. Whether companies are direct
competitors or supply chain partners, each has a strategic interest
in maintaining some kind of edge over other companies. However,
blockchain’s ability to create significant value for the industry
as a whole means that every company also has an incentive to
cooperate. We are already engaging in building blockchain
solutions with individual companies throughout the industry, and
we are seeing compelling business cases and momentum towards
shaping the future of energy’s transaction ecosystem. Our belief is
that different companies will need to come together in the spirit of
competitive collaboration, with the goal of expanding the value pie
for everyone. While the challenge of joining a consortium requires
significant resources, the cost of being closed out of these newly
emerging markets may become much more expensive as the
landscape evolves.
• Getting regulators on board: We have also been closely
monitoring public comment from regulators, and engaging in
prototyping for a blockchain-based regulatory platform. To
that end, it’s in the industry’s best interest to take the lead in
developing and championing a practical blockchain vision and
workable, real-world solutions—so that lawmakers and regulators
have a strong, practical base to build on.
Making the vision a reality
Blockchain is a breakthrough trust mechanism that can
remove the need for costly intermediaries and enable an
unprecedented level of transparency, coordination, and
information sharing across the energy industry—while
at the same time allowing companies to retain control
over sensitive information that gives them a competitive
advantage in the marketplace. As such, it has tremendous
potential to improve both efficiency and effectiveness,
creating value for the entire industry. Many startups are
investing and trying to disrupt industries by leveraging
blockchain. And energy is no exception. However, capturing
the full benefits of blockchain will require a concerted effort
on many fronts, so incumbents should lead the definition
of their own future. It’s time to build the next generation of
your business
