Abstract

E-business this, e-business that, brick and mortar, click and mortar. What does it all mean? With the explosion of the Internet, business portals and B2B online exchanges, it was just a matter of time before the oil and gas companies and service companies began using this new tool.

Looking beyond fundamental implementations such as setting up a web site to market products, this paper outlines an e-business working model for launching far-reaching initiatives that incorporate many or all divisions that deliver products and services to the E&P arena via the Internet. Some case studies will be examined as well.

Introduction

Presently, there are many in the general business populous that view e-business as a passing fad or only as an experiment that has gone down in flames. Some others view e-business as dot.com companies such as Amazon.com, e-Bay.com, or Travelocity.com, and believe the new technology does not apply to brick and mortar companies. So, does this mean e-business is history for older, established companies? Absolutely not! Applied in the right business models, the Internet is already proving to be an important tool in many old economy and new economy companies. Although, through the entire dot com fall-out, we have to be mindful about the importance of business fundamentals.

Many of us became overly enthused by the wonderful possibilities of e-business. Certainly there have been many ideas that didn't make business sense. On the other hand, there are many ebusiness models that are being implemented today, with the overall business structure and process in mind going forward. While organizations are not yet buying a large portion of their goods online, there's a significant momentum to use the Internet for information gathering and collaborating with suppliers. Basically, in the short-term, the most significant benefit boils down to communication and collaboration. For the petroleum industry, particularly the E&P side, this is where we also believe the most substantial short-term benefit lies.

This paper will discuss the rationale and benefits from online communication and collaboration via Internet implementation. We will also discuss some of the latest developments and trends going forward and what the future holds for e-business in the oil industry.

Where Did it All Before the Internet boom, e-business started with EDI (Electronic Data Interchange). Many Start? businesses and the government have been involved in e-business for years. Basically, these organizations used expensive, private networks, which applied standard procedures and formats to process their data exchange. EDI worked well for order exchange and payment exchange, but offered nothing to support product selection queries, or much benefit with Just InTime, Customer Relationship Management, and Maintenance Resource Operation systems. Also

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