Powering the Permian – Shephard Safety Solutions introduce AI tech in oil and gas, one of the first in West Texas

MIDLAND, Texas (KMID/KPEJ) – When you think of Artificial Intelligence, known as AI, what comes to mind? Is it those 'too good to be true' pictures on Facebook? Or what about the self-checkout at the grocery store?

What if the technology could be used to help with safety and efficiency for our oil and gas workers? ABC Big 2's Chris Talley had the chance to take a look at how one local safety company was the first in the Permian Basin to introduce AI in their day-to-day operations.

ICYMI: Oil and Gas expert weighs in how Trump presidency will affect oil and gas

At the sound of an emergency on the oil field, Miranda Denton and her team at Shephard Safety Solutions in Midland are ready to protect not just their employees, but oil field workers across the over 100 companies they service in the Permian Basin.

"My guys are kind of like the firefighters on location, but they fight gas instead of fires so I have to train them how to do that," explained Denton the Health Safety Environmental Manager.

But they wouldn't be able to do that without the proper tools, "So every light has its own meaning, every siren has its own meaning, So [these gas detection devices] tell you what gas is out on location, it has its own little sensor inside, I don't know how much you know about H2S or LEL, but it is one of the two most dangerous gases out on location," explained Denton. One of their missions is to minimize greenhouse gas emissions from polluting the environment. The company's CEO tells Big 2, technology plays a big role in making this happen.

"We are a digitally driven company, from our internal equipment to everything we are doing in the field for customers we are very technology driven," said Seth Long, CEO of Shephard Safety Solutions.

At the beginning of 2024, The Company's technology tool box expanded, as Shepard Safety introduced a new way to work efficiently, with an app known as Safety Mojo .

"What Safety Mojo is, is an artificial intelligence safety software," said Sonja Ikeler, the Business Development Manager of Mojo AI. Ikeler is behind the introduction of the software in the oil and gas space in January 2024. The technology started off for the construction industry and branched off from there. She said this is the future of efficiency.

"It allows them to pull frontline information literally at the point of incident or observation and then it's all in real time – that is the power of it," said Ikeler.

Safety Mojo allows the user to use a talk-to-text feature to fill out several documents without the hassle of any physical paperwork. Long explained how the app was a perfect fit. "They've gotten all of our documentation tailored for us in the system. It allows our workforce to be in the field, to have direct access to all our documentation but to also have a conversation with the app," said Long. And an even better fit when it comes to the vehicles that take them to the many job sites across the basin, Josh Mansell uses the app on a daily basis for his fleet team at Shephard Safety.

"It's easier to hold the guys accountable for doing their daily inspections on their trucks and it's easy to pull up the app and see whose done it and not have to go through piles of paperwork," said Mansell. With a benefit to take both companies to the future. "AI, as a whole, it's here, it's who's going to adapt to it and use it," said Ikeler. "It's part of something that is really going to set us apart as a competitive business in the oil and gas space any leg up we can get – we want," said Long.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Yourbasin.

STORY: Shell has won an appeal against a landmark climate order for it to cut greenhouse gas emissions.The appeals court in The Hague dismissed the 2021 ruling that Shell must cut its absolute carbon emissions by 45% by 2030, relative to 2019 levels.That included emissions caused by the use of its products.The case had been brought Friends of the Earth Netherlands, known as Milieudefensie.But presiding judge Carla Joustra said Shell was already on its way to meet required targets for its own emissions."Shell has set a specific reduction target for scope 1 and 2 that means its scope 1 and 2 emissions will be reduced by 50% by 2030 compared to 2016. Furthermore, it follows from the documents provided by Shell that it had already achieved a 31% reduction by 2023. So Shell is already doing what Milieudefensie is claiming from it. Milieudefensie's claim regarding scope 1 and 2 is therefore not admissible."The Dutch court did say, however, that the oil giant has a responsibility to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to protect people from global warming.It said Shell was already on its way to meet required targets for its own emissions.And it said that it was unclear if demands to reduce emissions caused by the use of its products would help the fight against climate change.The ruling coincides with the COP29 U.N. climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan.On the agenda is a continuation of last year's talks about transitioning away from fossil fuels. Shell Chief Executive Officer Wael Sawan welcomed the decision, saying Shell believed it was "the right one for the global energy transition, the Netherlands and our company."Milieudefensie said it was disappointed about Shell's victory and would continue its fight against large polluters."This really touches me. This should have been the moment of a real breakthrough in the fight against dangerous climate change. That didn't happen today, but the fight against dangerous climate change is a marathon, not a sprint, and the race has only just begun."