How artificial intelligence is shaking up the oil and gas industry

The Azeri-Chirag-Deepwater Gunashli (ACG), a sprawling complex of offshore oil fields 60 miles off Azerbaijan's capital Baku, is causing somewhat of a headache for BP's head of technology. "We have huge production in Azerbaijan of wells that are quite prone to producing sand, and sand if it's produced in high quantities from our oil wells can do damage to the metalwork and also choke back the production," says David Eyton. The ACG, which pumps out an average of 584,000 barrels of oil per day, is a prized asset for BP, and any hold ups could cost the company dearly. But the man leading BP's technology revolution think he has a solution: artificial intelligence (AI).