meet the brains of the oilfield

Chevron workers are pictured monitoring computers at our Integrated Operations Control Center in Midland, Texas.

When Matthew Konieczka walks into Chevron’s Integrated Operations Control Center (IOCC) in Midland, Texas, it’s as if he’s entering the nerve center of our Permian Basin operations. Large screens—paired with sophisticated control panels—provide workers with real-time analysis of operations every minute of the day.

It’s an incredible sight for Konieczka, the Mid-Continent IOCC’s superintendent of operations, as he recalls a time when operations were less sophisticated.

“In the past when there was an issue, field operators would get an alarm in the middle of the night, have to crawl out of bed, open their laptop and if necessary, drive to a site to inspect the asset,” he said. “Today, operators are monitoring the facilities from the IOCC and can in certain circumstances resolve an issue without even having to leave the building.”

Our Mid-Continent Business IOCC is among several we’ve installed throughout our U.S. and global operations.

In a sprawling facility in northwest Kazakhstan, you’ll find an IOCC that allows us to control local field production from a single location.

The center highlights a new way of working in Tengiz, one of the world’s deepest producing supergiant oil field, as well as the ways in which IOCCs can drive better collaboration and decision making throughout the value chain.

The Kazakhstan IOCC is changing how we run the Tengiz operation by integrating all control rooms into a centralized, state-of-the-art building, applying advanced technologies and new workflows to optimize our operations.

The center is considered the brains of Kazakhstan operations; it is integrating all the different processing powers and field facilities considered crucial to the success of our business.

The IOCC program in Kazakhstan was commissioned earlier this year.

The project’s success was the result of a team effort among Chevron, ExxonMobil, KazMunayGas and LukArco, who formed the Tengizchevroil joint venture decades ago to develop the Tengiz field.

Chevron’s IOCCs serve as the nerve centers for operations in Chevron units throughout the globe.

• In northern Colorado, our IOCC allows our automated oil and natural gas facilities to be monitored and controlled remotely and in real time.
• In the San Joaquin Valley, we are consolidating all oil and water plant centers from six fields into a central location.
• In Thailand, more than 1,000 hours of field remote operations and controls have been logged for three fields since the unit’s new IOCC room opened in October 2021.
• At Chevron’s Mid-Continent Business Unit, our central operations hub allows us to monitor, control and optimize our unconventional assets.