We tend to associate blockchain tech with cutting-edge developments. With creating entirely new opportunities or revolutionizing existing systems beyond all recognition. Connecting the world, wiping out poverty, eradicating fraud, even taking to the skies – they are just a handful of the uses for this wonder tech.

But blockchain can be applied to traditional industries as well, not to shake them up, just to make things better. And that’s finally starting to become a reality in oil and gas.

In a well-established, slow-to-change industry, it may be surprising to hear that oil and gas is at last adopting blockchain. Yet that would be doing it a disservice. Since the very real fact of finite resources hit home and plummeting oil values sent alarm bells ringing, hydrocarbon companies everywhere have had to adapt or die.

Even Saudi Arabia, a country in which a liter of oil is cheaper than a liter of water, is busy diversifying for its future. So, what help can blockchain tech bring to the oil and gas industry to keep it on its toes?

Improving Order-to-Cash Processing

Built on the Ethereum blockchain, Ondiflo is a joint venture of Amalto, a Paris-based cash-to-order company, and ConsenSys, an experienced Ethereum developer. The idea is to provide digital solutions for order-to-cash processing. And it’s about time.

When so many of our established systems are tied up in antiquated processes, digitization will improve life for every stakeholder involved, increasing efficiency in production and reducing heavy lifting.

Applying blockchain technology to oil and gas makes for more efficient scheduling and dispatching, more precise measurement of volumes of liquid, more accurate invoicing and record-keeping, and reduced revenue leakage. It will also make coding errors a thing of the past. It’s another smart way of fixing broken links in the supply chain, this time for oil and gas.

Oil and Gas Gets Digital

Based in Houston, Texas, the beating heart of the US oil and gas industry, Ondiflo’s Ethereum smart contracts will allow it to create a ticket-based automated system. This will make the order-to-cash process more streamlined and bring paper records into a digital ecosystem at last. It’s hard to believe that in 2018, these processes are still being carried out using paperwork. Not only is the industry busy burning through oil and gas, they’re wasting paper as well – and a whole lot of manpower on top.

And, as is the nature of blockchain, data through proof of work is another major benefit. Transactions will be settled in minutes rather than days, human error will be cut out of the equation, and the risks of tampering and corruption will disappear. This will lead to increased profits and efficiency all around, and a chance to stay competitive amidst emerging alternatives.