Terraform Applications in the Oil and Gas Industry

In the fast-evolving world of the oil and gas industry, staying ahead of the curve is crucial. Tech-savvy professionals are turning to innovative solutions, and one name that is making waves is Terraform. But what exactly is Terraform, and how is it reshaping the landscape at companies like Petronas?

Defining DevOps

DevOps is not just a buzzword; DevOps is the answer if you want to build better software faster. According to GitLab, DevOps is a software engineering methodology that aims to integrate the work of development teams and operations teams by facilitating a culture of collaboration and shared responsibility.

The Petronas IT Landscape

To understand Petronas' journey with DevOps; you need to picture their extensive IT setup. They have more than 700 ongoing IT projects, more than 2,000 applications for 50,000 users, and more than 1,800 employees that create 18,000 tickets a month. That is a lot to handle! With a complex system like this, the case for change and the adoption of DevOps becomes clear, promising efficiency and benefits.

The Road to DevOps

Petronas embarked on their DevOps journey in 2017. They chose a strategic approach: they empowered a dedicated team with control over five key applications. Their mission? Implement the tooling of their dreams. If it worked, they would scale it across the organization. This approach paid off. The team's rapid response and successful tool implementation signaled that those closest to the work know best. It is a lesson in empowering experts to drive change.

Terraforming the Future

While many aspects of DevOps thrived, infrastructure automation lagged. Issues like environment readiness and consistency persisted. Enter Terraform, the final piece of the puzzle. Petronas adopted Terraform best practices, including rigorous planning and approval gates for changes. They constructed code structures to suit the project's complexity and purpose and they cloud stored Terraform states to enable team collaboration and auditability.

To standardize deployment, accelerate configurations, and maintain best practices, Petronas devised a Landing Zone Hierarchy -the composition of multiple resources that deliver a full application environment-, categorizing workloads at different levels. Each level has its own agent and Terraform state, ensuring a controlled and consistent approach to infrastructure.

The Transformation

Petronas' journey from manual forms to efficient Terraform-driven infrastructure provisioning is a compelling tale of embracing DevOps and innovation. The nightmares of bureaucratic form filling are replaced with an automated, efficient process. The focus now is on achieving full automation for infrastructure provisioning, aligning with the infrastructure-as-code roadmap.

In Conclusion

In the oil and gas industry, staying competitive means embracing technology. Petronas' journey with Terraform illustrates the power of DevOps and infrastructure automation in streamlining operations.

If you are ready to master Terraform and propel your career in the oil and gas industry, join Bow River Solutions' Terraform Proficiency Course. Learn the intricacies of installation, planning, deployment, and maintenance to manage infrastructure as code. This 15-hour instructor-led virtual course is tailor-made for Cloud Engineers and Cloud Architects with previous cloud experience, eager to delve into the world of infrastructure as code (IaC).

Do not miss this opportunity to acquire a robust skill set for seamless infrastructure management in Terraform. Contact Andrea Lopes, our Director of Education & Training, at andrea.lopes@bowriversolutions.com for more information. Bring your data to life.