Digital Transformation Committee appoints new Chair

The IOGP Digital Transformation Committee (DTC) has appointed Keith Johnston, Chevron, as its new Chair. He brings more than 25 years’ experience in oil and gas facilities design and construction. Over the past seven years, he has focused on digital transformation, both within Chevron’s enterprise engineering function and across the wider industry through IOGP, the World Economic Forum and other collaborative work fronts.

We caught up with Keith to learn more about his background, what attracted him to the role, and how he sees the DTC helping the industry accelerate digital transformation.

You have recently been appointed Chair of the IOGP Digital Transformation Committee. What attracted you to the role?

My journey with IOGP began in 2018 through work on requirements digitalization. What drew me in from the start was the unique role IOGP plays in bringing the oil and gas ecosystem together to address industry-wide challenges. That experience showed me that our collective efforts as an industry can achieve far more than individual companies working alone.

As digital transformation gained momentum across oil and gas, my career sat at the intersection of the business challenges facing projects, engineering and operations, and the opportunities digital could unlock. I often say I was working in digital at Chevron before digital was fashionable. Then, in the period leading up to and during COVID, digital shifted from an emerging idea to an essential capability for achieving industry goals safely and reliably. That was when the full potential of a more connected digital industry became clear to me, and that conviction remains strong today.

More than being drawn to the role itself, I felt a responsibility to help drive digital transformation and better outcomes for the industry. I have seen the complexity of our challenges firsthand, the impact our work has on people and economies around the world, and the growing competition for talented graduates. That convinced me we need to show how this industry can use the best of technology to solve long-standing challenges and create meaningful opportunities for the next generation. The IOGP Digital Transformation Committee gave me a platform to lead with that purpose and demonstrate the power of our collective action.

You have worked in facilities design and construction for more than 25 years. How has that shaped your view of digital transformation?

One thing I have seen throughout my career is just how much complexity there is in our industry. We design, build and operate incredibly complex assets, often across different companies, disciplines, systems and regions.

That experience has shaped how I think about digital transformation. For me, it is not about chasing technology trends. It is about helping people work more effectively, improving the quality of decisions, and making it easier to connect information across the asset lifecycle.

What are your priorities for the Committee over the next two years?

My priorities are to strengthen the industry’s shared digital foundations, improve data interoperability, and keep our work clearly linked to business value.

That last point is important. Digital transformation only matters if it helps the industry do something better. That could mean improving safety and reliability, reducing duplication, making work processes more efficient, or helping companies make better decisions.

We also need to support the responsible use of emerging technologies, including AI. There is enormous potential there, but it has to be grounded in the right principles, governance and change management.

The IOGP Digital Programme 2026–2028 brochure was published in May. Why should Members read it?

The brochure is useful because it brings the Committee’s work together in one place. It sets out what has been achieved, where we are going next, and why this work matters for Members.

I would encourage Members to read it because many of the challenges it describes will be familiar: fragmented data, duplicated digital initiatives, inconsistent standards, manual workflows, and the pressure to improve safety, reliability and environmental performance while also managing cost.

The brochure shows how the DTC is trying to address those challenges collectively, rather than leaving every company to solve them separately.

Why is digital transformation such an important topic for the industry now?

The industry is under pressure from several directions at once. We are dealing with greater operational complexity, price and demand volatility, rising expectations around safety and sustainability, and the need to improve performance across the asset lifecycle.

At the same time, too many workflows are still fragmented or manual. Data often sits in silos. Different systems do not always connect. That slows people down and makes decision-making harder than it needs to be.

Digital transformation is important because it gives us a way to manage that complexity more effectively.

What problem is the DTC trying to solve?

The main problem is fragmentation.

There are many digital initiatives across the industry, and many of them are valuable. But if they are developed in isolation, we risk creating more silos rather than fewer.

The DTC’s role is to help the industry align around shared, open and interoperable digital foundations. That means common frameworks, standards and resources that companies can use, extend and build on.

How does that help Members in practical terms?

It helps by reducing duplication and making it easier to scale good ideas across the industry.

If every company has to solve the same problem from scratch, progress is slower and more expensive. But if we can build shared foundations together, Members can focus more of their effort on applying those foundations to create value.

That can support safer operations, better asset performance, more efficient workflows and stronger environmental outcomes.

You have used the phrase “building bridges rather than silos”. What does that mean to you?

It means connecting things that have historically developed separately.

That could be data and decision-making. It could be standards and business value. It could be operators, EPCs, vendors, technology providers and other stakeholders working from a more common foundation.

It also means building common infrastructure that we can all use for common business problems. If we look at the finance, insurance and airline industries as analogues, we see how common infrastructure has enabled payment systems, commerce and transactions to occur across those ecosystems.

Digital transformation will not succeed if everyone builds their own isolated solution. We need bridges that allow information, knowledge and workflows to move more easily across the industry.

What will be needed for digital transformation to succeed?

It will need leadership, sustained engagement and practical contribution from Members. We affectionately refer to the hours people commit to work teams as “sweat-equity”, but it’s a true reflection of the work many put into the DTC work teams. For that contribution to return equity we need to make sure people are working on outcomes that deliver industry value and that fuels our digital transformation committee

Digital transformation is not a one-off project. It is an ongoing programme of change.

The Committee can provide clarity, coherence and momentum, but the real impact will come from Members engaging with the work, contributing expertise and helping to drive business value and adoption.

What is your message to IOGP Members?

My message is that this is the right time to engage.

The industry has a real opportunity to move from fragmentation to connection, and from complexity to confidence. But that will only happen if we work together with intent.

I encourage Members to read the IOGP Digital Programme brochure, engage with the Committee’s work, and help shape the shared digital foundations that will support the next phase of industry transformation.