In this sense, as a result of Libra’s Consortium RD&I project, OGBN – Oil and Gas Blockchain Network – provides a distributed infrastructure to support Oil and Gas industry applications. As a permissioned blockchain based on the Hyperledger Fabric framework, each application will present one or more communication channels. These private channels are composed of a subgroup of the network participants. They allow secure communication between nodes and the applications, which will store and query information from the network.

Blockchain technology enables many opportunities which will not need a third party to intermediate relationships. This disruptive model will provide a new market and economy exploration based on the distributed, transparent, and secure architecture. Moreover, as the transactions in a private network are executed immediately, blockchain solutions are capable of reducing time in many situations, improving the system’s availability and security. This technology can reduce bureaucracy and, hence, costs, as all network participants are able to verify the business rules written in smart contracts and the data stored on their own ledgers.  This is also an improvement for auditing activities, where the data are not centralized in one company; all network members are able to access data independently. Furthermore, as all changes in the rules must be accepted by all network members, no unauthorized change can be made.

Currently, Petrobras, TotalEnergies, and Shell are OBGN members. Such a network is in the PoC phase, in which tests will be executed by performing a success criteria checklist provided by the university.