GESGB London Evening Lecture | Undertaking a Subsurface Transformation to Thrive in the Digital Age: Blueprints and Barriers

Speaker: Lewis Gillhespy, Geological Consultant – Rockflow

Topic: Undertaking a Subsurface Transformation to Thrive in the Digital Age: Blueprints and Barriers

Date: Tuesday 20 January 2026

Timings: 17:30 – Doors open / 18:00-19:00 – Lecture / 19:00-20:00 – Networking drinks

Venue: The Linnean Society of London | Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BF
The venue is located 5-minutes’ walk from Green Park and Piccadilly tube stations. The lecture will be held in the Meeting Room on the ground floor.

Networking Drinks: The Clarence – 4 Dover Street, W1S 4LB
Self-funded bar.

The presentation will be available to view via live stream on Zoom.
Login details will be sent to registered attendees one day prior to the event.

GESGB members can register free of charge via the membership platform

If you are interested in becoming a member of GESGB please visit: https://www.ges-gb.org.uk/membership/

Undertaking a Subsurface Transformation to Thrive in the Digital Age: Blueprints and Barriers

The accelerating rise of AI and machine learning is transforming subsurface data and geological interpretation into core business assets — enabling faster workflows, deeper insights, and more confident data-led decisions. Yet for many oil and gas organizations, born in the industrial age, the shift to a digital-age mindset remains challenging. The need for high-quality data requires a different mindset, but the ability to put in-place the systems and structures to achieve this remains challenging.

At Suncor, a new CEO initiated a company-wide digital transformation. Lewis Gillhespy led this change across Mining, Onshore, and Offshore subsurface businesses. With examples from a drilling case study and real life-examples from geology and geophysics, this London evening lecture highlights the practical barriers faced by organizations, the cultural and technical challenges preventing change, and share some of the blueprints that mid-size companies are using to positively enact change and gain a competitive advantage.

Lewis Gillhespy, Geological Consultant – Rockflow

A GESGB Member for over 25 years, Lewis Gillhespy is a Geological Consultant at Rockflow near London. Lewis led a number of technical leadership roles in a 20-year career at Suncor, including Project Manager for a $10 billion greenfield development, Project Manager for the successful acquisition of Rosebank, and Global Chief Geologist. Prior to Suncor, Lewis worked at Anadarko as an exploration Geologist with focus on North Africa.

In 2022, Lewis helped develop an ambitious digital transformation strategy spanning the entire Suncor Enterprise. He then subsequently led its execution across subsurface and drilling teams spanning mining, onshore, and offshore businesses. Building on this experience, he later led a multi-client survey involving 15 mid-size companies to share insights and best practices on how organisations can successfully transition to a digital-age way of working in order to weaponise their data as a strategic asset.