Mobile app by law student creates easy access to oil and gas wells info

Third-year University of Calgary law student Roger Baker spent seven years as the CEO of a Calgary-based oil and gas company, but now he’s working to change something that always bothered him about his industry.

Baker and his team have come up with a graceful way to put oil and gas data into the hands of anyone who needs it. Literally, into people’s hands — they built a mobile app.

The app is called Oyly and they consider it the Netflix of oil and gas data. The new app, developed by Baker’s company, Odd Mob, is designed for ease of use no matter what a person’s role is in the energy industry.

It’s made for anyone who needs to look up information about a well: who operates the well, how much oil it has produced, and even detailed technical information about the wellbore and the surrounding reservoir. The app does not require a long-term contract, and will cost no more than a couple hundred dollars a month when in use. It is currently still in development. 

App aims to remove barriers to oil and gas wells data 

“People need access to detailed information about oil and gas wells to do their jobs in the oil and gas industry. Historical information is vital to managing an oil field, determining where to drill, and numerous other reasons,” says Baker.

“But the software programs used to access this information have always been priced out of reach of individuals and remain prohibitively expensive for smaller companies. Even at large energy companies, only a few people would have access to the information, making those people information gatekeepers, creating a bottleneck in workflow.

"Our premise was that if everyone in the industry could access this information, then people’s jobs would be easier and innovation would follow,” says Baker. “We’re removing barriers.”

Law school education helped student start business

But how does a full-time law student find time to develop an app that could disrupt the energy industry?

“We started work on the app in the summer of 2015, and work continued all through my second year of law school," he says. "I work with a great team and the credit for this belongs to them.”

Marla Baker (Gorko), JD’08, Baker’s wife, is part of that team. She currently practises family law, but spent five years with the Alberta Securities Commission. Her role has been to ensure the startup maintains compliance with securities law while it raises the funds required to develop the app, as well as drafting many of the contracts the business needs.

Baker says their combined legal education has also been helpful in getting all of the corporate governance work complete to set up the new company properly, and saved the startup large amounts of time and money.

“All that I’ve learned in law school has made starting this business so much easier," he says. "Despite the issues around balancing my time, it’s great to be able to apply my legal knowledge to a practical matter right away.”

Tech entrepreneur with law and energy knowledge

So does Baker see himself as a tech giant one day? “I will be articling with Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer LLP after I graduate,” says Baker. “BD&P is a great fit for me because they were excited by my entrepreneurial background, not wary of it; they saw my industry experience as adding value to their team.

"I plan to be practising business law in some form, and I’m sure my energy and technology background will influence the way I approach legal work.”