Oil firms learn to move an ancient product with new-age tech

The oil industry has long been of two minds when it comes to high technology

BP’s troubleshooters here received a call for help from colleagues in Azerbaijan. Sand was invading oil wells from the rocks outside. To avoid damage, the operators were choking the wells back, reducing revenues.

Two tech-savvy specialists, Prad Thiruvenkatanathan, a research scientist, and Tommy Langnes, a sand expert, came up with a novel fix. They used fiber-optic cable to gather the sounds coming from the wells deep in the earth. Inspired by apps like Shazam that recognize the voices of pop stars, they figured how to distinguish the sonic signature of sand from other sounds, like flowing oil. They also installed