Development of a Web Application for Interactive Analysis of the Italian Oil Energy Sector Data

Integrated software platforNowadays common people have access to many highly detailed information even though it is difficult for them to understand the meaning behind the numerical values without a proper elaboration and explanation from an expert. In this sense, the narrative offers an optimal way to organize data by adding layers of context, facilitating understanding of project data, and closing communications gaps between social, economic, and political dimensions. Hence, data storytelling, based on the simple and synthetic narrative, is becoming an innovative way through which a complex system, such as energy systems, can be represented efficiently. Energy statistics usually go into detail about all the variables which are taken into consideration making reports very accurate and reliable for experts on one hand, but also very long and dispersive on the other. Today, energy actors demand a scientific tool capable of providing information and key indicators that summarize the current situation in the field of energy security. The thesis project consists of a web application development using the Django Framework, that brings compiling and interactive narratives around complex data by the means of storytelling. The core of the thesis is the application of data storytelling to the EST Oil Risk Model which aims to quantify the national energy risk related to Italian oil suppliers. This model relies on the collection and processing of many data from several sources and datasets and identifies the oil suppliers as well as the oil pathways through geo-referencing mapping of both captive and open-sea corridors. The implemented web application, called Oil-IST (Oil Interactive Story Telling), can be accessible to all energy actors who are interested and/or involved in crude and oil products supply system. Moreover, since Italy is strongly dependent on external oil suppliers, Oil-IST is designed to provide a science-based tool able to support and accelerate political decision-making. m for supporting decision making in Energy Transition