Houston AI startup rolls out platform to reshape Oil and Gas Workflows

Houston-based Collide is developing AI solutions specifically for the energy industry, built by professionals with real oilfield experience. Co-founded by former oil roughneck Collin McLelland, the company focuses on creating practical tools for engineers and operators rather than generic AI systems. Its main AI model, RIGGS, is designed for petroleum engineering tasks. In a recent benchmark using a standardized SPE petroleum engineering exam, RIGGS scored 67.5%, outperforming models such as xAI’s Grok 4, Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4.5, and OpenAI GPT 5.1. The company says this shows the model understands petroleum engineering workflows and challenges at a deeper industry-specific level. Collide aims to help oil and gas companies automate time-consuming work such as regulatory filings, production analysis, and engineering support. One major example is its collaboration with Winn Resources, where the system automated W-10 and G-10 filings for the Texas Railroad Commission. Tasks that previously took hours can now be completed in under 30 minutes, reducing processing time by more than 95%. According to McLelland, the long-term vision is for RIGGS to become an “intelligence layer” embedded directly into engineering workflows, giving workers instant access to the knowledge and decision-making capabilities of experienced industry veterans. Originally launched by Digital Wildcatters as a professional network for technical discussions, Collide later shifted toward enterprise AI solutions after raising $5 million in seed funding led by Mercury Fund.