Abstract: Building Corporate Knowledge through Integrated Data Management

KINGSTON, JOHN, and STEVE SIMSON*

Exploration and Production of Oil and Gas produces vast volumes of seismic, well and other data in a variety of media and formats. These data are a valuable asset, required for efficient field development and potentially as a saleable commodity in their own right. New technologies provide the capability to store massive volumes of such data in `near-line' centralized repositories, delivered through high bandwidth satellite and terrestrial networks.

Interpretation workstations provide the tools to add value to the raw and processed data by the addition of knowledge about the reservoir, however this knowledge resides principally in the minds of the individual interpreter(s) and can be lost when these individuals are redeployed.

Database systems have been developed to catalog and control archive data. Spatial based interfaces provide an integrated access route through which the entire E & P data assemblage can be browsed, queried and retrieved. It is equally important to capture the `value-added' component of interpretation projects, thereby ensuring that the `Corporate Knowledge Base' grows over time.

An integrated Data Management system will result in reduced storage costs, increased productivity and efficiency and reduced risk by using all available data and previous knowledge. Fast access to these data provides many exciting new opportunities for their analysis and interpretation, leading to improved reservoir characterization.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90942©1997 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition, Vienna, Austria