Information Management and Data Availability as a Way Forward in the Oil Industry

Philip Benyeogor
N/A, Port-Harcourt, Nigeria

The challenges facing Exploration and Production are quite enormous considering the competition in cost leadership. E & P companies around the world are continuously looking at ways to bring down the cost of production to the barest minimum while keeping up with the latest technology required in aiming at effectively producing the limit. One of the problems we are facing and have inadvertently refused to admit is the difficulty in accessing data. In the oil companies about 50% of the time is spent on looking for correct data. But this problem will continue to linger until data management is accorded the rightful position. Data management is a discipline of its own with the same status as geology; reservoir engineering, geophysics and petrophysics etc. But in most companies, data management is seen as a support service and until it is accorded the same status as other disciplines, we will continue to leave with the danger and finally we may no longer be competitive in the market. Finally, time is money. Let us spend less time in searching for data rather let us spend it in searching for oil profitably.