Title of Paper:

Integrating Gas Exploration Data into GIS

(Local experience in South Rub Al-Khali desert) (04 April 2007)

Authors:

Name Position E-Mail

Ali Madan Al-Ali Junior Geomatician (GIS and Data

Management Technical Assistant)

Ali.Al-Ali@srak.com.sa

Nick Kent Senior Geomatician N.Kent@srak.com.sa

Address: South Rub Al-Khali Company Limited - P.O. Box 20801 Al-Khobar 31952

Abstract:

The paper gives a brief overview of the South Rub Al-Khali Company Limited (SRAK) and the use of geographic information systems (GIS) in oil and gas exploration. It describes the overall exploration operation activities within SRAK. The study then focuses on describing the project of integrating the exploration seismic tapes and optical media database into a GIS environment. The paper starts by describing the Company, its project and area of work. After that, the paper identifies the varying data sources and technology used to acquire the data. The paper then discusses the project of integrating the exploration Seismic Tapes and Optical Media (STOM) System into GIS, enabling a user to accurately and efficiently view, track and query the data in a spatial environment. The paper identifies some benefits and challenges related to this project and compare between two technical configuration strategies. The paper finally concludes with the lessons learned and future role and development of GIS within SRAK.

Keywords:

GIS, Oil and Gas Exploration, Tapes, Seismic, Media

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TABLE OF CONTENT

I. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................... 2

II. BACKGROUND ABOUT SOUTH RUB AL-KHALI COMPANY (SRAK) LIMITED ...................... 2

III. USE OF GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS (GIS) IN OIL AND GAS EXPLORATION4

IV. SRAK EXPLORATION OPERATIONS............................................................................................... 4

V. SRAK GIS AND EXPLORATION DATA MANAGEMENT ................................................................ 5

V.I DATA SOURCES AND MEDIA ................................................................................................................ 5 V.II ABOUT SRAK TAPE AND OPTICAL MEDIA (STOM) SYSTEM ............................................................ 6 V.III INTEGRATING STOM INTO GIS ......................................................................................................... 7 Overall objectives ............................................................................................................................... 7 GIS map display .................................................................................................................................. 8 Basic interfacing process ................................................................................................................... 8 Benefits and enhancement ................................................................................................................ 8 Real cases ........................................................................................................................................... 9 Technical Configuration ................................................................................................................... 10 Challenges & Obstacles................................................................................................................... 11 Future role and development .......................................................................................................... 11

CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................ 12

ACKNOWLEDGMENT .............................................................................................................................. 12

REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................................... 13

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Paper Body:

I. Introduction

The acquisition, interpretation and management of geospatial data is critical to exploration – and GIS technologies in particular – can provide tremendous value for oil and gas exploration. The paper will give a brief study about local experience conducted by South Rub al-Khali Company (SRAK) Limited in using GIS capabilities for oil and gas exploration purposes. After describing the company and its business, the paper will explain GIS system in SRAK with exploration operations and data management in more details.

II. Background about South Rub al-Khali Company (SRAK) Limited

The South Rub al-Khali Company Limited (SRAK) is an incorporated Joint Venture formed on 17th December 2003 by Shell Saudi Ventures Limited (40% share), Saudi Arabian Oil Company (30% share) and Total Ventures Saudi Arabia (30% share) to explore for GAS in the South Rub’ Al-Khali Basin in accordance with the South Rub’ Al-Khali Upstream Project Agreement (UPA) between the shareholders and the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). SRAK formally commenced operations on the 26th January 2004, the day that marks the effective date of the First Exploration Period (FEP) of five years duration.

SRAK’s business objectives are as follows:

• To explore for, and commercially develop, non-associated gas, condensate and Natural Gas Liquids) in the Contract Areas awarded to the Company under the terms of the UPA.

• To build a sustainable long-term business in the Kingdom through the development of business relationships with key stakeholders (the Government, Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, the joint venture partners and others).

SRAK’s Contract Areas cover 209,160 km², which equivalent to the

surface area of Great Britain. The SRAK Contract Areas are located in the southern part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and cover a large part of the South Rub ‘al Khali Basin. The exploration area is split into two groups of blocks,

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Contract Area 1 (Blocks 82-85) that borders the UAE to the north and Oman to the east and Contract Area 2 (Blocks 5-9) that border Yemen to the south. (See Figure: 1 below)

By year-end 2006, SRAK has completed more than 18,050 km of 2D seismic. In addition the company has completed, deployed and tested a variety new technologies that are designed to help it identify the most prospective areas in its huge exploration acreage.

SRAK is staffed by a combination of technical and managerial staff

seconded from the shareholder companies and full time employees. There is a strong emphasis on hiring and developing Saudi Arabian nationals.

SRAK is fully committed to executing all of its activities in line with its

Statement of General Business Principles, its Health, Safety and Environmental Standards and Policies and its Security Guidelines and in conformance with requirements and standards of both its shareholders and the Saudi Arabian

Figure 1: SRAK contract area

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Government. In this way SRAK aim to have an HSE performance that can earn the confidence of customers, shareholders and society at large, to be a good neighbor and to contribute to sustainable development.

III. Use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in oil and gas

exploration

Exploration requires the analysis of a lot of different types of data such as satellite imagery, digital aerial photo mosaics, seismic surveys, surface geology studies, subsurface and cross section interpretations and images, well logs, and existing infrastructure information. In conjunction with specialized data interpretation software, GIS can tie this data together to the location in question and allows overlying, viewing, and manipulating the data in the form of a map to thoroughly analyze the potential for finding new oil or gas prospect. Seismic operations and exploration wells can produce significant amount of data that need to be given proper management using advanced technologies such as GIS to utilize this data through producing knowledge and making more informative decisions. Oil and gas exploration for hydrocarbons is a map intensive process that needs the powerful abilities of GIS. Over 80% of oil and gas data is said to have a spatial context (2). The GIS can show what projects have been performed in the area, what seismic lines and well assets the company has in the area. In fact, a lot of the high-level data analysis work for exploration can be done with GIS. Because of this, exploration data imported into GIS need always to be accurate and up to the date.

IV. SRAK Exploration Operations

The exploration seismic operation consists of three main phases that are: planning, data acquisition and data interpretation. After surveying the proposed area in the planning phase, the seismic data acquisition process consists of a source that sends energy waves into the ground, land seismic exploration commonly utilizes vibrators for this purpose. (See Figure 2) The waves are reflected back from the subsurface structures and will be recorded using thousands of small and very sensitive geophones, the data will be transferred

Figure 2: SRAK vibrator in the field

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through cables to the recording instruments and stored on magnetic tapes. SRAK tape management system will be discussed in more details later in the report. The field data received on tapes and optical media needs to be processed in the next phase at the company’s processing center or with a sub-contractor. After that, the evaluation department interprets the processed data into an image of the subsurface structures using specialized software to assist in the identification of the most suitable places for drilling oil and gas wells.

In addition to the newly acquired data, SRAK has also processed and re-

processed more than 42,000 km of seismic data. Moreover, SRAK has had data produced using other exploration technologies such as: low frequency spectroscopy and magneto telluric. All of these exploration technologies produce large quantity of data.

V. SRAK GIS and Exploration Data Management

The main objective of the GIS system within SRAK is to support different departments that include Geophysical Operations, Evaluation and Drilling. Also, the system supports SRAK partners, contractors and other departments. As we mentioned before, oil and gas exploration is a map/data intensive process that needs a continuous GIS support such as positioning QC for new seismic data and wells, ensuring the geo-integrity of legacy data and administering all geo-referenced data. All this will help in producing more expressive maps that will provide significant support to the company’s critical decision-making. Next, data sources, media and format will be described before discussing the exploration data management in more details.

V.I Data Sources and Media

In addition to the old 2D seismic data received from Saudi Aramco and Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, SRAK operated five seismic crews during the period (October, 2004 to December, 2006) that were producing the new 2D seismic data on a daily basis. The data includes also gravity, uphole and geodetic control data. Other data comes from the joint venture partners and other external studies. The satellite imagery used were LandSat7 and high resolution QuickBird and Aster.

Wells are considered as an important source of data as the company

started and expanded the drilling process. Also, there is an opportunity of further large volumes of data if the company decided on conducting the 3D seismic acquisition in the future.

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The SEGD field data is usually stored on 3490 or 3590 magnetic tapes while CD and DVD optical media are used for storing other support data such as observer logs, SPS, gravity, and survey data. All these data should be stored and transported in a very safe condition and then archived into SRAK Tape and Optical Media (STOM) system.

V.II About SRAK Tape and Optical Media (STOM) System

SRAK nature of work includes transferring a lot of seismic and other data between various parties such as partners, contractors and government agencies. STOM is an in-house system developed by Geomatics and Data Management section within SRAK to keep track of all tapes and optical media related to SRAK Geo-technical data. The system was developed using MS Access. Scope of the system covers all types of data such as 2D & 3D seismic data, Drilling data, Low Frequency data, Magneto Telluric data and any other type of data with any format or media. STOM is a relational database that replaced the old excel sheet for performing the following tasks:

• Archive details of all 2D seismic and other tapes and keep track of the current location of each tape.

• Archive details of all SRAK geo-technical optical media (CDs & DVDs) and keep track of the current location of each optical media.

• Keep Track of all media movements’ history between SRAK, its partners, its contractors and other parties.

• Make effective search inquiries and produce useful reports.

• Develop and configure a visual and interactive STOM-GIS interface.

STOM is a relational object-oriented DB consists of several main tables in the

backend that are: Tape Media, Optical Media, Share Media, Line and Movement Tracking. In addition to the other secondary less important tables, there are also some bridge entity tables that are Tape Line and CD Line. Most of these tables are linked to each other using 1 to many or 1 to 1 relationships.

Importing or updating large batches of data in STOM is done using SQL

language codes while the normal data entry is done through the regular STOM Graphical User Interface (GUI). The main screen of STOM interface shows main four parts that are: Tape Media, Optical Media, Media Movements and Reports. Tape Media is the main entry for SRAK seismic tape media archive while Optical Media is the main entry for SRAK optical media archive. Because of the relational DB design, any tape or optical media entry can have whatever quantity of related seismic lines without duplicating the records in the actual backend tables. This design leads to efficient and accurate inquiries capabilities. The third

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entry “Media Movements” records the details of all media movements’ history including date of move and move purpose. The "Reports” entry allows performing virtual tour between the racks in the layout of tape and optical media store for a very easy pointing and extracting any information about any data needed from the store. This was done by applying simple GIS idea into STOM by presenting the actual store layout with clickable racks in the GUI. So, the user can click on any rack for identifying all details of the tapes or optical media stored at that specific rack and know the physical location of the rack in the store at the same time. Then, the user can get his specific request after applying several filters. He can finally click on the Door for getting out from the store. This technique can be applied for different stores as separate entries such as the store of the backup data. Also, "Reports” has other three entries, two for tracking tapes and optical media movements’ history and one for displaying line details. Other several secondary sub forms are used within these main forms.

V.III Integrating STOM into GIS

Integrating STOM into GIS will address important issues related to accuracy and confidentiality in the process of transferring exploration data between different parties. Accuracy is performed by the easy extracting of the correct and required data only while confidentiality is performed when no extra data out side the specified area can be incorrectly sent out. Also, there is so much enhancement to the decision quality caused by this STOM-GIS link in decisions related to identifying and extracting the correct data for a proposed copying, processing or reprocessing projects. This enhancement includes a lot of cost and time saving from the copying and processing expenses and effort. For Example, no need to process a complete seismic line if it is very long as it is easy and enough to identify and process only the area of interest from this line by lower cost. Also, the needed data is identified and obtained more efficiently. This link is much more important to apply for petroleum ministries, JV companies, large oil and gas companies and contactors companies that includes a lot of data transfer and processing and critical decisions making.

Overall objectives

After successful development and implementation of STOM system, the overall objective of this STOM-GIS integration project is to make a foundation for an effective spatial use and manipulation of STOM data. This use will utilize STOM data by practicing advanced analysis and decision support for various activities such as observing, tracking and processing different projects.

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GIS map display GIS map display shall include the following key layers: contract area blocks,

all new and old 2D seismic lines, proposed wells, oil and gas prospectives, international boarders, main roads and any other needed data. Basic interfacing process

Basic visual map interfacing process within GIS can be described as of the below points:

- Clicking “using the identify tool” on a line or portion of will display list of all types of data and media related to this line or the portion of it.

- Graphically selecting several lines or clipping specific geographic area that contains portions of several lines will display list of all types of data and media related to this specific geographic area.

- Another way after displaying detail list of the tapes for example, clicking on any tape will indicate “flash” on the map the line or portion of it related to this specific tape (this opposite process when the data ID is known).

- Also, different methodologies of data (media) visual inquiries can be performed by filtering through data type, media type, contractor name, date of creation, block area, media location, acquisition type and many other features.

Benefits and enhancement

Examples of additional benefits and enhancements form the STOM-GIS link

are described below: - Clipping specific area & displaying filtered data related to that specific

area. - Projects tracking through the monthly or weekly maps that show the

status of the projects related to processing or copying seismic data. - Graphically, identify gaps in some lines that the data was not acquired or

not yet received from the field contractor. - Graphically, identify lines with specific criteria such as lines that are in

the processing center and plan accordingly for the next proposed processing lines and shipments.

- GIS will help in the QC of STOM data. For example, will identify that some records in STOM has no line reference due to entry miss.

- This link will help in getting very accurate evaluation in pricing and bidding for copying and processing projects instead for example, evaluating using # of tapes criteria only.

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However, utilizing the available GIS infrastructure increases much more at the advanced phases of the exploration process as the need for more precise answers to the spatial inquiries is increased a lot. For example, the decision of specifying the exact location of a proposed exploration well that will cost more than SR 100 millions is very critical and utilizing the powerful abilities of the GIS tool. Real cases

Several real cases described below can give more clarification to how

effective is the use of the STOM-GIS link: - Case 1: SRAK received legacy seismic data for more than 900 old lines

from Saudi Aramco. This data was created and acquired in the period between 1968 and 1998. For evaluation purposes, one of the geophysicist requested a map for the whole exploration area with several layers that use symbology feature for classifying the legacy lines by colors on a decades basis. The year of acquisition for the legacy lines was not provided from the source. Applying the STOM-GIS link in this case solved the problem as the tapes year of creation available in STOM Geodatabase and we could use this for symbolizing legacy lines on the requested map.

- Case 2: Some of the local research institutes made special data

requests from SRAK related to specific area or some times SRAK wants to process some of its data in other agencies outside the country. For example, SRAK is in the process of providing King Abdulaziz City For Science and Technology (KACST) all field data for a specific seismic line. Because of the STOM-GIS link, it was easy to extract list of data related to that line and display it on the same map that shows the line with an inset map that zoom into the line and shows the upholes locations. This map then can be attached to the shipment for precise clarification.

- Case 3: One of SRAK’s contractors was holding some acquisition and

processing projects. The field acquisition group finished the work a few months before the processing center group. At that time, the acquisition group sent all of the field data back to SRAK. Few months later, the processing center group finished the processing work and starts sending back whatever remaining from the processing data with them to SRAK. Unexpectedly at that time, the contractor discovered 141 CDs of the acquisition original field data that was not returned. If this was not discovered, this means the company losses 141 CDs of the valuable and

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important data. Comprehensive Implementation of the STOM-GIS link can overcome such a mistake by a simple visual mapping and save the company from losing the value of their big investment.

- Case 4: In case of reconciliation and finishing the exploration project in

SRAK contract area with the Saudi government. At that time, it will be better to give the ministry of petroleum the data in the most efficient and useful format. If the ministry accepted and applied this data in the geodatabase format, this will assist them when they are later exchanging or selling part of the same concession area to other new exploration companies. If the ministry utilizes this STOM-GIS link, it will handle the data more easily and accurately and it will increase the quality in the decision-making process.

Technical Configuration