Why GIS Petroleum

Why Use GIS in Petroleum?

A free eBook from Exprodat

Version 1.2 (October 2013) download latest version

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2 Why Use GIS in Petroleum?

Table of Contents Section 1: Introduction to GIS .................................................................................. 5

Welcome .............................................................................................................. 5

What is GIS? ......................................................................................................... 5

What Can GIS Do? ................................................................................................ 7

Why You Should Care ........................................................................................... 9

Benefits of GIS .................................................................................................. 9

GIS in Petroleum ............................................................................................ 10

When Bad Stuff Happens ............................................................................... 11

GIS Vocabulary ................................................................................................... 12

Section 2: GIS in the Petroleum Industry ............................................................... 14

A Brief History .................................................................................................... 14

GIS and the Oil Field Life-cycle ........................................................................... 14

Acquisition and Portfolio Management ............................................................. 15

Seismic Planning ................................................................................................ 16

Exploration ......................................................................................................... 17

Overview ........................................................................................................ 17

Basin Analysis ................................................................................................. 18

Play Analysis ................................................................................................... 19

Acreage Analysis ............................................................................................ 21

Prospect Analysis ........................................................................................... 22

Land Management ......................................................................................... 24

Field Geology.................................................................................................. 25

Exploration Summary ..................................................................................... 26

Drilling and Completion ..................................................................................... 27

Production .......................................................................................................... 28

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Field Operations ............................................................................................. 28

Facilities Management ................................................................................... 29

Distribution and Pipeline ................................................................................... 30

Pipeline Routing ............................................................................................. 31

Pipeline Monitoring ....................................................................................... 32

Vessel Tracking ............................................................................................... 32

Decommissioning ............................................................................................... 33

Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) .............................................................. 33

Emergency Response ..................................................................................... 34

Data Management ............................................................................................. 34

Data QC .......................................................................................................... 34

Data Index Maps ............................................................................................ 35

Spatial Data Standards ................................................................................... 36

Petroleum GIS Data Models ........................................................................... 36

Coordinate Reference System Standards ...................................................... 37

Metadata Standards ...................................................................................... 38

Use of Standards in Petroleum GIS ................................................................ 38

Section 3: Getting Started with GIS in Petroleum ................................................ 40

Introduction ....................................................................................................... 40

Play with the Technology ................................................................................... 40

ArcGIS Online ................................................................................................. 40

ArcGIS Explorer Desktop ................................................................................ 41

ArcGIS for Desktop ......................................................................................... 42

Get Some Training .............................................................................................. 42

Attend a Conference .......................................................................................... 43

Build your Business Case .................................................................................... 43




Petroleum GIS Case Studies ........................................................................... 44

Develop a GIS Strategy ....................................................................................... 45

Conclusions and Additional Resources .................................................................. 47

Disclaimer ............................................................................................................... 48

Table of Figures ...................................................................................................... 49




Section 1: Introduction to GIS

Welcome

By now youve most likely heard the terms Geographic Information Systems or

GIS. Maybe youve used desktop GIS software without knowing it, to access data

that your organisation has purchased. Maybe youve used GIS technology but

youre not really sure what youre meant to be doing with it in the exploration and

production business. Or maybe youve heard that GIS is important and you think

you or your organisation is missing a trick. If so, then this free eBook should help

you.

Spatial intelligence is becoming increasingly important in both business and

personal decision making. Think about the way you find information that helps you

organise your life do you look up the location of restaurants on the Internet? Do

you use Internet sites to provide you with directions between 2 places? Or maybe

you use Google Earth and browse the photos that people have uploaded? People

are becoming more and more comfortable using GIS in order to make decisions

about their lives, and the same is true of business.

GIS is not a tool just for data managers, or the more tech-savvy geologists in your

organisation, nor is it only relevant for upstream or onshore projects. Rather, GIS is

a tool for problem solving that integrates geographic information from across the

E&P value chain into how we all understand and manage our work.

Yes, it can be difficult to know what to do with GIS technology if you are new to it.

And yes, it can be quite a feat to convince your manager to let you incorporate GIS

into your business processes. But, armed with the right information, it is possible.

So here we go. In an effort to get you up to speed with how to leverage the power

of GIS in the petroleum business, this eBook will walk you through what you need

to know to in order to derive real business value from this powerful technology.

What is GIS?

GIS stands for Geographic Information System. According to Wikipedia, a GIS is

designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyse, manage, and present all types of

geographically referenced data.

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Essentially GIS provides map-based systems for spatial data integration, query and

analysis. GIS provides a range of functionality, comprising CAD, cartography, image

processing and database management (Figure 1). But GIS is not just a software

package - it involves a combination of technology, people and processes, working

together.

Figure 1. What is GIS?

A GIS lets you visualize, query, analyse, interpret, collaborate on and understand

data in unique ways to reveal relationships, patterns, and trends. GIS data can be

viewed in the form of maps, globes, reports, tables and charts.

Spatial analysis (Figure 2) lies at the core of GIS the ability to analyse data based

on its spatial relationship to other data sets. This analysis capability is unique to

GIS, and in general is not found in more traditional E&P mapping software.

GIS

CAD

RDBMS

Image Processing

Cartography




Figure 2. What is spatial analysis?

What Can GIS Do?

Understanding the capabilities of GIS is fundamental in being able to plan how best

to use the technology.

There have been many papers and presentations written about the capabilities of

GIS over the years and indeed a search on the Internet will elicit millions of results

on the subject. However, you should not be alarmed at this wealth of information!

Our experience with GIS tells us that it is possible to categorise GIS functionality

into a number of broad groups (Figure 3), as follows:

Data Organisation: Put simply this is the building of a GIS, whereby data is

collated from a variety of sources and organised into a logical structure, including

database and file based data, as well as documents and metadata. Data may be

received in a variety of spatial and non-spatial formats and non-spatial data with a

location component will almost certainly need to be re-formatted into a supported

spatial data format. Clearly, once loaded to GIS the data must be maintained so

that it is as correct, up-to-date and complete as possible.

Spatial Analysis

Network analysis

Geometric analysis

Raster analysis

Interface modelling

Cartographic output

Visualisation




Figure 3. Types of GIS functionality.

Visualisation: One of the main strengths of GIS technology is that it allows the user

to view data from a wide variety of data sources at the same time, often in a single

map view. Spatial data sources can be overlaid on one another, rather like using a

light-table, as well as linked to non-spatial data (e.g. documents, websites,

photographs, etc.). This visual data integration can help identify patterns in the

data and highlight areas where data is lacking, as well as lead to a greater

understanding of the data in a particular area. Current GIS technology allows users

to view GIS data in both 2D and 3D and offers a range of platforms with which to

view the data, such as web-based, desktop and mobile, as well as exporting to PDF

and printing to hardcopy.

Data Query: GIS applications provide a wide range of data query tools to enable

users to find data of interest. Simple GIS data search tools are capable of finding

items using attributes (e.g. well name), location (e.g. wells in a basin) and proximity

(e.g. prospects near to a pipeline or sub-sea facility). Both raster (i.e. grid-based)

and vector (point, line or polygon) layers can be queried.

Data Editing: Data viewed in a GIS can be edited both in terms of its geographic

location and its underlying attributes. In addition, GIS technology enables users to

create completely new data, e.g. by drawing locations directly on to the map or by

extracting co-ordinate data from existing layers in order to create new layers.

Spatial Analysis: GIS differs from many other map viewers available within the

petroleum sector in that it is able to run spatial analysis between layers, such as

Dat

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Vis

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Dat

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Dat

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Spat

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Geo

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Pre

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calculating distances and areas of features; gridding and contouring point data;

performing deterministic and geostatistical analysis on layers; and network

analysis.

Geoprocessing: GIS provides tools for manipulating spatial data, ranging from

converting between data formats and re-projecting co-ordinates, through surface

analysis to satellite image processing. Many GIS tools allow such processing

workflows to be grouped into models and saved for re-use. This allows complex

data processing to be easily repeated ensuring that modelling procedures can be

standardised or run iteratively.

Prediction: Using a combination of the functions described above GIS can be used

to predict favourable locations based on vast amounts of data and multiple factors.

Examples of this in oil and gas would be grading open acreage or siting a facility,

based on multiple input datasets.

Why You Should Care

Benefits of GIS

There is a growing awareness of the economic and strategic value of GIS. The

benefits of which, according to Esris gis.com website, are:

Better decision making - Making correct decisions about location can be

critical to the success of an organisation. Common petroleum examples

include deciding which acreage or play to enter, planning a pipeline route or

seismic survey, managing facilities and planning emergency response.

Cost savings and increased efficiency - GIS is widely used to optimise

maintenance schedules and daily fleet movements. Esri claims typical

implementations can result in savings of 10 to 30 percent in operational

expenses through reduction in resource costs.

Improved communication - Maps greatly assist in explaining situations.

They are a type of language that improves communication with

management, between different teams, departments, disciplines,

professional fields, organisations, and even with the public.

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Better record keeping - Many organisations have a responsibility to

maintain authoritative records. GIS provides a strong framework for

managing data with full transaction support and reporting tools.

GIS in Petroleum

Spatial information is a key element in any petroleum venture, from the initial

opportunity analysis and exploration, through appraisal, production and the

abandonment phase. It is generally estimated that over 80% of the data used in the

petroleum business has a spatial component implying that it can be accessed

through a map or linked to something with a location.

In the petroleum industry large amounts of data have to be managed in order to

cope with the complexity of the process of discovering new resources and

managing producing assets. As such, the petroleum business requires the analysis

of many different types of spatial data, often achieved using a GIS.

There has been major progress in recent years in integrating spatial information

systems with existing data management and interpretation systems, to the extent

that GIS has started to become a critical part of the technology employed in the

petroleum business.

Esri is one of the market-leading GIS suppliers in the E&P sector, and lists

Halliburton, Schlumberger, Oracle, IBM, SAP and Microsoft as partners, among

others. Esri has also recently signed-up to provide a spatial foundation for

geoscience applications interoperability via the Microsoft Upstream Reference

Architecture (MURA) initiative, a project to enhance applications integration and

interoperability for the upstream oil and gas sector.

However, despite growing maturity in underlying GIS technology and increasing

industry awareness, we believe that the spatial component of data is still under-

utilised. Many petroleum companies are struggling to define the role of GIS in their

business, and few companies are extracting maximum value from their investment

in spatial data and analysis systems.

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When Bad Stuff Happens

Another way to demonstrate the value of GIS is to look at real world examples of

what happened when spatial technology was not properly applied:

PG&E admits violating federal law requiring pipeline inspections every

five years On September 9, 2010, a 30-inch-diameter segment of an

intrastate natural gas transmission pipeline owned and operated by the

Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), ruptured in a residential area

in San Bruno, California. The rupture produced a crater about 72 feet

long by 26 feet wide. The section of pipe that ruptured, which weighed

about 3,000 pounds, was found 100 feet south of the crater. PG&E

estimated that 47.6 million standard cubic feet of natural gas was

released. The released natural gas ignited, resulting in a fire that killed 8

people and destroyed 38 homes, damaging 70 more. It was later

discovered that PG&E failed to check nearly 14 miles of gas distribution

pipelines for leaks for up to two decades when it lost track of 16 maps

needed to guide mandated safety inspections of its system.

Maersk Victory jack-up sustains major damage In 1996 the Maersk

Victory jack-up sustained major damage when one of its legs broke

through soft seabed limestone in St. Vincents Gulf off South Australia.

The incident happened while the rig was jacking up on location prior to

spudding the first of two wells in the Stansbury basin on exploration

permit PEL 53. The South Australia Department of Mines and Energy

Resources (MESA) undertook an investigation and determined that the

cause of damage was the failure of the sub-sea sediments beneath the

rig. MESA concluded that there was a failure to fully evaluate the risks of

the drilling location, a failure to fully evaluate the geotechnical data of

the sub-sea sediments, and a failure in management systems and

procedures for locating the rig.

Anonymous North Sea example of incorrect rig positioning During a

jack-up rig move the engineer looking after the navigation didnt realise

that hed inadvertently changed the coordinate reference parameters

he was using. Later radar positioning checks revealed it was 1.5 km off

location, in another operators block. The company in question had to

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move the rig at a cost of $750,000, and suffered reputation issues as the

government reviewed its license arrangements (from the OGP

Geomatics Committee geodetic awareness guidance notes document,

which contains other examples of georeference integrity failures).

GIS Vocabulary

Quick reference glossary:

Attribute - A geographic features non-spatial information is usually stored

in a database and is linked to the spatial feature by a unique identifier. For

example, the status of a field or a wells name.

ArcGIS Esris GIS platform, comprising desktop, mobile, server and online

GIS applications. ArcGIS is the global market leading GIS platform and one

of the market leaders in the petroleum industry.

DEM A Digital Elevation Model. A raster dataset that represents elevation

values over a topographic surface.

EDMS Electronic Document Management System.

Feature An object represented on a map, such as a well or field.

Field Contains common values for a set of features. Usually a column in a

database.

Geodatabase A collection of geographic datasets used by ArcGIS.

Geoprocessing The use of tools, scripts and models to analyse and

manipulate geographic data.

Georeferencing The process of positioning a dataset such as a scanned

map image to its correct location in geographic space.

Interpolation A method of estimating a continuous surface at un-sampled

points between locations with known values. Similar to surface modelling

or gridding in applications such as CPS-III, Petrel or ZMap Plus.

Layer The visual representation of a geographic dataset in a digital map.

On a petroleum map, for example, wells, fields, pipelines, and license blocks

would normally be contained in different layers.

MapInfo A common desktop GIS application, owned by Pitney Bowes.

Python A scripting language, often used in geoprocessing.

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Raster Dataset made of a grid of cells or pixels containing a single value.

Satellite imagery, aerial photos and grid-based structure maps are often

termed as raster data.

Record Contains all the attribute data for one feature. Usually a row in a

database.

Shapefile Storage format for geographic vector data stored in a set of

related files.

SDE An Esri database application for storing geographic data in a RDBMS.

TIN Triangulated Irregular Network. A data format that separates a vector

dataset into non-overlapping triangles for 3D representation.

Topology The spatial relationship and sharing of geometry between

connecting or adjacent points, lines or polygons.

Transformation The process of converting the coordinate system of a

dataset to a different coordinate system.

Vector Dataset made up of points, lines or polygons, with an associated

attribute table.

There are also numerous comprehensive GIS glossaries available online.

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Section 2: GIS in the Petroleum Industry

A Brief History

GIS developed from the rise of computer mapping technology in the 1960s, and by

the 1990s, widespread use of Unix workstations and the personal computer had

brought GIS technology to desktop computer users, standardised on relatively few

vendor platforms (like ArcGIS and MapInfo).

The 1990s also saw the rise of GIS use in the petroleum industry, with many large

multinationals migrating to GIS from CAD-based systems. The first Esri Petroleum

User Group (PUG), led by companies such as Exxon and Shell, met in the early

1990s. By the late 1990s oil and gas service companies such as Landmark and

Schlumberger were starting to package GIS technology within their commercial

software products, and use of GIS within data management, exploration, pipeline

and land management started to develop.

The 2000s saw advances in Internet mapping, allowing GIS data and analysis to be

compiled by an expert using desktop GIS, but distributed to a wider user-base via

Internet technology. In the petroleum industry this period saw GIS use spread to

other operational areas, such as production, facilities management, HSE and

emergency response.

In recent years the rise of Google, in-car navigation systems and widespread GPS

use have brought GIS to the mass consumer market, and this trend is set to

continue with cloud-based GIS. Meanwhile, the Esri PUG event (now called the

Petroleum GIS Conference) still runs annually in Houston attracting a larger and

larger audience, with regional PUG meetings also springing up, both inside and

outside the US.

GIS and the Oil Field Life-cycle

GIS technology has applications throughout the oil field life-cycle (Figure 4), from

new ventures acquisition through exploration and production to abandonment.

Examples of how GIS is used in each of these areas is provided below.

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Figure 4. The oil field life-cycle.

Acquisition and Portfolio Management

An oil and gas exploration portfolio contains data in multiple formats on potential

hydrocarbon accumulations, such as leads and prospects, as well as information

about competing companies and estimates of their portfolio quality and value, for

use during farm-ins or when acquiring companies.

The key challenges of working with such data are ensuring that the varied datasets

can be integrated, that data is up-to-date, consistent, has a clear audit trail, and is

kept secure yet accessible to those who need to use it. Not surprisingly, GIS is

increasingly being used for this. For example in Petroleum Development Omans

frontier exploration projects, GIS-based portfolio management tools and processes

have been introduced to address some these challenges.

Acquisition & Portfolio

Management

Seismic Planning

Exploration

Drilling & Completions

Production

Distribution and Pipeline

Decommiss-ioning

Data

Management

HSE

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Seismic Planning

Due to its geodetic accuracy, data visualisation and integration functionality GIS

technology is often applied to seismic survey planning.

Whether it is onshore, using satellite imagery, or offshore, using bathymetry, sea

floor surveys and shipping lane data, GIS can help analyse areas where seismic 2D

or 3D is to be acquired.

Figure 5. Example of GIS-based seismic survey planning (Yates, 2011).

By way of an example of using GIS for planning a 3D seismic survey, Apache used

desktop GIS technology to help plan some complex 3D seismic surveys in Argentina

(Figure 5). GIS was used to move planned receiver positions to better locations

using satellite image data, and also to help address the significant permitting issues

encountered during the project.

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Exploration

Overview

Play and acreage analysis form a key part of the exploration process (Figure 6), but

are generally the most poorly defined from a standardised process point of view.

Decisions are often driven by subsets of the large volumes of data available to an

exploration team, and by personal or historical bias, based on past experiences or

exploration strategies.

Figure 6. The exploration process.

This can present a challenge to oil and gas exploration as Peter Rose, the

petroleum geologist, noted in 1996, the most difficult and critical decision in

petroleum exploration is not which prospect to drill, but instead, which new play to

enter.

Many companies apply different processes to their analysis, varying between

countries, assets or even individuals. This makes it very difficult to objectively

review opportunities on a company-wide basis, and leads to greater uncertainty in

opportunity ranking and portfolio management. It is also rarely seen as an iterative

process; new data is rarely fed back in on a regular basis to refine the model.

Technology vendors have traditionally focused on the prospect analysis part of the

exploration process, then down in to the earth model and the Digital Oil Field.

There are also several innovative technologies associated with basin analysis, often

driven by academic research. However, there is less technology support for the

play and acreage analysis components.

Basin analysis Play analysisAcreage analysis

Prospect analysis

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GIS technology has been used increasingly in this area in recent years, with much

success. A challenge oil and companies have is that out of the box GIS, being a

horizontal technology, is not tuned to the needs of the sector. Many companies

only use GIS as a data integration and visualisation tool, and dont exploit its full

analytical capabilities.

Basin Analysis

GIS is beginning to be used more in basin analysis, generally as a first-pass

screening tool before more specialised software is deployed. GIS can be used for

petroleum systems analysis using data such as regional, structure, faults, gross

depositional environment, hydrocarbon seeps, gravity and magnetics.

Standard GIS functionality can be used to produce a number of exploration

statistics, commonly employed by geoscientists such as creaming curves, field size

distributions (Figure 7) and yet-to-find analysis.

Figure 7. Pool Size Distributions produced using ArcGIS for Desktop.

Exprodats Team-GIS Exploration Analyst software contains powerful tools for

easily generating such basin (and play) statistics.

More advanced GIS analytics can be used to map likely sub-surface secondary fluid

migration (Figure 8), using tools originally designed for hydrological mapping. This

is a well-established raster analysis technique used to define drainage networks

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and basins using a digital elevation model (DEM). A variety of tools are available to

assist with this work:

Esris Spatial Analyst extension has hydrology tools to map the flow

direction and flow accumulation across a DEM surface.

Arc Hydro is a set of data models and tools that build on Spatial Analyst to

enhance the drainage mapping functionality.

Figure 8. Regional seal surface showing potential migration pathways.

Play Analysis

GIS has been used for some time in exploration play fairway mapping. Maps of

areas of interest can be produced showing well results, well penetrations,

paleogeography, gross depositional environment, structure and other pertinent

datasets. GIS allows the geologist to see all the data available in a single application

for the first time. In addition, the ability of GIS to label and symbolise features using

complex patterns and shapes allows multiple feature attributes to be displayed on

the map, e.g. a well may show the well location, the depth of penetration, net to

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gross value, as well as indicators for whether the play source, reservoir and seal are

present or not.

In play chance or common risk segment mapping, a geologist is able to assign a

chance of success (COS) to each key petroleum play element, such as reservoir,

seal, source, migration and structure. Once the data has been converted into a

consistent numeric schema geoscientists can perform mathematical calculations on

the play element data stack in order to summarise play adequacy or overall chance

of success (Figure 9).

If a region has a high COS in all categories it is coloured green, if one or more

category are risky, it is coloured amber, and if a critical element is known to be

absent the block is coloured red.

Figure 9. Common risk segment analysis (after Hood, 2000).

Prior to the use of GIS this could be a slow process, with each block having to be

individually assessed against a series of regional maps. Any changes to the regional

risk model would mean the whole process would need to be repeated.




However, once the process is set up within GIS it can be carried out in minutes

rather than days and iterated repeatedly which has the effect of dramatically

improving decision quality.

Exprodats Team-GIS Exploration Analyst software contains easy-to-use tools for

creating play chance or common risk segment maps using GIS.

Acreage Analysis

Ranking opportunities via quantitative analysis using all available information

require data integration on a massive scale. It is usually seen as too time consuming

to carry out on a regular basis, if its ever carried out at all in a structured,

repeatable way.

GIS provides the perfect environment in which to rapidly evaluate and grade oil

and gas acreage opportunities, such as license or lease blocks (Figure 10). It

provides a unique way of mining large quantities of different types of data in order

to help make a decision.

Figure 10. Ranked Haynesville Shale play sections, near Shreveport, Louisiana.




GIS allows the user to integrate multi-disciplinary asset data (e.g. geology,

environment, economic, infrastructure) in order to define analysis criteria and

weightings; rank acreage and company acreage positions; and ultimately identify

and prioritise opportunities.

Using GIS technology acreage and portfolio ranking workflows can be dramatically

shortened, standardised and rapidly iterated in order to improve decision quality,

reduce uncertainty and cut decision cycle-times.

Exprodats Team-GIS Exploration Analyst software contains tools for rapidly ranking

petroleum leases, blocks and companies, using GIS data.

Prospect Analysis

GIS is occasionally used in prospect analysis, generally as a first-pass hydrocarbon

reserve or volume estimation tool before more specialised software is deployed.

In conventional hydrocarbon plays where petroleum reservoirs can be delineated

and mapped it is possible to use GIS raster-based analysis to calculate the volume

between two gridded surfaces, or between a single surface and a series of depth

levels.

The resulting volume can be multiplied by other volumetric factors such as

recovery efficiency, net to gross, porosity and oil saturation to produce a first pass

deterministic ball park prospect volume.

In unconventional hydrocarbon plays such as shale gas, shale oil or coal bed

methane it is often useful to know the amount of area estimated to contain

proven, possible and probable reserves, based on preliminary drilling results from

exploration or development pilot wells using the common drill spacing unit (DSU)

grid-based reserve classification technique (Figure 11).

Due to its inherent spatial awareness, GIS technology allows you to calculate

accurate reserve areas, as well as use buffering around producing wells to help

estimate reserves. This is demonstrated by the newly updated Society of Petroleum

Evaluation Engineers (SPEE) Guidelines for the Practical Evaluation of Undeveloped

Reserves in Resource Plays publication which includes a recommended reserve

estimation methodology based on GIS technology (Figure 12).




Figure 11. 1P and 2P reserve areas based on Haynesville horizontal wells.

Figure 12. Expanding Concentric Radii resource area estimation (SPEE, 2010).




Once generated, such reserve area polygons can be combined with raster-based

reserve-in-place (e.g. gas in place) grids derived from preliminary drilling at pilot

sites. Using spatial analysis of the grids you can then calculate estimated reserve

volumes based on the gas-in-place raster, as well as license interest and recovery

factor attribute data.

Exprodats Team-GIS Unconventionals Analyst software packages many of the

above reserve estimation workflows into an easy-to-use toolkit providing

considerable efficiencies in terms of managing these complex geospatial

workflows.

Land Management

Considering that the first GIS ever built (the Canada Geographic Information

System developed by Dr. Roger Tomlinson in 1960) was used for land management,

it is no surprise that the petroleum sector has used GIS for land management for

some time, particularly in North America.

Petroleum lease mapping begins by organising mineral rights and lease information

in a database, then reviewing the lease data individually to establish its legal

position.

Figure 13. GIS-based land management (Gardner, 2009).

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Data types integrated in a typical petroleum land management system include

survey data such as county boundaries, blocks and sections; lease data such as

county courthouse data; well locations and regulatory data such as proration units

(Figure 13).

The way GIS stores information as attributes allows the land man to annotate the

map with key data such as lessor names, lease expiry dates, working interests (WI),

overriding royalty (OR), overriding royalty interest (ORRI), net revenue interest

(NRI) and gross/net acreages, while centralising all land management data in an

enterprise GIS environment also helps generate the reports that are a monthly

regulatory requirement of many US state agencies.

In addition, the integration of mobile GIS technology using GPS location has

allowed the land man to accurately capture data from the field directly into a

spatial database. This can be useful in tracking features that are too small to be

seen from aerial photography or that post-date the aerial photography available

for the area in question.

Field Geology

One of the more obvious applications of GIS to the petroleum industry is in the

creation and maintenance of geological maps. Esris ArcGIS geology data model

was built specifically for the geoscience industries to help with building geological

maps in ArcGIS (Figure 14).

In addition GIS can be very useful in ground-truthing, i.e. the process of validating

interpretations made remotely (e.g. from satellite imagery) through field studies.

As with land management, use of mobile GIS and GPS technology with an

enterprise geodatabase can streamline the integration of the field-derived data

with the GIS database.

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Figure 14. GIS-based geological map (USGS, 2006).

Exploration Summary

In this section we have seen how GIS is a key technology for supporting and

improving the exploration process, including risk assessment and opportunity

screening and ranking. The key benefits of this approach are summarised below:

GIS provides the ideal platform for data integration in the exploration

analysis process. Using all the data available, in a consistent fashion,

improves confidence levels in assessing risk and uncertainty.

GIS can significantly reduce the cycle times for an exploration project,

especially for manually intensive processes such as data integration,

analysis and risk map generation. This time can be used to iterate and refine

the models used for ranking opportunities, or to reduce overall project

times.

GIS provides a framework for developing consistent exploration processes

across all assets within a company. This leads to a more consistent,

auditable corporate prospect portfolio, and better portfolio management

decisions.

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Reducing technical uncertainty, standardising process and understanding risk

improves decision making and exploration efficiency. Better prospects can be

drilled earlier in a programme, and an improved framework for integrating the

results of new wells back in to the regional play risk model can be established.

Drilling and Completion

GIS is being used increasingly in the well planning arena, particularly with the rise

of unconventional resources such as shale gas, shale oil and coal bed methane. Not

only can GIS be used to plan well pad patterns around multiple surface drilling

constraints, but its unique spatial analytics can be used to calculate the most

efficient drilling configuration.

Figure 15. GIS well planning from the Green River Basin, Wyoming (Shell, 2009).

One example of this is the Pinedale field in the Green River Basin in Wyoming,

where Shell uses GIS to support the well planning and execution team, including

drilling engineers, surveyors, production geologists and rig planners. The use of an

integrated GIS database and analytical tools has reduced Shells well planning cycle

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from three to five months to just two weeks, and has enabled Shell to undertake

multiple planning cycles at the same time (Figure 15).

Exprodats Team-GIS Unconventionals Analyst software packages similar geospatial

well pattern optimisation workflows into an easy-to-use toolkit.

Production

Oil and gas companies are now starting to use GIS in petroleum production i.e.

getting oil and gas out of the ground and into pipelines for distribution. GIS is being

used to improve field production efficiency from single well completions to

monitoring whole reservoirs.

The data integration and visualisation capabilities of GIS allow production

engineers to create smart maps containing production volumes, injection rates and

recovery efficiency. Production data can be updated in near real-time on the map

and this allows operators to create production dashboard applications showing

wells or fields displayed using traffic light colour (i.e. red, orange and green)

depending on whether production is meeting expected or target levels.

Field Operations

GIS enables much more efficient planning and monitoring of field operations by

coordinating equipment and personnel movements around rig sites, providing

facilities planning and ensuring the safety of staff. Using GPS technology, assets

can be tracked in real time, providing access to the most up-to-date information on

which to base decisions.

Onshore, particularly in the unconventionals arena, field sites can be monitored

using GIS, e.g. using regularly updated DEMs to help detect subsidence caused by

extraction of the resources.

An emerging use of GIS for field operations is in using flying sensor technology to

gather on-demand high resolution imagery across a field location in order to survey

a site (Figure 16). This allows companies to regularly monitor sites and to identify

and manage change, without having to commission expensive satellite data

capture.

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Figure 16. The swinglet CAM flying sensor from senseFly.

Facilities Management

Many oil companies have developed field development and planning tools using

GIS technology in order to reduce project risk and cost. This is achieved through

generating a common 3D visualization tool for data generated by engineering

disciplines, such as reservoir engineering, seabed equipment and onshore process

facilities (Figure 17).

In this example from Chevron, the system integrates decision planning, minimizes

field layout design conflicts, supports a centralized database development,

provides design verification utilizing ROV-based 3D simulation, promotes training,

enables solutions to be verified before equipment is ordered, improves

understanding between the oil company and contractors, and supplies support

throughout the life-cycle of the field.

GIS field layout planning is initiated by compiling geophysical assessments, hazard

maps, bathymetry, existing infrastructure, reservoirs, and well data. Engineers then

position equipment such as pipelines, umbilicals, surface-processing host, mooring

lines, and risers. 3D GIS technology can then be used to visualize the field layout.

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Data can be exported to AutoCAD so engineering drawings can be generated -

these are used with front-end engineering and design (FEED) contactors and to

generate bids.

Figure 17. Web-based GIS facilities management application (Moore, 2009).

The survey of installed equipment (e.g. manifold foundation piles and wellhead

conductors) can be integrated into the GIS to provide as-built details of the field

layout. 3D simulations use these as-built details to provide virtual measurements

for subsea equipment locations, which enables jumper spools to be pre-fabricated,

thereby reducing the requirement to perform subsea metrology and project costs.

Distribution and Pipeline

The strict regulations imposed on pipelines combined with the negative

consequences of an accident make decisions regarding pipeline integrity

management increasingly important.

As a result many oil companies use GIS across the project life-cycle, capturing

engineering information while projects are under construction and managing it

during the operational phase, which can be essential for meeting regulatory

reporting obligations.

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In addition to the benefits GIS provides in centralising data management for such

infrastructure projects, GIS analysis and monitoring can also be used for specific

value-add scenarios, such as pipeline routing and pipeline monitoring.

Outside of the pipeline domain GIS also has an important role to play in the

successful use of vessels in safely and cleanly distributing hydrocarbons by sea.

While GIS is used heavily in port management, oil companies have employed

similar technologies for applications such as vessel tracking.

Pipeline Routing

Pipelines carrying petroleum products are capital-intensive projects, so

determining an optimum route becomes very important in managing the significant

operational costs involved. This is a non-trivial and time consuming task,

comprising analysis of terrain types and distances.

However, using GIS spatial and network analyses the process can be simplified

significantly through the use of least-cost path analysis - the route of least

resistance between a source point and destination, based on the effort required to

pass through cells in one or more cost raster datasets, such as slope (based on a

DEM) and land-cover (Figure 18).

Figure 18. Least-cost path analysis between two locations.




Studies have shown that GIS-based least cost path analysis can produce more

environmentally friendly routes, which are between 5-15% cheaper to implement

than traditional routing methods.

Pipeline Monitoring

Once pipelines have been constructed they need to be continually monitored to

check for leaks and geo-hazards, and to manage and track inspections, the

frequency of which is often a regulatory requirement.

A great example of using GIS for pipeline monitoring is Ormen Lange, Europes

largest offshore subsea development, which services c. 20% of the UKs gas

demand. It comprises giant subsea templates, wells and pipeline, bringing gas to

the Nyhamna processing plant from where it is transported to the UK via the

worlds largest subsea gas pipeline which is c. 1200km long.

GIS is used on the project to support field and survey operations; subsea

inspection; seafloor geodesy; and asset management. One key use of the GIS is in

understanding the complex seabed topography, and digital video has been

integrated with the GIS to allow engineers to view the sections of the pipeline and

monitor any hazards affecting the installation.

Vessel Tracking

Away from the pipeline area GIS is also useful for tracking valuable assets,

especially those that are mobile, such as vehicles and boats.

By way of an example Saudi Aramcos existing telecommunications infrastructure is

being leveraged to dispatch and track the movement of company cars, heavy

trucks, and ocean-going oil tankers (Figure 19). Knowing the precise location of

vehicles and vessels is essential for the timely delivery of goods and services, as

well as for efficient emergency response.

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Figure 19. Web-based GIS vessel tracking system (Saudi Aramco, 2007).

Decommissioning

Once the petroleum has been extracted from the field it is usually necessary to

decommission it by removing the producing infrastructure and, if onshore,

recovering the land for re-use.

The process is essentially a combined facilities management and environmental

challenge, and can be heavily regulated. It is therefore natural that GIS has a role

to play, especially if field data from the earlier phases of the oil field life-cycle has

already been centralised in an enterprise GIS.

Health, Safety and Environment (HSE)

Environmental management is an intrinsic part of petroleum operations through

the entire oil field life-cycle. GIS can help with creating environmental impact

assessments, complying with local disaster response regulations, remediating sites

after decommissioning, and tracking of natural phenomena such as hurricanes or

storms in order to minimise disruption to production facilities.




GIS is also used by many companies to provide up-to-date maps for staff driving in

remote desert locations, and to track the position of their vehicles in real-time.

Companies can supply their field-based staff with the most up-to-date GIS data via

either mobile GIS tools or hardcopy map books in order to assure their safety while

in the field.

Emergency Response

GIS is becoming increasingly important in response to emergencies such as oil spills

and gas explosions, both in mitigation planning and response management. Data

including environmentally sensitive areas, biological resources and human activity

can be loaded into a GIS and made available to all stakeholders, potentially even

the public. Users of the system can then rank areas by environmental sensitivity or

ease of clean-up, or monitor progress of an on-going response.

Emergency response best practise is to maintain a shared common operating

picture (COP) at all times. This can be done via web-based or dashboard GIS

applications comprising all relevant data in order to provide accurate situational

awareness with the ability to add data from the field. This leads to better decision

making for improved responses.

A recent example of this was the response to the Deepwater Horizon incident in

the Gulf of Mexico, the largest oil spill in United States history. This effort was

aided by the most extensive deployment of field GIS for any disaster. For the first

time, responders using mobile GIS technology had a simple process providing two-

way situational awareness between field operatives and response agencies in near

real time.

Data Management

As we have seen, spatial data is used throughout the oil field lifecycle for

visualization, modelling, analysis, and decision-making. It is therefore essential that

this is underpinned by robust spatial data management.

Data QC

Many non-spatial data management projects can benefit from the application of

GIS technology, as data errors can be obvious once the data has been added to a

map. This is especially true when cleaning up large amounts of data such as a

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regions wells or land parcels, and the geoprocessing capabilities provided by GIS

technology can be used to semi-automate data QC and reviews.

Data Index Maps

One of the most common uses of GIS in oil and gas data management is to provide

a data index map to oil company users so that they drastically reduce the amount

of time they spend looking for the data they need to do their work. Often such

maps are delivered using web-based GIS technology, and act as an easy-to-use

virtual data integrator, showing all data of interest side-by-side in a single interface

(Figure 20).

Figure 20. Web-based data index map.

Using Web technology you can drill-down from the data index map into more

detailed data, e.g. from a well to its completion log, from a lease to its legal




documents stored in an EDMS, or from a pipeline feature to its last inspection

report or digital video clip.

There are a several commercial tools available for building web-based data index

maps, such as ArcGIS for Server and Exprodats Team-GIS Discovery ArcGIS for

Server add-on that allows you to rapidly build extremely powerful web applications

and saves you the trouble of doing your own custom development.

Spatial Data Standards

The consensus in the GIS industry is that an organisation should adopt standards in

order to effectively deploy GIS. Standards of importance to GIS users in petroleum

aim at achieving data consolidation, conversion and integration in order to

maximise data interoperability.

There are a variety of standards available for petroleum organisations to deploy:

Data model standards.

Coordinate Reference System standards.

Metadata standards.

Petroleum GIS Data Models

Data models define how geographic entities are described by GIS applications. The

choice of a particular data model can yield benefits in terms of simplifying real-

world features and supporting data interoperability between applications (both GIS

and non-GIS based).

The following GIS data models are available to the petroleum sector:

Public Petroleum Data Model (PPDM) PPDM is developed and

maintained by the PPDM Association, a not-for-profit society whose

mission is to develop and maintain standards for the energy industry. A

number of E&P organisations have implemented PPDM compliant data

stores to manage corporate data in a vendor neutral format. This allows

the company to develop a single master data store for all corporate data

which can be integrated with multiple vendor products and services.

Pipeline Open Data Standard (PODS) PODS is an independent

database modelling initiative applicable to gas and liquid gathering,

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transmission and distribution pipeline systems. PODS was developed by

the PODS Association, a not-for-profit organisation whose specific

mandate is to develop and maintain data standards and exchange

formats for the pipeline industry.

ArcGIS Pipeline Data Model (APDM) APDM is a database template

designed for storing information pertaining to features found in

gathering and transmission pipelines, particularly gas and liquid

systems. APDM is expressly designed for implementation in an ArcGIS

geodatabase for use with Esri products and it is intended to work as a

template for ArcGIS users rather than as a cross-platform standard.

Seabed Survey Data Model (SSDM) Oil and gas companies aim to

manage seabed survey data based on sound geo-information

management principles and practices. The International Association of

Oil & Gas Producers (OGP) set-up a task force in 2010 to define a

standard GIS data model for seabed survey data. The resulting SSDM

model can be used both as a data exchange standard (e.g. for survey

data between operators and survey contractors) and as a data model

for managing seabed survey data within the enterprise.

Coordinate Reference System Standards

The EPSG Geodetic Parameter Datasets Standard is the primary standard for

coordinate reference systems and coordinate transformation. The standard has

been recognised internationally and included in other data exchange formats and

data models such as PPDM.

The standard comprises parameters required to identify coordinates through a

coordinate reference system (CRS) definition and to define transformations and

conversions that allow coordinates to be changed from one CRS to another. It is

available for downloading at no charge from the OGP website.

The good news for GIS users is that most commercial GIS software applications

support the EPSG standard. That said, there is some variety in the level of support

and in response to this the OGP set-up the Geospatial Integrity of Geoscience

Software (GIGS) initiative to address user concern of violations of geospatial data

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integrity when using geoscience software. See the OGP website for further

information.

Metadata Standards

Metadata is data about data. With the diverse sources from which spatial data are

derived in typical E&P workflows it is extremely important to maintain information

about the content, quality, source and lineage of the data. As such a number of

standards organisations have developed standards for storing and maintaining

metadata, such as ISO and FGDC.

Support for metadata standards in most off-the-shelf GIS applications is strong, and

its usually just a question of selecting an appropriate standard and making sure the

metadata is filled-in and up-to-date. In the petroleum GIS space the ISO and FGDC

standards are commonly used.

The Energistics Metadata Work Group is in the process of developing a metadata

specification for the energy industry, designed to help improve operational

efficiency within the industry through adoption of metadata standards, guidelines

and best practices. The intention is that this will enable efficient cataloging,

discovery, evaluation, and retrieval of information resources, regardless of whether

those resources are hosted internally or externally to an organisation.

Use of Standards in Petroleum GIS

Perhaps no other industry has such an enormous investment in data acquisition

and maintenance as the E&P industry. Leveraging this investment is critical to

success and the application of data standards should be integral to this.

However, in our experience many E&P business processes are not benefiting from

spatial data standards. This is partly because spatial data has historically been

stored in non-standards-based systems but also because migrating legacy data and

systems to new standards-based products is seen as too time-consuming and costly

to be worth the hassle.

If using a standard seems overwhelming Esri have created a number of templates

to help get you started, and these are available from the ArcGIS Petroleum

Resource Center.

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Its usually easier to start something based on a standard or template rather than

from a blank piece of paper, and we recommend pragmatic use of data standards

on new projects wherever possible.




Section 3: Getting Started with GIS in Petroleum

Introduction

If youve made it this far youd probably like to know how to get started. Luckily

there are some easy things you can do to help you on your way, both individually

and as an organisation.

Play with the Technology

There are lots of ways to have a play around with GIS technology without spending

any of your precious budget, and this is a great way to familiarise yourself with

what the tools can do. Esri offer free GIS software as well as free trials of its

commercial products.

ArcGIS Online

A good place to start playing around with GIS is ArcGIS Online, Esris cloud-based

geospatial content management system for storing and managing maps and data.

Built on Esri's cloud infrastructure, it provides some basic web-based GIS viewers

and allows you access to geographic content shared by Esri users around the world.

With ArcGIS Online, you can:

Create and share maps that can be accessed by anyone through a

browser, a mobile device, ArcGIS for Desktop, or a custom application.

Access and discover thousands of free maps, datasets, services, tools

and other geospatial content.

Manage geospatial content through an easy-to-use catalogue of items

or groups.

Share your content publically, with specific groups, or keep it private.

Use the lightweight map viewers (Figure 21) to make and view web-based maps

that contain a base map and additional layers you find in ArcGIS.com or that you

load in yourself. You can set the area of interest, save your maps, and share them

with others. The ArcGIS Online map viewers are free and only require a Web

browser and an Internet connection.

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You can also embed maps you create with ArcGIS Online into your Web site or use

the provided templates to make your own Web mapping application.

Figure 21. ArcGIS Explorer Online viewer.

ArcGIS Online is available in several ways, as follows:

Free version, hosted on Esris cloud infrastructure.

Subscription version containing additional management tools and

customisation options, hosted on Esris cloud infrastructure (previously

known as ArcGIS Online for Organizations).

Subscription on-premise version containing the additional management

tools and customisation options, hosted behind an organisations firewall

(also known as Portal for ArcGIS).

ArcGIS Explorer Desktop

ArcGIS Explorer Desktop is a free desktop GIS application that gives you an easy

way to explore, visualize, and share GIS information. ArcGIS Explorer Desktop can

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run in 3D globe mode, and as such is much like Google Earth with the addition of

GIS functionality such as coordinate reference integrity and support for common

GIS data formats.

With ArcGIS Explorer, you can:

Access ready-to-use ArcGIS Online base maps and layers.

Fuse your local data with map services to create custom maps.

Add photos, reports, videos, and other information to your maps.

Perform spatial analysis (e.g., visibility, modelling, proximity search).

ArcGIS for Desktop

If you want to get your hands on a fully functional GIS application, Esris ArcGIS for

Desktop is ideal as it is commonly used throughout the E&P sector. Esri offer free

60 day trials of ArcGIS for Desktop and all of its extensions - specialized tools that

allow you to perform more sophisticated tasks such as raster geoprocessing and 3D

analysis.

Like Exprodats Team-GIS tools for simplifying upstream petroleum workflows,

other companies also offer extensions to ArcGIS for Desktop, often packaging up

common petroleum workflows into easy to use tools. Take a look at Esris

Solutions Guide for a list of its petroleum partners.

Get Some Training

If youre thinking of getting into using ArcGIS for Desktop its likely that youll

benefit from some training as the application can seem complex to the novice user.

To get started you could check out the free Esri tutorials that come with the

software, but another great way to learn is via a formal course.

The following training courses are excellent ways to learn the application:

Exprodat petroleum GIS courses Focus specifically on the application of

ArcGIS in the petroleum sector, using common E&P scenarios, data and

workflows.

Esri courses Teach the ArcGIS application using non-petroleum specific

examples and data.

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