GIS Technology in the Petroleum Industry

1
GIS Technologyin the Petroleum Industry
W. N. (Bill) Wally WNW Consulting, LLC Tel
713-857-5170 FAX [phone] Internet
gis_guy_at_swbell.net
2
GIS Technologyin the Petroleum Industry

• Background
• What is a GIS
• Business drivers
• Issues
• Future expectations
• Summary

3
Background
4
Major oil company operations

• International in scope (for over 100 years)
• Challenges
• Technical (e.g. deepwater oil production,
  gas-to-liquids)
• Environmental (HCAs, protected habitats, spills)
• Economic (volatile oil prices, low profitability)
• Legal (royalty payments, reporting requirements)
• 49 CFR part 195
• Large volumes of complex data that must be
• managed
• organized
• displayed

5
Oil industry GIS chronology

• Early 1980s adopters include Exxon, Shell,
  Amoco
• Its the only technology that can manage most of
  our data -- wells, leases, grids, seismic lines,
  culture, etc.
• Many competing technologies (mostly VMS/Unix)
• in-house, Genasys, Vortex, etc...
• Confusion/conflicts between CAD and GIS
• 1989 - Operation Database/GIS
• 1990 - ex-Texaco geologist Bill Slinkard joined
  ESRI
• PUG was formed
• 2000 - ESRI becomes the defacto GIS standard for
  the petroleum industry

6

• 104 billion annual revenues (2001)
• (3.7 billion net)
• Operations in 180 countries
• 20,000 miles of pipelines
• 11.8 billion barrels oil gas equivalent
  reserves
• 2.7 million BOPD daily production worldwide
• (3 of worldwide consumption)
• 50,000 employees

7
What is a GIS?
8
What is a GIS?

• A geographic information system (GIS) is
  software that uses location to link digital
  databases, providing users with map-based access
  to information.
• A GIS can also link to data that is not in the
  GIS
• reports (e.g. environmental hazards, material
  safety data, contracts)
• Safe Operations - Process Safety Information
• PFDs, PIDs, Safe Charts, Equipment Layouts, Area
  Classifications, Fire Safety Layouts,
  Electrical One Lines, etc.)
• other facilities databases for safe operations
  management practices
• Management of Change, Process Hazard Analysis,
  etc.
• images (pictures, scanned drawings, CAD)
• videos
• other databases (e.g. Oracle)
• This is a very powerful feature, since it allows
  digital data to be accessed geographically,
  without first copying it into a GIS

9
How does a GIS work (1)?

• A GIS stores, analyzes, and displays geographic
  data
• and attributes of geographic data
• Geographic data is data about things that have a
  location
• trees (species, age, height,)
• houses (owner, street address, of rooms, age,
  .)
• roads (name, of lanes, surface, quality)
• cities (name, population, age, etc.)
• countries (name, population, etc.)
• wells (id, status, when drilled, current oil
  production, etc.)
• A GIS displays geographic data as if it were a
  series
• of transparent maps, overlain on each other

10
Example GIS display
View (map)
Table
Themes
11
What data do we access with a GIS?

• wells
• pipelines
• seismic survey locations
• production and refining facilities
• engineering drawings
• photographs of facilities, wellheads, etc.
• safety and environmental reports
• land ownership and permits
• roads, rivers, village boundaries
• digital orthophotos and satellite images

12
What is different about a GIS?

• Although the primary GIS product is a map, it
  is different from conventional maps because
• it is a graphical display conveying spatial
  information
• about the underlying data, that can be
  interactively
• modified by the end-user
• the map scale is completely variable -- this has
• significant implications regarding location
  data accuracy
• GIS data can be shared, i.e. accessed by
  different users in
• different ways at the same time

13
GIS Business Drivers
14
GIS Business DriversMultidisciplinary asset
teams

• More data sharing among
• geophysics
• geology
• petroleum engineering
• facilities engineering
• land/legal
• safety and environment
• One thing in common
• WHERE is the asset?
• GIS spatial window is the best way to access
  diverse data

15
GIS Business DriversExpanding IT marketplace

• Leverages other industries
• Lowers costs per seat
• 10,000 times as many users - same price
• Cost comparison
• Company
  Industry General
• Specific
  Specific Purpose
• Development 1,000,000
  10,000,000 200,000,000
• of sites 1
  100 1,000,000
• per site 1,000,000
  100,000 200

16
Value of GIS Technology

• GIS technology has a proven performance record
• cutting costs of construction
• production facilities - by providing better
  as-builts, and also accurate maps of nearby
  hazards or other sensitive areas
• pipelines - more accurate routing means more
  accurate estimates of quantities needed for pipe
  materials
• supporting GG, Engineering, HSE, emergency
  response, and related reporting requirements
• government agencies now require GIS datasets as
  well as reports
• high-grading existing location data
• wells
• pipelines
• facilities
• ChevronTexaco example
• to comply with FTC requests, created 100 custom
  maps showing CHV/TX/competitor pipelines,
  facilities, properties, production, etc. in less
  than 2 months

17
GIS Business DriversBusiness Case

• Estimated cost savings resulting from better
  decision-making
• 1 of current worldwide expenditures for
• drilling rig positioning
• emergency response
• offshore flowline construction
• tanker truck fuel costs
• 1 of 1 billion 10 million
• Estimated cost increases from failing to
  correctly report operations activities to
  appropriate government, environmental NGOs, and
  local stakeholders
• mega....

18
GIS Organization Model
Corporate Divisions
Information Technology
GIS Supervisor
Corp. GIS Steering Committee/GRT
GIS Advisor
Technician
Analyst
Analyst
Technician
19
Enterprise GIS Comment
A GIS/Web combination is the best opportunity to
create an enterprise management system that
presents technical, financial, HR, and media
information in a single interface for complex
problem resolution and decision-making. The GIS
spatial presentation and analyses capabilities
are well suited for organizing complex
information in a manner that transcends language
barriers. As such, it is an ideal enterprise
management system for global companies operating
in multiple cultures.
Mark Koelmel - Chief Operating Officer Chevron
SASOL Ltd.
20
2001
21
1999
22
Issues and challenges

• Data management
• Data ownership and responsibility
• Metadata standards
• Replication between GIS servers and laptops
• Backup and tuning of very large GIS databases
• General GIS concepts still not well understood
• coordinate systems
• location accuracy

23
Future expectations

• Improved conflation tools
• 3-D GIS
• dont stop at ground level
• stratigraphic cross sections
• reservoir visualization
• GIS technology is still too complicated...

24
Summary

• The petroleum industry already realizes tangible
  benefits using geographic data and GIS technology
  to make better operational decisions
• New capability in ArcGIS 8.3 significantly
  expands its value and relevance
• Geodatabase - everything appears in the same
  place
• comprehensive metadata
• coordinate transformation on the fly
• imagery
• very high performance
• Linear Referencing (esp. for pipelines and
  seismic)
• Survey Analyst - finally addressing conflation
• ArcIMS (Internet Map Server) for web-based
  access
• ArcReader for easy distribution of GIS data and
  maps
• For the petroleum industry, GIS technology is
  now mature enough to warrent world-wide Corporate
  Level commitment, to insure its proven ability to
  assist in capital stewardship is employed to
  maximum advantage throughout the entire
  enterprise.

25
The Ultimate Goal
Geography brings us together
Single database image
Etc.
Financial
Produc- tion
Hardcopy
Leases
Facilities
Wells
Seismic
26
ESRI Petroleum User Group (PUG)

• 450 companies/organizations including Anadarko,
  BP, ChevronTexaco, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil,
  Landmark Graphics, Marathon, Saudi Aramco,
  Schlumberger, Shell, Unocal, USGS
• Geodatabase - everything appears in the same
  place
• comprehensive metadata
• coordinate transformation on the fly
• imagery
• very high performance
• ArcIMS - GIS access from any web browser
• Overlapping/disjoint polygons (regions)
• Overpost resolution (Maplex)
• Linear Referencing (esp. for pipelines and
  seismic)