Petroleum User Group (PUG) Conference Abstracts -- ESRI 2002

Petroleum

2002 ESRI Petroleum User Group (PUG) Conference

March 4-6, 2002
Westin Galleria
Houston, Texas

User Presentation Abstracts

National Oil & Gas Assessment On-line (NOGA Online), Leveraging ArcIMS and the Worldwide Web #27
(Gregory L. Gunther, Laura R.H. Biewick, and Christopher C. Skinner--USGS)

The United States Geological Survey Central Energy Resources Team (CERT) provides periodic assessments of the oil and natural gas resource endowment of the United States. The first entirely digital assessment was completed in 1995. Assessment activities are continuing for priority areas based on the 1995 assessment results and on new data and perceptions about energy resource accumulations. Land use planning and energy policy decisions underscore the need for timely access and delivery of energy data and products.

To address client needs, the Central Energy Resources Team has developed NOGA Online and is currently implementing this innovative Web-based technology to provide "one-stop shopping" for existing and new assessment information. NOGA Online provides worldwide access and delivery of CERT products and leverages industry tools such as ESRI's ArcIMS and ArcSDE as well as information systems standard technologies (JSP, Java Servlets, and Oracle). In addition, it minimizes the resources needed to fulfill data and information requests and allows users to access and download the latest statistical summaries and assessment results as well as geologic reports, spatial data, metadata documentation, and map services. NOGA Online increases efficiency, aligns assessment activities with product development cycles, and is becoming a critical tool to meet client demand.

Using ESRI and Spotfire Technology to Enhance Analysis of Exploration Data in the Gulf of Mexico #18
(Samuel Mentemeier and Garry Steinle--Anadarko Petroleum Corporation)

Anadarko recently leveraged the combined ESRI and Spotfire technologies to enhance analysis of exploration data for the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). Spotfire DecisionSite Map Interaction Services (Map IS), a value-added product based on ESRI's ArcExplorer, allows users to visualize and interact with GIS data within the DecisionSite environment.

Using existing ArcView shapefiles and images, Anadarko analyzed the GOM data in Map IS with considerable ease. The geographic dimension provided by Map IS added significant insight to the analysis.

This presentation will demonstrate the methodology for leveraging existing ArcView layers for complex analysis in Spotfire DecisionSite with the results of the analysis appended to the original data set.

Buckeye Pipeline Company's Implementation of GIS Data Management #2
(Shelley Degler--Buckeye Pipeline Company)

Buckeye Pipeline Company, like many other liquid pipeline operators, has realized the importance of GIS for data management and pipeline integrity. This presentation will provide a synopsis of the steps Buckeye took to implement its GIS. A brief sequence of events is used to show the processes of the needs assessment, data capture, implementation, and applications of the system. Examples will be provided to demonstrate the utility of the GIS within the Buckeye organization.

Introduction of Well Logs into a 3-D GIS and the Development of Reservoir Pseudo-Tomography #17
(John Grace--Earth Science Associates)

Well logs are a fundamental tool in hydrocarbon exploration and development, yet in a traditional 2-D GIS, there is no way to exploit them as the critical information they bring is recorded in depth. Logs can, however, be introduced into a 3-D GIS, adding an extensive suite of new data to GIS analysis of field development problems. Three classes of application can be demonstrated using data on fields from the Gulf of Mexico.

At the simplest level, selected curves can be displayed as graphics along well directional surveys. These provide lithologic and fluid detail of completion intervals within reservoirs and put reservoirs themselves within stratigraphic context. Second, log data can be extracted over the productive interval of all wells intersecting a specific reservoir. Data from the same curve in each well can be summarized (e.g., averaging calculated porosity in each well over its productive interval). Those summary statistics can then be imputed back to the x,y location where each well intersects the reservoir. With, for instance, average porosity assigned to each completion interval, porosity can then be gridded across the reservoir extent, producing a map of reservoir porosity (or any other log-derived variable).

The final application broadens the second. Rather than averaging the log variable of interest over the entire productive interval, depth slices can be calculated. Extending the example above, the average porosity is computed from the logs for the first 10 feet from the top of the reservoir, then the next 10 feet down, and so forth. For each depth slice, the depth slice average value from each well is gridded across the reservoir (or to the extent of control).

These depth slice maps can be draped on the 3-D representation of the reservoir and organized so they are displayed consecutively moving through the reservoir in depth. Using the animation capability of ArcView 3D Analyst, a slider control allows the user to move up and down in depth through the reservoir, studying the distribution of the mapped variable as it changes in all three dimensions. This provides a pseudotomographic picture of the distribution of any log variable through the reservoir body ("pseudo" because data is only actually collected along the well bores).

While gridding log variables is performed in ArcView Spatial Analyst, this also poses an excellent application for Geostatistical Analyst. Using geostatistical tools would improve estimation of the mean values of log variables (by systematic exploitation of spatial variance) and opens the opportunity to map confidence intervals or estimation variance of mapped log parameters for risk analysis. A further application is the creation of new 3-D bodies within the reservoir representing volumes of rock sharing common values of the log parameter being mapped (e.g., 3-D isoporosity pods within the reservoir volume that could be used for volumetric analysis).

Planets Aligning--Integrating PODS, ArcSDE, and ArcIMS #12
(Ron Brush--New Century Software)

PODS, the Pipeline Open Data Standard (ISAT 2.0), is an emerging data model in the pipeline industry. This presentation will explore the challenges and possibilities of linking PODS with ArcSDE and ArcIMS. This presentation will begin by considering some of the benefits to be gained by integrating these technologies.

The presentation will address some of the technical challenges faced in integrating PODS and ArcSDE. These challenges include managing updates to event tables, handling history, and using some of the new features of the geodatabase such as geometric networks. Corresponding requirements for using ArcIMS will also be discussed.

Next, this presentation will focus on several approaches that can be considered when integrating PODS, ArcSDE, and ArcIMS. These approaches will address different ways of using the geodatabase with the PODS event tables--with pros and cons. The presentation will include an example integration of these three powerful technologies.

This presentation will also include a brief discussion of how route events work in ArcGIS 8.1 including how to create routes and store them in a geodatabase.

The Role of Geographic Information Systems in Coalbed Methane Resources in the Powder River Basin, Wyoming #15
(Scott Kinney, Romeo Flores, Dwain McGarry, and Cathy Stilwell--USGS and BLM)

The Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana is the most active onshore gas play in the lower 48 states of the United States. To date, there are more than 20,000 coal bed methane (CBM) wells permitted to drill, and the BLM has projected nearly 50,000 CBM development wells by the year 2010 in the Wyoming part of the basin. More than 60 percent of the coal, gas, and oil in the basin are federally owned. Therefore, the USGS and BLM formed a cooperative project to assess the resources, gas recoverability, coal reservoir characteristics, gas drainage flow, and coproduced water of CBM in the basin, particularly those on federal lands. Geographic information systems play a major role in database management; spatial analysis; and the generation of digital well location maps, lease maps, federal gas units, and federal subsurface ownership maps. In addition, GIS is utilized to generate interpretive maps developed from collected field data, play boundaries, and resource assessments. The report discusses the methodology, processes, and results of GIS analyses and demonstrates products generated during the past few years when CBM development and production have rapidly increased.

Delivering ESRI Data to the Enterprise in a CAD World (Part II) #28
(Peter Veenstra--M.J. Harden)

SDE is an extension to industry-standard relational database management systems (RDBMS) for large-scale storage of geographic data and spatial analysis. SDE provides a framework for storage and dissemination of disparate sources of geographic data across the enterprise. The PipeView software tool is designed for maintenance and management of gas and oil pipeline transmission data using existing CAD tools but storing this data within SDE in native shapefile format. Users are allowed to create and edit pipeline geographic features through PipeView using data served by SDE to a native CAD format. However, other users are now able to view the data stored in SDE using typical ESRI clients such as ArcIMS, ArcView, MapObjects, and ArcGIS 8. The focus of this presentation will be on the implementation strategy for allowing the enterprise to manage CAD data, projecting geographic features on the fly, reconciling database editing, and performing spatial analysis using SDE through the use of various ESRI client tools. This presentation continues where the presentation at last year's PUG meeting left off.

UK Onshore Geophysical Library ArcIMS Map Server Presentation #8
(Nick Blake--Lynx)

The UK Onshore Geophysical Library was established in 1994 in conjunction with the UK Department of Trade and Industry and the UK Onshore Operators Group. The Library operates as a registered charity, funded by revenues raised from data sales and donations and overseen by a Board of Trustees representing the interests of industry and academia.

The Library has archived most of the 70,000 kilometers of onshore seismic data and provides field seismic (demultiplexed), stacked, and migrated data in SEG-Y format; location data (UKOOA format); and scanned images of observer reports and associated metadata.

An important objective of the Library is to offer an online service, and as part of this process, Lynx Information Systems Ltd. has built a GIS of the data. Initially, the GIS used ESRI's ArcView 3.x, which has now been extended to the Internet utilizing ESRI ArcIMS technology. The GIS contains the location of all onshore seismic lines. In addition, field outlines, well locations, and permit boundaries are included together with coastlines, roads, railways, towns, county and administrative boundaries, and Landsat TM imagery. Users can retrieve information based on line attributes including name, operator, vintage, line length, and so forth. Permits, field outlines, national grids, and so forth, can also be used to select seismic lines either within the feature or at a selected distance from the feature (e.g., all seismic lines within five miles of Wytch Farm Field). For routine inquiries, the currently available HTML browser is considered sufficient. In the next phase, an enhanced version will allow browsing of the actual seismic data using a Web-enabled version of the Lynx SEG-Y viewer (currently this facility is only available to ArcView and ArcGIS 8 subscribers). Future enhancements will allow selection of lines based on shot point range and data clipping within selected areas.

The presentation will include a live demonstration using the ArcIMS map server.

ArcGIS 8.0 Implementation: A Case Study #19
(Bruce Jensen, Kirk Barrell, David Caplan, and Bruce Sanderson--Geodynamics)

Wood Mackenzie has been providing its unique range of consultancy services and research products to the energy and life sciences industries for over a quarter of a century. With a foundation in quality analysis, detailed industry understanding and a wealth of experience, Wood Mackenzie is able to offer clients a unique skill combination.

Wood Mackenzie made the decision to move from a MapInfo to an ESRI-based GIS system to technologically align with their customers in the petroleum industry. Geodynamic Solutions, Inc., was contracted by Wood Mackenzie to assist them with this GIS software and spatial data management project. The goals of the project were to improve the management of spatial data, transition to ESRI software, and simplify the system and processes. Based on the required functionality, a mix of products from ESRI and Safe Software were implemented. The proposed solution includes ESRI's latest platform of GIS products: ArcGIS 8.1. The mapping product from ESRI that was chosen was ArcEditor 8.1 due to the requirements of editing multi-user geodatabases, feature versioning, and feature-linked annotation. ArcSDE is utilized to store the spatial data and ArcCatalog is the primary tool for managing it.

The most important task in the project was the re-engineering of the internal GIS tools and spatial data management. By implementing the latest ESRI tools and moving the data to a relational spatial model, many of the work processes were streamlined and automated. A global spatial database provides a much more efficient storage, archiving, versioning, and delivery mechanism. These data are also relational linked to a corporate Oracle database.

MapInfo is the GIS software used internally to digitize, manipulate, and print spatial data and is used for all hard copy and digital map creation in the company. The goal of the GIS project was not only to transition from MapInfo to ESRI-based GIS software, but also to gain efficiency in the processes and approaches. The following outlines the efficiency goals for the new system:

Global map layers in relational database (ArcSDE)
Automation of the map update and creation process
Advanced labeling tools to greater reduce map creation and editing time

To meet the GIS requirements, some development was required. The majority of the development was done with Visual Basic and ArcObjects. The custom modules included an advanced labeling tool, feature editor, batch exporter, data loader, and bookmarking tool.

The new system, based on ESRI technology, will enable Wood Mackenzie to improve business processes, move to a relational spatial data environment, and provide a platform for easily transitioning products to the Internet. A key benefit of this project is the close alignment of the spatial data and the underlying attribute data held within Wood Mackenzie's extensive corporate database.

GIS Implementation in a Mid-Size Oil Company and Its Role in Knowledge Integration #1
(Ekaterina Casey--BHP Billiton Petroleum)

The GIS environment plays an increasingly important role in spatial data analysis by exploration professionals. Large energy companies have formed GIS teams, which work on proprietary solutions and applications integration, promote use of a GIS, and support business units. Mid- to small-size companies cannot afford such an approach. In these companies, enthusiasts with small initial budgets drive the GIS efforts. BHP Billiton Petroleum (Americas), a midsized company, selected an expert GIS company as a business consultant and has built a GIS environment, which supports exploration projects and is well positioned to grow.

GIS is seen as an essential component in the analysis of the integrated data in petroleum exploration and production companies, but even this tool is lacking all necessary functionality for the explorationist. One missing function is the creation of quality surfaces using sophisticated algorithms taking faults into account, which is not on ESRI's list to be addressed. Nevertheless, BHP Billiton is striving toward a model where all the data necessary for decision making is in one place, so correlations and spatial analysis could make decisions better founded and decision making more efficient. BHP Billiton's solution is to create an environment in which applications designed for the task are used to create the data and have it available for GIS for analysis and/or have GIS information available for project applications directly, without copying the data.

Enron Pipeline Emergency Response #21
(Elaine Tombaugh--Enron Transportation Services)

Enron Transportation Services (ETS) supports the operation of more than 33,000 miles of pipelines, including Northern Natural Gas, Transwestern, and Northern Border, safely and efficiently. One crucial requirement for ETS is the ability to rapidly respond to any sort of leak, disturbance, or problem affecting the flow of gas and the area surrounding the pipeline. Rapid response is especially important to ensure human and environmental safety. Heightened security concerns in light of the ongoing terrorist threat also mandate the ability to quickly deploy field response teams.

To address its need for a robust and reliable system for coordinating field response to pipeline emergencies, ETS (in partnership with R7 Solutions) developed a comprehensive Operations Communications Center (OCC) response system. The system guides a centralized group of operators/coordinators through the process of receiving phone calls from anyone who observes a pipeline problem, geographically locating and mapping the source of the call and/or the pipeline problem, determining the appropriate response and response personnel, and notifying that personnel. The system also supports all pipeline one-call and line-locate requests.

The OCC response system integrates GIS technology (MapObjects) with a wide variety of technologies including telephone and existing SAP and database systems. The distributed application is one of the first enterprise systems built on the Microsoft .NET platform and replaces an existing ArcView IMS system that has been used by the OCC team for the past four years.

Breakout of GIS Technology in Calgary's Upstream Oil and Gas Business--Experiences at Talisman Energy (so far�) #14
(Mark Dumka--Talisman Energy)

GIS technology has usually existed at the periphery of Calgary's upstream oil and gas business. This is beginning to change. The presentation will begin by considering the new opportunities that a GIS brings forward compared to currently entrenched solutions. Emphasis will be focused on the software/data environment that has evolved in Calgary over the past 20 years and where GIS might lead next. Next, some experiences at Talisman will be shared. ESRI solutions have been employed at Talisman since early 2000, primarily for project-based exploration work outside Canada. The use of ESRI solutions for this kind of work has been fairly rudimentary. This gives an opportunity to share what it is like to use GIS "from scratch." Examples from the exploration effort in Appalachia will be brought forward. Lately, effort has been devoted to implement a broad-based, multiuser enterprise GIS. Experiences, expectations, and risks associated with this effort will be discussed.

Integrated Salt Dome Modeling in ArcView #25
(M.E. Odegard and W.R. Weber--Geophysical Exploration Technology (GETECH)

Geophysical Exploration Technology (GETECH) has modeled more than 400 salt domes and other salt features worldwide. It also produces integrated geological and geophysical interpretation and exploration projects in ArcView. It has merged these two processes together. The merging has resulted in not only a more integrated approach to interpretation but also a much more efficient method of doing the modeling itself. Modeling begins with a modified Cordell-Henderson inversion for the initial salt body model. The model is then constrained further with available local seismic and well penetrations. The salt body models are represented as contours within an ArcView shapefile. The gravity field is calculated from initial and subsequent models using the Talwani-Ewing method by clicking on a "Tool" button and sending the shapefile to the external program. This program then calculates the gravity field for the model as a grid and converts the grid into a GeoTIFF. The GeoTIFFs of the measured gravity field, calculated field, and their difference are displayed in this highly integrated ArcView GIS environment along with the salt contour shapefiles, wells, and seismic location. The contour shapefiles are edited in ArcView to better match the measured field. This process continues in an iterative manner until the calculated and measured fields match closely. The intermediate final results can then be viewed with the interactive 3-D model viewing software that is hot linked to the salt dome location in ArcView.

Pipeline Data Management--Establishing Data Management for New Project Development #16
(Angus Wood--Geofields)

A comprehensive energy infrastructure project requires the consideration of significant environmental, socioeconomic, and engineering challenges. A key issue in managing a project within these challenging parameters is ensuring that the information flow within the project development process is well managed.

Establishing a data management environment in the planning/design/construction phases of a project will serve to facilitate project development and establish the nucleus of an operations and maintenance data management environment. The project data management environment needs to be established early in the project life cycle. This means that a robust, flexible, and portable suite of applications and processes must be defined. The data model must be sound and scalable to facilitate transferring the project data management environment into an operational data management environment.

This paper describes the efforts to establish a project data management environment for a proposed multibillion dollar pipeline project and takes a "lessons learned" approach. Challenges outside the norm for an IT development project have been presented both by the rigid time lines of the project and also by the requirement of integrating data and applications in a multicorporation environment.

It is envisioned that project data management becomes a standard or best practice within the project development process, justified both as an overall economic benefit for the project and as an assist in the management of the significant risks and challenges that are encountered in the development of large-scale energy infrastructure projects.

Migrating to ArcGIS #20
(Cynthia Salas--Reliant Energy)

Reliant Energy is an international energy services and delivery company with $20 billion in annual revenue. With the merger of three gas and one electric company in 1997, Reliant found four different GIS systems on various platforms and in various stages of implementation. In 1998, Reliant began a four-part plan to implement an enterprisewide GIS on ESRI's ArcInfo platform. Three of the four phases have now been implemented, but not without hard work. This presentation will discuss the major parts of the implementation plan and lessons learned along the way.

Real-Time GIS #22
(Wade Koteras--Energy Objects)

Displaying real-time information on a map shows another dimension of your data whether it represents moving objects or the changing attributes of map features. Add spatial analysis, and you have a system capable of displaying and flagging meaningful spatial relationships in real time. This presentation covers what can be seen with real-time GIS as well as examples of technology that can be used to implement these systems.

Right-of-Way Management: Increase Revenue Through Partnership with GIS #13
(Aisha Casados--Reliant Energy)

Does the promise of a 200 percent return on investment sound good? It sounded good to Reliant Energy HL&P and carried a low risk as well. The Land & Right-of-Way (LROW) Division is the property manager for the Company's Transmission Line rights-of-way within the Houston Metro area. For 2001, LROW contributed $409,000 per employee in revenues from ongoing operations. Time limitations on staff limited the division's ability to aggressively manage property for many years; however, with the GIS applications developed for land management use, time- and labor-intensive processes were replaced with automated processes. Processes and GIS applications will be discussed along with the savings in labor cost. Expect a nontechnical discussion of ways to use GIS along with demonstrations of the layers and use of Reliant Energy's GIS.

ISAT Meeting--Overview of ISAT Model Status #6
(John Beets--M.J. Harden)

The gas transmission pipeline industry developed the ISAT GIS model in 1994-95. Primary sponsorship of the project was provided by the Gas Research Institute (now the Gas Technology Institute), with M.J. Harden Associates serving in a project management role. More than 20 pipeline companies participated in the development of the model in a variety of capacities. ISAT is now being used by some 20 companies with more than 100,000 miles of transmission pipeline (both gas and liquids) converted to date. In the years since its original development, numerous changes have occurred to the model. The core of the model is still in place, but additions and modifications have been made to respond to the needs of individual user companies. The latest modifications are in response to requirements in the area of pipeline integrity and risk assessment. This presentation will bring attendees up-to-date on the status of the model and make them aware of an ISAT User Group that has been formed. In addition, the presenters will demonstrate the use of the model with SDE and the interoperability with both CAD and GIS.

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