The Exploration & Appraisal wellfile consists of definitive electronic content held in structured databases and electronic documents. Its also consists of hardcopy and physical items such as core. Whilst some of this material has to be provided to the government, some of the interpreted information needs to be managed for the medium term by the operator. As well as managing the content, activities need to be performed such as reporting to partners, governments and internal loading/indexing and value-add activities.

Typically some well information comes in to a central services group, other well information is sent directly to the team. There is often a separate flow for 'documents' as opposed to 'data'. How do you check all of this, on dozens (even hundreds) of wells drilled each year in different locations?

Many companies use spreadsheets to track all these activities. Whilst this can be fit for purpose, there are situations where a more sophisticated approach is required, that combines an electronic checklist, with context. The purpose of the electronic checklist is not to instruct detailed procedures for naming standards and processes, simply to check they have been done and provide the link to the information or audit trail.

For a global function like Exploration, management are under pressure to sign off business assurance letters that all their 'records' are being managed effectively. They also want common processes in all locations and streamlined, efficient processes for their data & information. They are increasingly benefiting from using 'document dashboards' that view the results of these checklists. Some companies have identified the 'Top20 documents' in this area they want to track. This makes it simple and transparent for Exploration staff (and Information Managers acting on their behalf) to see whether all the records they are responsible for have been collected and safeguarded for the future.

This avoids several pitfalls:
? Not relying simply on the 'heroic' best efforts of individuals, not a systematic approach
? empty well folders in an electronic document system, where there is ambiguity of whether the item is missing (or was never created),
? well database metrics (that only focus on a subset of the subsurface wellfile and look for loading quality issues as opposed to whether any work products are missing) and the
? traditional wellfile library or corporate data management services or 'facilities', where what is given is normally well managed - but they are not given everything and have no way of knowing. People often only know a key piece of information is missing, when they need it in a hurry, often months or years later.

The presentation will provide a case study based on the global application of a more sophisticated approach to the management of their subsurface exploration & appraisal wellfile
 

Short Bio:

Dave Camden is a director and information management specialist with Flare Solutions with over 30 years? experience in the oil industry. He worked in the service sector with Schlumberger and was Petroleum Engineering manager at British Gas before starting up Flare in 1998 with industry colleagues. In Flare, Dave has run multiple consulting engagements around information strategy development and the integration of information publishing within E&P workflows. He was involved with standards development around well logs with Energistics (formerly known as POSC) which was closely associated with similar work done for the Norwegian national repository. Dave?s particular interest is the development and deployment of E&P metadata naming standards to support cross-disciplinary knowledge sharing.