Shell Exploration & Production

Well Identification and

Environmental Management
A lesson in Standards and Data Management
PUG Conference 2008
February 25 Houston, TX
Keith Fraley
Shell Exploration and Production

Shell Exploration & Production

Presentation Overview:
The Problem:
Migrating Critical Data from a Pilot Phase to Production Grade

The Solution:
Leverage Technology, Standards and Interoperability

What To Take away:

Think

agile

Big, even when starting small, but, at all costs, remain

Shell Exploration & Production

Geographic and Resource

Overview:
Piceance Basin Oil Shale
Enormous Resource Potential

Northwest Area of Colorado

Complex Subsurface Hydrological Model
Hydrological Characterization Needed to Formulate Risk
Assessment
Hydrological Drilling and Sampling Program Evolves

Shell Exploration & Production

Geographic and Resource

Overview:
Why is Hydrology Important?
Extremely complex and integrated Aquifer systems

Series of Aquifers are intertwined with Oil Shale Resource

Key to the Financial Risk Assessment of the Project
Key to the Environmental Risk Assessment of the Project

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Geographic Overview

Shell Exploration & Production

The Problem (Overview):

No mandated standard for storing hydrology Well
header information
No clear method for marking hydrology wells in the
field
No established approach for collection and storage
of hydrology sampling event results
No Field based GIS tools

Shell Exploration & Production

The Problem (In depth):

No mandated standard for storing hydrology well
header information
Hydrology program began as a small R&D effort 20 years ago
Well data was kept in Excel spreadsheets or in peoples heads
No complete record of drilling results
Planned vs Actual drilled
Recompletion info convoluted
Naming conventions non standardized

Survey information not comprehensive

What, where?

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The Problem (In depth):

No clear method for marking wells in the field
Wells were identified in field in different ways, many not

identified at all
Evolved into a large number of wells (500-600)
Names changed
Initial attempts to mark wells left much to be desired
Location and Survey info was confusing, not complete

Shell Exploration & Production

The Problem (In depth):

No established approach for collection and storage
of hydrology sampling event results
Field Data was logged in a Note Book, no digital entry mechanism
Transcription errors occurred
400,000 analytical results housed in disparate locations
Life cycle for data to end consumers was long and siloed
Critical data was housed with consultants
No common platform for storage and dissemination of hydrology data

Shell Exploration & Production

The Problem (In depth):

No Field based GIS tools
Hard copy maps were ineffective do to dynamic data environment
and amount of data
Needed a digital solution in the field to leverage in house GIS
datasets
Wells, Aerials, Lease and Property Boundaries, Federal Land,
Resource Info
Aerial, Elevation and Topo data critical
GPS Navigation was a value add

Shell Exploration & Production

These Problems resulted in:

Confusion on validity of data
Data Analysis Latency
Over dependency on consultants
Disconnect between back office and field crews
Distrust of data by our end consumers

Shell Exploration & Production

Shell Exploration & Production

The Solution (Overview):

Well Identification Program (WIP) and Environmental
Management Implementation
QA

/ QC all existing wells

Migrate well header info into OpenWorks

Migrate Environmental Sampling Data into EQuIS

Tag wells in the field with standardized methodology

Develop a field GIS platform to disseminate

geographic data

Shell Exploration & Production

The Solution In Depth:

Exhaustive QA / QC process both from office and field
Migrate

well header data out of Excel and into corporate project

well repository (OpenWorks)
Assign internal API numbers for hydrology wells
Spatialize OpenWorks wells for verification against high
resolution aerial photos in ArcGIS
Mandate a standard datum and projection for new wells
Integrate into Petrel via OpenSpirit for use in modeling

Shell Exploration & Production

Shell Exploration & Production

Shell Exploration & Production

The Solution In Depth Cont:

Field verification of every single well
Equip field crews with GIS software / data and corresponding

hard copy maps

Goal: To physically touch and verify every Shell well in basin
Catalog every well with photo, and video of each Pad
Result: Invaluable process that revealed numerous data errors
even after initial QA Step
Residual effect: Creation of road and trail GIS layer via GPS
logging
End Result: Certainty in the data that users were looking for in
order to trust the data we provided

Shell Exploration & Production

The Solution In Depth Cont:

Migrate all Environmental Data to EQuIS:
What?

Environmental Quality Information System (EQuIS)

EarthSoft Corp (http://www.earthsoft.com)

Why?

Highly Refined Data Model

Front End Clients for Data Analysis

Field Data Collection Tools

Scope

Migrated 400,000 analytical results

Train Lab and field crews

Shell Exploration & Production

The Solution In Depth Cont:

2D barcode stickers for all Hydrology Wells
2D Barcode encoded with relevant well header info (Lat, Lon, API, Well
Name, Permit Name, Sec Town Range, Drill Date, Elevation, Well
Purpose)
Well

headed info encoded as an XML Stream

Barcode based on published DataMatrix standard

Provided a platform for existing and future field based applications
Well headed info pulled directly out of OpenWorks and encoded into
Barcode Tiff Image
Software Development Kit from Lead Technologies

Shell Exploration & Production

2D barcode stickers cont

Vinyl Sticker from DuraLabel placed on well
Low cost, easy to implement and replace
Field tested for 1 year prior to implementation
3.0 mil vinyl material
Weather and sun resistant
Used on military equipment and drillings rigs the
world over

Shell Exploration & Production

Shell Exploration & Production

Shell Exploration & Production

The Solution In Depth Cont:

Field Crew Equipped Hardware
Panasonic Toughbook 30
MIL-STD-810F Tested
Intrinsically safe device (for use in explosion-prone areas)
GPS
Bluetooth
Wide Area Wireless Enabled
Rugged Bluetooth Barcode Readers
2D Datamatrix compatible

Shell Exploration & Production

The Solution In Depth Cont:

Software Field Crews (Approach):
Geographic Based
Aerial Imagery Foundation
GPS Integration Capable
In Line with Shell Global GIS Initiatives
3D Capable

Open
Cost Effective
Lean and Mean

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The Solution In Depth Cont:

Software (Choice):

ArcGIS Explorer (AGX) for field GIS Platform

Data Delived as a cached bundle, leveraging both ESRI ArcGIS Online Services and

internal Shell ArcGIS Services

Easy to use, and straight forward for our Field Crews
GPS Navigation
NEMA feeds from Toughbook Integrated GPS Chip
EarthBridge integrated into AGX as Custom Task
EarthBridge ports NEMA feeds into KML (originally designed for Google Earth)
Enables field crews to see their location real-time in AGX

EQuIS IDEF (Intelligent Data Entry Form)

IDEF Integration into AGX as Custom Task
Stream Lined Data Collection
Custom Shell Barcode integration
Eliminate Date Entry errors

Shell Exploration & Production

The Solution In Depth Cont:

Additional Factors for Choosing AGX
Lean yet powerful SDK and OpenGL Support
Platform for Subsurface Data Integration
HTML Capable Notes
Easily Integrate Well Photo and Video Logs
Existing Powerful Tools
Go to location
Import File
Measure
Identify

ESRI Data Support

File Geodatabases
Shapefiles
Rasters

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AGX: Offline Delivery

Cached AGS Service Bundles
ESRI ArcGIS Online
1 meter Aerial Photos
USGS Topo 1:24k
US Street Map
3d Elevation Model
Shell AGS Services
1 foot Aerial Photos
Property Boundaries
Lease Location
Hydrology Pads
Resource

File Geodatabase
Vector Data
Wells
Deviation Surveys

KML
Real-time GPS

Well Identification Program

Objective: To have a system that will help with well and subsequent
data identification, and reduce in over-all project costs.

Ruggedized Field Laptop

Shell Exploration & Production

GPS / GIS Integration

Field Interface for
EQuIS Sampling
GIS / GPS
Navigation
OpenWorks Well DB

Current Well ID Program: Not clearly defined and confusing; not cost
effective.
Proposed Well ID Program: Physical tagging of wells with a 2D Bar
Code with relevant information.
Benefits of 2D Bar Code System:

Reduction in human effort, and data recording duplication

Elimination of well ID confusion

Aid in data QC and input of data into main databases

Well ID, location, and sample ID errors eliminated

In-field managers can track progress on each well

Allow independent field personnel to track latest

information at
the well site

History is available at each well for all borehole life-cycle

activities

Minimizes chance of old data being used

Data latency is significantly reduced

Errors can be quickly corrected

New information can be quickly reported in a hard-copy

computer readable format

Barcodes can be quickly replaced if damaged

Bar codes are secure and keep data classified, and are
easily combined with encryption and limited user operation
procedures.

Well Name
API, UWI
Total Depth
Drill Date
Comp Date
LL
Contact
Use/Program
etc
The data capacity of a 2-D bar code is
up to 3 K Bytes of data. This should be
sufficient for the most of the information
required including the elevation,
coordinates, well construction
information including location of the
screen and pump, and any other
information associated with the well.

Integrated
wireless GPS

EQuIS
Sampling
Form

Wireless Bar Code

Reader
Reads Data from well bar
code and reports to field
Laptop

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Screen Shots:
Evolution not Revolution.

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Screen Shots:
Evolution not Revolution.

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A Lesson in Standards and Data Management

Leveraged Standards
XML
Barcodes
Webservices
DataMatrix
Barcode Encoding
NEMA
GPS Integration
KML
Real-time GPS Display
MIL-STD-810F
Intrinsically Safe Devices

Leveraged RDMS
OpenWorks

Shell Exploration & Production

In Summary, lessons learned

Testament to Standards
The wonderful thing about Tiggers, is Tiggers is a wonderful thing

Think big, even when starting small

Starting with a scalable vision is imperative for even the smallest projects

Remain Agile (http://www.agilealliance.org/)

Geography matters
Providing easy to use geographic tools in the field is critical

Leverage, leverage, leverage

Leveraging standards and common, open APIs can provide robust solutions in
a timely manner

Shell Exploration & Production

Thank you

Questions?