An online data store which should help to maximise recovery of the UK’s oil and gas reserves was launched yesterday.
Behind the Seismic DataStore is Common Data Access (CDA), which manages well data collected during drilling activity on the UK continental shelf (UKCS).
The new service is expected to increase substantially the efficiency of retrieving and analysing the 4,500 2D and 3D seismic surveys, allowing companies to respond much more quickly and confidently to licence applications.
UK Energy Minister Lord Hunt said: “The wealth of knowledge contained in the seismic surveys carried out around our coasts over the last 40 years, at a cost of billions of pounds, is contained on millions of tapes on the shelves of companies or their record-management contractors.
“The Seismic DataStore will transfer and preserve an important element of this collection, relieving the burden on companies who come under pressure to meet their obligation to provide this data to other companies while trying to locate information for their own licensing applications.
“This development comes at an important time for the UK oil and gas industry. By helping to reduce duplication of work and improve efficiency, it will help to increase recovery of the UK’s oil and gas reserves.”
Malcolm Fleming, CDA’s chief executive, said: “Under the conventional system, geophysicists can spend up to half their time looking for or managing data when they could be searching for oil and gas. At a time of high costs and a 57% fall in exploration activity, they should be doing what they are skilled in: interpreting data.”
The surveys most in demand are being loaded on to the system first and by the end of this year more than 750 of the most relevant will be available.
Malcolm Webb, chief executive of industry body Oil and Gas UK, said: “The Seismic DataStore brings considerable business benefits. The ability to download quality-assured seismic data in days or hours compared with weeks or months significantly increases the productivity of scarce, expert resources. At a time when resources are being reduced, people will be able to work faster and more efficiently.
“That means they can make better applications for licence rounds and consider more prospects, all of which will help to extend the life of the North Sea.”
CDA is a not-for-profit subsidiary of Oil and Gas UK, set up in 1994 to provide data-management services to its members and to the UK oil industry in general.