Oil & Gas UK has launched the first phase of a project intended to stimulate more exploration by promoting new and existing plays on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS).
It has commissioned SLR Consulting to complete a three-month preliminary study to investigate the way forward for a 21st century exploration road map – a digital perspective of petroleum geology.
Delivery is to be by the end of next year.
In a nutshell, geological knowledge of the UKCS is nothing like as comprehensive as it should be. There are huge swathes of the North Sea where information is scant.
There has not been a systematic approach such as that being applied by the Norwegians, though, Malcolm Fleming, CEO of Common Data Access Limited (CDA), a not-for profit subsidiary of Oil & Gas UK, told Energy recently that data collected from drilled wells is more accessible here than in Norway.
Fleming explained that the government department DECC does not collect seismic data, but that CDA does. It in turn makes it available within the industry.
However, he also warned that there are three elements missing from the UK stage:
- Regulatory enforcement;
- Recognition that data and its management are important;
- Professionalisation of the people who do the work
CDA was created by industry in 1995 to provide shared data management services in the exploration and production domain. CDA services include the Well and Seismic DataStores and the DEAL website.
The company commissioned a study of the business value case for data management in 2010.
It concluded that the management of subsurface data was rarely quantified and therefore went widely unappreciated. It concluded too that effective data management policies and practices deliver direct benefit.
Oonagh Werngren, Oil & Gas UK’s operations director, said of the just-launched initiative: “The aim of the 21st Century Exploration Road Map is to contribute to improving exploration success and address the 50% decrease in the number of wells drilled.
“The outcome of the preliminary study will provide industry with the specifications for a subsequent implementation project to deliver an on-line, more dynamic source of digital geological maps summarising current subsurface understanding and the hydrocarbon resources potential within key areas of the UKCS.
“The project is one of several being driven by the PILOT Exploration Task Force, which works together with the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), to revitalise exploration and ensure the economic recovery of oil and gas resources from the UKCS.
It aligns with the recommendations put forward by the recent Wood Review, which identifies the urgent need to evaluate new and unexplored reserves and create an up-to-date perspective of the geology of the UKCS together with tools to ensure more effective sharing, and updating, of data across the industry.”
Aside from CDA, Oil & Gas UK’s fellow stakeholders supporting the initiative include DECC, the British Geological Survey (BGS), The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), exploration companies, operators and firms providing offshore services.
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