PTTC Web Site Provides Companies Way To Share Data

(Tech Connections Column, February 2002, American Oil and Gas Reporter)

Having grown up in farm country, the “Field of Dreams” concept has special meaning for me. Here is how it relates to a new data resource initiative emerging from the Petroleum Technology Transfer Council’s Rocky Mountain region. Industry has consistently told PTTC that it wants low-cost access to basic data. There are commercial data sources, but any geoscience professional will tell you that lots of good data–primarily in hard copy–are still being lost with all the changes occurring in industry. Who wants to see his life’s work go to the landfill? Not me.

PTTC’s Rocky Mountain region, in cooperation with petroWeb, developed the PTTC Data Exchange. The premise is simple: build a freely-accessible space on the Internet for companies or individuals to list data available and under what conditions (give-away, trade, for sale, wanted for purchase). A sophisticated map-based search engine allows one to search for (or list) data within a given geographic context. Commercial vendors can also list the data they have available.

To set the example, PTTC coordinated two efforts. First, a large room of data donated to the Colorado School of Mines petroleum engineering department is being catalogued and made accessible. Second, through a cooperative effort with the Wyoming Geological Association, scanned images of a Wyoming mud-log collection are being made available.

PTTC recognizes that data collections of this nature may have gaps, may not include information on recent wells, or may not be catalogued. Just the same, the data has value to someone if there is a mechanism to put the parties together. As an added incentive, Petro Data Source, the first industry sponsor, is offering a 25 percent discount on data purchased from it through the site.

Both those posting data and browsers must register, which costs nothing. Posters are required to acknowledge that they own the data and provide the expected detail regarding location, what the data are, the offer, and contact information.

Although not intuitive within seconds, the Data Exchange is fairly user friendly. I am not a computer guru. Even so, within 15-20 minutes working my way through the tutorials, I was actively searching for data. Admittedly, data are yet sparse. That is where industry comes in. The system is there, now it is up to industry to list and browse data. Although developed by the Rocky Mountain region, the system is applicable nationwide (and globally if one wants to go that far). Independents are encouraged to give the system a whirl–to list some data they would like to exchange or sell, or find some data that could be just what they need to find the answer for a field they operate.

A case study for the Carter Creek sour gas field in Southwest Wyoming illustrates why capturing raw data is so important. The Carter Creek Field was developed in the early 1980s. Infill drilling occurred in the early 1990s, but costs were high and production was disappointing. In the late 1990s, excess plant capacity developed, so the field operator, Chevron, wanted to take another look at potential. Chevron formed an integrated joint technical team with Halliburton, which compared material balance, decline curve projections, and volumetric estimates of reserves. Both material balance and volumetrics suggested that more reserves existed of sufficient volume to support infill drilling.

Thorough analysis of core data–exactly the type of detailed information that the Data Exchange is designed to capture–and pump-in data from acid treatments provided the answer. Fractures were generally healed. High pump-in rates achieved when acid entered the formation were the result of acid opening a highly reactive calcite-filled fracture system. Most stimulation was occurring where there were intensely developed, calcite-filled fractures. For maximum stimulation, which meant maximum penetration of the fracture network, a retarded acid system was better.

Three additional successful wells were drilled, applying the lessons learned from the total team effort. Additional teamwork on the drilling program and facility construction cut the cost by $4.7 million a well. By the last well, rate of return was well more than 100 percent.

This is just one of many case studies illustrating the value of integrated teamwork using basic oil field data. For more detailed information about the Carter Creek project, readers are referred to SPE Paper No. 71054, “Cost Control and Improved Production Performance Revive Drilling Program,” a synopsis of which was published in SPE’s Journal of Petroleum Technology in January 2002.