Schlumberger acquires MetaCarta Oil & Gas Sector GIS software

On December 17, 2007, Schlumberger acquired MetaCarta's Oil & Gas Sector GIS software.

From the Press Release:

"MetaCarta is the perfect compliment to expand the Schlumberger industry leadership in information management. With the increasing amount of information held in unstructured form, such as documents, presentations and web content, MetaCarta’s geographically-specific access to unstructured content brings new power to petrotechnical professionals," said Olivier Le Peuch, president, Schlumberger Information Solutions (SIS). "In combination with our geoscience and engineering information management solutions, now petrotechnical professionals will be able to rapidly incorporate all available information that is relevant to their prospect or field."

MetaCarta search technology combines map-driven geographic search, geographic referencing, temporal filtering and data visualization capabilities, for both structured and unstructured content, making that content "location-aware". This enables geoscientists and engineers to rapidly find and display relevant data in the context of their area of interest.

Schlumberger in the past, has been involved with GIS and mapping providers. For much of their software, such as GeoFrame and Finder Data Management, they have used Mentor Software's CS-Map Library (this was recently bought by AutoDesk and is not being implemented in the Open Source world - see the Terra ETL Blog for more information) and have been involved in such groups as the Americas Petroleum Survey Group for many years.

Of course, they, as all large companies, have also been influenced by the Microsoft of GIS, ESRI - this came in creating utilities and tools that worked off of ArcView and read Shape Files with the Finder Product. SmartView is an extension to ArcView and allows browsing, displaying, and plotting of Finder data. It provides the ability to retrieve exploration and production data from Finder and display it in ArcView, using all of ArcView's capabilities for mapping, special queries and data integration. Virtual data integration is possible as ArcView allows the handling of data from many sources, together with Finder data.

So in the end, this acquisition of MetaCarta's Oil & Gas sector GIS software makes sense. GIS has slowly crept into the E&P field, but it has taken it's time.

I'd like to see other products supported out there in Oil & Gas GIS, such as AutoDesk's MapGuide, as AutoDesk is currently used in EPCM companies, initial well and seismic surveys, pipelines, etc., etc.

It is good to see that Schlumberger is not limiting itself to one technology in the area of GIS.

The Digital Oilfield and Geospatial Integrity of Geoscience Software

Devon Energy, Shell, and ExxonMobil and several other major oil companies have started a Joint Industry Project (JIP) entitled "Geospatial Integrity of Geoscience Software".

This project is being financed by the oil majors and is being undertaken with the support and co-operation of the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (OGP).

As professionals involved mapping, software development, positioning, often the co-ordinate reference systems in the code are taken for granted. This happens in the oil industry in geoscience applications and interpretation packages.

In the past, software provided defaults (such as Clarke 1866 or NAD27 - as it was software developed in North America), but with the movement into global geodetic reference systems (such as WGS84), and many local datum's still being used, software may or may not be upgraded (for various reasons) or further modified (feel that it is working fine), etc., etc., there is the distinct possibility and fact that mistakes have been made due to software errors.

The errors may have occurred because of the following reasons:

• improperly coded or cartographic algorithms
• wrong values for embedded geodetic parameters
• poor presentation of user input requirements by software applications
  incorrect defaults settings (as mentioned above)
• software processes not working as specified (take a look at the Robinson projection discussion and cs2cs and the various work-arounds to account for a spherical representation on the Terra ETL Blog)
• confusing or imprecise terminology (take co-ordinate reference frames and datum transformations for example)
• lack of error trapping for user errors
• lack of an audit trail
• inadequate metadata
• inadequate training and documentation for users and of users

There are three main objectives of this Joint Industry Project, and they are:

• To transform the management of geospatial data in geoscience software applications to benefit JIP members and improve products and competencies
• To develop and disseminate best practice tools for current software applications and future software development
• To create a sustainable improvement process in geoscience software applications based on sound geospatial management

By the end of 2007, the JIP has already begun to take a look at Blue Marble's GeoGraphic Calculator. This application and libraries is used in commercial code (such as Oracle) and many oil and gas companies use it on a daily basis.

An example of a possible wrong vertical co-ordinate system happened November, 1999 to Chevron. The article can be found here. I've also included it below:

Chevron Mulls Options After Platform Sinks, Friday, November 12, 1999

Chevron Corp. is assessing the impact on the development timetable of its North Nemba oilfield off the Angola coast after the sinking of the production platform on route from South Korea. The $175 million dollar structure was being shipped by the vessel Mighty Servant 2 early last week when it capsized near the Indonesian island of Singkep with the loss of four crew members.

The so-called topside production platform is 230 ft. long, 105 ft. wide, 150 ft. tall and took 24 months to design and build. The vessel was enroute from the South Korean port of Okpo to Angola, having fueled in Singapore, when it began taking on water and sank.

Chevron spokesman Fred Gorrell said the company was fully covered by insurance to replace the platform. The vessel was lying in 35 m of water with about 5 m sticking above the surface so recovery was still being assessed. Gorrell pointed out that even if it needed to be rebuilt it would not take as long as the original because design and engineering work was already done.

The North Nemba field in the prodigious Block O offshore Angola was due to come into production in the first quarter of 2000. Block O, in which Chevron has a 39 percent interest, produced 510,000 bpd in 1998. Gorrell said he wasn't sure how much North Nemba was due to add to this. Chevron owns 39.2 percent of North Nemba, while the state Angola National Oil Co. owns 41 percent, with Italy's Agip owning 9.8 percent and France's Elf Aquitaine with 10 percent.

Co-ordinates, the software we use, whether in mapping or geoscience software plays a role in many of our decisions.

This Joint Industry Project is a good start and the people involved are knowledgeable in the field (many I've worked with when I was in Houston) and through this project we can hopefully know at the end, that the software we are using is providing accurate information and maintains geospatial integrity.

More details can be found at this website.

EPSG & UKOOA - Defining Coordinates in Digital Data Exchange Formats

Introduction to the Offshore

UKOOA and the EPSG have been working together for many years. Through their collaboration, they have developed many standards and UKOOA has been open to listening to the industry about positioning in the North Sea.

When seismic data is acquired, whether it be 2-D or 3-D seismic surveys, the shotpoints (energy source, common mid-point, etc.) need to be positioned or referenced on surface. Over the years UKOOA has developed various formats, named via a version and a year.

This is a short introduction to how these files describe positions in the oil and gas industry.

UKOOA P1/90

Information is described in the Header for the file.

The Header records following the convention listed below:

Record Identifer "H" Column(s): 1 Format: A1

Header Record Type 2-3 I2

Header Record Type Modifier 4-5 I2

Parameter Description 6-32 A27

Parameter Data 33-80 Varies

Using the above as a basis, let us take a look at how Datum and Spheroid information is described in this file.

Header records H1600 and H1601 are required for Datum Transformation parameters used by the Bursa-Wolfe Transformation.

Reviewing the Bursa-Wolfe Transformation (as vectors), we see the following:

X DX 1 -RZ +RY X

Y = DY + SCALE * +RZ 1 -RX *

Z DZ -RY +RX 1 Z

where

X,Y,Z are geocentric cartesian coordinates defined in metres

DX,DY,DZ are the translation parameters defined in metres

RX,RY,RZ are clockwise rotations defined in arc seconds,but are converted to radians for use in the formula

SCALE = [1+S. (1oe-6)] where S is in parts per million

The Vertical Datum, is identified by Header record H1700.

Some examples of the vertical datum, in relation to offshore work are:

LAT - Lowest Astronomic Tide

MSL - Mean Sea Level

SL - Sea Level

ES - Echo Sounder

The units of measurement are specified in H2001.

These should be consistent with the position data.

The height unit code will be 1 for metres, 2 for any other unit of measure.

Header H2002 specifies the Angular unit code to 1 for degrees, 2 for grads.

Projection Data is specified in Header records H1800 to H2509.

Currently, in this older format, the following projection codes were defined and used.

001 - UTM Northern Hemisphere

002 - UTM Southern Hemisphere
003 - Transverse Mercator (North Oriented)

004 - Transverse Mercator (South Oriented)

005 - Lambert Conic Conformal with one standard parallel

006 - Lambert Conic Conformal with two standard parallels

007 - Mercator

008 - Cassini-Soldner

009 - Skew Orthomorphic

010 - Stereographic011 - New Zealand Map Grid

999 - Any other projection or non-standard variation of the 11 listed above

Since this initial positioning file was developed with the help of surveyors, they planned ahead and answered the question: What happens when we cross the Equator?

When a survey crosses from the South to the North, and the whole survey is shot on a Southern Hemisphere UTM Zone, the coordinates will possibly exceed 9,999,999.9. This is not acceptable in the P1/90 format, so Header record H2600 must indicate that 10,000,000 must be added to the co-ordinates.

More detail about this specification can be found here.

As the industry matures, new versions were released, the next in 1994. This was called P2/94 and was derived for raw marine positioning data.

UKOOA P2/94

During this time, differential positioning with GPS was just being implemented and the industry was beginning to rely on this technique more and more for offshore surveying.

This format is based on UKOOA p2/91 and has extended many of the definitions needed for differential GPS.

As operators maintain and store data in these formats, P2/94 also acts as an archiving format and records information such as the satellite ephemeride, ionospheric conditions and weather/meteorological conditions of the survey.

With the move to P2/94, Geodetic information moved to new headers, and are such described as:

H0100 Magnetic Variation - General Information

H0101 Magnetic Variation - Grid Data

H011# Datum and Spheroid Definitions

where # = 1..9 and is the datum & spheroid number

H0120 Seven Parameter Cartesian Datum Shifts

H0130 Other Datum Shift Parameters

H0140 Projection Type

H0150 (Universal) Transverse Mercator Projection
H0160 Mercator ProjectionH0170 Lambert Projection
H0180 Skew Orthomorphic & Oblique Mercator Projection

H0181 Skew Orthomorphic & Oblique Mercator Projection cont.

H0190 Stereographic Projection

H0199 Any other ProjectionSatellite System Definitions

H600# Satellite System Description

H610# Definition of Differential Reference Stations

H620# Satellite Receiver Definition

H6300 GPS parameter recording strategy

H6301 DGPS differential recording strategy

H631# GPS clock and ephemerides parameters

H632# GPS ionospheric model & UTC parameters

H6330 Meteorological parameters

H65## DGPS differential correction source defn

H66## DGPS differential correction source defn

H67@0 GPS ellipsoid height estimate

Rotation Conventions

Note that 2 different conventions are in use in the survey industry for defining rotations. This has led to considerable confusion in the GIS and mapping world.

Both are valid when used properly.

The two conventions can be referred to as:

1) Position Vector rotation (Commonly used in Europe and referred to as the Busra-Wolfe)

2) Coordinate Frame rotation (Commonly used in North America)

More detailed information about the P2 format can be found here.

UKOOA P5/94

This version came along to facilitate the exchange of position data for pipelines, flowlines, umbicals and power cables offshore.In these cases, the data required for pipeline positions are the Latitude, Longitude, Easting, Northing, Depth, and Kilometre Point (KP), along with the standard datum and map projection parameters.

Without wanting to bore my readers with more H records, you can found out more about how the pipelines are stored in this format here.

UKOOA P6/98

In 1998, a new version was developed for 3D seismic surveys and binning.

This is quite complex and would make this short blog even longer, so I'll write about this format at a later date.

The main emphasis of this blog, though, is to show how formats can change over time as technology and data sharing increases. It also points out the importance of knowing the format of your data, especially if you are doing historical work over a region - do not always assume a specific data format.

UKOOA P7/2000

Well's deviate. With the advent of horizontal wells and sidetracks, and relating to seismic surveys, we enter a whole other story again.

In this story, as well (bad pun!), we have to consider height measures (such as Kelly-Bushing), and the 4 Norths (which I will explain on a later post).

As this file type would make this blog even longer, I'm going to jump ahead to what the EPSG and UKOOA are doing now in defining the Header records for this specific part of the oil and gas industry.

How the EPSG comes into Play

Turning our eyes to the EPSG in P formatted files, we want to enable integrity checking of co-ordinate system definitions in UKOOA P1, P2, P5 and P6 formats, so a provision is made to describe co-ordinate system by reference to the European Petroleum Survey Group (EPSG) database of geodetic parameters.

This is the group of codes we see in use throughout the GIS field and in products such as ESRI and PROJ.4.

What this allows UKOOA to do is to adopt an industry-standard name to be quoted where the geodetic co-ordinate system used is a common system. Defining parameters and units are then as given by EPSG and are not strictly required to be explicitly given in the P-format records.

As an integrity check, it is considered good practice also to include the explicit definition.

The new records which can be used as extensions within the P1/90, P2/94, P5/96 and P6/98 formats are:

H8000 EPSG Geographic CS Name

H8001 EPSG Geographic CS Code

H8002 EPSG Projected CS Name

H8003 EPSG Projected CS Code

H8004 EPSG Vertical CS Name

H8005 EPSG Vertical CS Code

H8006 EPSG Database Version

As we know, co-ordinate systems may be two- or three- dimensional.

A vertical co-ordinate system is one-dimensional.

For the P1, P2 and P5 formats:

the H8002, H8003 and H8006 records are required when latitude, longitude, easting and northing but no height or depth are given;

the H8002, H8003, H8004, H8005 and H8006 records are required when latitude, longitude, easting, northing and gravity related height or depth are given;

the H8000, H8001, H8002, H8003 and H8006 records are required when latitude, longitude, easting, northing and ellipsoidal height or depth are given.

For the P6 format, the H8002, H8003 and H8006 records are required.

That is the way UKOOA and the EPSG see the offshore world when it comes to positioning and exploration in the North Sea and elsewhere.

Exploration & Production Blog

If you are interested, I also write another blog on the oil and gas industry, mainly describing where exploration is occurring, the technology being used, history of a region, some geology, etc. and some aspects of the UN Convention on the Law of the Seas.

The blog is located here.

Terra ETL Blog

The Terra ETL Blog is about GIS, Open Source, Mapping, Data Warehousing and Geodesy.

For an interesting article on the co-ordinate frames and rotations (mentioned earlier in this blog), please look here.

Enjoy!