NorgeJust before the turn of the year, PGS (Petroleum GeoServices) of Norway acquired one hundred percent interest in Tape Technology Norge AS (TTN). This results in PGS now having the dominant, two thirds, interest in PetroData as, the company which operates the PetroBank for the DISKOS Group in Stavanger. The remaining one third is still in the hands of IBM.
More specifically, it represents a significant increase in PGS's capacity and experience in the preparation of data prior to loading to a GeoBank. Effectively, it confirms PGS as the leading player in data management worldwide, with two wholly owned GeoBanks (one in UK, the other in the USA) in addition to its majority interest in PetroData.
Geobank USA
GeoBank-USA, launched at the 1995 SEG in Houston, has been in business for about a year now, with almost 1 Tb data already loaded to its 27 Tb capacity robotics tape system. Generally speaking, customers gain access to their proprietary data on-line; or purchase speculative data on-line from seismic data brokers like Diamond Geophysical, Jebco or Seitel, for example.
On this side of the Atlantic, the hardware and software now constituting GeoBank-UK were installed in PGS Data Management's new offices in Maidenhead (just west of London) in the middle of July, 1996. After bedding-in the system, database loading began in earnest at the beginning of October. By year-end 1996, PGS Data Management (UK) Ltd had already loaded more than 250 Gb to their 20 Tb capacity tape system. The data currently being loaded comprise PGS Exploration's comprehensive and rapidly expanding portfolio of multi-client 3D surveys.
Data-on-demand
Concurrent with these developments, PGS are implementing a World Wide Web site affording eager data hunters the means of realising "Geodata-on-Demand" without the need to invest in costly high speed telecoms. From any place on earth, an experienced geo-surfer with a high-speed modem or, better still, ISDN connection to the Internet will soon be able to stop by PGS's web site (http://www.pgs.com) and browse on-line the geophysical equivalent of "thumb-nails" of seismic data that may be of interest. In addition, there's a full description of acquisition and processing parameters, and the survey's size.
Naturally, the geo-surfer won't be able to download the actual dataset over the Internet, for apart from anything else this could tie up the phone line for days. Neither will there be any risk of hackers gaining access to the actual data residing on the database. An effective "firewall" making this impossible will also handle questions of licence and copying charges, which will be clearly spelled out on-line together with an interactive order form ensuring rapid processing of all valid requests.
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