Day One focussed on data exchange. Data repository population (from oil company and other data sources) which was considered a problem area is increasingly being solved with the emergence of de-facto standards. While these issues are resolved in the fields of well logs and seismic data, these issues are likely to prove more critical once formation tops, production data and other richer data types are included in these repositories. Here internal representations of these data will require conversion to some standardized data format.
The other side of the equation, the extraction of NDR data and the population of in-house databases was also debated with invited talks from GeoQuest, Panther and Oilfield Systems. While no single "solution" was adopted, the consensus was that the vendors are successfully addressing these issues.
Round table
The second day involved a round table discussion of the state of play in participant countries NDRs. Of particular interest was the contribution from the Netherlands, who are involved in the setting up of a pan-European NDR of geological surveys. Robinson underscored the need for standards in NDRs, and emphasized that "data" standards were not enough, actual standardized tables and nomenclature is required for mundane topics such as basic naming conventions. These should ideally be "owned" by one organization, with a named individual responsible for their upkeep. The DTI is co-operating with POSC in this field. The next NDR get together is provisionally scheduled for March 1998, in Indonesia.