The recipient of the award is the UK government, in the form of the British Geological Survey (BGS), partnering with ESRI, which will receive £300,000 over the next three years. Helen Liddell, Minister for Energy and Chair of PILOT, said: "DEAL will exploit the Internet and e-commerce to provide, a single virtual repository for UK data. DEAL will promote competitiveness and encourage activity on the UK Continental Shelf."
Millions
Massive cost savings are forecast for the project by reducing “the time taken to search for data and eliminate duplication in data storage.” A public website www.ukdeal.co.uk will provide the “definitive” index database for exploration and production activities and will act as a "virtual shop window."
First phase, due for September 2000 is the Information Service which will provide a single, comprehensive set of basic information on the UKCS, including geospatial and well data, seismic surveys, platforms, pipelines, quadrants/blocks, international boundaries, coastlines, safety zones, coastal shipping lanes, environmental exclusion zones and other public domain data.
E-commerce
Later this year the Data Market Place will add e-commerce for E&P data. An ambitious time frame promises a “Unified Data Network” early in 2001, with an inclusive "virtual environment" allowing companies to access data on an entitlement basis. An agreement with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will be extended to let subscribers fulfill UKCS license obligations via DEAL.
CDA
DEAL will be managed by Common Data Access Limited (CDA), recently acquired for a nominal sum by the UK Offshore Operators Association (UKOOA). UKOOA director general James May is now CDA chairman. May said: "UKOOA is a natural home for CDA, given our organizations’ shared membership. The merger will allow closer collaboration between CDA and UKOOA’s technical committees giving CDA direct access to the information it needs."
PDM comment - How many protagonists does is take to run a data repository? The answer, for the UK is quite a few - like the DTI, CDA, UKOOA, OGTIF, PILOT LIFT, DEAL, (BB King and Doris Day!)
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