The latest issue of Landmark’s ‘Solutions in Action’ provides an insight into the technology deployed in New Zealand’s Crown Minerals Group’s (CMG) data repository. CMG manages all government-owned petroleum, coal and mineral resources and is responsible for promoting New Zealand’s acreage investors around the world. In 2005, following a decline in both production and exploration, CMG decided to invest in technology to ‘attract more explorers with sufficient capital and technical capabilities.’
Data bank
CMG commissioned Landmark to develop a ‘robust’ national online geotechnical data bank providing ‘free, online public access to exploration data.’ The solution, which is now operational, deploys an internal PetroBank master data store managed, with PowerExplorer, by CMG Personnel. Data is made available to the public from a TeamWorkspace portal.
Garlick
CMG data manager Richard Garlick, said, ‘Previously, an in-house database held an index of our technical data and was used to search on our web site. But our metadata had been cobbled together and some information was incomplete or erroneous. Compliance was also an issue with submitted surveys just cataloged stored on the shelf for five years.’
QC
‘It was only when the data came into the public domain that the tapes were copied and quality checked. By which time it was often too late to fix data problems as often the operator had left the country. Also, users weren’t sure what data was available—the lack of a mapping package meant we couldn’t display the location of our seismic surveys. Finally, CMG was restructured to move from a ‘rubber-stamp,’ to implement proactive data management and improved public access.’
ROI
Garlick commented, ‘return on investment on this initiative is hard to evaluate – but it would only take one large exploration company deciding to invest in New Zealand based on information found on our web site to justify the investment.’
ExxonMobil
In July 2007, New Zealand announced the award of an exploration permit in its Great South Basin to a group of investors led by ExxonMobil. Companies are expected to spend over a billion dollars exploring the basin over the next few years. Users anywhere in the world can search, preview and order a range of data including 2D and 3D seismic surveys on www.crownminerals.govt.nz.
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