The Professional Petroleum Data Management Association, formerly the Public Petroleum Data Model Association has just released an online interactive tool to membership as a deliverable of its ‘What is a Well?’ (WIAW) workgroup. WIAW is developing baseline definitions for the structural components of a well and for well life cycle to help industry understand how a well evolves over time. The first phase of WIAW focuses on definitions and mappings to key regulatory agencies in the US and Canada. Subsequent phases will examine vendor data and application software.
PPDM notes that, ‘The business entity we call a well has become increasingly complicated. Corporate and regulatory processes have evolved to manage this in different ways resulting in a mixture of systems and data sources that are difficult to integrate and use effectively.’ WIAW sets out to be the ‘Rosetta stone’ for consumers of well data.
Critical to the process are the different regulatory environments in which oil companies operate. The online interactive tool offers users access to terminology definitions emanating from regulators including the US Department of Industry’s Minerals Management Service and Canadian regulators. Extension to the international environment may be considered when the methodology has been proven for the US and Canada. A Chevron internal analysis was the starting point for the initiative.
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