E&P 

Data Management In A Flat World

Ramakrishna Manne; Sriram Krishnamoorthy
2009 PPDM Fall Conference, Calgary, Canada
Table Of Contents

• Exploration & Production‐ The Need for Data Management
• Challenges with E&P Data Management
• What is the Flat World?
• Thinking Flat – How to Compete in the Flat World
• Thinking Flat In E&P Data Management
– Think Cost as a Fuel for Growth
– Think Money from Information
• Summary

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Exploration and Production‐ The Need for Data Management
• High fluctuations in the price of oil and gas makes it difficult for E&P managers to 
predict and plan exploration and production activities

• Oil Exploration is getting harder‐ They are found in politically unstable regions; the 
deep oceans and the frozen arctic

• Oil and Gas are being extracted from unconventional sources such as shale oil, 
shale gas, oil sands and coal bed methane

• Accuracy and predictability of hydrocarbon reserves is as relevant to the 
boardrooms as it is to the control rooms

• Regulatory and Compliance requirements  are getting tougher by the day

• New Technologies have caused an explosion of E&P Data
All of these factors call for new efficient ways to manage E&P Data

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Challenges in E&P Data Management

• Executive sponsorship is 
key to success

• It can be a large 
organization wide effort, 
or smaller initiatives

• Some can take many 
years to complete

• There are risks involved 
in the larger initiatives

• Management of change 
is essential for success

E&P Data Management is complex, the rewards can be huge!

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What is the Flat World?

Opening of 
emerging 
economies
Traditional barriers diminished
Structural shifts in global 
demographics
Hierarchies less important

Ubiquitous access to 
technology Information asymmetries minimized

Consumer comfort 
with technology

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Thinking Flat ‐ How to Compete in the Flat World

Optimize Cost to fuel Growth

Loyalty through faster innovation

Think money from information

Winning in the turns

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Think Flat in E&P Data Management (DM)

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Standardize, Automate and Relocate to manage E&P DM cost
• Establish MDM,  • Relocate manual and 
• Adopt industry DM  Reference and Meta data effort intensive  activities  
standards (PPDM, PODS,  • Sync Master Data with  such as data digitization, 
SEG‐Y, PRODML,  Project and Applications meta data enrichment, 
WITSML etc.) • Automate data sourcing  manual QA and support.
• Establish data  • Automate ETL 
acquisition, and data  • Automate Data Quality
quality standards • Data Virtualization
• Establish data 
governance and security

Optimized E&P 
DM  Costs

Flat World  E&P DM = Lean E&P DM +  Global Delivery Model

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Global Delivery Model (GDM) is the Intelligent break down of 
work at locations that offer highest value for the $

Client Location / PDC Offsite Work locations High scalability on effort intensive
activities such as data analysis and data
Set DM Strategy, Biz Case cleansing with 24X7 efforts from around
DMScope
Direction
Technology Selection Detailed Design
the world Economies of scale
Stakeholder Workshops Solution Development and enhanced speed
Solution Testing on COTS deployment
Design The Architecture Data Profiling, Faster time to  and custom application
Details Design Reviews Data Cleansing
Data Enrichment market development
Change Mgmt ETL
UAT Quality Assurance Strategic 
Make It Training
Happen Release Mgmt
Flexibility
Maintenance
24X7 Support
BPO Overall 30-55% savings in
Run It Rapid reaction support Data Quality costs for Data Management
Engagements
Engagement Lead Offshore Technical Lead GDM 
Benefits
Cost Savings
Productivity and 
Effectiveness
Leverage extended workday
Ability to execute work
Leverage cost efficiencies at location with highest
Reliability and 
High Scalability and quick ramp down Quality skills availability at
lowest cost
Skill Accessibility and Portfolio Risk Conveyance
Mature capabilities to
deliver value from
remote locations

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 E&P Organizations can leverage GDM in ongoing E&P Data 
Management Programs
C. Data D. Business
B. Data E. Data
A. Data Quality Maintenance & Intelligence &
Conversion Governance
Support Reporting

• Run Data quality • Data format • Integrate External • Data Modeling • Data Controller
reports conversion of data (from IHS, • Dashboard, KPI & function
• Automated Spatial data, Land rig, OSO Analytics • Document
cleansing of well, Seismic data Production) with • Report Controller function
seismic, spatial • Meta data internal E&P data Development - • Data sourcing
data using enrichment for • Maintain Well, Industry Scout, standards
business rules Well Files, Land Land, Seismic & Production, Land • Security standards
• Manual cleansing Files, Well Logs Spatial, • Data Analysis – • Business rule
of well, seismic, • Digitization of Unstructured, & Play/Basin definition
spatial data Well Logs, Maps, Physical data Trends • Meta data
Engineering • Maintain SCADA • Predictive definition
Drawings TAGs Analytics

Well Header and Wellbore Data (Well Header, Well Files, Well Logs, Directional Survey)

Production Data (SCADA, Production Allocation)

Seismic Data (Seismic Header, Seismic 2D, Seismic 3D)

Spatial Data (Well Location, Pipelines, Facilities, Raster data, Land Leases)

Land Data (Land Lease, Contracts, Producing Properties)

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Think Flat in Data Management

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Unlock the value trapped in unstructured data

Paper 
Well 
files Digital 
well files
• Index and Bar Code  • Enrich document with  • Organize information  • Instant access to 
physical Well Files master well data‐ Well  in electronic  searchable Well Files 
• Prep and logical  Name, State, County,  repositories aligned  allows engineers to  ‐
document  Status, API, Total Depth,  with the MDM  o diagnose drilling 
determination Operator, Spud Date framework and completion 
• Scan Well Files  • Extract  additional meta  issues quickly
data from documents‐ o make faster 
document type, subtype,  decisions on WI 
date and title offers from OSO

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 Better analytics leads to better visibility and decision making
Business workflow
Applications
E&P  Mineral  Operational Power  BI /  ERP ERP Business
Portal Apps
Apps Rights Reporting Analytics Dashboards Reporting Apps Apps

Integrated 
Data Virtualization
E&P App &  E&P ODS ERP DW
Project Data
Setup Setup

Data Governance
Bulk Data Mineral  ERP Data Procurement
Data Security

(Seismic, Logs) Rights Data
Delete
E&P Review Delete
ERP Review
Production Data MDM MDM
External  Data  Production  Business 
(SCADA, 
(IHS, OSO,  etc.) Maintain Maintain Accounting Apps Data
Allocation)

Physical Assets Data (Seismic Tapes, Well Cores, Well Samples etc.)
Unstructured Data (Well Files, Land Files, Invoices, Contracts, Other Documents)
Spatial Data (Culture, Imagery, Wells, Land, Facilities, Seismic, Fields, CRS Maps,  etc.)
Data Standards, Data Models, Business Rules, Meta Data, Reference Data
Data Quality
Infrastructure

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Seamless flow of information across the enterprise offers 
tremendous benefits to New Well Planning & Operations

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Summary

• E&P is an extremely data intensive domain‐ the challenges to 
data management are complex but the benefits are huge

• In today’s hyper connected world, E&P organizations should 
effectively utilize Flat World shifts to:
– Standardize, Automate and Relocate E&P Data Management Operations
– Build and leverage globally competitive E&P DM cost structure
– Unlock the value trapped in unstructured data
– Build Improved Analytics to improve decision making
– Enable seamless flow of information

• The World is Flat‐ Are You benefitting from it?

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Thank You
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