ESRI GIS and Earthsoft EQuIS remediation software used by Shell for Colorado oil shale production

1. Shell Exploration & Production
Well Identification and
Environmental Management
A lesson in Standards and Data Management
PUG Conference 2008
February 25 Houston, TX
Keith Fraley
Shell Exploration and Production

2. Shell Exploration & Production
Presentation Overview:
The Problem:
 Migrating Critical Data from a Pilot Phase to Production Grade
The Solution:
 Leverage Technology, Standards and Interoperability
What To Take away:
 Think Big, even when starting small, but, at all costs, remain
agile

3. Shell Exploration & Production
Geographic and Resource
Overview:
Piceance Basin Oil Shale
 Enormous Resource Potential
 Northwest Area of Colorado
 Complex Subsurface Hydrological Model
 Hydrological Characterization Needed to Formulate Risk
Assessment
 Hydrological Drilling and Sampling Program Evolves

4. Shell Exploration & Production
Geographic and Resource
Overview:
Why is Hydrology Important?
 Extremely complex and integrated Aquifer systems
 Series of Aquifers are intertwined with Oil Shale Resource
 Key to the Financial Risk Assessment of the Project
 Key to the Environmental Risk Assessment of the Project

5. Shell Exploration & Production
Geographic Overview

6. Shell Exploration & Production
The Problem (Overview):
 No mandated standard for storing hydrology Well
header information
 No clear method for marking hydrology wells in the
field
 No established approach for collection and storage
of hydrology sampling event results
 No Field based GIS tools

7. Shell Exploration & Production
The Problem (In depth):
 No mandated standard for storing hydrology well
header information
 Hydrology program began as a small R&D effort 20 years ago
 Well data was kept in Excel spreadsheets or in peoples heads
 No complete record of drilling results
 Planned vs Actual drilled
 Recompletion info convoluted
 Naming conventions non standardized
 Survey information not comprehensive
 What, where?

8. Shell Exploration & Production
The Problem (In depth):
 No clear method for marking wells in the field
 Wells were identified in field in different ways, many not
identified at all
 Evolved into a large number of wells (500-600)
 Names changed
 Initial attempts to mark wells left much to be desired
 Location and Survey info was confusing, not complete

9. Shell Exploration & Production
The Problem (In depth):
 No established approach for collection and storage
of hydrology sampling event results
 Field Data was logged in a Note Book, no digital entry mechanism
 Transcription errors occurred
 400,000 analytical results housed in disparate locations
 Life cycle for data to end consumers was long and siloed
 Critical data was housed with consultants
 No common platform for storage and dissemination of hydrology data

10. Shell Exploration & Production
The Problem (In depth):
 No Field based GIS tools
 Hard copy maps were ineffective do to dynamic data environment
and amount of data
 Needed a digital solution in the field to leverage in house GIS
datasets
 Wells, Aerials, Lease and Property Boundaries, Federal Land,
Resource Info
 Aerial, Elevation and Topo data critical
 GPS Navigation was a value add

11. Shell Exploration & Production
These Problems resulted in:
 Confusion on validity of data
 Data Analysis Latency
 Over dependency on consultants
 Disconnect between back office and field crews
 Distrust of data by our end consumers

12. Shell Exploration & Production

13. Shell Exploration & Production
The Solution (Overview):
Well Identification Program (WIP) and Environmental
Management Implementation
 QA / QC all existing wells
 Migrate well header info into OpenWorks
 Migrate Environmental Sampling Data into EQuIS
 Tag wells in the field with standardized methodology
 Develop a field GIS platform to disseminate
geographic data

14. Shell Exploration & Production
The Solution In Depth:
 Exhaustive QA / QC process both from office and field
 Migrate well header data out of Excel and into corporate project
well repository (OpenWorks)
 Assign internal API numbers for hydrology wells
 Spatialize OpenWorks wells for verification against high
resolution aerial photos in ArcGIS
 Mandate a standard datum and projection for new wells
 Integrate into Petrel via OpenSpirit for use in modeling

15. Shell Exploration & Production

16. Shell Exploration & Production

17. Shell Exploration & Production
The Solution In Depth Cont…:
 Field verification of every single well
 Equip field crews with GIS software / data and corresponding
hard copy maps
 Goal: To physically “touch” and verify every Shell well in basin
 Catalog every well with photo, and video of each Pad
 Result: Invaluable process that revealed numerous data errors
even after initial QA Step
 Residual effect: Creation of road and trail GIS layer via GPS
logging
 End Result: Certainty in the data that users were looking for in
order to “trust” the data we provided

18. Shell Exploration & Production
The Solution In Depth Cont…:
Migrate all Environmental Data to EQuIS:
What?
 Environmental Quality Information System (EQuIS)
 EarthSoft Corp (http://www.earthsoft.com)
Why?
 Highly Refined Data Model
 Front End Clients for Data Analysis
 Field Data Collection Tools
Scope
 Migrated 400,000 analytical results
 Train Lab and field crews

19. Shell Exploration & Production
The Solution In Depth Cont…:
2D barcode ‘stickers’ for all Hydrology Wells
 2D Barcode encoded with relevant well header info (Lat, Lon, API, Well
Name, Permit Name, Sec Town Range, Drill Date, Elevation, Well
Purpose…)
 Well headed info encoded as an XML Stream
 Barcode based on published DataMatrix standard
 Provided a platform for existing and future field based applications
 Well headed info pulled directly out of OpenWorks and encoded into
Barcode Tiff Image
 Software Development Kit from Lead Technologies

20. Shell Exploration & Production
2D barcode ‘stickers’ cont…
 Vinyl ‘Sticker’ from DuraLabel placed on well
 Low cost, easy to implement and replace
 Field tested for 1 year prior to implementation
 3.0 mil vinyl material
 Weather and sun resistant
 Used on military equipment and drillings rigs the
world over

21. Shell Exploration & Production

22. Shell Exploration & Production

23. Shell Exploration & Production
The Solution In Depth Cont…:
Field Crew Equipped Hardware
 Panasonic Toughbook 30
 MIL-STD-810F Tested
 Intrinsically safe device (for use in explosion-prone areas)
 GPS
 Bluetooth
 Wide Area Wireless Enabled
 Rugged Bluetooth Barcode Readers
 2D Datamatrix compatible

24. Shell Exploration & Production
The Solution In Depth Cont…:
Software Field Crews (Approach):
 Geographic Based
 Aerial Imagery Foundation
 GPS Integration Capable
 In Line with Shell Global GIS Initiatives
 3D Capable
 Open
 Cost Effective
 Lean and Mean

25. Shell Exploration & Production
The Solution In Depth Cont…:
Software (Choice):
 ArcGIS Explorer (AGX) for field GIS Platform
 Data Delived as a cached bundle, leveraging both ESRI ArcGIS Online Services and
internal Shell ArcGIS Services
 Easy to use, and straight forward for our Field Crews
 GPS Navigation
 NEMA feeds from Toughbook Integrated GPS Chip
 EarthBridge integrated into AGX as Custom Task
 EarthBridge ports NEMA feeds into KML (originally designed for Google Earth)
 Enables field crews to see their location real-time in AGX
 EQuIS IDEF (Intelligent Data Entry Form)
 IDEF Integration into AGX as Custom Task
 Stream Lined Data Collection
 Custom Shell Barcode integration
 Eliminate Date Entry errors

26. Shell Exploration & Production
The Solution In Depth Cont…:
Additional Factors for Choosing AGX
 Lean yet powerful SDK and OpenGL Support
 Platform for Subsurface Data Integration
 HTML Capable “Notes”
 Easily Integrate Well Photo and Video Logs
 Existing Powerful Tools
 “Go to location”
 “Import File”
 “Measure”
 “Identify”
 ESRI Data Support
 File Geodatabases
 Shapefiles
 Rasters

27. Shell Exploration & Production
AGX: Offline Delivery
Cached AGS Service Bundles File Geodatabase
 ESRI ArcGIS Online “Vector Data”
1 meter Aerial Photos Wells
USGS Topo 1:24k Deviation Surveys
US Street Map
3d Elevation Model
Shell AGS Services KML
1 foot Aerial Photos
Property Boundaries
Real-time GPS
Lease Location
Hydrology Pads
Resource

28. Well Identification Program
Objective: To have a system that will help with well and subsequent
data identification, and reduce in over-all project costs. Ruggedized Field Laptop
Shell Exploration & Production
Current Well ID Program: Not clearly defined and confusing; not cost • GPS / GIS Integration
effective. • Field Interface for
Integrated • EQuIS Sampling
wireless GPS
Proposed Well ID Program: Physical tagging of wells with a 2D Bar • GIS / GPS
Code with relevant information. Navigation
• OpenWorks Well DB
Benefits of 2D Bar Code System:
 Reduction in human effort, and data recording duplication
 Elimination of well ID confusion
 Aid in data QC and input of data into main databases
 Well ID, location, and sample ID errors eliminated EQuIS
 In-field managers can track progress on each well Sampling
Form
 Allow independent field personnel to track latest
information at the well site
 History is available at each well for all borehole life-cycle
activities
 Minimizes chance of old data being used
 Data latency is significantly reduced
 Errors can be quickly corrected
 New information can be quickly reported in a hard-copy
computer readable format
 Barcodes can be quickly replaced if damaged
 Bar codes are secure and keep data classified, and are
easily combined with encryption and limited user operation
procedures.
Wireless Bar Code
• Well Name Reader
• API, UWI • Reads Data from well bar
• Total Depth code and reports to field
• Drill Date
• Comp Date
Laptop
• LL
• Contact
• Use/Program
• etc
The data capacity of a 2-D bar code is
up to 3 K Bytes of data. This should be
sufficient for the most of the information
required including the elevation,
coordinates, well construction
information including location of the
screen and pump, and any other
information associated with the well.

29. Shell Exploration & Production
Screen Shots:
Evolution not Revolution.

30. Shell Exploration & Production
Screen Shots:
Evolution not Revolution.

31. Shell Exploration & Production
“A Lesson in Standards and Data Management”
Leveraged Standards Leveraged RDMS
 XML OpenWorks
Barcodes 
Webservices

 DataMatrix 
Barcode Encoding
 NEMA
GPS Integration
 KML
Real-time GPS Display
 MIL-STD-810F
Intrinsically Safe Devices

32. Shell Exploration & Production
In Summary, lessons learned…
 Testament to Standards
 The wonderful thing about Tiggers, is Tiggers is a wonderful thing…
 Think big, even when starting small
 Starting with a scalable vision is imperative for even the smallest projects
 Remain Agile (http://www.agilealliance.org/)
 Geography matters
 Providing easy to use geographic tools in the field is critical
 Leverage, leverage, leverage
 Leveraging standards and common, open APIs can provide robust solutions in
a timely manner

33. Shell Exploration & Production
Thank you…
Questions?