Foundations Journal of the Professional Petroleum Data Management Association
Volume 1 | Issue 1 | Spring 2014
Prescription for progress Professionalizing data management in the oil and gas industry could be just what the doctor ordered
Success up here
depends on what you know down here. Subsurface intelligence is everything. Understanding the subsurface is everything when producing unconventional assets. EnergyIQ delivers E&P Data Management Solutions that enable companies to exploit unconventional plays with less risk. Learn how our Trusted Data Manager (TDM) application suite can help you value, acquire, and produce assets with greater certainty, speed, and collaboration. Visit www.energyiq.info, or call us at (303) 790-0919.
7061 S University Blvd, Suite 304, Centennial, CO 80122 (303) 790-0919
Foundations Foundations: Journal of the Professional Petroleum Data Management Association is published four times per year by JuneWarren-Nickle’s Energy Group.
CEO Trudy Curtis
Table of contents Volume 1 | Issue 1 | Spring 2014
Introduction
Operations Coordinator Linda Salvail
This first issue of the Journal of the Professional Petroleum Data Management Association offers a sneak peek of what’s to come in future issues
BOARD OF DIRECTORS Chair Trevor Hicks Vice-Chair Robert Best Secretary Janet Hicks
Guest editorial: Trudy Curtis
Treasurer Peter MacDougall Directors Trudy Curtis, Rusty Foreman, Paul Haines, David Hood, Allan Huber, Yogi Schulz, Joseph Seila
5
Communication is key to the data management industry
Head Office Suite 860, 736 8th Ave SW Calgary, AB T2P 1H4 Tel: 403-660-7817
FEATURE
CEO Bill Whitelaw
Professionalizing data management in the oil and gas industry could be just what the doctor ordered
Prescription for progress
President Rob Pentney
4
6
By Gordon Cope, with notes from Foundations editorial staff
Editor, Special Projects Rianne Stewart Contributor Gordon Cope Editorial Assistance Shawna Blumenschein, Sarah Eisner, Sarah Maludzinski, Matthew Stepanic Creative Lead Cathlene Ozubko
Upcoming events
10
Find us at events and conferences around the world in 2014
Graphic Designer Janelle Johnson Ad Traffic Coordinator Lorraine Ostapovich Advertising Nick Drinkwater, Account Manager Tel: 403-516-3484 Email: ndrinkwater@junewarren-nickles.com Calgary 2nd Flr-816 55 Ave NE Calgary, AB T2E 6Y4 Tel: 403-209-3500
Edmonton 220-9303 34 Ave NW Edmonton, AB T6E 5W8 Tel: 780-944-9333
ABOUT PPDM The Professional Petroleum Data Management (PPDM) Association is a global, not-for-profit society within the petroleum industry that provides leadership for the professionalization of petroleum data management through the development and dissemination of best practices and standards, training programs, certification programs and professional development opportunities. For 22 years, PPDM has represented and supported the needs of operating companies, regulators, software vendors, data vendors, consulting companies and management professionals around the globe. PPDM is also dedicated to building a petroleum data management community through conferences, workshops, luncheons and communication media.
Foundations | Spring 2014 | 3
Introduction A sneak peek at what’s to come in Foundations
W
elcome to the first issue of Foundations: Journal of the Professional Petroleum Data Management Association. Foundations is a new quarterly publication designed to keep the data management and exploration and producing communities informed and updated regarding professional petroleum data management. Beginning with this preview issue, Foundations will offer feature articles about data management applications and technology, profiles, industry news and updates, and information on upcoming industry events.
knowledge sharing, we are looking for individuals to offer ideas, opinions and expertise via an editorial committee. The editorial committee will meet four times per year, either in person or through conference call. If you are interested in joining this committee or subscribing, please contact Linda at the PPDM (lsalvail@ppdm.org or 403-660-7817). Foundations’ unique readership of executives, senior managers and directors in the data management and exploration and producing communities, as well as information architects, IT managers and senior
Foundations will offer feature articles about data management applications and technology, profiles, industry news and updates, and information on upcoming industry events.
Foundations will be available to members of the Professional Petroleum Data Management (PPDM) Association, select subscribers of New Technology Magazine and attendees of various trade shows and conferences throughout the year. Foundations will also be available online for international and mobile readers. Browse full copies of Foundations at either ppdm.org or newtechmagazine.com. To ensure that Foundations serves as a valuable resource for best practices and
4 | Journal of the Professional Petroleum Data Management Association
analysts also presents a great opportunity to reach a broader audience. We hope you enjoy the first issue. Watch for our upcoming full-sized issue in June. Support Foundations with a sponsorship package.
Contact Nick Drinkwater 1-800-387-2446 ndrinkwater@junewarren-nickles.com
Guest Editorial Communication is key to the data management industry
L A
Trudy Curtis Chief Executive Officer Professional Petroleum Data Management Association
ll over the world, every day, data managers are overseeing trillions of dollars’ worth of seismic and well log data and other related information that is vital to the petroleum sector. That information is being used to search for oil and gas in the Arctic, the Gulf of Mexico, the North Sea and, in fact, anywhere the potential for finding oil exists. In order to search for oil in an economic and efficient manner, oil companies have to trust that the data they are using is accurate. Data managers strive to deliver the highest level of service in order to gain that trust. But the demands of the data management discipline grow every day. New challenges arise that require the wisdom of more than one individual to solve; they necessitate the input of a community of data managers, not only in one country, but globally. New solutions and ideas are emerging, but we need access to this information so we can incorporate the best ideas and innovations into our own work. Winston Churchill once said, “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.� While data managers rarely have to worry about tall tales, the reality is that modern technology and the pace of our business can magnify the consequences of a seemingly minor data
glitch into a major annoyance, costly error or even project failure. We need to know what other data managers think. We need to know what other data managers do. We need to know what the future of data management holds, and we need to know the path to take in order to get there. Communication is the most effective way to meet these professional necessities and learn how to deal with them. Professions rely on respected venues of contact within their field, be it officially sanctioned seminars, conferences, luncheons or journals. Until now, oil and gas data management had no officially recognized periodic publication. Therefore, the Professional Petroleum Data Management Association is taking the initiative to launch Foundations, giving a voice and a meeting place to all data managers around the world. Foundations has three major goals: to build the global data management community, to inform and update data management professionals and to supply a forum through which all data managers can participate in their chosen field and improve both their own performance and the profession as a whole. Enjoy this first issue. We look forward to your feedback and suggestions.
Foundations | Spring 2014 | 5
Prescription for progress Professionalizing data management in the oil and gas industry could be just what the doctor ordered By Gordon Cope, with notes from Foundations editorial staff
I
magine, for a moment, the wonders of the medical profession. No matter where you are in the world, every doctor knows what a heart is, what it does and what can go wrong. If you are diagnosed in London, your doctor in Australia or America will recognize the name of your ailment and the medications you have been prescribed. How does the medical profession do it? “They have an international set of principles and practices that they adhere to,” explains Trudy Curtis, chief executive officer of the Professional Petroleum Data Management (PPDM) Association. “These
include a moral code derived from the Hippocratic Oath, standard definitions for the body and how it functions, best practices that help doctors ensure that they are doing the best work, schools with appropriate materials to teach medical students and a governing body to ensure that doctors are properly certified and adhere to professional rules.” “The need for professional data management through the adoption of best practices and defined standards by qualified personnel has never been greater,” says Steve Cooper, president of EnergyIQ, a resource for educating Canadians on the energy sector.
6 | Journal of the Professional Petroleum Data Management Association
“To remain competitive in today’s [exploration and production] industry, companies are being challenged as never before to shorten the well development life cycle, improve drilling and production efficiencies and ultimately realize more value from their data. This depends upon having easy access to trusted data that is fully integrated across the well life cycle. This can only be delivered by a professional data management organization implementing standards-based solutions built upon accepted best practices,” Cooper says. In order to understand how to develop a professional data management discipline,
Feature
it is necessary to quantify the current state of data management within the oil and gas sector. Various methods can be used, including the capability maturity model (CMM). CMM was developed several decades ago by the United States Department of Defense to understand why some of its software development contracts were running over budget or behind schedule or outright failing. CMM allows the
“ The need for professional data management through the adoption of best practices and defined standards by qualified personnel has never been greater.” — Steve Cooper, president, EnergyIQ
military to examine the practices and processes of their contractors in an objective manner to assess their comparative performance. Over the years, CMM has been applied to many different sectors
including manufacturing, engineering and professional services.
Currently, there are many industry standards bodies, each of which is working on different parts of the problem.
Levelling up Using CMM, oil and gas data management can be characterized into various levels of capabilities. At the lowest level, many companies treat data as an inconvenient by-product of finding oil or gas. Data processes are inconsistent and unpredictable, and the outcomes are poorly controlled, tending to be reactive rather than proactive. Finding data is difficult, and good data management is a happy accident rather than a planned outcome. In these companies, there is little, if any, formal training. CMM characterizes this as Level 1: Initial. In Level 2: Managed, working groups or divisions may create project-based systems and methods for managing data. Often, these systems are based on vendor software and generally make the assumption that data should be retained for a particular group of users in a workflow. “Most often, the people managing data do so as an aside to their ‘real job;’ they don’t have a data management–based job title or job description,” says Curtis. “They are taught how to manage data by learning how to use a particular software product. But learning how without learning why limits the ability of these data managers to be proactive.”
In Level 3: Defined, corporate or regional offices may establish systems for managing data that allow integration, life cycle management and quality improvement processes to occur throughout a particular aspect (general, such as subsurface or a geographic information system, or specific, such as drilling or production) of the company. Certain data management functions will be defined as specific corporate roles, and there may or may not be defined career paths. Training is sporadic and usually internal, since the data management methods and workflows are based on corporate policies. Certifications are informal and applicable only within the company. CMM has two more levels of maturity, but they would only be attainable through the emergence of data management as an industry discipline. In order to achieve those levels, several foundations of
Capability maturity model (CMM) levels Level 1 Initial
-D ata as by-product - Unpredictable and inconsistent processes - Reactive, rather than proactive, outcomes - Accidental data management - Little formal training
Level 2 Managed
- Project-based systems and methods to manage data - Vendor-softwarebased systems - Manage data as an aside to their ‘real job’
Level 3 Defined
- Establish systems that allow integration, life cycle management and quality improvement - Training is usually internal, sporadic and based on corporate policies
Level 4
Quantitatively managed -D ata management profession - Processes defined to support accepted corporate policies and industry practices - Use industry terminology - Certification - Training programs
Level 5
Optimizing
-F oundation is placed and infrastructure is sound - Optimize standards to support and adapt to new advances and requirements or expand the capability footprint
Foundations | Spring 2014 | 7
Feature
professional development—including training, professional certification and a body of knowledge for data management—must be in place.
developed an important foundation for the body of knowledge through the collaborative efforts of the many standards bodies in our industry.”
TRAining
STAnDARDiZATiOn
The purpose of training programs is to provide access to a set of qualified, standardized and accepted learning opportunities that are designed to produce specific skills.
PPDM has developed an online environment in which the industry is able to collaborate on rules for data behaviour and best practices for managing data. Through
“You can get involved with the group that does work that makes sense to you and adds value to what you are doing. As a company, you can help this process through financial support and donating resources. By working together, we will all benefit as a profession and as an industry.” — Trudy Curtis, chief executive officer, PPDM
“Certification programs are essentially a bundle of tests and other measurement criteria that ensure an individual has the necessary skills and knowledge to perform a set of duties and tasks,” explains Curtis. “As the certifying organization, PPDM is working with other organizations to ensure that the formal learning opportunities address the expected learning needs.” Building the body of knowledge is high on the list of things to be done. “It’s here that we can run into challenges,” says Curtis. “Bringing a subject matter expert [SME] in to help build a class is relatively easy. Bringing many SMEs together and getting them to agree on the words to use or the best practices to promote is more difficult, but progress is being made.” Under the coordination of PPDM and other organizations, experienced practitioners are collaborating on the standardization of data management language, the development of data management rules and the acceptance of best practices. “This is a difficult job and requires the time and attention of discipline specialists,” says Curtis. “Fortunately, our industry has
this environment, the industry is developing sets of atomic, measurable, testable, definable data rules and best practices that help ensure data meets industry-accepted standards. These include basic data verification processes such as: • Completeness: for instance, locations that have a latitude must also have a longitude and coordinate reference system; • Correctness: for instance, a physical well log can’t be deeper than the deepest depth of the wellbore in which it is created; and, • Compliance with rules and regulations: for instance, you can’t spud a well until you have the necessary authorization. Given a set of industry-accepted data rules like these, managers could perform a wide array of functions: • Use industry benchmarks to determine data quality; • Assess the impact of integrating new data sources with existing stores; • Ensure that data vendors, operators and service companies comply with industry standard rules;
8 | Journal of the Professional Petroleum Data Management Association
• Establish appropriate business rules to follow when certain processes are violated; • Define best practices for important data types or processes. Best practices can be taught, as they comprise specific skills and knowledge; • Build the education and certification program for data management professionals; and, • Work with other organizations to make sure the program works holistically.
THe FuTuRe As data management emerges as a profession, practitioners and companies can move to higher levels of CMM. “As an industry, best practices for data management and stewardship can be defined and accepted,” says Curtis. “Corporations can then define processes and procedures within their organizations in support of their corporate policies and industry-accepted best practices.” Contracts between parties can also reference industry-accepted terminology and outline specific metrics to be used to measure data performance. “At this point, training programs and international certification are widely available,” says Curtis. CMM characterizes this as Level 4: Quantitatively Managed. The final step in CMM, Level 5: Optimizing, defines a stage in which the foundation has been placed and the infrastructure is sound. “Industry is able to continually refine and optimize standards in order to support technology advances, adapt to new requirements or expand the capability footprint,” says Curtis. Currently, there are many industry standards bodies, each of which is working on different parts of the problem. “As a data management practitioner, you can get involved with the group that does work that makes sense to you and adds value to what you are doing,” says Curtis. “As a company, you can help this process through financial support and donating resources. By working together, we will all benefit as a profession and as an industry.”
Become a PPDm
member One membership fee; over $100 million worth of knowledge. Now that’s ROI.
Members of the Professional Petroleum Data Management Association get immediate access to a wealth of tools and knowledge in the field of oil and gas data management standards, best practices, and education, including: Standards • PPDM 3.8: The leading open standards data model in the industry • What is a Well? • Well Status and Classification
Business rules: best practices for creating and managing master data stores containing the most trusted data for an organization
Knowledge sharing • Training and certification • Events: workshops, conferences, user group meetings • Forums, wiki pages, blogs
Quarterly subscription to Foundations
Membership in the PPDM Association is one of the best investments you can make. For more information on membership packages, visit us online at ppdm.org. Suite 860, 736 8th Ave SW Calgary, AB T2P 1H4 Canada Email: info@ppdm.org Phone: 403-660-7817
Upcoming events
UE
UPCOMING LUNCHEONS APRIL 8, 2014 MIDLAND Q2 LUNCHEON Midland, Texas, USA
APRIL 15, 2014 OKLAHOMA CITY Q2 LUNCHEON
MAY 20, 2014 Q2 LUNCHEON
APRIL 2014 S M T 6 13 20 27
7 14 21 28
1 8 15 22 29
MAY 2014 S M T 4 11 18 25
5 12 19 26
6 13 20 27
JUNE 2014 S M T 1 8 15 22 29
2 9 16 23 30
3 10 17 24
JULY 2014 S M T 6 13 20 27
7 14 21 28
1 8 15 22 29
MARCH 24, 2014 Houston, Texas, USA
2014 OKLAHOMA CITY DATA MANAGEMENT WORKSHOP
Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, USA
4 11 18 25
Houston, Texas, USA
Hear from industry leaders and experts on issues such as best practices, data implementation, information management and much more!
Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
3 10 17 24 31
MARCH 24–27, 2014
Join us in Houston, where we will work together toward collective action and community building.
Including a field trip to the Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig Museum and Education Center
MAY 13, 2014 Q2 LUNCHEON
2 9 16 23 30
Making Today’s Vision Tomorrow’s Reality
2014 HOUSTON DATA MANAGEMENT WORKSHOP
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA
MARCH 2014 S M T
2014 HOUSTON DATA MANAGEMENT SYMPOSIUM AND TRADE SHOW
W
T
F
S
5 12 19 26
6 13 20 27
7 14 21 28
1 8 15 22 29
W
T
F
S
2 9 16 23 30
3 10 17 24
4 11 18 25
5 12 19 26
W
T
F
S
7 14 21 28
1 8 15 22 29
2 9 16 23 30
3 10 17 24 31
W
T
F
S
4 11 18 25
5 12 19 26
6 13 20 27
7 14 21 28
W
T
F
S
2 9 16 23 30
3 10 17 24 31
4 11 18 25
5 12 19 26
Devon Energy
JUNE 3, 2014
333 West Sheridan Ave. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA
DENVER DATA MANAGEMENT WORKSHOP Noble Energy
JUNE 5, 2014
1625 Broadway, Suite 2200 Denver, Colorado
Denver, Colorado, USA
BRISBANE DATA MANAGEMENT WORKSHOP Sofitel Hotel
JULY 31, 2014
249 Turbot Street, Brisbane QLD 4000, Australia
Brisbane QLD 4000, Australia
UPCOMING TRAINING SESSIONS APRIL 7–10, 2014 HOUSTON PUBLIC TRAINING
APRIL 14–17, 2014 HOUSTON PUBLIC TRAINING
MAY 27–29, 2014 CALGARY PUBLIC TRAINING
Houston, Texas, USA
Houston, Texas, USA
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
VISIT PPDM.ORG FOR MORE 10 | Journal of the Professional Petroleum Data Management Association
MORE THAN MAPPING
COULD YOUR DATA MANAGEMENT USE A METAMORPHOSIS?
Evolve your business. Optimize quality and performance with Petrosys. SOFTWARE
SERVICES
CONNECTIVITY
DATA MANAGEMENT
Quality and availability of data is crucial to effectively managing your assets. Let the Petrosys team of industry experts unfold a pragmatic data management plan for your organization; delivering critical data to asset teams at the time and in the format that they need it. Fast and reliable access to data – stored centrally in your master repository based on the PPDM model – will have you refining knowledge and making decisions more quickly. Learn more at www.petrosys.com.au/product-info/data-management.
Warning: Our data has gone mobile
Now, get geoLOGIC’s value added data almost any place, any time, any way you want it. Available through gDCweb on your tablet, smartphone, or computer. With 30 years of data experience behind it, the gDC is the source for high quality, value-added well and land data from across Western Canada. Another plus - our data is accessible through an expanding range of industry software utilizing our own easy-touse gDC GIS and our geoSCOUT software. View, search, import and export well, land and production data, documents, logs and more from almost anywhere. For more information, visit our website at www.geoLOGIC.com.
Leading the way with customer-driven data, integrated software, and services for your upstream decision-making needs.
geoSCOUT | gDC | petroCUBE at www.geoLOGIC.com