Economic Report 2011
Common Data Access
Common Data Access (CDA) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oil & Gas UK. The company was established by industry in 1995 with the aim of sharing the costs and importantly also the benefits associated with managing geo-scientific exploration and production (E&P) data through collaborative working. CDA is funded independently from Oil & Gas UK by annual subscription income received from more than 50 operating companies. Other participating organisations include DECC, academia and several service companies.
The Value of E&P Data
Information about the geology underlying the UKCS is critical to the understanding of the subsurface, in finding potential hydrocarbon accumulations, in modelling reservoirs and maximising recovery of oil and gas. The quality of almost all decisions taken by E&P companies depends directly upon the availability of sufficient and reliable well and seismic data. The volume of this information is in the order of petabytes1 and the cumulative acquisition costs amount to a sum of money almost beyond contemplation.
A recent CDA study2 which involved more than 20 senior executives from oil companies in the UK found that 70% of the value generated by oil companies’ E&P activities relies on their understanding of the subsurface. The study then estimated that data and its effective management contributed more than one-third of this understanding (see Figure 56).
Figure 56: Value of Data and Data Management
Leading E&P Data Management
CDA’s Well DataStore holds a wide range of digital information for more than 11,000 wells. It has more than 500 active users who in aggregate download more that 65,000 items and load approximately 3,000 new items of well data every month over the internet. CDA’s Seismic DataStore holds data for more than 1,000 seismic surveys securely and confidentially and is expected to show a ten-fold increase in data volumes by the end of 2011.
CDA is leading cooperation on E&P data management in the UKCS in several other ways. CDA has developed and published several important guidelines and best practices which have improved the standards of data management and which contribute towards operating efficiency and safety on the UKCS. CDA is also exploring the case for widening industry collaborative initiatives to include other types of technical information including production data, for example.
Access to E&P Information
Information held by CDA on behalf of UKCS licensees is shared between participating companies literally at the click of a button and (where applicable) is also made available to the public.
CDA’s DEAL website (www.ukdeal.co.uk) (see an extract, Figure 57) provides up-to-date details of all wells, platforms, pipelines and seismic surveys on the UKCS and links the user to various public and private sources of information for these features.
The information about infrastructure that is collected from operators for DEAL is made available to British fishermen for use on their onboard plotters and is vitally important in the prevention of accidents and damage to equipment.
Regulatory Compliance
Licensees must retain the information they acquire over their licences in perpetuity and must provide copies of these data to DECC for their use and for publication by them. Under a ‘deed’ between CDA and DECC, the storage of E&P data with CDA gives participating companies relief from these obligations (which are met by CDA on their behalf).
CDA and the UKCS National Data Repository
The National Data Repository (NDR) for the UKCS promotes and facilitates the exploitation of national hydrocarbon resources through the collection, storage and dissemination of reliable geo-scientific data related to oil and gas exploration and production activities.
The NDR is based upon a distributed model which relies on a network of commercial and other agreements that has evolved into an effective private/public partnership. CDA’s contribution as a strategic partner for DECC and its agents is very significant to this arrangement. Set within the context of important initiatives on data management standards and good practice, CDA’s Well DataStore, Seismic DataStore and the DEAL website are central and essential components of the NDR, contributing towards the sustained competitiveness of the UKCS.
Contributing Towards the Success of the UKCS
The effective management of subsurface data is crucial to the successful and efficient exploitation of the hydrocarbon resources in the UKCS. CDA makes a very significant contribution in this domain by protecting this valuable information and making it available to geoscientists for them to take informed decisions quickly and reliably.
Perhaps the ultimate test is to consider what the industry would do without these services.
