UltraXML For The Oil Industry

An increasing number of initiatives and projects are currently taking place in the oil and petrochemical industry to develop standards for using XML. XML’s ability to handle a variety of structured and semi structured Oil related information, reusing content in regulatory submissions, multi-channel publishing and Internet portals and websites, and knowledge management systems, makes a very compelling business case for XML technology.

Some of the world's leading oil companies, including BP, Shell, Esso and Schlumberger, in conjunction with organizations such as POSC are collaborating on developing standards for using XML.

The oil industry is now fully committed to  implement XML across its different  operations and activities.

XML-based standards and Regulatory Agencies

Department of Trade and Industry - DTI

Licensing and Consents Unit – LCU

LCU is responsible for licensing exploration and regulating development of the UK's oil and gas resources. It sponsors the oil and gas industry upstream and downstream and liaises with OFGEM. LCU is part of the DTI's Energy Command, which has offices in both Aberdeen and London.

Petrotechnical Open Standards Consortium – POSC 

POSC is an international not-for-profit membership corporation. It is uniquely designed to unite industry people, issues and ideas to facilitate E&P information sharing and business process integration. POSC provides open specifications for information modeling, information management, and data and application integration over the life cycle of E&P assets.

POSC's initial contribution was a set of specifications to improve sharing of technical information within and among oil companies, oil field service companies, governments and other players in the industry. These specifications, including the industry recognized data model, Epicentre, are being used in commercial products, industry data repository projects and oil company projects around the world.

An XML Standard for Web-Based Exchange of Well Log Data

WellLogML

POSC, in conjunction with others in the oil industry, initiated a project in 1999 to design an XML schema for exchange of digital well log data. The result of that project is WellLogML. Version 1.0 of the WellLogML specification was published in April 2000 after extensive review by the oil & gas industry. WellLogML is intended to replace LAS (Log ASCII Standard, Canadian Well Logging Society, 1990).

What is a WellLogML file? First, as we mentioned previously, since it is an XML file, it is in clear text data format. In version 1.0, the data contained within the file are a collection of digital well data for a single well. All data are aligned on a single, common index; e.g., depth, time, etc. The interval or increment of that index will be the same for all data (Though it does not have to be a regular or evenly sampled interval.). The well log curves may be multiplexed or demultiplexed. The file may also contain associated well site information such as "well log header" information.

Parametric information may be contained in the file. This information may be for multiple runs, but the data (i.e., "curves") from the multiple runs must be "spliced" together, thus appearing to be one run.

What will you not find in a WellLogML file? You will not find data from multiple wells. Data sampled at different sampling rates will not be included; i.e., all data will be sampled at the same rate (the index interval is the same). You will not find data sampled on different indexes. In other words, you will never have data in the same file, some of which is sampled in time and some of which is sampled in depth.

Features

Because XML files contain clear text formatted data, they are human-readable and understandable. WellLogML provides support for array curves and for array parameters. It also supports numeric and text based channels, run data and both evenly and unevenly spaced indexes.

With WellLogML, or any XML file for that matter, there is less need for a specific "certify" program. There are many tools available (free!) that are capable of certifying XML files for structural integrity. Currently, Internet Explorer V5.0 has built in functionality to certify the structure of a WellLogML file. There are some rules for constructing a valid WellLogML document that cannot be encoded in a Document Type Definition, however, so special software will be required to fully verify a WellLogML document.

Because XML files separate data content from data display, there are also tools available to support the presentation of the XML data. This characteristic seems tailor made for well log data where petrophysicists can set up their preferred presentation formats for displaying the same data.

The WellLogML DTD and Schema specifications are available at WellLogML 1.0 Specification Details

LogGraphicsML 1.0: XML Format Description Standards for Well Log Graphics

The objective of this project is to specify an XML-based markup language for definitions of graphic presentations of Well Log data. A schema specification using the XML Schema standard has been published. Most of the common well log graphic objects are supported in this initial release, including track, index, channel, trace, pip, and fill area.

WellPlotML: A Proposed Standard for the Presentation of Well Log and Related Information

WellPlotML aims to establish the way users can collaborate over the Web (Internet and/or Intranet) using these and other evolving standards.

MMS Reporting Proposal

POSC is working with the MMS to help them establish the means for electronic submission of regulatory information.The project is incorporating various XML technologies to accomplish its objectives.

BLM Sample XML Files

POSC is also working with the BLM to help them investigate XML for electronic submission of regulatory data. This project shows how three common regulatory reports can be defined, captured and presented in XML.

ProductionML/Reporting

This is a project to develop an XML DTD for use in reporting well tests, monthly and annual production and performance forecasts to regulatory agencies. A preliminary DTD has been constructed for reporting on wells, reservoirs by well, fields, leases/licenses and facilities. Another goal of this project is to investigate the possibility to create and maintain a customized DTD as the source specification evolves.

WellSchematicML

The description of well schematics in XML is the subject of this proposed project. The scope is the entire well, including the wellhead and multiple wellbores, boreholes, casing and tubing strings, surface and downhole equipment, perforations and open hole intervals, survey points and workover (intervention) intervals.

Geophysics ML Proposals

The description of geophysical acquisition and processing objects (e.g., source events, stations, receivers, bin nodes) and data sets which reference them is the subject of this proposed project. Both seismic and potential field data are included.

eosML Proposal

This is a project to rapidly develop an XML specification for equation of state (EOS) data for compositional fluid modeling. The initial project will develop an initial working draft for a possible standard.

XML - Based Reference Service

POSC is proposing to develop a reference data service accessible over the Internet. The proposed service relies on XML technology as the basis for storing the reference values.

POSC Exchange Format (PEF) in XML

The RP66 formulation of POSC Exchange Files has been too heavy for general use. The PEF XML proposal maps Epicentre (or any data model, for that matter) into an XML file in a simple, consistent manner. The July 20, 2001 paper is a formal recommendation for this XML file.

XML Components and Objects

Use of XML Schema to develop various XML files has led to the development of "XML Objects." These are complex data types, structures, and patterns that can be incorporated into larger XML Schemas. The advantage in these objects is that they will be consistent over many different XML applications.