A robust E&A program is one of TNK-BP’s strategic priorities. Last year, the Company invested an additional $29 mln in E&A despite the financial crisis, and in the next 10 years annual exploration funding will amount to $350 mln to $400 mln. A project to create a modern seismic storage facility recently completed by Tyumen Petroleum Research Center (TNNC) will facilitate exploration data handling and bring it up to a brand new level.
Field shooting data constitute a considerable part of E&A results. In TNK-BP, this information is stored in electronic form (magnetic tapes, exabytes, and CDs) in Tyumen Petroleum Research Center (TNNC) along with the final results of seismic processing and interpretation in ASCII files (reports, graphic annexes, and study findings). All the electronic data are indexed and placed in server archive files, where they can be accessed by TNNC staff and users across TNK-BP.
Seismic data will be used in future projects; therefore, it is vital to ensure its safe-keeping and integrity, which is the key task for TNNC’s IT and Database Dept. In case initial seismic data are lost repeated seismic acquisition will be required, while inefficient storage of processing and interpretation results may impact the overall E&A profitability.
To address this issue a corporate seismic storage facility was established in TNNC. The project was initiated in 2007, when a hardwaresoftware system was launched for centralized seismic storage and data medium control and indexation. The bulk of the project was completed in January 2009; in October 2009 the storage facility premise was upgraded to meet relevant standards, the equipment installed and the software set up.
Closing the Gaps
At the time the project was launched around 20,000 different magnetic media containing seismic data were being stored in TNNC. About 75 percent of these media were magnetic tapes that require highly specific storage conditions (temperature, humidity). However, they were being kept in an unsystematic way while unsuitable storage conditions could have resulted in extensive data losses.
Storage of seismic processing and interpretation results was similarly inappropriate. In 2008, TNNC was using a 500 GB RAID, whereas at least 70 TB were needed to meet the needs of TNNC’s Geology and Reservoir Development Departments!
Moreover, there were certain gaps in the seismic control and indexation system that resulted in longer search times and risks of information losses. The gaps were as follows:
Lack of effective marking system to encode all the information on the data medium
Lack of equipment to remotely read and decipher the markings
Lack of a dedicated medium database to enable rapid search
