Petrotechnical Data Systems Releases new Open Source Technologies

Petrotechnical Data Systems (PDS) is one of the biggest providers of software solution developers in the field of oil and gas industries. They recently unveiled a new Open Source Technology termed Wellsite Information Transfer Standard Markup Language (WITSML) for Energistics. Launched under the open Apache License, there are two categories of the software: the PDS WITSML Server and an easy to use query tool for the client-side environment, the PDS WITSML Studio.

In the current environment, with new standards from Energistics in place, it was a challenge for present products in the market to adapt. The new WITSML based software intends to address this issue with the development of a whole new test environment for testing WITSML based software. Not only is it fully compatible with all the technologies and standards of the current version, but it is also designed to be future proof as well. Data access has also been highly streamlined with the use of the all new Energetics Transfer Protocol (ETP) and is the first public server released by the industry which will support the soon to be announced version 2.0 as well. The new version is expected to work on the already existing platform to optimise and provide better solutions besides offering newer avenues of better data representation and handling capabilities.

The President of INT, Inc. Olivier Lehmann went on to say, “The PDS tools for WITSML have allowed us to test our real-time HTML5 visualisation platform and GeoToolkit components for 2D/3D data visualisation built on WITSML data sources. Accessible WITSML technology, such as that provided by PDS, shortens our development cycle and improves the quality of our WITSML-enabled functionality”.

Besides the WITSML Server, PDS has also come out with the WITSML Studio. For proper deployment of products in the environment, one of the most crucial steps is to be able to manipulate and handle real data on the WITSML server. This is dealt with by the WITSML Studio, an intuitive solution intended to let users manage information in the WITSML environment. Like all other products being released, this is also designed to support version 2.0 of the WITSML platform and ETP in addition to the current version. Of course, one can always opt for the core coding possibilities being introduced with the central WITSML server version, but the WITSML Studio is expected to build upon that experience to deliver an easier to use the product.

Besides being a new product to tackle new challenges in the field, the new technologies are also expected to streamline and improve on existing technologies available. Not only that but they also address the issue of fast deployment in a field where time is of the essence. Since the whole package supports the latest visualisation technologies as well, they ensure that the data available to the firms are represented to the best of its capabilities for easy to understand formats as well.

Developers of the WITSML standards, Energistics was standardisation by the President and CEO of Energistics, Ross Philo who added, “The availability of open source, publicly available WITSML technology has been a long-held ambition of the WITSML Community, and we are delighted that PDS is empowering the community to adopt the new standards faster than ever before”.

It is estimated that the deployment of the new technologies will simplify and ultimately, promote the development of new technologies for streamlining the process of deploying WITSML based solutions in new companies. Not only that, the recently introduced ETP DevKit from PDS is expected to simplify the whole process as well. Long term benefits of this move would be the development of low-cost diverse solutions for the industry.

Steve Daum, the Managing Director of the PDS group, said, “For years, slow adoption of new versions of the WITSML standard have prevented the industry from taking full advantage of the improvements in transfer efficiency, data quality, and data management that these new standards offer. We are delighted to contribute these innovative open source technologies, and firmly believe that they will serve as a catalyst for standards’ adoption, and expedite the development of the next generation of high-value software solutions needed by the drilling community”.

Energistics & WITSML

Oil and Gas challenges in the current world are very pertinent. Energistics established 25 years ago as a nonprofit organisation to bring together professionals from the Gas and Oil fields to address these issues. Besides the development and deployment of new open standards for data exchange, they also tackle problems with challenges in oil and gas information sharing. This is highly crucial because an open and neutral agency is needed to promote the growth of awareness in the highly sensitive industry. Their members include oilfield service companies, hardware and software developers, regulatory agencies, national oil companies, members of the global user community and oilfield service providers. WITSML is expected to help with this vision to a tremendous extent since it is an open source solution to tackle the rising challenges in the field of Oil and Gas. You can check their full range of services at www.energestics.org.

INT

Interactive Network Technologies, Inc (INT) is a leading firm which specialises in data display solutions. From providing custom visualisation aids to the development of libraries and other specific software needs, they are renowned globally for their services. Some of the technologies that have been adapted for the current project include Java, HTML5 and.NET Geotoolkit Graphics Libraries along with INTviewer platform for QC and seismic analysis and web-based HTML5 compatible viewers for seismic and data drilling logs. To learn more about them, visit www.int.com.
PDS Group

Petrotechnical Data Systems is a global innovative solution provider for software requirements in the petrochemical industry. They are an active participant in the industry standardisation effort and has been on the market for over 20 years. They have delivered several innovative software technologies, worked on challenging R&D issues and have provided consultancy services to some of the biggest service providers in the industry. They have operation centres at The Hague, Muscat, Sofia, Houston and London.

Tina Olivero – The OGM

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