IT Software Catapults Productivity

This image shows an example of how an Ocean plug-in for Petrel can utilize existing data in a project and add specific data. In this plug-in the drilling information is being incorporated with the existing reservoir data to determine potential drilling hazards and risks.

The need to invent new technologies to solve the tough problems associated with fractured carbonates, shale gas and deep water sub-salt reservoirs has never been greater. Most E&P challenges, from exploration drilling to reservoir management, require software development to support analysis and integration of subsurface data. Historically, service companies were often unable to update commercial applications fast enough to meet the needs of oil and gas companies—while proprietary software developed by operators was difficult to integrate and maintain.

The buzz in the cell phone industry is the ability to customize your cell phone, adding applications to make it much more than a simple calling device. With personalization, the cell phone becomes a personal productivity tool that is fun to use, user friendly and intuitive. People are now emotionally attached to their phones, which help manage your contacts and schedule, document your life through photos, let you navigate in a strange city or find a new Japanese restaurant. All this is possible through the downloadable applications. “There’s an app for that,” has become a familiar catch phrase.

Through the use of an Application Programming Interface (API), software developers around the world can create applications to enhance mobile phones. Since the application developer does not need to develop the software that makes the phone function, they are free to focus on specific capabilities from stock price updates to weather forecasts to games. The developer can deliver new applications quickly and easily, allowing the app to become the latest “must have” feature for cell phones.

The combination of the base software on the phone, the API and the add-on applications enable an ecosystem of independent developers to greatly extend the phone’s capabilities.
There is now an analogous development happening in the oil and gas sector. Oil and gas software solutions are becoming customizable. The Petrel* application, from Schlumberger, is a tool that is fun to use, user friendly and intuitive. The software is a robust platform that enables geoscientists and engineers to create and simulate complex, three-dimensional models of oil and gas reservoirs. Much like iPhone® Apps, Ocean plug-ins for Petrel can be developed by anyone.

The Ocean* software development API opens the Petrel application, providing access to the inner core of the software, giving oil and gas companies, universities and software companies the freedom to create specialized workflows—to solve their unique field development and reservoir management challenges, from well pattern design to geomechanics analysis—by deploying software plug-ins on top of the comprehensive Petrel geoscience and reservoir engineering workflows.

The Ocean software development framework is based on Microsoft® state-of-the-art technology. It accelerates the development and deployment of innovative software solutions. Developers can focus on science rather than reinventing infrastructure code. What once took months can now be developed in days, hours or even minutes.

The Ocean development kit has been employed by 20 different oil and gas companies, 28 different software development companies and 19 universities around the globe. Oil and gas companies have been able to take their own proprietary algorithms and applications and plug them into the Petrel platform. This enables them to take ideas quickly from research and development (R&D) groups and deploy them globally throughout their company. Software companies are using this open framework to integrate their unique capabilities on the software platform to be used by their clients. Oil and gas companies are using these new applications to create differentiated workflows. More and more universities are being called on to provide R&D functions as the oil and gas companies focus on streamlining their operations. With the Ocean framework, academia can focus their research on relevant industry problems and quickly put it in the hands of petrotechnical professionals.

The Ocean ecosystem enables a collaborative innovation network that facilitates a new approach and a new business model for developing and deploying software differentiation to the energy industry, ultimately allowing more innovation to move from idea to end user faster than ever before.

The Ocean Store (www.ocean.slb.com) provides access to publically available plug-ins from Schlumberger and other software companies developing on Ocean. Through a simple browse and select to a shopping cart, applications can be acquired and downloaded to the users desktop, or deployed around the globe.

Whether it is a small oil and gas company, a large company, a consultancy or a software developer, users can customize the tool set used in the Petrel environment and differentiate like never before.

*Mark of Schlumberger