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fax 01-972-952-9435. AbstractPRODuction xML (PRODML™) was started jointly by BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, and Statoil in early 2005 as a data exchange mechanism to support production optimization within a 'digital oil field' context. These companies have been joined by Aspentech, ConocoPhillips, Euriware, Halliburton, InfoSys, Invensys, Kongsberg Intellifield, Matrikon, OSISoft, P2ES, Pioneer, Petroleum Experts, Schlumberger, TietoEnator, and Weatherford. Energistics® has stewardship of PRODML and fosters further development.There is significant industry interest in implementing digital oil field strategies. Corporate and government initiatives anticipate significant, sustained improvements in recovery and operating efficiencies while maintaining safe operations. This will require robust, trustworthy, implementation of measurement, optimization and automation technologies.Version 1.0 of the PRODML standard, released in 2006, enables a range of production optimization use cases to handle an information hierarchy which includes time series data. This lays a foundation for adaptive optimization involving interaction between applications and data stores from multiple vendors. Such optimization is important both for situations with low-frequency changes, such as waterfloods, and for those requiring agility, such as compliance with pipeline, liquefied natural gas, and power-generation customer-export schedules that may cycle within a day. PRODML V1.0 provides a means of transferring data between applications incorporated in simple, common use cases. However, it did not address the task of accommodating changes to the physical configuration of the network, such as the addition of a well or a sensor, without having to manually reconfigure applications. Such changes are commonplace.In 2007, the PRODML work group focused on managing changes in production network configuration and in the capabilities of system components. The result enables optimization and reporting architectures and data management processes to adapt to changes faster with less effort and fewer errors. PRODML has therefore become a tool which can be used in implementing robust, trustworthy optimization and automation processes.Several example use-cases are included to illustrate how PRODML can be applied.

PRODML™ is a set of production data standards, initiated by 13 upstream oil and service companies with the industry standards body Energistics (then POSC) in 2005. In November 2006, PRODML Version 1.0 was released. The focus was on production optimization processes which could produce results implementable within a day. The domain was from perforations through to start of processing on the surface. The objective was to enable plug and play integration of current upstream applications while supporting a variety of optimization processes.In 2007, the PRODML community, now expanded to 23 companies, worked on extensions addressing production reporting, the use of a common "flow network model", and into "smart wells". This paper, authored by experienced members of the PRODML community, explains the evolution from a concept to "do something about production data" into a well-defined series of interoperable services, with a defined future path.A practical approach to the implementation of an integrated production optimization "analytic environment" will then be described, illustrated by a richly detailed and broad-based real life case study as deployed by Chevron.The strategy that current members have set for the next three years will be outlined. This covers expansion of the "footprint" of PRODML, (reflecting the need for a clear understanding of business drivers for end-users and for developers), functionality (supporting above all a focus on "usability" -ensuring that PRODML expands while remaining accessible and quick to pick up for new developers), support, and governance.Coordinated in an open, non-competitive way by Energistics, the PRODML initiative was formed to define and demonstrate a new optimization framework during 2006 and refine the framework in 2007. Formal specifications were released as PRODML Version 1.0 in late 2006 (1) and updated Version 1.1 specifications are due to be released before mid-2008. Twenty-three companies, led by seven energy companies, actively developed ten meaningful implementations in the context of pilot projects during 2006 and 2007 to develop

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It is evident that Digital Oil Field Projects have succeeded in making reservoir, production and operations data more widely available. However, it is also evident that many operators still fail to realise the full value of these data. Too often, oil field professionals are overloaded with information with the direct result that the organisation fails to respond appropriately within the available window of opportunity. The authors believe that in order to realize sustainable improvements in operational efficiencies and in decision-making for production optimisation and reservoir management, the Industry now needs to find ways to ensure that the new streams of information and knowledge that result from Digital Oilfield Projects can flow freely throughout the organization. IT solutions need to do more to screen, classify and rank data, to present the most significant information to the most appropriate person as and when it is needed, to marshal the right analysis tools and configure them optimally for the task at hand, and to route critical actions and results across the organization in the manner most appropriate to the prevailing circumstances.Much effort has been spent attempting to devolve increased levels of governance to computer systems, including responsibility for the management of workflows, but workflow automation solutions applied to date have tended to be too prescriptive and too inflexible to cope with the dynamic and varying circumstances that humans invariably have to deal with in a real world production situation. This paper describes the piloting of a "guided workflows" solution for Well Test Validation in one of Shell's Operating Companies. This was the first workflow tool built in Shell using PRODML™ connectivity standards.The solution automates the gathering and pre-analysis of production and well test information, delivering the screened and prioritized results for validation by the appropriate professional, e.g. Production Programmer, before the start of the working day. PDS incorporated human workflow extensions into Shell's production web portal that were used to guide the user through the most appropriate analysis steps and route results to the appropriate team member and other company experts for further analysis and actioning. The solution incorporated overviews of the progress and status of well test validation activities across the company, and provided audit trails to support organizational learning and compliance checking at the granularity of individual tasks and decisions.The pilot results indicated significant potential for the approach in related areas e.g. production surveillance, optimization and reporting. The extensive use of the PRODML™ standards favourably impacted systems integration project costs and timescales, and increased software reuse.