New Data Transmission Standard Facilitates Synchronous Remote Modeling and Surveillance via the Internet

Abstract

The communication of data between various operator and service company data stores has long been problematic. Fragile, low bandwidth lines of communication coupled with a lack of standards have left serious efficiency gaps in the movement of data from the acquisition location to decision-making and interpretation centers. Various systems have been developed and deployed to minimize these difficulties; however, all have fallen short of industry requirements. Recent availability of more robust, higher bandwidth lines between locations has led to a new standard of communication called Wellsite Information Transfer Standard Markup Language (WITSML). Using this new technology, data can be acquired and transmitted synchronously or asynchronously among multiple stakeholders with limited effort. The ability to mix and match various data collection vendors and connect these data sources to interpreters and modelers with limited effort is creating new opportunities to improve the success and efficiency of remote operations. This paper reviews four cases that demonstrate the use of WITSML to synchronously transmit real-time data from domestic and international offshore locations to onshore sites. The cases clearly demonstrate that WITSML meets previously neglected industry requirements of durability, flexibility, economy and ease of use in omni-directional data transmission between rig and shore. Introduction The petroleum industry thrives on its ability to acquire, manipulate and share ever-improving types of data. Numerous industry standards have been developed to ease the transfer and manipulation of this data; however, each is limited by the knowledge and technology available at the time the standard was created. Furthermore, the value of using data synchronously with its acquisition is becoming increasingly more evident. Technology advancements in offshore telecommunications have seen the radio replaced by the facsimile, the facsimile by email and now email by synchronous broadband connections over the Internet. Similarly, decision makers want to replace their static reports with secure, synchronous, dynamic information flowing from multiple vendors to multiple assets and stakeholders. Operators have been historically dissatisfied with proprietary data acquisition and transmission solutions that obligate them to a single vendor because a successful operation typically requires components from multiple data-acquisition companies. These demands were the impetus for the American Petroleum Institute to create the wellsite information transfer specification (WITS) standard for moving drilling data between rig and office-based computer systems. The goal was to standardize rig-to-shore data transmission so that various acquisition companies could communicate with each other and the operator in a common language. Like the standards before it, WITS had numerous limitations that prevented it from becoming a perfectly acceptable solution to the aforementioned demands. WITSML is a collaborative effort to update the widely used WITS. Internet standards-driven and hardware and software platform-independent, this new specification for secure, synchronous and asynchronous data transmission has recently emerged from the testing stage into commercial field deployment. Basic WITSML Design WITSML is a standard for sending wellsite information in a standard format between business partners using Internet-compliant rules (i.e. the familiar XML document format and HTTP/S-based delivery protocols). The content of an XML document is defined by XML schemas. A WITSML data object is a logical organization and grouping of the data items associated with the major components and operations involved in drilling a well. For example, the group known as the rig "data object" contains the data item related to the rig such as its owner, type and manufacture.

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“…The plot, which was remotely displayed in a web-browser for real-time decision making 36,37 , contains 3 separate borehole images (GR, density and high resolution electrical), multiple propagation resistivity curves, GR and annular pressure (ECD) curves, downhole force and dynamics measurements (axial, lateral and tangential vibrations as well as ROP and bending moment), near-bit inclination and direction survey data, in addition to surface measurements (which are transmitted from surface only). Yet typically one is sacrificed in order to achieve maximum data rates for the other, depending on the application.…”

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“…Brady, 2007;Standifird and Matthews, 2005;Standifird et al, 2006). Brady, 2007;Standifird and Matthews, 2005;Standifird et al, 2006).…”