Recently a research project managed by the Geosciences Institute of Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) for BG Brazil chose a solution for petrographic knowledge and data management, developed by trading partners Endeeper and Carl Zeiss.

The project titled: "Stratigraphical-Sedimentogical-Petrological Integrated Study of Rift Section of Santos and Campos Basins, in the east of Brazil” used a solution that integrates Petroledge and RockViewer systems of Endeeper with the Axio Imager A2 Pol microscope, equipped with AxioCam MRc scientific camera and ZEN Lite 2011 system from Carl Zeiss. Petroledge is a knowledge system for management of reservoir petrographic information. An advanced software for capturing, codifying, storing, processing and sharing detailed petrographic descriptions of clastic and carbonate reservoir rocks, based on a high level geological ontology.

Petroledge integrates artificial intelligence and relational database technology for petrographic description and evaluation of reservoirs. Using Petroledge, the petrographic descriptions are organized and distributed simultaneously to different queries. Geologists will perform the systematic acquisition and management of petrographic data using the Server version of Petroledge and RockViewer and Carl Zeiss equipments.

The great advantage of this solution is that all data generated at different workstations are stored directly on the central server of the research project, making easier the exchange of information among researchers, ensuring data security and accelerating the data processing and the integrated interpretation.

Eduardo Castro, business developer of Endeeper, commented: "We are very pleased to have our products chosen for use in a research project important for the university-enterprise interaction and for the oil exploration in Brazil. This is the result of permanent investment from Endeeper in offering innovative and efficient solutions for the oil and mining markets."

The research project is supported by the Brazilian National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) and once again shows that Industry-University research relations is of great importance in developing new software and hardware technologies to tackle the challenges of O&G exploration in Brazil. These relations or interaction have been increasing steadily in Brazil and the many good results attained in recent years only highlights the potential for increased university research influence in the O&G industry.

It was recently announced that all of OGX´s geophysical and geological software applications will be moved to Landmark´s DecisionSpace Desktop, which is a Halliburton owned company.

"The integration of workflows and data such as rock, logs and seismic across domains in the DecisionSpace Desktop allows us to work more efficiently as we explore for hydrocarbons, improve our asset knowledge, and reduce our exploration risk.", said Marcos Amaral, OGX´s Executive Manager for New Technologies. 

"DecisionSpace Desktop's unique approach to reservoir description, known as Dynamic GeoModeling, is a no compromise, unified and dynamically updated interpretation and modeling system," said Gene Minnich, vice president of Landmark Software and Services. "Using proven science, unparalleled data management and easy to use interfaces, this software is helping our clients make better decisions faster."

The DecisionSpace Desktop workspace unifies workspaces for geosciences applications related to oil and gas E&P. The software is built on the most widely-adopted data management system in the industry: OpenWorks® software. The software makes it possible to access data across entire exploration areas, from a reservoir to the entire basin, along with managing and sharing one copy among many users and update the models with new data in real time.

This will undoubtedly be a handy software bundle for OGX, as they have basically uncovered a new shallow water oil province in the southern part of the Campos basin, composed of various reservoirs. If we look at the scope of what this software bundle offers, it will simplify the management of the reservoirs as a group, even though each reservoir has its own distinct characteristics.

According to Halliburton, the DecisionSpace Desktop workspace provides a common, flexible 1D, 2D, 3D workspace for the whole OGX exploration team, including seismic, logs, maps, sections and cubes. With the software, OGX exploration engineers and geologists will be capable of building and sharing workflows using the Project Designer.

The DecisionSpace software bundle is composed of:

-Base Software - Seamless integration and painless collaboration.

-Earth Modeling Software - Reservoir modeling software which enables geoscientists and reservoir engineers to construct accurate, high resolution, geocellular models.

-Geology Software - Provides geological interpretation, mapping and modeling for asset teams.

-Geophysicas/Seismic Interpretation Software - Provides seismic interpretation, mapping and modeling for asset teams.

-GIS software - Provides GIS data to image cultural data, set the geospatial context for interpretation, map play fairways, plan optimal well locations, and assess environmental impact.

-Stimulation software for fracture monitoring - Fracture monitoring, where engineers and geoscientists can visualize and analyze frac operations and microseismic data in real time.

-Well Planning Software - Well and field development planning team can integrate all relevant data from all domains in one unified 3D workspace.

Claudio Paschoa