American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2017 - 41

SpecialReport: Data Mining & Analysis
cally attractive to adopt monitoring systems, rather than bear the cost of repairs
and remediation, he relates.
"Companies of any size can benefit
from better data management," Mills concludes. "Scalable systems let companies
start small and grow their data management
along with the scale and scope of their
business operations."
Empowering Field Personnel
Nic Burtea, chief technology officer
at Enertia Software, notes that operators
often make critical decisions in the field
with limited interaction with the main
office. "Field personnel need timely and
accurate information to support those decisions," he comments. "It is also important
to be able to 'push' relevant information
from the field to the main office in real
time or near-real time."
Fortunately, a convergence of technologies is allowing new levels of connectivity between the field and office,
according to Burtea. "With greater wireless network coverage, much improved
mobile computing platforms, and the
emergence of Internet-of-things devices,
the geographic separation between the
field and back office is becoming irrelevant," he states.
For the field data captured by human
interaction, the biggest challenge is data
integrity. "The ideal user interaction is
both simple and useful," Burtea explains.
"As mobile platforms have evolved, so
have user expectations. Field personnel
are comfortable using mobile devices
and want to use them to simplify their
daily tasks. But ensuring these interfaces
preserve the integrity of the data collected
is a huge priority."
The challenge for automated data capture is distilling the relevant information
that needs to be integrated with backoffice applications and made available to
field personnel. Moving data capture to
real time is a major goal. "The days when
monthly production allocation was sufficient are long gone," Burtea says.
In addition, oil and gas companies increasingly are demanding real-time, direct
integration between various systems. "Producers want to view data in a way that is
meaningful to them. They do not care
where the data reside. We fully embrace
the idea of free data movement," says

Enertia has developed a field data capture application for both Apple® iOS and Android® mobile devices. The app allows personnel to collect information in the field and automatically
sync the data to the integrated production/accounting system for automatic allocation calculations and reports, enabling faster and more accurate analysis. This screen capture from
the app shows sample entry and inventory data for a tank battery location.

Burtea, adding that Enertia users can import data into the software from any thirdparty application while still rigorously
enforcing data integrity and business
processes.
An example of that was a project
where a producer wanted to interact with
lease documents using a third-party app
and then store the results in the integrated
production/accounting system following
approval. "We built an application to
present lease data for approval and then
automatically migrate the data to the production/accounting system," he details.
Connecting Data
"One of the challenges of every project
is how to connect data across applications.
There has to be a data item such a well
identification number that is common between the various applications so that
data can be correlated," Burtea remarks.
The correlation process has to be fast
and transparent so that it does not delay
analysis and/or visualization, he reflects.
In the past, this was achieved by using
an intermediary data warehouse, but that
approach can be difficult to keep current.
"Now, technology has progressed to the
point the correlation can be done efficiently
in real time," Burtea says.

Burtea says he expects more standards
for data exchange in the near future, with
open service layers and data communication standards removing the need for
developers to understand the data schema
of each application, thereby allowing
faster integration.
"The thinking has shifted from data
import to integration points," Burtea holds.
"Everything is focused on mapping and
collecting data from multiple applications
for visualization."
By getting timely access to relevant
data and being able to analyze them
quickly, decision makers can respond
faster and deploy the required resources
to fix problems, reduce downtime, and
increase production, Burtea says.
"Companies increasingly are interested
in using data forecasting, big data analysis,
and predictive analysis techniques in production applications, with results visualized
in as close to real time as possible," he
concludes. "The goal is to move from
measuring production to forecasting production and managing reservoirs better.
By integrating field data and back-office
applications, producers have an opportunity
to take a quantum leap in efficiency and
operational insight."
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MARCH 2017 41

American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2017

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