Could you please give me some free data?

Academics who are heavily engaged in research are always scrambling to obtain two things: 1) Money and 2) Data. The process involves writing proposals, sending tons of emails and there is always a certain element of just…begging! It is sometimes a very stressful and frustrating endeavor.  This is the reason why I find it absolutely refreshing when certain institutions and governments just provide data for “free” or almost “free.” These are some of my favorite sites:

Norwegian Interactive Offshore Stratigraphic Lexicon (NORLEX): Hosted by the University of Oslo it “provides a relational stratigraphic database for the North Sea, Norwegian Sea, Barents Sea and Svalbard.” This online tool also allows users to “instantly access updated formation and member tops or microfossil events in all wells, plus a map contouring routine for unit thicknesses and depths.” One of my students pursued her master’s thesis in offshore Norway and this tool proved to be remarkably useful. Norwegian legislation (Norwegian Petroleum Directorate) requires companies to release subsurface data (including seismic) to the public domain after certain number of years and therefore this multi-billion dollar database is available to the wider world. Isn’t that brilliant?

Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous syn- rift wedge in the Heidrun Field, offshore Norway. Well log and seismic data courtesy of the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate. Well tops and lithological information from NORLEX (Sarika Ramnarine’s master thesis)

The Online Exploration Database from the New Zealand Ministry of Economic Development also allows users to search their database to find a variety of subsurface information. Similarly to the Norwegian legislation, New Zealand grants access to data after certain number of years. We have been able to obtain seismic data from the Taranaki Basin for a PhD project under this scheme.

Taranaki Basin, seismic and well data base map. Study area PhD candidate Migdalys Salazar.

The Department of Mines and Petroleum from the Government of Western Australia also implements a similar approach through their Petroleum and Geothermal Information (WAMPIS) system. Geoscience Australia also allows users to search and request access to subsurface data. Most of these entities only charge fees for transferring data to your institution. I’ll take that!

I think the United States should implement a similar approach. There are probably hundreds of seismic volumes sitting unused in servers all over the place. It would be also useful to mandate companies to release the first few seconds of data from seismic surveys. The first hundreds meters of data often times do not contain sensitive information of commercial interest but tons of good science. Don’t get me wrong; companies and individual “champions” do a great deal of effort in trying to release as much data as they possible can under tight restrictions and mountains of paperwork. A good example of that, not the only one, is the recent data donation by BP and partners of shallow high-resolution geophysical data from the GOM to academic institutions (we got that one too!). However, the lack of governmental regulations and requirements to release data make this process cumbersome, this drains resources from the companies and from those of us trying to access data to study some esoteric topic. This was my whining paragraph!

BP and partners data release in the Gulf of Mexico. High-resolution geohazard surveys in Holstein, Mad Dog, Atlantis and Thunder Horse. Study area PhD aspirant Maria Isabel Prieto.

Last but not least (even though it needs some refresh! I wonder why?). Codigo Geologico de Venezuela was created on the 90s by the research branch of the then National Oil Company of Venezuela. It contains a lot of good information about Venezuelan geology, even though it could use a bit of an update?

 “We have got all the value out of this data, so it seemed ideal to give it to students and researchers who will be able to extend its use. We see it as a way of supporting academic research and developing the specialized skills to improve understanding of geotechnical, geological and engineering concepts in the deep water” Jim Thomson, BP Senior Geohazards Specialist

The Pilot Story

During the last three years, I have been teaching a graduate level class on subsurface mapping and petroleum workstations. The main objective of the class is to familiarize students with the use of petroleum workstations for subsurface mapping of stratigraphic and structural features. Fifty percent of the grade goes into a final project in which students have to work with a real subsurface database (seismic and wells) to generate and rank exploration prospects. It is like a game, at least for me! At the end of the semester I invite outside experts to play the role of upper management while the students present their projects. Good exposure and a good experience for them. After several years of doing this I have come to the “painful” realization that sometimes my students just hate me! Why? It is a simple thing: Scales! If your map does not have a color scale, then I will deduct points from your lab (well the TA will under my iron rule!). If the cross section is not properly referenced on a map, then I will deduct points from your lab. If your scales do not have units, then you can be absolutely sure I will deduct a whole lot of points from your lab. I am bad, very bad…I know!

In an effort to highlight to my students the importance of scales, I recite every fall a story that made an impact on me the first time I heard it. It was around the year 2001 and I was a new geologist on a training program in PDVSA (National Oil Company of Venezuela). We were on a meeting on the Caracas office (Chuao) and I think it was Dr. Rodulfo Prieto (UT alumni) who was addressing the crowd. It was around 2:00 pm, after lunch and I have to confess that the “donkey hour” was taking a toll on a bunch of probably already hangover youngsters (those days when my liver was better suited for those late nights in Cubo Negro or El Leon!). I do not exactly remember the words but Rodulfo asked us something like: “Do you know what geoscientists have in common with airplane pilots?” We obviously looked clueless while he was starting to enjoy the plot. These are some of the “facts”:

1 Civilian passenger jets cruise between 30,000 to 39,000 feet (9144 – 11887.2 m for those of you that are trustful supporters of the metric system!)

2 Wells in the Gulf of Mexico can be drilled under water depths that can be greater than 6,000 feet (1828.8 m). Reservoir levels (targets!) can be located at subsea depths that are close to 25,000 feet (7620 m). The total distance between sea level and the reservoir can be close to 31,000 feet (9448.8 m). Well casings at these depths are variable but they can be close to 7 inches (17.78 cm).

If you are not impressed by that…you better stop reading now because you won’t find anything more engaging than that in this post. After talking about this in class (always the first meeting of the semester), I tell my students that geologists, and the engineers drilling the wells, are sometimes like pilots trying to hit a house with a straw while flying a plane at 31,000 feet of altitude. Well, maybe the straw is a bit of a stretch. Then, I can see a couple of incredulous looks here and there, a couple of wide eyes opening on the front row and then every time, a hand rises with a comment “…but the plane is moving, the well site is not!” This is my favorite because then I ask if they think the water column in the Gulf of Mexico (@6,000’) is a pool of still water and if they haven’t heard about something call storms and hurricanes? Scales are a difficult thing to grasp and my students are not the only ones to succumb to the temptation of presenting a colorful map without scales, peer-review publications and presentations from pros are plague with those as well! However, a cross-section without vertical and horizontal scales is meaningless and in my class you get heavily penalized by presenting such abominations. I do not expect students to learn all I try to teach in one semester, and equally I do not think I am the best of teachers BUT they will get the scales right! Hate involved or not…

Just to end: “In 1982, a successful oil finder from Midland Texas, admitted to not using geologists because when his competitors hired them, all it did was increase their cost per barrel of oil found” (from Selley, 1998) 

The Geology of Venezuela and Trinidad

Today I was given a book! It is a fat and old looking book that has a sober dark green cover with golden lettering. “The Geology of Venezuela and Trinidad” by R.A. Liddle (1946). The book was part of the BEG Houston Research Center Library, formerly Unocal’s Exploration & Production Library. A good soul decided to rescue this little treasure for me. Its cover even has a texture! It is a rough surface made of some sort of fabric! I bet you cannot buy this one on Amazon. The first edition of this book was published in 1928 and in the original preface Liddle wrote: “Grateful appreciation is expressed to General Juan Vicente Gomez, President of the United States of Venezuela, for the many courtesies which he extended, and to the Venezuelan people for their hospitality” This definitely puts things into historical context, Juan Vicente Gomez was the de facto ruler of Venezuela from 1908 until his death in 1935. The United States of Venezuela evolved into the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela through the years and many rulers (and some presidents) have been in power since the days of “El Benemerito”. As part of my few and scattered possessions I have a 1948 map of “Los Estados Unidos de Venezuela” in my office. I like the look and relief of the map but there is something still missing to the east (not the topic of this post).

From 1920 to 1926 Liddle studied the geology of the United States of Venezuela (including Margarita) and the islands of Trinidad and Curacao. He was on the field for five years! He acknowledged the contributions of many other Venezuelan and foreign geologists who helped him with his publication. The book has plenty of black and white photographs that not only show the geology but also represent a time window into the Venezuela of the 1920s. I can spend hours looking at these pages. Those were the days when geologists were also adventurers! Now, most of us are desk geologists with a bunch of monitors in front of us…technology is a bless!

Thanks to Dr. Bob Loucks for rescuing this book for me.

This is the map that I proudly have for display in my office. Thanks to Dr. Edgar Guevara for the legacy.

Mapa de Los Estados Unidos de Venezuela published by Aero Service Corporation

"PLATE IX. - Fig. 2. - Lumber camp of New York and Bermudez Company on Rio Guarapiche between Maturin and Cano Colorado. Logs cut here are floated in rafts to Guanoco where they are sawed into lumber for construction and use in connection with asphalt shipments" (From Liddle, 1946)

"PLATE X.- Fig.2 - The philosopher and the scientist at Pie del Paramo, State of Merida. To Mr. Bremmer the author is indebted for much valuable information and many excellent views of the high Andes" (From Liddle, 1946)