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E&P knowledge management systems and their support of the G&G process

Schlumberger GeoQuest, Houston, Texas, U.S.

Winford (Dutch) Holland

Holland & Davis, Houston, Texas, U.S.

Corresponding author: toelle1@houston.oilfield.slb.com

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

Today more companies are moving toward formal knowledge management (KM) systems. But what does that mean, what does it entail, and what are the benefits for oil and gas companies and their knowledge developers such as geophysicists?

To realize the companywide benefits of KM, it's important to first understand what it is. Knowledge is the special information that a company uses to better meet its goals and objectives. Therefore, KM is the systematic process of managing that special information to maximize project results at any point in the E&P cycle. Knowledge is not data or interpretation; it is what is learned about the area of interest as the interpretation is being performed.

Knowledge is vital to both scientific studies and the business side of the oil and gas industry. Yet knowledge is lost daily due to any number of reasons. These include people's memory loss over time, people's perception that a particular piece of knowledge is not important, lack of adequate documentation, and staff turnover/retirement.

Consider this hypothetical story:

Exploration manager: "Company Y just called and offered us a piece of their deepwater trend off Brazil. Get Smith working on it right away."

Team supervisor: "That's why I came in to talk to you. Smith just resigned."

Exploration manager: "But he was the only one who knew that trend. Guess we'll have to pull that report from six years ago. Start reading it ASAP."

Team supervisor: "Will do, if I can find it. We only had one copy and the library is a mess."

However, with an effective knowledge management system, after hearing that Smith resigned, that story could have ended differently:

Exploration manager: "Well, I know that he's been recording his project findings in our KM system. Have one of the new hires review it and get up to . . . [Full Text of this Article]