25th International Meeting on Organic Geochemistry IMOG 2011

P-023
Petroleum fluid and source rock database: best practices
Gunardi Sulistyo, Andrew Pepper, David Schmidt, Steven Crews
Hess Corporation, Houston/Texas, United States of America (corresponding author:gsulistyo@hess.com)
Petroleum geochemists are often faced with the
daunting tasks of searching and compiling fluid and
source rock data whenever they work in the field of
geochemistry in either the exploration and/or
production areas. Having a good, reliable, fit-forpurpose
database is critical for geochemists, in order
to be able to work efficiently and effectively.
Several important factors have to be considered when
initiating the building of a database to successfully
accommodate and manage the current and future
needs: database format, content, structure, reporting,
interpretation and access.
Choosing the appropriate database format is the first
decision to be made. It is also preferable that the
database format be one that is easy to use, requiring
minimal maintenance, but also can be subsequently
migrated to a more robust system with minimal work.
The next decision concerns the type of data to be
included in the database. A comprehensive database
that contains a wide spectrum of geoscience
disciplines other than geochemistry is not
recommended. On the other hand, a database that
contains only geochemical data will be of limited use.
PVT data are the most useful non-geochemistry data
that need to be linked together with the geochemistry
data. Also, it can be useful to have a vehicle for
attaching relevant files from other disciplines such as
basin models, well log files, photomicrographs and
reports at the site or sample level.
It is common for some analysis to be performed by
multiple vendors that use various methods. In addition
to this, fluid samples are affected by drilling mud
contamination at various contamination levels and are
run multiple times. All of these issues can cause
potential confusion to the database users if they are
not properly managed. A well thought-out database
structure is of considerable help in minimizing or
eliminating these potential problems. Using a specific
nomenclature for samples will provide the linkage
between PVT and geochemical data.
For maximum efficiency, it is preferable to have some
built-in interpretive tools and a reporting system that
do not involve maintenance from another type of
database. Using data normalization is necessary for
calculating commonly used parameters that may
come calculated differently from different data
sources. For interpretation purposes, we recommend
using the index such as A/(A+B) in fraction, rather
than using the ratio of A/B or percentages. Entering
some information about the purpose of the analysis
will help in the data retrieval process.
A good database should be easily accessible via a
website, so that the users can access the most up-todate
data in real time.
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