Texas innovates production data retrieval

David E. Schieck, Susan L. Cisco
Railroad Commission of Texas
Austin

The Railroad Commission of Texas now offers an Internet web-based system that provides access to Texas oil and gas production data in an interactive query format.

With this system, both the public and state agency personnel can access and customize the available information.

The ACTI (Advanced Computational Technology Initiative) data base contains well production information that is a crucial component for evaluating the feasibility of many exploration, acquisition, and operation decisions.

The RRC has always provided public access to oil and gas production data and related well information, but access mechanisms were limited because the data resided in multiple storage formats, including paper, microforms, and mainframe data bases.

For both internal and external users, the ACTI production query system eliminates time-consuming research with paper and film-based records and costly special programming requests.

Internet-based access to RRC production data is increasing daily, and ACTI is the most popular information available on RRC's web site.

System design

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in conjunction with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory worked with several energy-producing states on technology-based solutions for providing the public with information on energy-related activities.

The goal of the ACTI project, a DOE-funded initiative, is to use technology for providing producers with oil and gas information as a means of promoting further domestic exploration and production.

The RRC initiated its ACTI collaborative activities in 1995 with Texas A&M University and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

The Texas ACTI project focused on providing the public with an Internet-based capability to query RRC's oil and gas production information and create a variety of related reports. Access to such information is a crucial component for assessing the feasibility of purchasing and operating a well.

Two years of production data (1996 and 1997) were released to the ACTI web page in April 1998. By August, there were more than 17,000 hits on the ACTI web page.

In September, production data from 1993 through the current production month were added to ACTI. Going forward, the data in ACTI will be refreshed from mainframe data bases when the new month of production data becomes available.

Because of filing deadlines and in-house processing time, production data are usually posted about 7 weeks after production occurs.

Available data

The ACTI production query system allows end users to customize requests for production data by operator, lease, county, district, field, or statewide in various reporting formats. The following are some examples that can be generated with the system:

• Listing field by operator
• Listing producing leases by county
• Listing producing fields in a district.

Fig. 1 [105,514 bytes] depicts the ACTI interface. An ACTI user points and clicks to define the criteria for each search and to select the appropriate report format. Fig. 2 [85,881 bytes] is a report of 1997 production for oil and gas wells in Crockett County.

Fig. 3 [90,928 bytes] shows a search for 1997 production data for oil and gas wells for a specific field, Ozona (Canyon sand). Fig. 4 [86,926 bytes] depicts the resulting report and includes grand total production for oil, casinghead gas, gas well gas, and condensate from all counties in the Ozona (Canyon sand) field.

Fig. 5 [82,800 bytes] shows typical output if an ACTI user decides to print a report to his/her printer.

Typical uses

The following are typical ways the information has been used by personnel from various types of oil and gas-related companies.

External users of the ACTI system include large oil and gas companies, smaller independent oil and gas operators, equipment suppliers, oil field service companies, and individual royalty owners.

Large producer

Frank Davis, manager of oil and gas commission affairs, Union Pacific Resources Company (UPRC), calls up ACTI four to five times per month when he is trying to identify RRC-designated field names and field numbers in a specific area. He often looks for the relative production volumes of a field and usually searches by county, then field by operator or field by lease.

He also uses ACTI to hone in on a geographic area for specific data. For example, when UPRC drills a successful wildcat well, the company wants to establish field rules. Davis uses ACTI to look at other fields in the areas to obtain RRC-designated names, then conducts historical research on field rules.

Finally, Davis uses ACTI to narrow the scope of his work. He explains that he uses ACTI to determine the relative production from various fields so that he can decide which fields to emphasize and which can be eliminated due to insignificant production.

Before ACTI, Davis used to reference RRC's proration schedules (one for oil and one for gas), but the process was very time consuming or required travel to RRC's Austin office to obtain the most-current information.

The biggest benefit of ACTI for UPRC is reduction of cycle time, Davis explained.

Smaller independent

At least once per week, Paul R. Turner, director, Co-Energy Inc., uses ACTI to assist in conducting due diligence. Co-Energy is a small independent oil and gas operator that regularly analyzes oil and gas producing properties for potential purchase.

The company thoroughly investigates anything that it considers buying. This includes pulling up production data by year and month from ACTI. Previously, Turner had to drive to the nearest RRC office to obtain the necessary information.

Turner believes that the RRC is on the cutting edge of technology in Texas. He estimates that if he billed his time at $100/hr, his company saves at least $9,000-10,000/year because of the time saved with ACTI.

Royalty and interest owners

Royalty and interest owners also make regular use of ACTI.

William Stormont finds ACTI to be a good tool for looking back at the history of his wells.

Before ACTI, he had to go through his filing cabinet and pull out the monthly run sheets received with the royalty checks. ACTI makes it easier to look at history of his wells to evaluate production. The data can easily be entered into a spreadsheet for further analysis.

Tamra Berry has one producing well located in Wheeler County. To monitor activity in nearby wells, she uses ACTI to learn which operators are drilling, at what depth, and formation. She used to call RRC's Pampa office and schedule a visit to physically look at the production files.

With ACTI, she no longer has to spend a lot of money on telephone calls and driving to Pampa. She can also research multiple wells with one search.

Service company

Tim O'Connell is technical sales engineer for Production Control Services, Ft. Lupton, Colo. The company manufactures and installs plunger lift systems in wells. For the system to work, a well has to produce a minimum amount of gas.

After a customer decides on a plunger lift system, O'Connell uses ACTI as one of the qualifiers to determine if the customer's well produces sufficient gas for the system to work properly. He also accesses ACTI to assist in judging customer satisfaction after the sale by comparing production before and after installation.

Finally, O'Connell uses ACTI to prospect for new customers. He sorts the production data first by county, then operator.

During busy periods, he may use ACTI every day. Before ACTI, someone would have to drive to an RRC office, duplicate the production reports, and manually calculate the information needed.

Also some production data, such as total production by operator by county, could not be obtained prior to ACTI.

RRC employees

ACTI users are also employees of the RRC.

Sheila Weigand, administrative technician for the General Counsel, uses ACTI an average of twice per week. She works with law enforcement and state and federal agencies across the U.S. in preparing cases involving investor fraud.

Her work requires that she verify information provided in investor offering documents. In addition, she uses ACTI as a preliminary source for gathering statistical information to assist other agencies in their cases.

When a case goes to trial, however, certified paper copies of original documents signed by representatives of the company would be required. Before ACTI, Weigand would have to retrieve the producer's monthly report of oil wells or microfilmed production ledger reports from central records and make paper copies.

ACTI contains much information that is unavailable on monthly production reports such as total production for an operator statewide or for a given field or district.

Previously, Weigand had to photocopy the appropriate documents and add the numbers manually. ACTI does the calculations automatically.

Using ACTI saves Weigand a significant amount of time, especially for the more-complex cases with multiple wells or companies. Sometimes sending printouts from the ACTI program to state and federal agencies can be enough for them to decide whether it is even necessary to open a case, she adds.

Dorsey Twidwell, proration unit manager-permitting and production services, uses ACTI about once a week in answering inquiries from operators who do not have Internet connections.

Typical questions include, "Who are the other operators in a particular county, and what is their production?" and "What is the production for a specific field?"

In addition, he uses ACTI to conduct research for special projects. For example, in a dispute among operators to suspend the allocation formula for the West Panhandle gas field, Twidwell used ACTI to review the total production for each operator.

Before ACTI, he used mainframe data bases to obtain operator names for a specific field. For field production, he would have had to run a special job through the mainframe computer at night and get an 11 3 17-in. computer-generated green-bar listing.

Twidwell says that ACTI helps RRC employees to serve the public better. For operators who have Internet access, they can get information for themselves rather than calling the RRC. For operators lacking Internet connections, the RRC can supply the necessary information faster.

There are, however, limitations to using ACTI data. For example, it would usually be better to have certified copies of the original production reports to obtain the most up-to-date information for a formal hearing.

Future plans

By mid-1999, production data for 1988 through 1992 will be added to ACTI. Readers can participate in the development of ACTI by logging on to the Railroad Commission of Texas web site at www.rrc.state.tx.us. n

The Authors