In last month’s article, I discussed the geographic (spatial) nature of oil and gas data and the importance and prevalence of “Where?” questions in our industry. I used the concept of “smart” maps to introduce the potential of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to provide answers to your “where?” questions. Now, I would like to show you HOW smart maps can provide value to you as a mineral owner or buyer.
So, you’re probably thinking “I get this “smart” maps thing, but what’s in it for me?” In a word, I say knowledge. Knowledge that will help you make informed decisions about buying, selling, and managing your oil and gas assets. Here’s a couple of examples:
Activity Monitoring – Tracking competitor activity, well completions, poolings, spacings, and change over time are just a few ideas that come to mind. By watching an area of interest over time patterns and trends can be discerned as well as opportunities to gain competitive insights before data makes its way into the public record.
Where has change occurred in the last 6 months? April – (above image) Original pad sites and roads October ( below image) – New pads (red) and roads (gold)
Where are the largest operators pooling acreage?
Due Diligence – What would it be worth to you to discover environmental or operational risks to a potential project? The good news is there are Oklahoma GIS data, imagery, and maps that can help you evaluate potential investment opportunities from your desktop for free or at a very low cost. For example, Oklahoma’s OKMaps Oklahoma site is a web-based GIS providing access to numerous datasets and imagery, including historical aerial images that can be used for spotting old well sites, environmental hazards, etc. Check it out at org/ogi/search.aspx
Where could elevation and access to water be a concern? View from OKMaps Oklahoma depicting elevation change and water bodies. Red shaded areas a higher elevations, blue shaded areas are low elevations.
Where has recent flooding caused damage? Assessing flood damage using aerial imagery and GIS.
Additionally, there are many other sources of data that are commercially available- some of them come with a built-in GIS viewer. For free advice on the best available data for your project or area of interest I’m here to help. Just email me using this link.
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