Publications

During the last few years there has been a growing interest among oil-producing countries and states to establish a database that contains information about the subsurface geology. This database is considered by many to be a national treasure as it contains the information needed to understand the petroleum and mineral potential of the country. A National Data Repository (NDR) may be used for several different purposes, ranging from monitoring of oil company revenues to promoting concession rounds. The NDR has different requirements from those that are found in corporate and project databases.The NDR has several purposes. The most common is to understand the natural subsurface resources. These resources are typically hydrocarbons, however, the same technology is increasingly being used to monitor water and mineral resources. With many foreign operators in a country, the NDR is often used to understand how the companies are exploiting their leases and maximizing the reserves, thereby increasing national revenues. Most countries have a legal structure that requires exploration and production (E&P) companies to provide copies of the information acquired to the government, which the government is obligated to manage. All countries are promoting their potential natural resources to international investors, based on the use of the information stored in the NDR. Most countries understand that the data have been collected at a tremendous cost, therefore, the NDR is considered to be a national treasure. This is especially true when energy politicians recognize that it is the reliability and confidence in the reservoirs information that determines the value of the reservoir. This paper addresses current activity in several NDRs around the world and highlights some of the common characteristics of these specialized databases.