The Development And Use of the Ontario Well Data System
Authors: Hutt R.B. 
Published: March 2010

Unlike other government systems for the storage and retrieval of geological data, the Ontario Well Data System is operated as a service for industry. A high proportion of the operators in Ontario are independents who would be unable to justify the maintenance of a computer system in their operations. From the present system, they are able to receive posted structure or isopach maps of most geological units. Some major companies have purchased the entire Ontario well Data System package outright and are utilizing it within the framework of their own computer systems.

Internally, the Ontario Well Data System is being used to prepare reports for fifteen-minute quadrangles which coincide with the National Topographical Series. The first area chosen was in the Lambton County reef belt, as this area has been the centre of considerable interest and activity over the years and is an area which should reveal any weaknesses in the system as it now exists.

The capabilities of the system are now being expanded. The existing programs have been converted for use with IBM/360 equipment and a generalized retrieval package has been added. This permits the listing of wells using such various parameters as may be specified by industry. With the adoption of new Ontario regulations in December, 1966, and particularly with reference to those sections dealing with confidential periods, an effort is being made to streamline the Department's handling of data to keep the system as nearly current as possible. Finally, an in-house machine-contouring package which enables the production of contoured isopach and structure maps and trend-surface and residual maps is being used by the Department. It is the current program to make these interpretative data available to industry in the form of published reports and map sheets.

Introduction

IN MOST PETROLEUM PRODUCING AREAS of North America, commercial systems for the storage and retrieval of geological data are in operation. In Ontario, a high proportion of the petroleum operators are small independents who are unable to justify the establishment or maintenance of a computer-oriented system to aid in their exploration efforts. In order to assist exploration activity in the area, the Ontario Well Data System was initiated in late 1964 as a joint project of the Ontario Department of Energy and Resources Management and the University of Western Ontario, with additional financial support from industry groups. One of the basic principles in its development was that, unlike most other governmental systems, in addition to its in-house uses it would be used to supply industry with manipulated or selected data from the files.

Input To The File

Since the petroleum industry had its beginning in southern Ontario in 1857, more than 50,000 wells have been drilled in the area in the search for oil and gas. Of these, records of some 10,000 wells contain sufficient information for inclusion in the system. Most of the remainder are very shallow holes drilled prior to 1920 and did not penetrate the deeper horizons which are the prime objectives today.