The Texas Railroad Commission Oil And Gas Information System

The Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) is the primary regulator of oil and gas exploration, drilling, production, and transportation in the state. The Oil and Gas Division of the RRC receives, analyses, and makes available a variety of maps and reports, including data on exploration, drilling, production, test results, well logs, and abandonment. In its early stages, the Texas Railroad Commission oil and gas information system (IS) will provide on-line access to all RRC data. Cost effective access to the IS will be available through the existing INTERNET infrastructure using defacto INTERNET protocols and client/server tools. Later, widespread use of the IS by oil and gas operators will facilitate electronic filing of documentation and permits required by the RRC. A standards based network access Application Programming Interface (API) will be provided to allow the development of customized clients and the integration of access into existing software. Development of the Texas Railroad Commission oil and gas IS will take place in phases that will permit increasingly more sophisticated communication between users and the Texas Railroad Commission. Phase One -The primary objective of Phase One is to develop a pilot IS with historical monthly production and well bore configurations for all producing wells in RRC’s District 3 along with District 3 digital map data. The pilot IS will allow remote electronic retrieval of the information it contains by users in the oil and gas industry. The INTERNET Common Gateway Interface (CGI) specification will be extended in order to facilitate access to oil and gas data residing in the underlying database. Phase Two -The primary objective of Phase Two is to develop a prototype IS to demonstrate the capabilities of new computing technology. The IS will contain historical monthly production, completion histories and well bore configurations, well tests, maps, logs, and other related data for a small Texas field. The IS will provide an automated remote submission system, flexible management options, and allow remote electronic retrieval of the information it contains using exiting INTERNET protocols and client/server tools. Access to this prototype IS will be hardware and operating system independent with emphasis on common desktop PC system configurations. Use of emerging and defacto oil and gas industry standards will be a priority (i.e. POSC, PPDM, REGIS, etc.). The automated remote submission system will allow electronic filing of Producer’s Monthly Reports (P-l) and a select number of other forms required by the RRC. Electronic forms will be designed to closely resemble current printed forms. The prototype IS will allow data retrieval in a number of industry formats. Phase Three -The primary objective of Phase Three is to extend the pilot IS by automating the filing of forms required of District 3 operators by the RRC. Security, encryption, and user authentication will be a priority during Phase Three. RRC State Wide Rules (SWR) and other oil and gas policies and procedures will also be made available through the pilot IS. All electronic forms will be designed to closely resemble current printed forms using INTERNET Hypertext Markup Language (HTML+) and the CGI specification. The pilot IS will automatically inform operators using electronic filing (EF) of additional filing requirements if forms are not complete. EF will allow automated updating of the pilot IS, thus decreasing time required for data to become available to users. HTML electronic forms will include all filing instructions and additional information contained in the Filing Procedures Manual. Phase Four -The primary objective of Phase Four is to provide standards based network access API. The API will allow users to build their own custom desktop clients capable of interacting with RRC IS. The API will also allow industry software developers to incorporate RRC IS access directly into commercial applications. Security and user authentication will be integral part of the API. Phase Five -The primary objective of Phase Five is to expand use of the pilot IS to cover all remaining RRC districts. This would take the IS from the pilot stage to the production stage, hence a state wide oil and gas information system.