Modern E&P activities require a data administration solution that focuses on building and managing large, distributed project data repositories that can be adapted and expanded over the life of an asset, with an emphasis on data sharing and easy access across both geographical and technical discipline divides.

During the long life cycle of an energy asset, data administration tracks numerous phases of intense activity, followed by periods where projects are dormant while waiting for permits, data acquisition, drilling weather windows, rig availability, or simply due to a shift to routine exploitation of the asset, with little or no ongoing geoscience or engineering projects.

The challenge is to be sure that when an asset needs to be re-activated as a project for whatever reason, the data can be readily assembled and made available to the engineers and geoscientists.  Each re-activation will involve not only the datasets that were last used but in most cases the addition of new data or extensions to additional study areas.  Web-based tools for locating information and appending data to existing projects are critical to ensure a quick response to new requirements.

The ability to backup a whole project and either shelve it or restore the data in another business unit is key to sustaining work on the data through changes in team location, ownership or transformation in the organization.