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How is Oil and Gas Wellsite Data Visualized?

How is Oil and Gas Wellsite Data Visualized?

Visualizing wellsite data is highly complex due to the high volume and variety of data. Diverse data sources need to be visualized concurrently and often in real-time to enable rapid decision-making in safety-critical settings. With vast data sets accrued from multiple locations in varying time frames, visualization helps analysts interpret this complex data.

This guide explores the available coding languages and devices, as well as specific examples of charts and the types of data and metrics they can display to help data scientists and decision-makers work together to make profit-based decisions.

Which Language and Platform Should You Use?

The programming language and platform you want to use depends on the specific use case. Data sets can be processed and displayed using high-performance charting solutions on WPF and JavaScript—both allow installations on common hardware. Benefits of JavaScript include its versatility as a browser-based solution as well as a remote device solution, meaning custom, embedded or web-based deployments can be leveraged.

WPF however, has advantages out of the box for performance, but a smaller number of developers compared to JavaScript. In another blog, we explore whether WPF is dead (it’s not!) and the performance capabilities of JavaScript.

Accessing through hand-held devices is important for a field test engineer who may need a portable device that can sync with a JavaScript version of the oil and gas data dashboards.

It can be complicated to choose which one is right—there are performance benefits to using WPF, but JavaScript is more flexible and versatile. However, both are viable with the correct data visualization solution.

Data Visualizations for Wellsites

The data visualizations for wellsites outlined in this guide help decision-makers identify trends, anomalies, and insights that contribute to a healthy, safe, compliant, productive and profitable management of an oil or gas wellsite.

Time Series Charts

Time series charts show trends or numerical values over time. Line charts and strip charts, in particular, are commonly used to provide real-time insights and historical data analysis, making them invaluable for understanding changes in operational metrics and identifying patterns.

Line charts visualize changes in data over time, such as drilling depth, pressure, flow rates and temperature. Often in complex dashboards with multiple parameters, these are plotted on the same chart surface for comparative analysis, requiring annotations, overlays and trend lines.

Strip charts are used in real-time monitoring to display data trends in drilling rate or mud weight over time, with the ability to zoom and pan through time periods from extensive time-series data sets.

Wellbore Schematics

Wellbore schematics provide a visual representation of the downhole installation, including equipment and components, as well as tracking information on the history of the wellsite. These schematics track the history of the wellsite, providing a detailed overview of the well’s structure over time. By keeping accurate and up-to-date schematics, operators can easily reference past work and make informed decisions about future operations and maintenance work.

Vertical wellbore diagrams show casing strings, tubing and associated downhole equipment to see the well’s structure and completion design. With the inclusion of DAS and DTS, these diagrams can display real-time data or include other customized overlays.

Deviation plots show the deviation of the wellbore from vertical and are used in direction drilling and dashboards alongside wellbore diagrams. This data visualization offers a complete view of the well’s orientation and structure.

This combination of tools helps operators avoid potential hazards, reach target formations more efficiently, and optimize the drilling process.

3D Wellbore and Reservation Models

3D wellbore and reservoir models show the well path, geological formations and surrounding area, including porosity, permeability, fluid saturations and other properties. Typically, this includes Isosurfaces with 3D contours to represent various properties, e.g., specific pressure or saturation level, color coding or further overlaid data depending on requirements.

Geological and Geophysical Visualizations

Modelling geologic structures and formations helps decision-makers better understand the subsurface environment, improve drilling accuracy, and maximize the potential of both current and future wellbores.

Accurate log plots are designed to align drilling operations with the geological reality of the site. Displaying geophysical data along the depth of the well, resistivity, gamma ray, and porosity logs are shown side by side, allowing operators to identify distinct formation layers and fluid contacts.

This type of visualization helps interpret the rock and fluid properties of the subsurface, supporting decision-makers with their strategic placement of wellbore sections, casing points, and production intervals.

Mapped through seismic data, cross-sections display two-dimensional slices of the subsurface, which show faults, well paths, and other structural features. They help decision-makers and engineers understand the spatial relationship between various geologic features and the wellbore.

These visualizations support the planning process for directional drilling, ensuring that well trajectories avoid problematic areas, such as fault zones. Not just a way to avoid problematic areas, it can also make targeting productive formations easier, supporting profitable oil and gas exploration.

Mapping and Spatial Analysis

If you want to optimize extraction and delivery processes at your wellsite, mapping and spatial analysis charts could be one way to achieve that. This includes heat maps and contour maps. By better understanding spatial relationships between geological features and environmental conditions, decision-makers can make informed choices about factors such as the placement of the well.

Heat maps show the distribution of temperature, pressure or production rates across a wellsite or reservoir. Operators can quickly identify high or low-performing areas and make operational adjustments to enhance productivity. For instance, a heat map illustrating pressure changes can help pinpoint regions where additional interventions may be needed to maintain optimal extraction rates.

Contour maps feature contoured lines that indicate areas of equal values. By plotting contour lines, these maps enable operators to visualize gradients and identify trends across a site. The data visualization can illustrate geological areas of equal pressure, elevation, or thickness. This information is invaluable for understanding the subsurface geology, planning well trajectories, and making adjustments to drilling techniques.

Production and Performance Charts

Initial production (IP) and cumulative production rank well performance data and offer comparisons to predict future reserve output. By analyzing IP and cumulative production, decision-makers can make informed choices about resource allocation, drilling priorities, and long-term field development.

Production decline curves show production rates over time to estimate reserve production. Meanwhile, performance plots compare actual production of drilling against targets or models to highlight deviation and opportunity for optimization.

Safety and Environmental Monitoring

Safety and environmental monitoring provides metrics and alerts relating to emissions and health and safety incidents. Collectively, these charts enable proactive management of safety risks and environmental concerns, which are key to maintaining regulatory compliance and avoiding costly incidents.

But what options are available?

Alarm histograms help identify patterns in safety incidents and overlay into other analysis. They visually represent the frequency and timing of incidents, helping operators pinpoint recurring issues or areas of concern.

Meanwhile, environmental monitoring dashboards provide real-time display of emission data and spills, with alerts for compliance. Alerts for regulatory breaches, such as exceeding allowable emissions levels, facilitate prompt corrective actions to prevent environmental harm and potential legal penalties.

Statistical Visualizations

Statistical visualizations make data more palatable and actionable. Insights collected can be more easily communicated with stakeholders and decision-makers to help showcase areas for improvement.

Histograms and bar charts show the distribution of data, such as frequency of pressure ranges or rate-of-penetration (ROP) values. Understanding the distribution of parameters like pressure can be critical for ensuring the wellbore’s structural integrity. For example, a histogram can be used to display the frequency of different pressure levels encountered during drilling, which can help identify potential challenges or anomalies.

SciChart WPF chart example: histogram

Scatter plots visualize relationships between different variables. As an example, a scatter plot of ROP vs. pressure could reveal that drilling speeds are lower at higher pressures, suggesting that adjustments to the drilling fluid composition or bit type might be necessary to maintain optimal performance.

Interactive Data Exploration Tools

Digital twins and multivariate analysis tools to explore relationships between multiple variables simultaneously or compare virtual models of the same wellsite.

Interactive dashboards cater to multiple stakeholders, often onsite and remote, interactive dashboard visualizations are compiled to get real-time and in-review analysis. Software UIs need to permit manipulation of chart surfaces, legends, tooltips, on-click behaviour and selective synchronization across surfaces.

Vertical wellsite depictions require synchronized and asynchronized zooming and panning on toggle, while all data needs to be monitored carefully, without failure due to data rates, and with precision to enable real-time decision-making in a safety-critical setting.

Create All These and More with SciChart’s Cross-Platform Charting Software

The benefits of choosing high-performance, big data software from SciChart is that you can build out across WPF, mobile android and JavaScript as it’s cross-platform compatible.

Other charting solutions struggle to support the big data requirements in the scientific niches. Using standard tools will make you the same as everyone else on the market. To unlock new metrics and overlays that contribute to enhanced profitability, you need the customisation levels that SciChart has to offer with their oil and gas data dashboards.

By Sheldon Vestey | Oct 04, 2024
Chief Commercial Officer at SciChart, with a background in Biochemistry & Genetics and serving as a Government Scientific Grant Assessor. Focuses on business development, building key partnerships, advancing customer innovations, leading educational programs, and managing reseller networks.

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