Using custom‑built GIS tools to facilitate estimation of yet‑to‑find hydrocarbon resources

Simon Otto,* Tom Wilson, Mark Lidgett, and James Rooke, Fugro Robertson, explain how detailed spatial databasing of petroleum systems components has been used as a basis for estimating yet-to-find resources for hydrocarbon plays. The bulk of the data that petroleum geoscientists analyze in prospectivity studies have a spatial component, comprising maps of various geological parameters or detailed data located at a specific point location (e.g. down-hole well information). Fugro Robertson (FRL) has been working with GIS solutions for many years, and has built a number of extensions to ESRI’s ArcMap software to assist the workflow of our geoscientists. The methodology for estimating undiscovered hydrocarbon resources (yet-to-find) is based on a detailed spatial examination of the petroleum systems in the study area. The approach used is based on analysis and mapping of the various constituent elements of each play fairway within each basin, based on a sound understanding of the global context of the basin and the factors that create a successful hydrocarbon accumulation. In order to facilitate this workflow, a number of discrete GIS-based solutions have been created to assist the geoscientists, including data management tools, a spatial database of petroleum system components, and tools to assist with detailed data interpretation, statistical analysis and spatial risking.