Formerly Upstream CIO

A Focus on the Full Spectrum of IT Solutions for Oil & Gas

Remote Sensing

STeP, CSEMI, EMTelluric

Buying Software

Best Practices

Volume 1

Number 10

www.UpstreamTechMag.com

VOLUME 1, NUMBER 10

features
Remote Sensing

3-7

New Releases

8-16

Remote Sensing

17-23

Drilling Simulators

24-29

Standards

30-35

Roundup: HR Software

36-41

Case Studies

42-49

Best Practices

11

Talent Management
Solutions

33

Interview
Saad Bargach

30

departments
3 Facilities

30 Back Office

8G&G

36 IT Comms

17 Drilling

42 Management

24 Production

50 Insider

Upstream Technology www.UpstreamTechMag.com

EDITOR
Jeanne Perdue
E-mail: jperdue@zeusdevelopment.com
MANAGER, DESIGN AND LAYOUT
Tamara Choate

In This Issue
3
4
5
8
9
10
11
12
13
17
18
20
21
24
25
27
30
33
36
37
37
38
39
42
46
50

ShipConstructor Releases New Software Version

Yokogawa Releases Plant Resource Manager
Petrofac Launches Pipeline Operations Training
CompuPrints STeP Technology
Earth Search Sciences Hyperspectral Technology
eField Explorations Electromagnetotelluric Method
NXT Completes Stage One of Canadian SFD Survey
Rocksource Expands CSEM to Shallow Waters
OHM Conducts Falkland CSEM Survey for Rockhopper
IHS, POSC to Offer Global Unique Well Identifier Service
KCA Deutags DART Simulator Hits the Mark
Pisys Breaks Into American Market
Aonix PERC for Java-Based Robotic Drilling
Emerson, Siemens Exchange Technology
Microsoft Expands Document Interoperability
IEEE Offers Safety, Security Standards on Discs
Roundup: Human Resources Software
Talent Management Solutions: How to Pick One
Schlumberger, Cisco, Intel to Develop Wireless Service
Samson Implements Vertabase Pro to Manage IT Group
Zigbee Alliance Releases Zigbee-2006
J-W Operating Installs Flow-Cal System
Creative Mesh Solution Enables Remote Monitoring
Best Practices Guide to Acquiring Enterprise Software
Interview: Saad Bargach, CIO, Schlumberger
Upstream Insider: Long Live the Queen!

ABOUT THE COVER

Dynamic Graphics CoViz image displays crossasset team data from multiple vendor applications:
3D seismic cube, seismic attribute surfaces,
wellpaths colored by status, and portions of a
reservoir simulation grid where water saturation is
greater than 60%.

DESIGNER
Aki Margaritis

SUBSCRIPTION & ADVERTISING

SALES MANAGER
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Upstream Technology is published once a month by Zeus Development Inc. 2006. All rights reserved. Publisher reserves the right
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The momentum and nature of investments in

E&P technology by upstream oil and gas;
The interrelationship between the various technology sectors catering to the infrastructure, hardware, software, and services needs of upstream oil
and gas; and
The individual performance of technology market
leaders serving upstream oil and gas.

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ul20

Symbol
ABB
ACN
AMD
AZPN
ADSK
AVEVF.PK
BHI
BEAS
BE
BJS
CAM
CSCO
CSN.TO
CMG.TO
DASTY
DELL
EDS
EMC
EMR
FTI
GSF
HAL
HPQ
HON
IHS
INFY
IO
INTC
INGR
IBM
MSFT
NOV
NTAP
OTEX
ORCL
PGS
SAP
SAPE
SLB
SII
SUNW
SYMC
SBL
TKP
TGSNF.PK
RIG
UIS
VTS
WFT
WIT

Au

Company Name
ABB
Accenture
Advanced Micro Devices
Aspen Tech
Autodesk
Aveva
Baker Hughes
BEA Systems Inc.
BearingPoint
BJ Services Co.
Cameron International Corp.
Cisco Systems Inc
Cognos
Computer Modelling Group
Dassault Systemes
Dell
Electronic Data Systems
EMC Corp.
Emerson Electric
FMC Technologies Inc.
GlobalSantaFe Corp.
Halliburton
Hewlett-Packard
Honeywell
IHS Inc.
Infosys Technologies
Input-Output
Intel
Intergraph
Intl Business Machines
Microsoft
National Oilwell Varco, Inc.
Network Appliance
Open Text
Oracle
Petroleum Geo Services
SAP
Sapient
Schlumberger
Smith International Inc.
Sun Microsystems
Symantec
Symbol Technologies
Technip ADS
TGS Nopec
TransOcean Inc.
Unisys
Veritas DGC
Weatherford
Wipro Ltd.

On Sept. 25, 2006, Energy Insights and Upstream

Technology announced the
creation of a new stock
index PetroComputing
Insights 50 (PCI-50) at
the Society of Petroleum
Engineers (SPE) Annual
Technical Conference and
Exhibition in San Antonio,
Texas. Growing global energy demand, tight crude and
natural gas supply, and high
Sekhar Venkat, Energy prices are leading to rapid
Insights
growth in the upstream
oil and gas sector and to
subsequent investments in
technology to support both short- and long-term needs
of exploration and production (E&P). This article
explores the components and use of the PCI-50 index.
The PCI-50 index comprises 50 publicly traded
companies that are listed on important exchange floors
in the United States, including the NYSE and the
NASDAQ. These companies predominantly belong
to 14 categories automation, business intelligence,
chips, computer hardware, computer peripherals, consulting, data storage, design software, G&G (geology
& geophysics) software, IT services, modeling software, O&G machinery and equipment, oilfield services, and software. The performance of the composite
index and the performance of individual companies
that constitute the index are aimed to provide the
investment community, oil and gas companies, and
technology vendors with insights into:

7-

PetroComputing
Insights 50

Upstream Technology

When
East
Meets
West
The Unfolding of LNG Trade in the Pacific
November 8-10, 2006

San Diego, CA

Includes tour of Sempra's Energia Costa Azul Terminal for first 100 registrants.
SESSION I: FRAMING THE ISSUES
End of the Pipeline and Beyond: The Dynamics of North
America's West Coast Gas Markets
Mike Juden, McKinsey & Company
Asian LNG Supply/Demand Balance: How West Coast
North American terminals are likely to Impact Pacific and
Middle East Trade
Tommy Inglesby, McKinsey & Company
SESSION II: INTEGRATED MAJORS' PERSPECTIVES
Integrated Pacific LNG Supplier's Perspective: Woodside
Jan Cutler, president, Woodside Natural Gas
Integrated Pacific LNG Supplier's Perspective
TBA
SESSION III: EMERGING PACIFIC BASIN TRADE -TAKING A CUE FROM THE ATLANTIC

SESSION IV: WEST COAST GAS MARKETS

Pipelines Supplying West Coast Markets: Transwestern's
View On LNG
Kevin Hyatt, director of business development & marketing,
Transwestern Pipeline
How Sempra's ECA Terminal Will Accommodate
Northwest Mexico and Southwest United States
Greg Bartholomew, vice president, Sempra LNG
Regulatory Requirements from Imported LNG: California's
Stringent Gas Composition and Air Emission Requirements
Eric Knight, Energy Commission Specialist II, Special Projects
Office, Fuels & Transportation Division, California Energy
Commission
SESSION V: PANEL -- PROPOSED NEW LNG TERMINALS

How the Atlantic trade has unfolded and possible implications for
the Pacific
TBA

Ridley Island Terminal Near Prince Rupert, B.C.

Mark Butler, president, WestPac LNG Corp.

Middle Eastern Attitudes towards Pacific vs. Atlantic Trade

TBA

Kitimat LNG
Rosemary Boulton, president, Kitimat LNG, Inc.

Asian LNG Markets: Where is the Growth?

TBA

Bradwood Landing LNG

Paul Soanes, president, NorthernStar Natural Gas

The Broad Pacific: LNG Transport Capacity Requirements

if Liquidity in the Pacific LNG Trade Increases
TBA

Jordan Cove's Coos Bay LNG Terminal

Robert L. Braddock, project mgr, Jordan Cove Energy Project L.P.

www.LNGExpress.com/EMW

ShipConstructor Releases
New Software Version

ShipConstructor Software Inc., developer of AutoCADbased 3D product modeling software, has released the
latest version of its ShipConstructor 2006 software.
Our software team had the ingenious idea of marrying the power of a relational database with parametric
functionality an industry first, said Rolf G. Oetter,
president and CEO. Our Database Driven Relational
Object Model (DDROM) provides a quantum
leap in the design for production process. ShipConstructors DDROM gives you flexibility and control by
managing complex interactions
between associated parts as well Devils Tower SPAR
as creating transparency and
collaboration in the shipbuilding process.
Dealing with design
changes is always a challenge.
ShipConstructor 2006 now
makes it easier to deal with
changes - without having to
make hundreds of small adjustments throughout the product
model. With DDROM, all
related 3D model drawings
update as well as all production drawings containing the
changed area. This can save
thousands of tedious and very
time-consuming modifications
and it prevents out-of-date
production documentation being used.
With DDROM, you can make your parts intelligent. We call them SmartParts because they automatically react to design changes of adjacent parts or
pre-defined standards, updating themselves as well as
the production drawings, said Darren Larkins, chief
software architect. The best thing about the SmartParts is that there is absolutely no manual programming
required, because you are using standard AutoCAD
October 2006 3

drafting techniques while the smartness is automatically

recorded and executed in the database. All geometry is
now stored in the database, which enables innovative
features such as one-click part definition, the ability to
design once and reuse, as well as quick and easy changes
on the spot, Larkins said.
Being able to design a part once and reuse the core
definition many times throughout the product model
is also a very unique feature of ShipConstructor. With
DDROM, the user can simply design one frame and

replicate the geometry to the other frames, only having

to exchange the hull trace with a click of the mouse. On
a large vessel, the time and cost saved is substantial. Best
of all, the parts know that they are related and you
can change them all by changing one.
The ability to react to design changes quickly with
DDROM now enables the designer to use ShipConstructor much earlier in the design process. Designers
can use the software to generate 2D classification drawUpstream Technology

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ings quickly from the 3D early design model and be off to a

running start when it comes time to start the detail production
design. It is even possible to get a head start on it before final
class approval, knowing that any changes are easily incorporated
into the production detail model.
With ShipConstructor 2006, we are also introducing
numerous new features for all ShipConstructor modules, such
as Pipe, HVAC, Equipment, Penetrations, etc., said Jason
Paterson, senior software developer. We are also introducing an Application Programming Interface (API) that permits
secure and stable access to the ShipConstructor database. It is
the same API we ShipConstructor developers are using.
Software companies are encouraged to join the rapidly
growing ShipConstructor Developer Network (SCDN) to
develop special marine applications leveraging the power of
the ShipConstructor software.
Innovation is a continual process; we are already working on more new features for the 2006 version and beyond.
AutoCAD 2007 compatibility is planned for early next year,
said Steve Ivison, project manager, software development.
We also plan to release Project Split & Merge this fall. This
new function will allow yards and designers to cooperate on
a new level in a safe and controlled manner. It will be easy
to outsource parts of a design job to subcontractors or to

perform a timed release of a project from a design company

to the shipyard. Coming from the shipbuilding industry, I
can truthfully say that this product is created for the users and
with the users.
ShipConstructor is proving its capabilities on a wide
range of new construction, conversion and repair projects, including both US Navy Littoral Combat Ships, the US Coast
Guards Deepwater Project and the Devils Tower SPAR. More
than 200 yards and designers worldwide, including Northrop
Grumman Ship Systems, Gibbs & Cox and Austal Ships,
trust ShipConstructor for their projects. ShipConstructor
provides functions for curved plates, structure, pipe, HVAC,
equipment and NC-processing and also generates sophisticated production documentation, including assembly drawings,
pipe spools and production reports.
Our goal has always been to make our software more
parametric, and our team has come up with an easy and
intuitive way of doing it, said Oetter. The feedback from
our beta testers has confirmed that we have found a novel approach that is easy to learn and use where other systems have
failed after years of development and high investments. The
DDROM confirms our motto that We go the extra nautical
mile, and we certainly did with version 2006.
www.ShipConstructor.com

Yokogawa Releases Plant Resource Manager

Yokogawa released a new upgrade of its Plant Resource
Manager (PRM) R3, a key component of Yokogawas Asset
Excellence suite. PRM R3s enhanced diagnostic function
transforms maintenance activities from corrective maintenance to predicative and proactive maintenance. Users can
access remote devices that use FOUNDATION Fieldbus
and HART communications protocols, as well as perform
centralized management of the parameters of those devices.
Information such as the names of flow meters, valves and
other field instruments, parameter settings, inspection records
and instruction manuals are stored in a database, which the
operator can access easily. PRM R3 is the worlds first asset
management package that incorporates both FDT/DTM
(Field Device Tool/Device Type Manager) and EDDL (Enhanced Device Descriptor Language) technologies.
In Version R2, an Oracle database was used, but with Version R3, Microsoft SQL Server database software is bundled
as a PRM component. It has always been Yokogawas policy
to maintain backward compatibility of all of its products with
previous versions, so even through the database has changed
from Oracle to SQL Server in R3, the installation program
automatically converts the database at the time of upgrade.
Upstream Technology

DTM Works is supported as a frame for device setting

and tuning, enabling device vendors to specify the look and
feel of their devices on PRM. R3 also has support for partial
stroke testing of HART devices. History of operations, such as
parameter changes, made in Yokogawas new FieldMate device
configuration product can be imported to PRM.
Some parameters needed for diagnosis are acquired
automatically from field devices, and with the new Device
Diagnostic Data Historian it becomes possible to develop
diagnostic algorithms using these accumulated data. In addition, a general-purpose diagnostic tool (window) displays
data and threshold values (upper/lower limit) collected by
PRMs Advanced Diagnostics Application in a trend graph.
PRM has become more scalable, allowing as few as 25 devices for entry-level applications to as many as 20,000 devices
for very large Fieldbus installations, with expansions to the
system in groups of 1,000 device units incrementally. PRM is
one of Yokogawas key deliverables of its VigilantPlant concept, which promises asset excellence to visionary plants and
creates an environment where plant personnel can see clearly,
know in advance, and act with agility.
www.yokogawa.com/us
4

October 2006

Petrofac Launches Pipeline

Operations Training
Louise Ferguson,
UK/Europe operations director,
Petrofac Training
Petrofac Training, the specialist operations and technical
training company of the Petrofac Group, is launching
the UKs first pipeline training facility this autumn at
the companys training center in Montrose. The pipeline
facility will enable Petrofac Training to simulate pipeline
operations process on actual facilities for the purposes
of training and competence development, without any
of the risk associated with live
operations.
The facility, which will
also be used for research and
testing purposes, can be used
to train both onshore and
offshore personnel. It consists
of a 1-km, 10-in. diameter
pipeline constructed in a loop
formation. It will also feature
the latest supervisory control
and data acquisition (SCADA) technology, enabling
multiple scenario simulations
to be programmed during
training.
The pipeline facility is
the most recent addition to
Petrofac Trainings extensive
operations and technical training portfolio, and will offer a
number of courses across the
subject area from basic introductory to more advanced
levels across pipeline operations, pigging operations and corrosion engineering.
Louise Ferguson, UK/Europe operations director,
Petrofac Training, said: The pipeline operations facility is a significant and complementary addition to our
existing facilities and resulting training capability. An
important differentiator is the ability for delegates to
undertake extensive hands-on training without the
October 2006 5

dangers and risks associated with a live pipeline,

reflecting Petrofac Trainings approach to offer blended
learning solutions, combining theory with practical
training and experience.
Research has shown that there is a strong desire
within the oil and gas industry to reduce the in-house
training burden and to achieve some standardization
across the industry in the area
of pipeline operations. Petrofac Training provides specialist operations and technical
training, training management, people development
and media solutions. Petrofac
Training has two specialist
divisions:
RGIT Montrose,

which offers a range of safetybased training from operational centers in Scotland,

USA, Caribbean, United
Arab Emirates, Asia Pacific
and the Caspian; and Rubicon Response, which focuses
on the provision of emergency response, crisis management and specific associated
services.
We are working
closely with key industry
representatives to ensure that
course content and methodologies employed meet the needs of the industry, Ferguson said. The collective reputation, experience and
track record within Petrofac Training provides a strong
platform, which creates advantage for our customers
by accelerating the efficiency and the safety of their
operations.
www.petrofac.com
Upstream Technology

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Yokogawa Enhances ProSafe-RS

Quantapoint Begins Beta Testing

Yokogawa Electric Corp. released an enhanced version of its

ProSafe-RS Safety Instrumented System, adding an optical
remote control function that enables integration of instrument panel rooms and safety systems using fiber optics.
Compatibility with Yokogawas flagship CENTUM
CS3000 R3 Integrated Production Control System has
also been improved. When combined with the CENTUM
CS3000 R3, the ProSafe-RS can integrate the process control
and safety systems that up until now have been constructed
separately due to differences in their functions and roles.
It is now possible to connect the ProSafe-RS system
via HART communications with the Plant Resource Manager (PRM) software used to manage the information of
field devices throughout a plant, thereby optimizing device
management and maintenance. Since its original release in
February 2005, ProSafe-RS has been adopted in more than
100 projects.
www.yokogawa.com/us

Quantapoint announced that final beta testing for PRISM 3D and QuantaCAD for
PDMS has started. PRISM 3D is the most
advanced technology available for sharing and
accessing dimensional and other information
from plants digitized using laser scanning, and
QuantaCAD enables this digitized plant to be
accessed within AVEVA PDMS.
Based on client feedback, both PRISM
3D and QuantaCAD for PDMS incorporate
a number of new capabilities to support the
project lifecycle better:
Removal of visual distortion when viewing 3D laser data as a 2D image;
Hover text that shows the location of cursor in the digitized plant;
Tag points that can save a 3D location in
the digitized plant;
Estimate pipe centerline and diameter
with a single click;
Coloring the digitized plant by depth to
show the distance from the user; and
Load the digitized plant around a CAD
model with a single click.
Quantapoint helps clients achieve ZeroDefect Construction by digitizing plants
using laser scanning. With over 750 successful
projects, Quantapoints Digitized Plant results
in reduced costs, optimized schedules, increased
quality and improved safety, with project rework being reduced by more than 80%.
www.quantapoint.com

Honeywell Updates Business FLEX Software

Honeywell released Business FLEX 200, an updated
version of its manufacturing execution system (MES)
software that helps plant managers sync their production
schedules with business objectives. Honeywell Business
FLEX is a component of the Experion Process Knowledge System (PKS). This latest version includes multi-language support, enhanced security features and the ability
to work with third-party historian systems.
An industrial plant is a mountain of raw data, and
decision makers from operators to accountants need to
be able to make sense of that data to help their plants
improve business results, said Gerry Guiterrez, director
of performance services, Honeywell Process Solutions.
Honeywells MES solutions aid the decision-making process by translating that data into meaningful and actionable information for a broad range of users.

Using Business FLEX, companies can increase production between 3% and 6% and decrease costs between
2% and 3%. The new update includes support for the
ISA S95 standard for open XML communication services
between plant and corporate systems. It also includes the
Production Control Center, a suite of tools for operations
and production management for offshore platforms that
provides production management, well test reporting and
operations management.
The latest release of Business FLEX takes organizations to the next level of performance by providing a truly
collaborative manufacturing environment that increases
information visibility, production flexibility and the
opportunities for profit, said Tom Fiske, senior analyst,
ARC Advisory Group.
www.honeywell.com/ps
6

October 2006

Honeywell Wins Bid From Qatar

Shell For GTL Facilities
Honeywell has been selected by Qatar Shell to
design and implement the integrated process automation and control system for one of the worlds
largest gas-to-liquids (GTL) plants. Located in the
industrial city of Ras Laffan, the Pearl GTL project includes two gas production platforms and an
onshore GTL plant.
As the main automation contractor, Honeywell
will supply Qatar Shell GTL Ltd. the Experion
Process Knowledge System (PKS) Release 300
platform, the UniSim process simulation solution, Safety Manager instrumented protection
and fire & gas systems. Experion will tie together
all critical subsystems including non-Honeywell
systems in the Pearl GTL plant to give operators a complete picture of operations. Data from
equipment such as process controls, field devices
and safety systems will be sent to the control room,
enabling operators to make better decisions faster.
The Pearl GTL project will be one of the largest Foundation Fieldbus installations in the world.
A project like this presents many implementation
challenges, and the key to overcoming them is deep
engineering knowledge coupled with state-of-theart technology, said Jack Bolick, president, Honeywell Process Solutions.
www.honeywell.com/ps

Geomagic, Z Corp to Offer Digital

Modeling Package
Geomagic has signed an exclusive agreement with
Z Corp. whereby Geomagic will provide its Studio
and Qualify software in a comprehensive bundle
with the new ZScanner 700, a handheld, self-positioning, 3D laser scanner. This lightweight device
is ready to use in minutes, making it ideal for scanning hard-to-reach places. It offers real-time surfacing, captures 3D data in one continuous process to
reduce post-processing, and uniquely allows objects
to be moved during scanning. Geomagic Studio
software automatically processes 3D scan data for
applications that range from reverse engineering to
inspection and analysis. Geomagic Qualify software
offers a certified way to compare as-built versus
as-designed 3D images to facilitate inspection and
auditing of facilities.
www.geomagic.com
www.zcorp.com

Autodesk Launches Community for

Universities, Access to Free Software
Autodesk Inc. has launched a global Student Engineering
and Design Community so that students in the fields of
architecture, construction, civil engineering and mechanical engineering can have free access to the tools they will
use in the workplace. Any student or faculty with a valid
education e-mail address is invited to participate in the
Community. More than 6,000 students have already signed
up as test users of the site, which delivers free downloads of
several Autodesk software products. The site also includes
discussion forums, tutorials, a design library, social networking features and job postings.
http://students.autodesk.com
www.autodesk.com

MachineTalker Enters
Petroleum Industry
MachineTalker Inc., developer of smart wireless security
networks, has introduced its remote, intelligent sensors
into the industrial sensing and control market through
an OEM agreement with Sense-Comm Technology LLC.
Sense-Comm has targeted the petroleum and power
industries for initial implementations to improve operational efficiency, environmental safety and condition-based
maintenance (CBM).
Other applications include instrumenting a transfer
pump in a tank farm with several temperature and vibration sensors, and sensing accidental emission of toxic gases
from processing plants to increase personnel safety and
reduce community impact.
The wireless network capabilities of the MachineTalker devices give us a robust platform upon which to
develop solutions for industrial control applications, said
Mikell Becker, president, Sense-Comm. We intend to
enhance data quality and timeliness by pushing intelligence
out to the remote sensing points while interacting with
existing distributed control systems that use either existing
sensor types or advanced digital sensors.
Becker added: Our decision to use MachineTalker
technology for these applications was an easy decision.
The capabilities that Talkers bring are light years ahead of
anything else on the market. Moreover, wireless sensors
that incorporate the latest technology can be implemented
less expensively and more easily than typical wired sensor
installations.
www.machinetalker.com
www.sense-comm.com

G
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CompuPrints STeP Technology

CompuPrint Inc. is an energy technology company that

combines satellite-based technology with traditional
exploration services for structural analysis of the earths
crust. A team of scientists developed an original series
of algorithms for the structurometric analysis of multispectral satellite data for
oil and gas prospecting.
Resource deposits are
detected on the basis of
computer-aided analysis
of satellite data, and this
is called Sub-Terrain
Prospecting (SteP).
Since 1997, this technology has been tested
at more than sixty
fields and has proved
to reduce geological exploration costs by 80%
and shorten new field
prospecting time to a
few months.
STeP technology
involves detection of certain traces that hydrocarbon
resources exert on the terrestrial surface. Affected by the
energy emanating from the Earths core, these deposits
emit seismoacoustic waves that have exerted a relentless
influence over geologic time, resulting in ring structures or anomalies on the Earths surface. Using special
computer programs, it is possible not only to follow
the trail of these anomalies on satellite or aerial photographs, but also to give specific geometric and physical interpretation as to the actual depth of oil or gas.
Having analyzed ring structures with different radii, it is
possible to recreate an image of the 3D structure of the
contact zone of oil and gas formations with caps.
CompuPrint recently announced that its first US
exploration well in LaSalle County, Texas, reached target
depth and was logged by Schlumberger in March. Based
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on the open-hole logging results and the analysis reports

by Schlumbergers log specialists, the company set casing and completed the well. The results confirmed that
the target drilling areas and depths identified by the
companys SteP technology were correct. The leased
acreage where this well was
drilled included acreage
that had previously unsuccessful wildcat activity by
others. The drill target for
this well was determined
using the satellite-based
STeP technology.
Although it is too
early to indicate production levels of this well,
the Schlumberger reports
confirm STeP hydrocarbon
predictions for this well,
said Roman Rozenberg,
CEO, CompuPrint. This
technology has enabled us
to survey the lease area and
to predict hydrocarbon deposits in just a few weeks, faster
and at reduced cost as compared to the much longer
time and much higher costs of 3-D seismic and other
geological methods. STeP helps us to identify opportunities in the competitive and complex Texas land market
more quickly and economically. Based on STeP, we were
able both to identify a drilling point and to predict the
depth and thickness of certain pay zones with significant
accuracy. The formations we are planning to complete are
not known to be producers in the offset wells of the area.
We believe our well represents a true wildcat and a demonstration of the significant benefits of our companys
unique technology.
Through the companys wholly owned affiliate,
Terra Resources Inc., CompuPrint owns oil and gas
leases totaling more than 16,000 acres of land in the
8

October 2006

Rail Road Valley and White River Valley areas of Nevada,

as well as participation in leases in LaSalle
County, Texas, for purposes of utilizing its
STeP technology in oil and gas exploration
and development activities.
CompuPrint Inc. also announced that
Terra Insight Corp. (TIC), its wholly owned
operating company, signed an agreement with
the Turkish energy company Calik Energi,
a Turkish energy company with holdings
throughout the Middle East, to explore eight
onshore blocks jointly in the Erzurum area of
eastern Turkey. Previously, this highly desirable
area had been restricted because of Turkish military activities.

Pursuant to the agreement, Terra Insight will utilize its

proprietary satellite-based STeP technology to
identify hydrocarbon exploration targets and
will receive payment for the survey as well as a
20% working interest in the project.
We are pleased that Calik has recognized the
potential of our STeP technology, said Rozenberg. With energy prices near record levels,
companies are increasingly seeking to identify
additional drilling opportunities. Our technology allows for the cost-effective exploration of
energy properties in ways that have never been
done before, identifying the parcels that are
most likely to result in successful exploration results.
www.terrainsight.com

Earth Search Sciences

Hyperspectral Technology
Earth Search Sciences Inc. has signed a Letter of Intent with
Phoenix GeoExploration Inc. to undertake airborne hyperspectral mapping over the latters SW Williston Basin Project,
an area close to major oil discoveries. According to the agreement, Earth Search Sciences will receive a royalty in exchange
for providing the hyperspectral survey.
The objective is to look for oil seeps or
alteration chimneys arising from leakage
of hydrocarbons from oilfields associated with dolomitization (and increased
porosity) in the Red River B and C
horizons, which have hosted the nearby
200 million barrel Cedar Hills Field, the
40 million barrel Buffalo Field, the Medicine Pole Hills Field, the Horse Creek
Field and the Horse Creek South Field.
Conventional exploration methods
like 2D and 3D seismic would take decades to cover the same ground at greatly
increased cost, but today the same task
can be performed by utilizing airborne
hyperspectral technology, which provides
the ability to read the chemical properties of surface substances
accurately from great altitudes and produce maps showing
where and what the material is.
The PROBE-1 hyperspectral instrument has the capacity
for 128 channels of data. The instrument acts as an imaging spectrometer in the reflected solar region of the electromagnetic spectrum (0.4 to 2.5 nm). This spectral resolution
enables a trained geologist to read the actual chemistry of
October 2006 9

the object viewed. Mounted on a gyro-stabilized platform,

the PROBE-1 collects GPS data to reference the image data
to GPS coordinates. It can be flown over a range of altitudes
to provide pixel sizes ranging from 1-10 meters and swath
widths from 1-6 km.
Larry Vance, CEO, Earth Search Sciences, stated: The
PROBE-1 hyperspectral instrument has
proven its capability in surface exploration for signs of oil. There are a number
of things our airborne data collection
highlights, including being able to
quickly map the geology of outcrop
lithology and surface structure along with
any seepages to identify good potential
hydrocarbon prospects.
Phoenix GeoExploration President
Bill Pelton added: The acreage we have
rights for, is on trend with the excellent
discoveries in contiguous properties. They
share the same Ordovician carbonates, and
we believe the hyperspectral imagery may
help identify key exploration targets.
The software that produces the imagery from the
PROBE-1 instrument is a very important part of the process. Only recently have better algorithms and near-real-time
processing produced a faster, better product. Earth Search
Sciences is currently working to produce real-time processing
for its PROBE series of instruments.
www.earthsearch.com
www.phxgeo.com
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eField Explorations ElectroMagnetotelluric Method

A Southern California company has completed a new

oil exploration survey using technology that reveals the
location of water and oil down to 20,000 ft or more below the surface. eField Exploration recently completed
an aerial survey of over 3,100 miles of onshore oil and
gas prospects in Texas using a new generation of Electro-Magnetotelluric technology mounted on an airborne platform. This technology makes use of advances
in computer analysis and systems to
produce maps and colorful GIS graphics that provide pictures of geophysical
structures deeper than commonly used
exploration technologies.
For years, geoscientists have been
using similar electromagnetic technologies for mineral exploration, but the
recent rise in the price of oil has shifted
their focus on the search for hydrocarbons. The eField system detects their
presence by reading patterns associated with natural
electric currents known as Telluric currents, which are
induced by solar flares and lightning and penetrate deep
into the earth. Charges effects occur at the interface of
water and hydrocarbons an effect called NFIP (Natural Field Induced Polarization) in the literature. The accumulation of these charges and their migration to the
surface (seep columns) is mapped by the patented eField
Airborne EMT System.
Were getting ready to fly surveys over the Front
Range of the Rockies in Colorado and Wyoming, said
Ed Johnson, president, eField Exploration. Were taking
a look at areas with long histories of production where
we are able to map against existing supplies of oil and gas
and then identify the untouched areas the greenfields.
Were now giving this data to the guys who love to punch
holes in the ground, Johnson said. Its a very promising
technology and we believe that it can be used to survey in
areas previously abandoned by the major oil companies.
The eField system is different from technologies that
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rely on spectral imaging, gravity or magnetic measurements. These and other indirect measurement systems
like seismic geophysical technology, require time-consuming interpretation, which may lead to anomalies or targets
that do not contain oil. Johnson explained that this new
method is a direct detection technology. Every mineral
has its own characteristics and gives special numerical
readings, he said, adding that he believes this new airborne technology has potential to reduce the
lead-time to new discoveries significantly.
Figure 1 shows flight line data and
Total Electric Field readings, which are
compared to the Total Magnetic Field.
Computer analysis is used to compute Apparent Resistivity as well as Natural Field
Induced Polarization, which occurs at the
water-hydrocarbon interface. This polarization helps geoscientists identify oil and gas
anomalies from surface to 20,000 ft depths
or more. The resulting analysis yields 3D pictures of the
underground structures.
The electric and magnetic field data reside in a
custom developed database, which is interfaced with
Geosofts Oasis Montaj software platform that has been
enhanced to permit analysis of the multi-component
airborne data. Using Oasis Montaj, geoscientists can import, view, process and share earth science datasets, grids
and images efficiently within one integrated environment. A variety of Montaj extensions and Montaj Plus
extensions are available for advanced geophysics and
geochemical data processing, analysis, quality control
and modeling, making Oasis Montaj one of the most
robust and comprehensive geoscience mapping and
processing systems in the world.
Software plug-ins are available for ER Mapper,
ArcGIS and MapInfo, providing superior connectivity
between Oasis Montaj mapping software and corporate
GIS applications.
www.efieldexploration.com
10

October 2006

NXT Completes Stage One of

Remote Canadian SFD Survey
Sensing
Energy Exploration Technologies Inc. (NXT) of Calgary
conducts wide-area airborne exploration services using its
proprietary Stress Field Detector (SFD) Survey System
to identify subsurface structures with reservoir potential
in sedimentary basins with no environmental impact.
Each SFD sensor is a passive transducer capable of
detecting changes in stress
redistribution within the
subsurface. SFD is based on
quantum mechanics principles, not electromagnetics. Significant anomalies
that are sensed are ranked
according to structural response for the specific area
surveyed, and the
highest response indicates a
potential hydrocarbon trap.
This cost-effective method
of surveying large areas
delivers clients an inventory of prospects with high
potential without having to
conduct costly and timeconsuming 2D reconnaissance seismic.
Back in December 1997,
NXT performed an SFD survey in NW Alberta and
NE British Columbia that identified a high potential
SFD anomaly in the Ladyfern area (circles on Figure 1).
NXT recommended the acquisition and drilling of the
Ladyfern anomaly to a client, but the prospect remained
undrilled until 2000. In February 2000, Murphy drilled
the discovery well, and the Ladyfern Slave Point A
natural gas pool turned out to be a significant onshore
gas discovery. Wells drilled within NXTs recommended
Prospect Areas at Ladyfern have produced over 250 BCF
of gas to date.
October 2006 11

In July 2006, NXT announced the completion

of its primary flight, stage one of the SFD Survey
that collected stress gradient data over 5,000 sq km
in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin for an
intermediate Canadian producer. The processing and

interpretation of the SFD grid data has commenced to

map potential hydrocarbon traps and reservoirs. After
analysis, the company will conduct infill flights over
identified targets based on the interpreted data.
Our ability to quickly identify prospect areas, both
effectively and inexpensively, is now being exploited by
clients to gain a significant operational advantage, stated NXT CEO George Liszicasz. The list of interested
potential clients is growing and, as such, we anticipate
landing an additional survey contract in 2006.
www.nxtenergy.com
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Rocksource Expands CSEM to

Shallow Waters

Oslo-based Rocksource has developed and tested new

proprietary algorithms to deal with the shallow water
challenges for electromagnetic (EM) technology. Until recently, the technology has been considered unsuitable for
waters shallower than 200 m due to added noise. The tests
have been successful and the company has been able to
define the critical issues that must be addressed when collecting EM data in shallow
water. This will enable
screening of areas previously considered unsuitable for the EM technology and will affect the
strategy for the companys
portfolio development.
These results will
have strategic implications
for Rocksources approach
in building a portfolio
of exploration licenses as
it expands the application of EM technology into larger
parts of both the Norwegian and the UK Continental
Shelf where the water depth is shallower than 200 m.
Groundbreaking developments in EM technology over recent years and subsequent use in offshore exploration have
shown encouraging results in identifying prospects, and
the concept has been proven by drilling successful wells.
Rocksources methodology is called CSEM (controlled source electromagnetic sounding), which is
a remote surveying technique that enables measurements of resistivity contrasts in the subsurface. Because
hydrocarbons are resistive while surrounding rocks are
typically (but not always) conductive, there is a resistivity contrast that can be mapped using CSEM techniques. While seismic data can identify structures that
may contain hydrocarbons, EM data tells us something
about the fluids within the structures.
In marine settings, EM receivers containing electric
antennae and magnetic coils are placed on the seabed. A
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source is towed above the receivers, emitting electromagnetic energy with low frequency. Energy from the source
propagates into the subsurface. If there are no resistivity
contrasts present, the energy will gradually be attenuated
and disappear. If resistivity contrasts are present (such as
that caused by an oil-filled sandstone), EM energy will
propagate back to the seafloor where it is recorded by
receivers. The recorded information can be processed to
create detailed charts of subsurface resistivity distribution.
EM data have the
potential to raise detection
rates by 50% or more, heralding a new epoch for the
oil and gas industry. Consequently, Rocksource is developing its own proprietary
system for integrating EM
data with seismic and well
data to fully exploit reserves detected by remote resistivity surveys. With Rocksource Discover V. 2, geoscientists
will have a new and highly advanced integrated workflow where EM data are incorporated into the analyses.
Rocksource Discover V.2 contains:
EM Screening to identify areas for EM surveys;
EM Feasibility to conduct first-pass modeling;
EM Confidence Modeling to define uncertainties
for input to risk calculations;
EM Survey Design to optimize survey design to
detect hydrocarbons and delineate hydrocarbonfilled structures at the lowest cost;
EM Integrated Processing to process EM data
with and without input from seismic data; and
EM Integrated Analyses to analyze EM data,
seismic data, well data and geological understanding to provide input to probability
calculations, volumetrics and prospect ranking.
www.rocksource.com
12

October 2006

OHM Conducts Falkland CSEM

Remote Survey for Rockhopper
Sensing
Controlled Source Electro-Magnetic imaging (CSEM)
is potentially the most important new technology in
the field of offshore oil and gas exploration since the
advent of 3D seismic some 20 years ago. The CSEM
survey uses a dipole source that is towed just above the
seafloor to transmit an electromagnetic field into the
earth (Figure 1). This field is modified by the presence of
subsurface resistive layers, and these changes are detected
and logged by an array of receivers placed on the seabed.
Because hydrocarbon-bearing formations are highly resistive compared with surrounding formations, a CSEM
survey can indicate the presence of oil and gas offshore.
CSEM imaging can significantly reduce the risk of
drilling dry exploration wells
creating considerable value for
oil & gas explorers. The technique was first used offshore
Angola in 2000 and has since
become a key deepwater exploration tool for the major oil
companies. Very high success
rates have been achieved by
these companies, particularly
when the results of a CSEM
survey have been integrated
with seismic interpretation.
Offshore Hydrocarbon
Mapping (OHM) of Aberdeen
recently conducted CSEM
surveys for Rockhopper
Exploration over two areas within Rockhoppers North
Falkland Basin exploration acreage. Preliminary CESM
results gave a positive indication consistent with the
presence of hydrocarbons, but further work is required
to merge recently acquired 2D seismic data with the
CSEM data.
The two surveys for Rockhopper demonstrate the
advances OHM has made in the CSEM technique. The
shallow water depths necessitated the use of OHMs adOctober 2006 13

vanced survey techniques and severe weather conditions

had to be overcome. Complex geology, especially the
variability in depth of a resistive geological basement,
required advanced processing of the data. While CSEM
seeks out resistive anomalies in the subsurface geology,
normally indicative of the presence of hydrocarbons,
in many areas like the Falklands, such anomalies can
be caused by factors other than hydrocarbons. OHMs
advanced processing techniques produce detailed images
of the location of resistive bodies, and when integrated
with seismic data and geological interpretations, these
images significantly reduce the risk of anomalies being
due to shallow non-commercial gas or basement variability.
Rockhopper is currently the
largest license holder in the
North Falkland Basin and
has a 100% interest in four
offshore production licenses
granted by the Falkland Islands
government.
Sam Moody, managing director, Rockhopper, said: We are
very excited to be moving our
exploration program forward
using this new technique.
OHMs recent announcement
confirming the effectiveness of
the electromagnetic method in
shallow water was key for us.
The Falkland Islands are in a fairly remote location and
any future drilling program has to be as cost effective and
de-risked as far as possible. We already know that J1 is a
good structure in relatively shallow water and the electromagnetic survey combined with additional 2D seismic
could result in a significantly de-risked drillable prospect.
We have identified a number of other structural closures
and work is currently progressing on selecting a second
target.
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OHM CEO Dave Pratt commented: This was the first

CSEMI survey to be conducted in the Falklands and we
are delighted to have overcome the challenges of not only
conducting the survey but also interpreting the data gathered
correctly. I believe that we have provided Rockhopper with
information that will significantly impact their exploration
risks.
This is a rare public insight into the highly valuable contribution we can make to our clients exploration projects, since
much of the work we conduct for the major oil companies is
kept secret, he said. Over the past few years, we have seen
excellent correlation between the predictions from our surveys
and the outcomes of exploration drilling, and we look forward
to seeing these results further enhanced using our unique
ability to integrate the new seismic data and then, should the
prognosis remain positive, ultimately confirmed by a well.
Earlier this year, OHM celebrated when Norways
Ministry of Petroleum and Energy (MPE) placed conditions
on a number of new exploration licenses requiring the use of
electromagnetic survey data over prospects. OHM welcomed
this development, as the move signals growing industry and
governmental acceptance of electromagnetic imaging as a predrill exploration tool.
OHM CEO Dave Pratt said: Norway is a very important
market for OHM. We have already undertaken a number of proprietary surveys in Norwegian waters ahead of the 19th Licensing Round, providing the results to clients to assist them in their
application process. The decision by the MPE to apply electro

magnetic imaging conditions on licenses demonstrates Norways

world-leading outlook on adopting important new technologies,
a lead that we expect will be followed by other countries.
OHM and Rock Solid Images (RSI) of Houston are
working together to advance the integration of seismic and
well log data with CSEM imaging. The fully integrated data
will provide clients with a heightened level of information on
likely rock and fluid properties and improve upon the direct
detection of hydrocarbons.
We can substantially increase the value that can be derived from CSEM data by integrating it with other geophysical information, Pratt said. RSI has in-depth expertise in
many of the areas of data integration that we are interested in,
and shares our vision of how to assess rock and fluid properties from integration of remote sensing data.
RSI President Richard Cooper added: OHMs CSEM
processing and inversion workflows perfectly complement the
well and seismic methods developed at Rock Solid Images.
We believe rock-physics relationships hold the key to integrating seismic and well-log data for quantitative interpretation.
We are extending these rock-physics relationships to accommodate CSEM data, permitting simultaneous interpretation
of seismic and EM data within a unified, borehole-based rock
and fluid model. In this way we combine the strengths of
both types of data and obtain information which would not
be available from either one alone.
www.ohmsurveys.com
www.rockhopperexploration.co.uk
www.rocksolidimages.com

14

October 2006

ZEH Software Announces Montaging Solution

New Version of G/Technology

ZEH Software Inc., purveyor of network printing solutions for

petroleum geoscientists, has released ZEH Montage Professional
for Windows, an easy-to-use solution for combining CGM and
raster graphics into a single montage of unlimited canvas size.
The introduction of a montaging tool on Windows is
complementary to our success in building graphics tools for
G&G users, said Scott Reeder, product marketing manager.
ZEH Montage Professional overcomes many of the current
limitations associated with the process of creating presentation
montages in Windows.
This solution allows you to embed and edit seismic CGM
files inside PowerPoint presentations, and you can zoom, pan
and rotate the files while in PowerPoint, said Carol Langland,
product manager. We have also included the ability to edit, view,
print and convert your CGM files even the really big files.
We are excited about the release of ZEH Montage Professional because we believe it will make it much easier for our oil
company customers to create very powerful montages, said
Jerry Martin, president and CEO. We are also grateful to the
many ZEH customers who contributed to the development of
this product by telling us what they really needed in a montaging tool on Windows.
http://zmp.zeh.com

Intergraph Corp. announced the newest version of G/Technology, which integrates geofacilities management with operational support
and service delivery applications. Enhancements include new application programming
interfaces (APIs) that enable customization, as
well as new ways to configure software to tailor
workflows to unique business needs. G/Technology 9.3.3 also supports the very latest versions of CAD software, while extending raster
support for additional formats, such as ECW.
G/Technology offers industry standard
models for the electric, gas, pipeline, water
and communications industries. The hallmark of G/Technology is an open architecture
combined with data management strategies,
the spatial initiatives of database management
systems (DBMS), and compliance to industry
standards. G/Technology 9.3.3 reduces the
administration required for software installation and upgrades due to version compatibility, single set-up and set-up patches. Additionally, expansion packs in G/Technology 9.3.3
ensure that organizations have access to new
capabilities as they become available.
Traditionally, a system upgrade has been a
considerable expense that an organization must
shoulder all at once, said Peter Batty, CTO,
Intergraph. The version compatibility provided
by G/Technology 9.3.3 gives customers the option to upgrade their systems in several stages.
www.intergraph.com

Dynamic Graphics Releases

WellArchitect 1.3
Dynamic Graphics, Inc., creator of EarthVision well planning
software, announced the release of WellArchitect 1.3. Developed
with Baker Hughes INTEQ, WellArchitect is an advanced system for integrated planning and drilling of directional wellpaths
with or without earth models. The software combines directional
drilling applications with the advanced 3D visualization and
modeling capabilities for which EarthVision is known.
WellArchitect can handle single wellpath survey calculations
up to multi-well planning and collision risk analysis, as well
as sidetracking, multilaterals and re-entry drilling. Trajectory
calculations, target erosion by positional uncertainty, reporting,
plotting and 3D visualization are all included in this package.
Art Paradis, president, Dynamic Graphics, said: The power of using WellArchitect and EarthVision together is making
a fundamental difference in well planning. Well planners can
finally work with geologists, using the same models, to discover
valuable secondary targets. In addition, geologists, at the wellsite
using the same software as the directional driller, can track the
well using MWD and LWD against the 3D model, adjust the
3D model, and replan the well trajectory as necessary, during
the drilling process. These are just some of the ways WellArchitect is revolutionizing the well planning process.
www.dgi.com
October 2006 15

Two Patents for Rock Solid

Rock Solid Images announced the award of
two US Patents: Method for Determining
Formation Quality Factor from Well Log
Data and its Application to Seismic Reservoir
Characterization (US Patent No. 7,088,639)
and Method for Detecting Earth Formation
Fractures by Seismic Imaging of Diffractors
(US Patent No. 7,085,195).
The first patent is a method for computing seismic Q and attenuation from common
open-hole well log data, then using these data
to model and invert seismic images
The second relates to imaging of diffraction energy present on long-offset seismic data
for direct detection of fractures.
www.rocksolidimages.com

Geotrace Acquires Tigress Geosciences

MicroSeismic Raises $7 Million

Geotrace has signed a definitive agreement to acquire

Tigress Geosciences based in Marlow, England, near London. A pioneer in subsurface data integration software,
Tigress is installed in over 45 countries and provides the
E&P professional with a proven, integrated and userfriendly workflow solution. The ability to make fast and
accurate decisions, to bring fields into production quickly
and within budget, and to realize their full value before
depletion is dependant upon the ability to access and
exploit all the data available at the time.
As the market for integrated reservoir interpretation
services grows, the Tigress suite of geoscience applications
together with the advanced seismic imaging technology
Geotrace has developed represents the most integrated
solution available to the industry, said Bill Schrom, CEO,
Geotrace.
www.geotrace.com

MicroSeismic Inc., provider of 3-D seismic imaging technology, closed a $7 million preferred
share offering to fund capital equipment for
expansion as well as software development. Altira
Technology Fund IV LLC, led the funding round
with $2.8 million, while previous investor CTTV
Investments LLC, the venture capital arm of
Chevron Technology Ventures, and new investor
RockPort Capital Partners also participated.
We are proud to have achieved profitability
in our second full year of operations, said Peter
Duncan, CEO, MicroSeismic. This investment
round will allow us to respond to the flourishing
market demand for our services. MicroSeismic
has developed several proprietary technologies for
detecting passive seismic noise for monitoring reservoir fluid flow, fracturing and compaction. The
company has completed work for more then 20
domestic and international oil and gas companies
and plans to double the number of employees in
the next year.
William E. Wilber James, managing general
partner, RockPort Capital Partners, has joined
Microseismics board of directors. James also serves
on the board of Peabody Energy Corp. MicroSeismic is rapidly defining the market for passive
seismic in the oil and gas industry, he said. The
management team understands the industry and
has positioned the company for growth.
www.microseismicinc.com
www.altiragroup.com
www.rockportcap.com

CGG to Buy Veritas DGC for $3.1 Billion

Seismic services provider Compagnie Generale de Geophysique (CGG) of Paris has agreed to pay $3.1 billion or $75
per share for its competitor Veritas DGC, a Houston-based
provider of geophysical information and services. Veritas
stock price has doubled since the beginning of the year. The
deal indicates a premium of 35% over the average Veritas
closing price for the 30 days ended on Aug. 29, which was
$55.69.
The combined company will employ 7,000 people
worldwide and operate a seismic fleet of 20 vessels, including 14 high-capacity 3D acquisition vessels. The merged
company, to be called CGG-Veritas, will result in a cost
savings of $65 million a year and will be controlled 65% by
CCGs shareholders. CGG Chairman and Chief Executive
Robert Brunck will become chairman and CEO of the new
company, and Veritas CEO Thierry Pilenko will be nominated to the new companys board.
The companies said in a statement that the merger
will create a strong, global, pure-play seismic company,
offering a broad range of seismic services and geophysical
equipment. Bertrand Hodee, an analyst at Kepler Equities, called the deal a good strategic fit in an industry that
needs consolidation.
Our seismic market remains buoyant and the demand
both in services and in equipment is strong for 2007 and
beyond, Brunck said. The boards of both companies have
already approved the deal, which is expected to close by
year-end, subject to regulatory approvals.
www.veritasdgc.com
www.cgg.com

TGS-Nopec Opens Office in Moscow

TGS-Nopec Geophysical Co. has formed a Russian subsidiary and opened an office in Moscow.
TGS NOPEC Geophysical Co. Moscow Ltd. is
located at Donskaya Street, 4, Building 3, Office
206, Moscow, Russian Federation. The subsidiary
will market existing 2D seismic data and well log
information in Russia to prospective clients and
will promote the generation of new geoscientific
datasets to aid in future exploration of the country.
Said Kjell Trommestad, VP and general director, Europe/Russia: An office in Moscow, capital
of the country believed to have the highest undiscovered hydrocarbon resource potential in the
world, is an important step for the future growth
of TGS.
www.tgsnopec.com

IHS, POSC to Offer Global Unique

Well Identifier Service

Information provider IHS Inc. and the Petrotechnical

obtaining a standard well ID.
Open Standards Consortium Inc. (POSC) have signed a
The current Global Unique Well Identifier initialetter of intent (LOI) to establish a service that will pro- tive began in 2003, said Randy Clark, CEO, POSC.
vide an industry standard for global unique well identiThe steering team endorses this resolution of a longfiers for all known oil and gas wells in the world.
standing problem by leveraging the large inventory of
Since no global definition of what represents a well well identifiers that IHS manages today for its customers
exists, oil companies, service companies, governments
as the basis for an industry well identification standard.
and regulatory agencies differ in their practices and
IHS has extensive experience with the regional variances
naming conventions. The new
of well ID systems around
IHS/POSC service will provide
the world, not only because
As oil and gas companies
a common method to address
management of
continue to expand globally, a ofwelltheir
these challenges. With more
identifications, but also
signicant information man- because of their network of
than four million wells known
to exist globally, a common sysagement challenge is reconcil- global experts positioned in
tem for identification (ID) has
local markets. A work group is
ing
diverse
well
identi
cations
become essential. IHS has probeing established to guide and
vided unique well ID services to in their technical and nancial oversee this service to ensure
its customers since the 1990s.
viability.
databases. Our customers asked its long-term
The new offering will further
Through the service,
us to make this issue a priority, IHS will continue to generintegrate global systems and be
made readily available to the
said Ron Mobed, president and ate standard identifiers for all
entire industry, ensuring global
new and unique wells; deliver
COO,
IHS
Energy.
coverage and universal usage.
a complete Master Well Index
A formal agreement detailing
file to customers comprised of
the IHS/POSC Global Unique
the unique well identifiers and
Well Identifier Service deliverables will be announced
supporting attributes for reference and matching purposby year-end. In the interim, IHS is now delivering a
es; and provide a well-matching service to the industry by
basic service.
delivering a set of unique well identifiers from the Master
As oil and gas companies continue to expand glob- Well Index against well data supplied by any industry
ally, a significant information management challenge is
organization.
reconciling diverse well identifications in their techniIn addition, the PPDM Association endorses the
cal and financial databases. Our customers asked us to
support and development of a global unique well idenmake this issue a priority, said Ron Mobed, president
tifier under the direction of the industry work group.
and COO, IHS Energy. After meeting with a large
This initiative represents an exciting collaborative effort
cross-section of our customers, with POSC and with
between different aspects of the E&P industry to solve
others in our industry, it was clear they expected IHS to what is an expensive and time-consuming problem for
take a leadership role and to work with POSC to ensure our membership, said Trudy Curtis, CEO, PPDM.
the service be as open as possible so that no oil comwww.ihs.com/energy
pany, service company or data vendor is precluded from
www.posc.org
October 2006 17

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KCA Deutags DART Simulator

Hits the Mark

If you think drilling the well on paper first is a good

idea, then youll really appreciate drilling the well on a
simulator before your crew even goes out to the rig.
KCA Deutag has two drilling simulator facilities, one in Aberdeen and one near Baku, Azerbaijan.
The first, opened in 1999, was set up with equipment
similar to the Brent Charlie new derrick equipment
set (NDES) and the KCA Deutag PT-2000 land rig.
Since that time, rig equipment has been changed out to
mimic Sedco Express semis and Discoverer Enterprise
drillships, and most recently the Sakhalin Lunskoye and
Piltun platform rigs for training purposes. The Azeri
facility replicated the five brand new rigs being commissioned for BP.
DARTs DS6000 virtual real-time simulator is the
only one of its type commercially available, and it is
revolutionizing training and engineering design. With
its computer-generated 3D graphics, real-time simulation and sound effects, DART is setting the standard for

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realism in simulated drilling and well engineering. It has

full-scale copies the actual drill rig floors and doghouses,
complete with touch screen consoles for drillers and
assistant drillers. The 3D graphics of the rigs equipment
are projected onto a 60-ft long screen surrounding the
doghouse. As the driller operates the rig equipment, the
surface simulator provides realistic moving graphics and
sounds to simulate what the driller sees and hears on a
rig. Scenarios and engineering outcomes are generated
independently by DARTs simulators, and the scenarios
are not always predictable to the trainers and trainees.
Drilling your well in the full size simulator using
your own crew is a highly effective way to reduce unplanned events, said a representative of OCTG Proctor
Consultancy Ltd. We consider DART the best facility available that provides a combination of a realistic
simulated environment and downhole model capable of
reflecting the increasingly complex challenges we face in
todays drilling environment.

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October 2006

Last year, the company launched the mini-DART, a portable simulator with the same features as the full-size DART,
but on a smaller scale. The mini-DART allows companies to
train their personnel on location without risk to people or
the environment. It is helping to improve safety performance,
productivity and efficiency of personnel, and is expected to
eliminate unnecessary well costs and reduce downtime. Training available on the simulator includes advanced well control,
rig pre-start-ups, drillstring failure and specific courses developed by the operator.
Drilling engineers rely on years of experience to know
how and when to anticipate problems and to deal with the
unexpected. Because safety and environmental protection are
paramount, it is critical that seasoned drilling crews can learn
how to use brand-new equipment and newly hired drilling
crews can familiarize themselves with old equipment in a
safe environment. In addition, engineers can run multiple
scenarios without compromising live operations. Operators, drilling contractors and service company personnel have
all used DART to become competent in both onshore and
offshore rig operations before experiencing actual moving
equipment.
Some of the benefits of drilling the well on a virtual
reality simulator prior to the real deal include reduced risk
and cost, improved safety and efficiency, less down time and
increased staff competence.

October 2006 19

The simulator can be programmed with full details about

geology, pressure, fluids, casings and BHAs for specific well
programs or tailored to company requirements. Drillers can
develop and test detailed drilling procedures together, which
results in team building and better communication. Better
yet, drillers understand what kind of problems they might
face, such as kicks, lost circulation or stuck pipe, and figure
out in advance how to avoid them or deal with them with no
repercussions if they mess up in the simulator.
Some operators now bring the drilling program of their
most difficult wells to DART to be simulated so procedures
can be refined before putting them into practice. The power
and realism of DART can also be tailored to place individuals
or teams under pressure, because it is well suited for conducting emergency response exercises and similar scenario-based
activities.
BPs well planning course was based around the DART
facility and its large-scale rig floor simulator. The main focus
of the course was the development of soft skills needed to enhance the technical skills required to plan and execute a well
safely and effectively, said Chris Lockyear, BP Learning and
Development, Sunbury. The feedback was very positive. Everyone enjoyed the course, and came away with a far greater
understanding and the realization of the criticality of effective
communication between all those involved in well planning.

www.kcadeutag.com/whatwedo/dart_01.htm

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Pisys Breaks into

American Market

Aberdeen-based software company Pisys is poised to

make further breakthroughs into the offshore training
market in the Americas following the formal launch of a
$2.5 million facility in Brazil.
The training simulator, which recreates the difficult conditions workers can face on a rig, platform or
FPSO, is already
booked up for
use by Petrobras
to train nearly
1,000 engineers
over the next
seven years.
Pisys is now
looking to establish a formal
presence on the
continent.
Pisys developed
the simulator
for Brazilian
state training
body SENAI,
which is jointly
funded by
energy group Petrobras and the Brazilian government.
The opening ceremony for the facility at SENAIs base
in Rio de Janeiro was attended by a number of senior
figures associated with the Brazilian energy industry.
The simulator is the second moving platform
system of its kind to be built by Pisys, and it has paved
the way for the company to become established in the
region.
Director Ben Trewin said: Weve been working to
develop relationships with key energy players in Venezuela and Mexico, as well as with educational institutions,
and are in active discussions with them on the provision
of similar facilities.

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We are confident that these links will yield new

business for us, and to that end we are looking to establish official representation in the region.
The development of activity in new markets is central
to Pisys growth plans, and we are also exploring the
potential to market our other training products in the
US and Canada.
Our software is
extremely adaptable and can be
tailored to reflect
the conditions
operators face in
provinces around
the world.
ASET
(Aberdeen Skills
and Enterprise
Training), which
also uses the Pisys
training simulator
in its Aberdeen
facilities, is working with SENAI
to help design
and deliver the simulator training courses.
Pisys took part in a recent three-center trade mission
to Mexico organized by Aberdeen City Council on behalf
of UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) and Scottish Development International, as well as two similar trips to Venezuela
with UKTI and the Northern Offshore Federation.
Besides the two moving platform systems, Pisys
also has another 15 fixed or mobile systems deployed
around the world with leading training companies and
over 40 models representing a variety of vessels, installations and control room environments.
www.pisys.co.uk
www.senai.br

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October 2006

Aonix PERC for

Java-based Robotic Drilling

Aonix, provider of the PERC technologies for embedded

Java developers, announced that National Oilwell Varco has selected the Aonix PERC Ultra virtual machine
(VM) for its Java-based control system that manages
automated robotic drilling. National Oilwell Varco, a designer and manufacturer of a broad range of technologically advanced drilling equipment, AC and DC drives,
pipe-handling equipment, controls and instrumentation,
made an extensive evaluation of embedded Java offerings. The company selected PERC based on its very fast,
predictable performance and small memory footprint.
To meet current application needs, Varcos engineering team converted an existing Varco design for automated robotic drilling equipment using a Java-based control
system running on embedded Linux. Varco required
jitter below 3 ms in executing its software application
over a one-hour period using its embedded computing
platform. The engineering team tested numerous options
on its platform, but only PERC could meet the need for
very fast, predictable performance without a tremendous
memory or hard drive footprint.
J9 from IBM could not come close to the performance that I was able to achieve with PERC, noted
Kent Hulich, software development manager, Varco.
We needed timing intervals below 10 ms, and Aonix
provided a version of PERC that takes advantage of
Posix Clock_Realtime timers in Linux 2.6 to provide
very accurate timing to the application.
But accurate timing alone was not enough. Varco
needed to preempt memory reclamation at any point
in time. To do this, Varco configured PERC to place all
Java threads in a real-time scheduling class and set critical
thread priorities above the PERC garbage collector so they
could interrupt the garbage collector as needed. Aonix
support team assisted Varco engineers in achieving optimal configuration quickly and easily and with no changes
to the source code of the Varco Java test program.
Were very pleased that PERC was flexible enough
to manage the jitter and easily achieve Varcos specificaOctober 2006 z 21

tions, said Dave Wood, marketing director, Aonix. This

ability has enabled the PERC developers at Varco to create a highly stable and accurate control loop in which to
implement their software applications. Its always gratifying each time customers confirm the superior technology
of PERC, particularly for technically challenging projects
like the Varco robotic drilling system.
First introduced nine years ago, PERC Ultra is the
most widely used real-time virtual machine available for
Java developers. PERC supports most major real-time operating systems and a variety of target processors including PowerPC, XScale, ARM and Intel x86 architectures.
PERC is a clean-room virtual machine expressly
created for demanding embedded and real-time systems
requiring J2SE support. PERC delivers the ease and
efficiency of Java Standard Edition support without
sacrificing integrity, performance or real-time behavior.
It offers AOT and JIT compilation, remote debug support, deterministic garbage collection, standard graphics
and extended commercial RTOS support.
PERC Ultra is the ideal solution for embedded
applications of high complexity, thanks to its predictable performance and extensive support of off-the-shelf
J2SE libraries and components. Its sister product, PERC
Pico, meets the needs of resource-constrained hard realtime applications, featuring performance and footprint
characteristics comparable to C. PERC Pico is smaller
and faster than any other real-time virtual machine, yet
it preserves key virtues of Java such as portability, reliability and scalability.
PERC Ultra and PERC Pico are interoperable
within a single application. For the first time, it is
now possible for Java developers to create complete
complex applications from infrastructure to the device
level, without resorting to the use of other languages
with less portability and robust memory use for specialized components.
www.aonix.com
www.nov.com
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Merrick Systems Tests RFID-Based

Downhole Tags

Nautronix Secures Major Order

from Shell

Merrick Systems has successfully completed lab

tests of its downhole radio-frequency identification
(RFID) tags, designed for drilling and workover
operations. The tags were developed to survive the
extreme conditions encountered during subsurface drilling operations, and are used in the
complete drilling logistics and operations management system known as Rig-Hand.
The tags, which transfer data via a low-level
radio signal to nearby reading devices, can either
be installed on components by the manufacturer or
retrofitted to components in the field at the time
of equipment inspection. Once the tags have been
mounted, ruggedized scanning tools can read them
and provide readings to the systems software, which
then provides operations and logistics personnel
with instant knowledge about the equipment.
Testing was performed to mirror real-world
usage so the tags can withstand the extreme rigors
of the downhole environment. Two different tag
designs were tested at pressures up to 20,000 psi
and temperatures up to 272 degrees Fahrenheit.
Additional testing at substantially higher temperatures will be completed shortly. The tested designs
allow for installation of RFID tags into drill pipe,
drill collars and virtually any other downhole component or tools. Rig-Hand can then provide users
information about what, where and how every
component was manufactured, inspected and used
so they can reduce operational risk and maximize
the components use and life.
RFID tagging has been utilized in other industries for years for tracking and record keeping,
but until now, the oil industry had not been able
to develop tags that could survive the downhole
environment. The successful completion of these
test marks a turning point in the industry for applied RFID technology. Prior to this time, only
proof-of-concept testing had been performed on
prototype tags. This test validated the commercially available product.
www.MerrickSystems.com

Aberdeen-based Nautronix PLC has won a multi-million dollar purchase order from Shell for the supply of an enhanced
capability NASBOP system to provide acoustic control and
monitoring of a subsea location device within a surface BOP
drilling package. This will be the third NASBOP system Nautronix has delivered to Shell.
Managing Director Mark Patterson said this latest
contract was the oil giants seal of approval for Nautronix
technology: We are delighted Shell has shown their commitment to utilizing Acoustic Digital Spread Spectrum (ADS2)
technology and are pleased to be working closely with them
to deliver an enhanced capability NASBOP system specific to
their requirements.
Nautronix collaborated with Shells engineering team
in Houston to support Shells ongoing development of the
SBOP concept. Over the past few years, Nautronix has invested more than 10 million in research and development,
including the introduction of NASBOP to the market about
four years ago. It was first used offshore Brazil and Egypt as
an enabling technology for surface BOP operations where a
reliable acoustic primary control system was essential.
The enhanced NASBOP system takes full advantage of
ADS2 technology by offering additional signaling capability and functionality. New features include new electronic
architecture, lithium batteries and a new power management
system to provide subsea power control from the surface to
support extended periods of deployment.
Nautronix will deliver the NASBOP system to Shell in
the early part of 2007 for installation onboard GlobalSantaFes
Glomar Arctic I for surface BOP drilling operations in the BC10 field offshore Brazil.
www.nautronix.com

Saudi Aramco to Use Actenums

Rig Scheduler
Vancouver-based Actenum Corp. has been awarded a contract by Aramco Services Co., a subsidiary of Saudi Aramco,
for customization and deployment of a rig fleet scheduling
application. Actenums proprietary optimization and scheduling software will enable Saudi Aramco schedulers to generate
rig fleet assignments automatically for any given period. The
applications interactive capability will also provide for rapid
response to operational disruptions. As rigs are added to the
fleet, schedulers will use Actenums software to assess and
rank rig/well assignments to determine optimal pairings for
production target achievement. Deployment is expected to be
in early 2007.
www.actenum.com

Diamond Offshore to Use CapRock for

GOM Fleet

Shell, Halliburton Strike Deal for

Drilling Software Services

Global satellite provider CapRock Communications

announced that Diamond Offshore, a deepwater drilling
contractor, is expanding its contract for network services.
CapRock will provide Diamonds entire fleet of drilling rigs operating in the Gulf of Mexico and the Bay of
Campeche with Voice over IP (VoIP) services, Internet
access and high-speed data connectivity to its corporate
network. CapRocks support centers in the US and Mexico will provide local service and support. The company
currently provides Diamond Offshore with communication services to its rigs offshore Brazil.
Diamond Offshores contract renewal with CapRock is evidence that building a reliable network with
unparalleled support creates recognizable value when
compared to others, said CapRock President and COO
Errol Olivier. We look forward to continuing our commitment to providing Diamond Offshore with uncompromising services.
www.caprock.com
www.diamondoffshore.com

Halliburtons Drilling, Evaluation and Digital Solutions Division has entered into a global framework
agreement with Shell International Exploration and
Production B.V. (SIEP) that will enable SIEP and its
affiliates to expand their global real-time infrastructure for the provision of seamless, secure and open
access to proprietary data whenever and wherever it is
required across the globe.
The agreement provides SIEP worldwide access
to Sperry Drilling Services INSITE and INSITE
Anywhere information technology services and
related systems. Specifically, the agreement provides
for rig-site data aggregation, transmission of the data
to SIEPs real-time operations centers (RTOCs), and
data integration using the WITSML standard with
other drilling software in use within SIEP.
This global agreement validates the significant
benefits that both SIEP and Halliburton have realized
from the real-time operating environment in the Gulf
of Mexico. We are extremely pleased to be able to
expand this capability with SIEP while continuing to
develop new benefits from this emerging technology,
said Brady Murphy, VP, Sperry Drilling Services.
www.halliburton.com
www.shell.com

Scorpion Offshore Signs Managed

Comms Deal with RigNet
RigNet Inc. has been selected by Scorpion Offshore Ltd.
to provide managed communications services for its inaugural fleet of ultra-premium jackup rigs. Under terms
of the agreement, RigNet will provide IP-based voice and
high-speed data communications as well as 24x7 remote
network monitoring and technical support. RigNet will
also provide local field support as needed wherever the
rigs are deployed worldwide.
Scorpion is currently constructing five ultra-premium
LeTourneau Super 116 jackup rigs. Delivery of the rigs
will begin in Q2 2007 and continue through Q3 2008.
RigNet is the one company we found that has the
global legal presence and local operations to support Scorpions growth, said Don Gregg, COO, Scorpion. Their
experience and track record of exceptional communication services in the global offshore oil and gas industry fits
our corporate objective of providing the highest levels of
customer service and operational excellence.
The multi-year global agreement includes installation
of the latest plug and play communications infrastructure on each rig. This allows Scorpion and its customers
to have access to superior voice and high-speed data communications the moment they arrive on the rig.
www.rig.net
October 2006 23

Downhole Camera Saves the Day

EV Offshore Ltd. completed a downhole inspection
on behalf of CNR International (UK) Ltd. On the
CNRs Ninian South Platform offshore Scotland.
The next day, EV Offshore mobilized a full inspection
package, including the EVOLeye camera inspection
system, drill-pipe running tool, centralizers and backup equipment. The EVOLeye offers full, continuous hemispherical viewing while running downhole.
Within 48 hours, EV Offshore had an inspection
engineer on the Ninian South Platform ready to go.
Following multiple runs in-hole with the EVOLeye,
video images revealed significant corrosion damage to
the casing strings in a limited area at sea level.
Initial attempts by CNRs drilling crew to
retrieve the 9 5/8-in. casing using a spear proved
fruitless. The casing spear dropped between the 20in. and 30-in. casings without latching the damaged
casing. By running the casing spear on drillpipe while
operating the EVOLeye on tugger line to supply realtime images, CNR was able to manipulate the casing
spear into the damaged casing and recover it, and
Ninian South was back on track in 15 days.

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Emerson, Siemens
Exchange Technology
John Berra
president,
Emerson Process Management

Emerson Process Management and Siemens Automation and Drives (A&D) announced the expansion of
system interfaces to enable both companies to expand
support of global fieldbus standards. The companies will
exchange technology and engineering support to add the
interfaces that extend their systems and software to offer
customers expanded global interoperability and greater
functionality. First products are expected to be available
in mid-2007. The cooperation grew out of the work
both companies have done with user-supplier consortia
to deliver fully open and interoperable field instrumentation and electric drives using the newly enhanced global
standard Electronic Device Description Language (EDDL).
Siemens will add interfaces to
the companys Simatic PCS 7 process
control system and its Process Device
Manager (PDM) tool to support
Foundation Fieldbus standards, in
addition to the Profibus and HART
standards they support today. This
will enable Siemens to connect to the
extensive array of Foundation Fieldbus instruments and valve controllers
from Emerson, as well as devices from other companies
who support Foundation Fieldbus.
Emerson will similarly expand its DeltaV and
Ovation control systems, as well as the companys
AMS Suite: Intelligent Device Manager application, with an interface for Profibus DP and Profinet
standards, in addition to the Foundation Fieldbus and
HART standards they support today. This will enable
Emerson to connect to the extensive array of drives,
motor starters and other discrete devices from Siemens,
as well as devices from other companies who support
Profibus DP and Profinet.
Foundation Fieldbus is the established global standard in process automation, commented John Berra,
president, Emerson Process Management. In manufacturing automation, Profibus DP and Profinet are the

established standards. Addition of new fieldbus interfaces

will enable Emerson to use enhanced EDDL to easily connect the rich functionality of Siemens drives to our AMS
Device Manager and our automation systems. Extending
the value of our asset management applications to more
plant assets in this way is just one example of the benefit
to customers of global standards.
According to Anton S. Huber, member of the board
at Siemens A&D, further harmonization of field device integration will prove advantageous, particularly in
heterogeneous system landscapes. Foundation Fieldbus,
HART and Profibus have become the communication standards worldwide. Users
can choose from a variety of process
instruments that have the interfaces
to suit the control system concerned.
The potential for improving plant
efficiency lies, however, in further
integration by the uniform EDDL
communication technology and the
respective software tools. We strongly
support such activities.
Emerson and Siemens will
also use in their host systems the
pending OPC UA (OLE for Process Control Unified
Architecture) standard from the OPC Foundation.
The combination of EDDL and OPC UA for data
exchange is recommended by the Fieldbus Foundation, HART Communication Foundation and Profibus
Nutzerorganisation. The advantage of this technology
is the consistent use of EDDL for data description and
presentation to the user interface. EDDL is also used to
describe the information exchange between any OPC
server and OPC client applications, thereby attaining a
major degree of independence from operating systems
and their variants. Both companies will actively support
development of the necessary OPC UA specifications
and the enhancements of EDDL.
www.siemens.com/automation
www.emersonprocess.com

Foundation Fieldbus is
the established
global standard in
process automation,
commented John Berra,
president, Emerson
Process Management.

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October 2006

Microsoft Expands Document

Standards Interoperability

Expanding on its commitment to interoperability,

Microsoft announced the creation of the Open XML
Translator project. The project, developed with partners, will create tools to build a technical bridge between the Microsoft Office Open XML Formats and
the OpenDocument Format (ODF). In addition to
being made available as free, downloadable add-ins for
several older versions of the
Microsoft Office system, the
translation tools will be developed and licensed as open
source software. The translation tools will be broadly
available to the industry for
use with other individual or
commercial projects to accelerate document interoperability and expand customer
choice between Open XML
and other technologies.
By enabling this translator, we will make both
choice and interoperability a
more practical option for our
customers, said Jean Paoli,
general manager, interoperability and XML architecture,
Microsoft. We believe that
Open XML meets the needs
of millions of organizations
for a new approach to file formats, so we are sharing it with the industry by submitting
it, with others, to become a worldwide standard. Yet it is
very important that customers have the freedom to choose
from a range of technologies to meet their diverse needs.
Open XML and ODF were designed to meet
very different customer requirements. By developing
the bi-directional translation tools through an open
source project, the technical decisions and tradeoffs

necessary will be transparent to everyone Open XML

and ODF advocates alike. The Open XML formats
are unique in their compatibility and fidelity to billions of Office documents, helping protect customers
intellectual investments. Open XML formats are also
distinguished by their approach to accessibility support
for disabled workers, file performance, and flexibility
to empower organizations to
access and integrate their own
XML data with the documents
they use every day. In contrast,
ODF focuses on more limited requirements, is architected very differently and is
now under review in OASIS
subcommittees to fill key gaps
such as spreadsheet formulas,
macro support and support
for accessibility options. As a
result, certain compromises
and customer disclosures will
be a necessary part of translating between the two formats.

We believe that Open

XML meets the needs of
millions of organizations
for a new approach to le
formats, so we are sharing
it with the industry by
submitting it, to become
a worldwide standard. Yet
it is very important that
customers have the freedom
to choose from a range of
technologies to meet their
diverse needs.said Jean
Paoli, Microsoft.

October 2006 25

Interoperable by Design

Today, Microsoft Office Word,

Excel and PowerPoint already
include built-in support for
dozens of formats to enable interoperability across products.
In addition to the default Open
XML file formats, the 2007 Microsoft Office system will
include a new menu option that points users to addins for PDF and XML-based formats such as the XML
Paper Specification (XPS) and ODF. Because these
add-ins are available online from a download service,
customers will have easy access to the latest industry file
format options along with the comprehensive Open
XML formats.
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Electronic document translation between different fixed

formats is always going to be somewhat inexact. Like human
language translations, concepts and specifications will differ in
detail. This tool promises to be a very significant development
in the trend towards practical open document standards and,
critically, customer-friendly means to move between them. It
can only be good for the IT industrys customers and product
and service innovators, said Andrew Hopkirk, director, UK
National Computing Centers e-Government Interoperability
Framework (e-GIF) Program. As the UKs e-GIF Accreditation Authority and leading IT user membership organization,
the National Computing Center is very pleased to see that
Microsofts interoperability commitments are bearing fruit in
this vital area, and we congratulate them for that.

Working With Industry Partners

Microsoft is developing the translation tools in collaboration
with the France-based IT solution provider Clever Age and
several independent software vendors, including Aztecsoft in
India and Dialogika in Germany. A prototype version of the
first translator added to Word 2007 is posted on the open
source software development website SourceForge (http://
sourceforge.net/projects/odf-converter), under the open

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source Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) license, where

anyone can submit bugs and feedback or contribute to the
project. The complete version of the Word translation tool is
expected to be available free from the download site by the
end of 2006, with add-ins for Excel and PowerPoint expected
in 2007. Older versions of Office will have access to the translation tool via a free Compatibility Pack, which also provides
free updates to enable Open XML format support.
Open XML represents a paradigm shift not only in its
architecture but also in the customer needs it serves, opening
organizations existing documents to take advantage of new
content management and collaboration scenarios that werent
possible even as recently as a few years ago, said Frederic
Bon, CEO, Clever Age. Through the Open XML Translator
project, customers will soon have the confidence that Open
XML and ODF formats can coexist and new document scenarios will flourish.
Additional information about Microsofts interoperability
commitment, including an open letter titled A Foundation for the New World of Documents by Chris Capossela,
corporate VP, Business Division Product Management Group,
Microsoft, may be found online at:
www.microsoft.com/interop

26

October 2006

IEEE Offers Safety, Security

Standards Standards on Discs

The IEEE Standards Association is offering a collection

of nearly 90 safety and security standards on three optical disks. IEEE VuSpec: Safety & Security Standards Series addresses three broad areas: critical infrastructures,
computers and networks, and the generation and use of
electricity. In aggregate, the discs comprise a standards
resource of more than 6,000 pages.
The disks give safety professionals ready access to
those IEEE standards needed when developing and
implementing safety, security, risk and loss reduction
programs, training and emergency management plans.
The compilation includes original standards and
their revisions through January 1, 2006. Each disc also
contains special features to help users make sense of the
many standards it contains, such as a glossary of standards terms, an index, the ability to search for specific
content in a standard or across multiple standards using
key words, and links to relevant online resources.

Volume I: Critical Infrastructure (SE121)

This disc covers standards for a wide range of workplace
and consumer risk factors, as well as security threats.
Topics include:
Power and grounding issues in electronic equipment;
Conductive clothing; Radiation detectors;
Message sets used in managing traffic incidents and
emergencies;
Electromagnetic fields (EMF) and radio frequency
(RF) issues, such as RF emission from equipment,
measurement of RF and EMF, and safe levels for
human exposure to such fields; and
Safety issues related to electrical substations, transformers, surge protection, power lines, grounding,
nuclear generating stations, distributed resources,
network communications devices and fall protection.

Volume II: Computers & Networks (SE122)

Todays IT departments manage a wide array of risks.
The standards in this volume encompass many of these
October 2006 27

risks, including online crime, bugs, terrorism, hacking,

viruses, and protecting sensitive information. It includes
standards for such topics as:
Telephone sets, handsets, and headsets;
Office and consumer electronic devices;
Environmental specifications for computer modules
Powering and grounding of electronic equipment;
Healthcare information systems and medical device
communications;
Information assurance and public-key cryptography;
Media management system architecture and security topics;
LAN/WAN wireless network security architecture, key management, secure data exchange and
resilient packet ring; and
Software quality assurance plans and safety plans.

Volume III: Electrical Safety (SE123)

The standards in this volume provide practical recommendations for managing the risks inherent in electrical
work and offer content at all levels of expertise, from
students to senior power professionals. It includes:
Topics related to power generation, including bus
assemblies, substation grounding, energized power
lines and AC adjustable-speed drives;
Topics related to industrial electrical applications,
including resistance heat tracing, power distribution, circuit breakers, motors in hazardous locations, and insulation in stator coils;
Electrical quantities often used with electric equipment and common graphic symbols on electrical
and electronics diagrams; and
Photovoltaic systems.
Volume III also includes several bonus items, such
as NIOSH findings on Worker Deaths by Electrocution, the NIOSH Electrical Safety Student Manual, and
papers on arc flash.
http://shop.ieee.org
http://standards.ieee.org
Upstream Technology

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Roxar Acquires Energy Scitech

Comments Requested on New PRODML

Technology solutions provider Roxar AS has

acquired Energy Scitech Ltd., a UK-based independent consultancy and software development company. This is the first acquisition Roxar has completed since it was acquired by Arcapita Bank and
confirms Arcapitas commitment to providing the
financial backing for Roxar to broaden its solutions
portfolio and invest in innovative technologies.
Energy Scitechs flagship product EnABLE,
a history matching and uncertainty estimation application, is used worldwide for measuring uncertainty in reservoir production performance predictions and in optimizing oilfield plans. EnABLE
will now work alongside Roxars reservoir modeling
application, IRAP RMS, and reservoir simulation tool, Tempest, to provide the first commercial solution where numerous geological scenarios
can be examined and history matched to create
simulation models that are fully consistent with
their underlying geological interpretation. Working
together in a big loop, these three applications
will leverage IRAP RMS repeatable workflow
process to provide a statistical basis for understanding reservoir uncertainty and creating production
estimates confidently from a shared earth model.
www.roxar.com

As promised, in one short year the PRODML [PRODuction xML] working group has delivered its Candidate
Release, Version 1.0. The fourteen industry participants
released the proposed specifications for industry review and
comment during September, and will review the comments
and update the content, with a target publication of the
PRODML Standards, Version 1.0, on October 16, 2006.
The PRODML participants conducted four pilot
test implementations using field data provided by energy
companies together with applications and pilot software
implementations of the PRODML standards provided by
energy solution vendors. The PRODML Standards address
general purpose optimization data and application interactions, but are strongly based on careful study of three basic
production optimization work flows:
Gas lift optimization;
Optimizing production from free flowing wells based
on real-time measurements and network models; and
Field-wide optimization based on real-time measurements, network models and reservoir surveillance.
The standards are designed to be extensible, allowing
more complex workflows with their data requirements,
future optimization techniques and evolving software applications. After the public review period, the PRODML
standards will be transferred to POSC for further stewardship and evolution. Interested parties may still join the
POSC Production SIG. The Candidate Release Specifications may be found on www.PRODML.org.

Intergraph Teams with IBM for

Mobile Workforce
Intergraph Corp. has become an IBM Business
Partner by joining its exclusive PartnerWorld
Industry Networks (PWIN). As part of the
agreement, PWIN IBM and Intergraph have
entered into a marketing relationship whereby
both organizations collaborate to promote their
best-of-breed solutions to the energy, utilities and
telecommunications industries.
Under the terms of the agreement, Intergraphs mobile workforce management system
featuring InService technology will be enabled
with the following IBM technologies: WebSphere
Application Server, WebSphere Business Integration (WebSphere MQ), IBM eServer (xSeries),
and IBM eServer (BladeCenter). By integrating
WebSphere into Intergraph applications, customers will experience lower initial implementation
and integration maintenance costs.
www.intergraph.com
www.ibm.co

Implicit Monitoring Solutions, Wilson JV

Implicit Monitoring Solutions LP, developer of Intellisite, a
remote asset data capture and reporting service, announced
a Partnership Agreement with Wilson, a global provider of
pipes, valves, fittings and tools. The Intellisite service delivers secure field production data via the Internet so clients
can improve uptime and equipment performance, optimize
operating expenses, analyze production data and satisfy
report regulations and nomination compliance.
Earl Springer, VP Sales, said Wilson believes Implicit
Monitoring Solutions offers a valuable production data
system supported by a highly skilled technical service and
support team to the oil and gas market.
Wilsons endorsement of Intellisites technology along with our aggressive channel program will prove to be advantageous to both
partners as well as the clients, noted Graham Scooter
Beachum III, President, Implicit Monitoring Solutions.
Intellisite is a great addition to Wilsons already extensive
line of products, providing an automation service that will
allow them to be more competitive in todays market.
www.implicitmonitoringsolutions.com

DeltaV Training Course Online

Yokogawa Updates STARDOM

Emerson Process Management is now offering a comprehensive DeltaV Operator Training Course using eLearning online training. The new course provides in-depth
information on the DeltaV system, operator user interface,
alarms, trending and module operation. This program is a
cost-effective alternative to traditional classroom training,
as it eliminates the need for costly travel and lodging.
Our eLearning course, offered over the Internet, requires only a personal computer and a broadband Internet
connection. Customers can just log on and learn and stay
on as long as they want, said Jim Siemers of Emersons
Educational Services.
This 12-hour online course includes detailed, stepby-step instructions and illustrations with accompanying
audio presentations, demonstrations, practice sessions,
workshops, quizzes and a final exam. Progress reports to
management are offered throughout the course, as well as
CEU credits for course completion.
www.emersonprocess.com/education/elearning_DeltaV.asp

Yokogawa Electric Corp. has released an upgraded version of its STARDOM network-based control system
that provides a number of enhancements. Key features
of the enhancements are an improved communication
function for controlling widely distributed production
facilities and the capability to enhance control system
reliability by using STARDOM in combination with
other control devices in a large plant.
STARDOM is an open control system comprised
of function-specific control, operation and monitoring components that can be interconnected flexibly
and on a scaleable basis using networking technology.
The system features the same high reliability and
supportability of a DCS while having the openness,
versatility and cost-effectiveness of systems that combine PCs and programmable logic controllers (PLCs).
The DNP3 communication protocol is increasingly employed in control systems for oil and gas facilities
that are dispersed over wide areas. In previous versions,
serial interfaces such as RS-232C were prepared for
DNP3. With this upgrade, an Ethernet interface is
provided. When STARDOM is combined with other
control devices to form a large-scale integrated control
system, dual redundancy in the control network can
now be achieved. For instance, the integrated use of the
CENTUM series control system for oil facilities and
STARDOM for shared-use facilities such as product
storage tanks results in a more reliable control system.
www.yokogawa.com/us

4-D Imaging Prevents Oil Pipeline Failures

Berkeley-based 4-D Imaging has applied its state-ofthe-art imaging system to analyze and correct potential
corrosion in oil pipelines before they reach the magnitude
of the problems at Prudhoe Bay that shut down 8% of
US oil production. Oil pipelines have traditionally been
inspected and checked for flaws by using a hand gauge
and ultrasound technology for inspection. By utilizing
4-Ds patented structured light technology, pipeline operators have been able to inspect pipelines and vessels more
precisely and accurately than using these other methods.
Assessing the internal condition of oil pipelines is a
difficult but critical process, as the unfortunate events at
Prudhoe Bay have demonstrated, said Dr. Glen Stevick
of 4-D Imaging. Using 4-D Imagings advanced detection techniques has streamlined the process of inspecting
pipelines and vessels. It is faster and more accurate.
4-D Imaging utilizes a scanner to take 3D images
of pipe damage to determine levels of corrosion, pitting
and/or gouging. These 3D images are then channeled into
a computer program that compares the level of corrosion
found in the pipe to standard corrosion acceptance criteria.
Our technology gives industrial firms a new option
for inspecting critical pieces of equipment more accurately
and efficiently than ever before, Stevick said. What we
are doing now will usher in a new era of equipment inspection that will be able to detect problems before they can
cause operational disruptions. With recent events, weve
seen how important that process can be.
www.4Dimaging.com
October 2006 29

Flowserve Launches ValveAnalysis

Flowserve Corp., provider of fluid motion and control
products and services, has launched Flowserve ValveAnalysis, a software plug-in for Emerson Process
Managements AMS Suite of asset management
tools. Flowserve ValveAnalysis enables AMS users to
run diagnostic signatures for Flowserve valves, actuators and positioners, providing key information that
can be used to maximize equipment performance.
For positioners with actuator pressure management,
the Ramp Signature test plots command versus position
and compares these data to cylinder pressures. The Ramp
Signature test can be used to identify problems such as
leaks in tubing fittings, improperly aligned plugs and
seats, loose linkage, broken actuator springs and sticky
spool valves. The ValveAnalysis HDL test calculates the
four standard diagnostic signatures, hysteresis, deadband,
repeatability and linearity, by opening and closing valves.
These signatures can be saved for future comparison to
determine changes in equipment performance over time.
www.flowserve.com

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Human Resources Software

One of the tightest constraints on the current oil boom

is the lack of qualified people to do the mounting work.
Upstream Technology investigated back-office software
programs to help Human Resources managers hire,
train, deploy, track, provide benefits for and assess performance of employees faster and more cost-effectively.
Heres what we found.

USIS Launches Employment Eligibility

Verification Product
Tulsa-based USIS Commercial Services, a leader in preemployment screening, has launched its I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification Product, a cost-effective
solution employers can use to verify that an employee is
legally authorized to work in the US.
Through a pilot program administered by the US
Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the
new product verifies that an employees name and social
security number match and it provides documentation
from the USCIS confirming that an employee is lawfully permitted to work in the US for purposes of both
employment and wage reporting.
Screening employees for immigration status
exhibits due diligence in preventing the employment of
illegal residents. And with pending legislation, employment eligibility screening may become a requirement in
the near future, said Clint Hill, Verifications Product
Manager, USIS Commercial Services.
For the most comprehensive pre-employment
screening, companies combine the I-9 Employment
Eligibility Verification product with criminal records
searches, credit reports, motor vehicle reports, employment and education verifications, drug testing and other
screening services offered by USIS Commercial Services.
www.usis.com

Upstream Technology

Roundup

Online Auctions Reduce Staff Benefits Costs

Results from a study conducted by Boston-based
HighRoads, provider of benefits lifecycle management
(BLM) solutions, showed that employers can use competitive auctions to provide quality health and welfare
benefits more affordably. Its first annual price elasticity
survey shows that using a transparent bidding environment reduces contract costs by an average of 15%.
The survey was based on the outcomes of nearly 50
request-for-proposal (RFP) processes by companies with
5,000 employees or more. On average, vendors revised
bids 2-3 times to win a companys business, reducing
fees by 7% to 21% for fully insured and self-insured
medical, dental, life, disability and other benefits plans.
CFOs and HR executives often feel powerless to
control double-digit healthcare cost increases, said Paul
Daoust, chairman and CEO, HighRoads. Our survey
showed that companies dont have to simply accept
these increases; they can use the power of the marketplace to protect workers benefits and meet shareholders
mandates to govern this leading cost concern.
HighRoads collaborative BLM solutions provide
unprecedented levels of visibility to information across
multiple plans, processes and transactions to support informed decision-making and uncover opportunities for
streamlined management. This insight enables employers to provide the highest quality employee health and
welfare benefits at substantially lower costs.
Todays benefit RFP processes are incredibly
resource-intensive, consuming staff time and relying
heavily on paper-based workflows because proposals
come in varying formats. With HighRoads solution,
customers can conduct the entire RFP process online,
from the creation of a questionnaire to the acceptance
of vendor responses. Bids can be easily weighted, scored
and compared to support fast, informed decision-making. In addition to compelling vendors to offer better
prices, online RFPs:
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Significantly reduce procurement cycle time while allowing more vendors to participate;
Streamline proposal information in a consistent format,
for apples-to-apples evaluation of vendor bids;
Enable consolidation and reduction in the number of
plans, driving administrative costs even lower; and
Automatically generate a comprehensive audit trail that
complies with governmental regulations, including Sarbanes-Oxley.
www.HighRoads.com

Primavera Provides Insight Into Critical

Staffing Issues
Primavera Systems Inc. has enhanced its solution to help
companies make the most effective and appropriate use of
their available human assets to build lasting customer relationships and boost profitability. Human resource managers need
to identify which employees are available for work at which
locations, schedule consultants for maximum efficiency on
hundreds of simultaneous projects, and ensure that the organization has the resources available to meet current and future
needs. The latest Primavera solution equips staffing managers
with powerful new tools to meet these daily challenges.
When delivering professional services, a persons time
is quite literally money, said Gisela Wilson, director, of
product, project and portfolio management solutions, IDC, a
leading research and advisory firm. By reducing the costs of
coordination, while augmenting the use of business metrics
and forecasts to optimize personnel utilization, Primaveras
solution enhances overall personnel management.
With Primavera, business leaders have all the information
they need to staff current programs, forecast future needs and
quickly communicate critical metrics across their organizations, said Joanne McCool, general manager, Primavera For
Services. As a result, people are able to spend their time making sure they have the right resources they need to meet client
demands effectively, while directly impacting profitability.
Key enhancements include:
Easier collaboration and workflow for staffing requests
includes powerful metrics for analyzing staffing requests,
including time to fulfillment.
Better data integrity with the latest Web services standards embedded integration capabilities allow data
sharing between Primavera software, legacy and other
enterprise systems to ensure data accuracy and eliminate
redundant data entry tasks.
External time and expense support users can now load
time and expense data from other systems into directly
into Primavera.
Primaveras enhanced functionality makes sure that everyone, from resource managers to executives, is up-to-date on
milestones, adjusted schedules, staffing requests and costs.
www.PrimaveraForServices.com
October 2006 31

Lectora Software Takes e-Learning to Next Level

Trivantis Corp., purveyor of digital authoring and publishing
software, has released the Lectora 2006 line of authoring and
publishing tools, which includes Lectora Publisher, Lectora
Professional Publishing Suite, and Lectora International
Publishing Suite, plus special language versions in Spanish,
German and Dutch. The explosive growth of e-learning globally and the needs of trainers and educators for increasingly
faster content development were significant influences on
the 50+ new features of Lectora 2006. Trivantis continues to
make the creation of online content easier, faster, and more
efficient than ever before, while also providing the flexibility
for programmers and technical savvy users to utilize an array
of advanced features to create high-end courses.
The 2005 version of Lectora received rave reviews from
our clients, said Ben Contra, Exec. VP, Trivantis. This year,
however, Lectora takes e-learning development to the next
level by providing the best features weve seen to date. Clients
who tested the beta version were awed by the many benefits
Lectora 2006 provides and we anticipate another record
breaking year!
Key features to the Lectora 2006 line of authoring tools
include:
JavaScript Title Manager helps overcome firewall and
security issues involving Java applets by publishing to
AJAX, which does not require the applets. Organizations
previously "cut off" from e-learning due to security concerns can now offer online training;
Translation tool instantly extracts text from content for
faster and more convenient translation. Once translated,
the text can be imported quickly into the content;
Preview and test in browsers previews selected page in
multiple browsers to test for compatibility and differences. Helps content developers foresee problems, improve
compatibility and manage consistency of the content;
Drag and drop additional files enables quick and easy
addition of PDF and Microsoft PowerPoint files;
Sticky notes enhances collaborative authoring environments by adding "sticky notes," which track the author's
name and the time it was posted; and
Assignable unit prerequisites defines custom learning
paths by specifying requirements for progressing through
a course.
Lectora meets all of the latest e-learning standards,
enabling content to be easily published to SCORM,
AICC and Microsoft LRN. Trivantis destination-neutral philosophy enables content to be published to any
standards-based learning management system, including
Blackboard, WebCT, Pathlore, Plateau, Saba, TEDS and
many more.
A 14-day trial version may be downloaded at:
www.trivantis.com

Upstream Technology

Workstreams Performance, Development Updated

Ottawa-based Workstream Inc., provider of on-demand talent
management software, has released Workstream Performance
6.0. Among its many new features is the ability to track
employee performance against organizational goals, using
multiple types of employee appraisals, including 360-degree
appraisals. The performance assessment and evaluation functionality leverages hundreds of roles and common job profiles
and utilizes an extensive and unique competency dictionary
that contains more than 9,000 competencies.
Workstreams latest performance management release
will become a new pillar in the Workstream TalentCenter suite of solutions, stated Michael Gioja, Exec. VP and
CIO, Workstream. Customers want a robust, integrated
performance product and Workstream now offers a complete set of performance management capabilities including
individual development plan management, multiple types of
performance appraisals, a comprehensive competency library,
all combined with integrated learning content that clearly
complements Workstreams ever-growing talent management
capabilities.
According to a Gartner report titled Talent Management Application Suites Can Enhance Workforce Effectiveness, companies historically have supplemented their
administrative HR applications (personnel, payroll and

Upstream Technology

benefits) with niche talent management applications because they want fewer, more-integrated solutions to support
more-strategic human capital management. Workstream
Performance 6.0 meets these strategic HCM requirements.
It allows HR administrators, managers and employees to
synchronize their performance management processes with a
configurable and easy-to-use interface that includes European
and Asian languages.
Workstream Performance allows customers to configure
the system themselves easily without IT intervention. It can
be deployed as a stand-alone application, integrated with
other applications such as Workstream Compensation to cre
ate a complete Pay-for-Performance solution, or deployed as
a component of an entire Workstream TalentCenter suite roll
out. It can also be integrated with other major ERP systems,
including SAP and Oracle-PeopleSoft.
Workstream also released Workstream Development 6.0,
a new addition to the Workstream TalentCenter suite that
can also be purchased as a stand-alone product. Workstream
Development 6.0 provides Human Resource departments
with tools to retain high-potential employees and develop
the quality of their overall workforces. Key components of
this solution include a robust succession planning product,
organizational charting and the ability for employees to
create and manage individual development plans through
access to over 10,000 pre-packaged career development
courses, including the entire SkillSoft e-library, as well
as through direct links to the Workstream Competency
Dictionary, thus enabling HR departments to simplify and
manage the competency models, jobs and roles within their
organizations.
Customers want an easy way to empower professional
development of job-related skills and competencies within
their workforces, as well as have the ability to harness the
leadership talent that is necessary to drive overall organizational success, said Kevin Dobbs, Exec. VP, Workstream.
Administrators can choose from hundreds of options
for every aspect of competency development and succession
planning. Workstream Development has deep integration to
Workstream Performance, which enables employee assessment results to trigger the creation of Individual Development Plans to address the competency gaps and training
needs of employees. These IDPs can be managed against
a wide array of skills, behaviors, attributes and competencies. Once training is completed, employee profiles are then
automatically updated within the Workstream Development
product.
www.workstreaminc.com

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Talent Management Solutions:

How to Pick One

The recent 2006 Talent Management Survey, conducted

jointly by IHRIM and Knowledge Infusion, revealed
an explosive growth in talent management initiatives
and found that 77% of survey respondents see talent
management increasing in importance for them during
the next three years.
The key drivers for talent management initiatives
identified in the study were the looming talent shortage,
the increased focus on redeploying internal employees
rather than recruiting, and the realization that organizations must link training, knowledge and performance.
This survey validates the fact that organizations worldwide are applying more focus and effort on talent-management initiatives today and will continue to do so in
the future.
With profound changes afoot in human resources
(HR), including the emergence of talent management
suites, the proliferation of on-demand software solutions
and unprecedented merger and acquisition activity, getting a grasp on talent management initiatives and selecting the right vendor can be a complicated and daunting
process. Upstream Technology presents some research
from Gartner analysts to help companies navigate this
complicated process and answer key questions, such as:
What are the current human capital management
trends in the market?
What is talent management and what are today's
talent management alternatives?
What are the top criteria to consider when purchasing a talent management solution?

Talent Management Suites

Most large companies have already implemented human
asset management and administration applications. Human resource management systems (HRMSs) historically
focused on the automation of administrative functions,
such as personnel, payroll and benefits. Once these systems were automated, HR managers turned their attention to more strategic talent management processes.
October 2006 33

A talent management application suite is an integrated set of seven applications that help automate the
major strategic talent management processes, including:
Workforce planning includes demand planning (a
proactive, long-term view of the corporate demand for
resources) and supply planning to identify the sources
of talent and build up talent pools large enough to meet
the anticipated demand.
Talent acquisition includes permanent hiring and
managing contractors.
Performance management includes goal and
objective management, competency management/
gap analysis, appraisal definition and management,
and assessment definition and management. This
functionality should be tightly integrated with
career development, succession planning, learning
and compensation management.
Career development includes career path definition, competency gap comparisons with different
jobs or positions, career planning and mentoring.
Succession planning includes tracking high-potential employees and creating development plans
to ready them for assuming key positions should an
incumbent leave that position.
Learning includes learning management, learning
content management and e-learning. Because many
organizations have already selected solutions in this
area, many talent management application suite
providers merely integrate with such solutions.
Compensation management three types are currently on the market: one for incentive compensation (primarily for sales forces), one for designing
compensation programs, and one for performing
compensation planning (determining bonuses and
merit increases). This third type is usually part of a
talent management application suite.
When considering a talent management solution
and vendor, there are six key criteria to analyze, according to Gartner analysts:
Upstream Technology

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Functionality

Vision

Do the products meet your needs, now and in the future?

Does the vendor company possess adequate domain
expertise?
How much customer experience does the vendor have
with this product?
Architecture
How integrated are the products?
Is there a common data model?
Does the solution have an open interface/API?
What about solutions authentication/security systems?

Cost

Is the solution affordable?

Is there a demonstrable return on investment (ROI)?
What is the total cost of ownership (TCO)?

Services

What kind of ongoing managed services and support

does the vendor provide?
If the solution is hosted, does the vendor own its own
data center?
What kind of installation, configuration, support and
training services are provided?

Viability

Is the company public or private?

If public, are they Sarbanes-Oxley compliant?
Are they SAS 70 certified?
What are their customer renewal rates?

What is the long-term vision of the organization?

Does the company possess the requisite domain expertise?
Is the organization committed to advancing products and
services?

Integrating with Corporate Systems

For best results after implementation, Gartner analysts recommend that talent management suites be integrated with other
enterprise systems (Figure 1), including:
Competency management consistent across the
enterprise;
Self-service portal with role-based access for managers
and employees;
HRMS talent management suites are generally not a
system of record for personal data within the enterprise.
Business process management HR workflows usually
have a variety of approval requirements.
Content management to help users understand not only
how to use the system (enter goals and objectives), but
also how to use it effectively (create meaningful goals).
Knowledge management repositories for best practices
for hiring, motivating, providing performance feedback
and expertise location.
Management reporting reports need to be routed and
stored on other systems according to corporate policy.
Integrating and leveraging talent management applications with these other corporate capabilities can provide
much value to the organization.
www.gartner.com

Source: Workstream

Upstream Technology

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October 2006

Lombardi for Office 2003 Unifies

Enterprise BPM

Schlumberger, Infosys Announce

Integration JV

Lombardi, purveyor of business process management (BPM) software, announced the latest release
of Lombardi for Office 2003, which tightly
integrates the Lombardi TeamWorks BPM software
platform with the Microsoft Office System. The software makes it easy for any employee to participate
in any business process directly from their desktop
using Microsoft Office software including Word,
Excel, Outlook, Office Communicator and InfoPath with virtually no training required. This new
release expands skills-based and context-sensitive
collaboration, making it easier than ever for process
participants to engage the right people at the right
time anywhere in the organization to drive business
process improvement.
Customer acceptance of Lombardi for Office 2003 has been tremendous, said Rod Favaron,
president and CEO at Lombardi. As a process-driven company, everyone here is dedicated to delivering
the best tools and services designed to help customers extend the reach and value of business process
management to every user in their organization.
Adding real-time presence and collaboration further
extends the value that our customers receive as they
deploy BPM software across their enterprise.
Lombardi for Office 2003s strength is leveraging
the familiar and powerful capabilities of the Microsoft
Office System to simplify adoption and participation
in enterprise-level BPM deployments. According to
Forrester Research, Todays information worker tools
are disjointed, fragmented and stove-piped. They
require people to continually step outside their business process. Lombardi for Office 2003 addresses this
issue by enabling business users to locate and communicate with others easily and directly within the
context of the business process they are using.
Leveraging Microsoft applications, Lombardi for
Office 2003 now allows customers to:
Identify and request help from available experts
for tasks or processes based on skill sets or capabilities;
Collaborate in real-time on process steps via
voice, video and Web conferencing using Office
Communicator and Live Meeting;
Integrate BPM chat capabilities into Web-based
coaches; and
Log chat conversations as part of the process history/audit trail for compliance.
www.lombardisoftware.com
www.microsoft.com

Schlumberger and Infosys have formed a global alliance to

provide comprehensive information management solutions
that integrate upstream technical and business processes for
oil and gas companies. The alliance will address a wide array
of solutions, primarily focused on the integration of E&P
petrotechnical data and applications, including unstructured
data, with financial and human resources back-end systems,
in order to streamline business decision-making processes.
Our customers are under tremendous pressure to accelerate their production and replace reserves. To achieve
results, operators are looking at ways to reengineer their
technical and business processes, said Olivier Le Peuch,
president, Schlumberger Information Solutions. By aligning
with Infosys, Schlumberger brings customers a much needed
combination of technology, domain expertise and systems
integration capability on a global, enterprise scale.
This alliance combines Schlumbergers E&P domain
expertise with the Global Delivery Model (GDM) pioneered
by the Infosys organization to create a unique industry
resource. Infosys GDM reduces engagement risk as it takes
work where it can be done best and makes the most economic sense with the least amount of risk.
Schlumberger is the leader in delivering breakthrough
solutions to the upstream oil and gas industry, said Naren
Koduvattat, head of Infosys Energy Business Unit. Infosys
is at the leading edge of designing and delivering IT-enabled business solutions to oil and gas companies, and our
combined expertise will deliver powerful solutions to the
E&P industry. Our alliance will provide end-to-end services
integrating petrotechnical data with other relevant business
systems, which is atypical in the market today.
www.slb.com
www.infosys.com

October 2006 35

Project InVision, WST Pacific Form

Strategic Alliance
Australias WST Pacific, a project portfolio management
solution provider, and Project InVision International, a
US software vendor, announced a strategic alliance based
on their shared vision to help companies improve business
performance. The alliance will allow both companies to
drive new growth opportunities in Australia and will provide
customers with solutions to improve operations, reduce costs
and mitigate business risk.
www.wstpacific.com.au
www.projectinvision.com

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Schlumberger, Cisco, Intel to

Develop Wireless Service

Schlumberger, Cisco Systems and Intel announced a

collaboration to develop a first mile wireless service for
oilfield operations. The first mile in the oilfield refers
to the critical connectivity of drilling sites or producing
fields into a wider network. The service will help operators and their partners manage drilling and production operations better through an innovative wireless
fabric of sensors, distributed computing networks and
service-oriented applications. This wireless solution for
the digital oilfield will remove traditional barriers for
instrumentation and improve communication services
with access to voice, video, data and SCADA.
We will deliver a collaborative work environment
in which geoscientists, petroleum engineers, rig and
platform personnel, and other technical and business
analysts can access and exploit multiple data sources to
improve both tactical and strategic operational decisions, said Demetrios Stellas, VP infrastructure services, Schlumberger Information Solutions (SIS).
The new interactive environment from Schlumberger will enable operators to improve the productivity
of field operations through remote operations support;
improve production through real-time surveillance and
control; and optimize planning through rapid model
updates using enhanced collaboration between development, drilling and production teams.
At the core of the offering is the unwiring of the
first mile through the deployment of a localized wireless service encompassing integrated hardware, software
and services for both greenfield and brownfield assets.
Unwiring the first mile will enable energy companies
to take advantage of high-bandwidth, global sensor
networks connecting people, processes, information and
events in fields that would be impossible or cost-prohibitive to link via wired connectivity.
Underlying this end-to-end operational framework
is a robust, resilient Cisco infrastructure that includes
strong identity management, physical and network security, and proactive management that that is designed
Upstream Technology

to provide high availability continuously.

This service improves sense and respond capabilities and can reduce unplanned downtime, optimize
production and deliver new communication services to
the very edge of the organization, said Mark Miller,
director of enterprise operations, Cisco Systems. In the
digital oilfield, IT has left the building. Wireless Cisco
technology in the oilfield enabled by a service-oriented
network architecture allows energy companies to extend
the office environment, including network security, to
the wellhead and manage assets that are at the first mile
of exploration and production in the right time.
The Cisco service-oriented network architecture services are powered by Intels latest technologies and will
feed data from the new wireless sensors into advanced
analysis features of desktop, server and mobile platforms
powered by Intel Core 2 Duo processors.
This first mile wireless solution covers the site
to integrate data capture, store, process and visualize
information. This solution should reduce time between
detection and action, enabling faster decision making, which results in improved operations, said John
Davies, VP, customer solutions group, Intel. We are
pleased to continue our strategic relationship with Schlumberger to optimize the digital oilfield.
The Schlumberger vision for the digital oilfield
includes a global managed network covering the entire
oilfield operation, from the first mile to the last mile,
connecting field operations with petrotechnical professionals in the mobile office environment. Schlumberger
recently announced an alliance with BT to provide rich
collaboration through converged communications and
IT services, supporting interactive drilling and production operations. This first mile wireless service provides
the critical first link in the digital communication chain
for operations not served through wired connectivity.
www.slb.com
www.cisco.com
www.intel.com
36

October 2006

I
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CASE
STUDY

Samson Implements Vertabase

Pro to Manage IT Group

Vertabase, a developer of productivity-enhancing software solutions, said that Samson Investment Co., an
oil and gas exploration and production company, has
implemented Vertabase Pro software. First launched in
1999, Vertabases flagship product Vertabase Pro organizes people and projects by simplifying, centralizing and
accelerating access to critical, up-to-date information
by providing resource planning, project management,
project tracking and document management, thereby
providing a framework for increased productivity.
Tulsa-based Samson is a privately held company
with operations in the US, Canada and the North Sea.
With more than 1,300 employees at seven primary locations worldwide, Samson is one of the top 20 independents in the US.
The Samson Information Services and Technology
(IS&T) team develops and manages the telecommunications networks and applications for a wide variety of
business and scientific operations, including: financial
systems, management reporting, geoscience, engineering, data warehousing and geographical information
systems. With more than 180 projects ongoing at any
given time, effective time management is critical to the
IS&T teams overall success.

C
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As part of a regulatory compliance initiative to

institute best practices, Samsons IS&T team began
evaluating project management software solutions in
2004. After testing several competing solutions, Samson
selected and implemented Vertabase Pro in June 2005.
Since we first deployed Vertabase Pro about a year
ago, we have been very pleased with the results, said
David Bagwell, manager, personal system application
development, Samson. Vertabase Pro enables us to
track time spent on numerous concurrent projects efficiently. And, its very easy to use. Because it accelerates
what can be a complicated task, our team was quick to
understand the value of working with Vertabase Pro. On
the basis of our success, we are looking at ways to implement Vertabase Pro in other departments within our
company.
Furthermore, the training and support offered by
Vertabase has been excellent, he continued. The Vertabase team offers more than assistance related to their
product; they share their overall expertise in project
management. Working with Vertabase has been a very
positive experience that has given us excellent results.
www.vertabase.com
www.samson.com

ZigBee Alliance Releases ZigBee-2006

The ZigBee Alliance has just released ZigBee-2006, the
much-anticipated update to the original ZigBee-2004
protocol, incorporating a number of enhancements
geared towards the wireless communications market.
The exact technical specifications in this release will be
available only to Alliance members initially, as a perk
of membership. The release will be fully available to the
public in the first quarter of 2007.

October 2006 37

ZigBee-2006 competes with two other networking

technologies, Z-Wave and INSTEON. According to
ABI Research Services, it is too early to say which will
win out. It is not inconceivable to imagine a scenario
developing where all three of the current new contenders find their niches and gain traction, with bridges
and gateways inter-working between them where
necessary, ABI Research reported.
www.abiresearch.com
Upstream Technology

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J-W Operating Installs

Flow-Cal System

Houston-based Flow-Cal Inc., purveyor of measurement data management software, was selected by J-W
Operating Co. to provide a system for their Energy
Services and Energy Development business line.
We installed Flow-Cal straight out of the box and
were generating measurement volume statements within
a week, said Todd Stout, systems integrator SCADA,
J-W Operating Co. Flow-Cal has been a key factor in
streamlining our gas volume and gas analysis processes.
J-W Operating is active in many phases of the oil
and gas industry and chose Flow-Cals client-server system with select enterprise modules to create a customized system specific to their particular needs.
J-W Operatings selection of Flow-Cal highlights

Upstream Technology

CASE
STUDY

the flexibility and versatility of our application, said

Flow-Cal President Michael Squyres.
Such versatility includes streamlining and enhancing
measurement data management by allowing large-scale
applications to connect the entire operation to one central system. Its data export and reporting capabilities link
information to downstream production and/or financial
accounting applications and users. The Flow-Cal system
provides advanced data validation and editing features
that allow measurement personnel to process field data
more quickly and accurately into custody transfer data.
It also offers the assurance of audit accountability and
complete compliance with all industry standards.
www.flowcal.com

38

October 2006

I
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Creative Mesh Solution

Enables Remote Monitoring

C
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AMC-12 Satellite

SES Americom has been awarded a multi-year contract

by West African Gas Pipeline Co. Ltd. (WAPCo), based
in Accra, Ghana. The contract calls for SES Americom
to provide a satellite-based communications solution
for WAPCos gas pipeline. This managed solution will
operate on Americoms AMC-12 satellite via the Leuk,
Switzerland teleport. SES Americom will be responsible
for the purchase, installation and integration of the
necessary equipment, as well as maintaining the network once it is fully installed and
functioning. The network will
enable WAPCo to monitor and
control in real time how the
gas is traveling, to collect data
on the gas flow, and to gauge the
level of the gas in the pipeline.
SES Americom is supplying
a unique mesh solution that will
use equipment from the German
company, ND SatCom (recently
acquired by SES Astra), at seven
remote site/delivery points along
the pan-African pipeline. With a
2.4-m VSAT (very small aperture
technology) antenna stationed
at each site, supervisory control and data acquisition
(SCADA) information will be collected at each site and
directly linked to the other sites on the network using
three TDMA (time division multiple access) satellite
channels.
The AMC-12 is an advanced, high-powered Cband satellite that serves local, transcontinental and
transoceanic customers throughout the Atlantic Ocean
region, icnluding North America, the Caribbean, South
America, Europe and Africa. AMC-12 is high-powered,
state-of-the-art, and offers unprecedented levels of Cband performance.
To help the pipeline obtain SCADA, voice and
data information efficiently and reliably, which is vital
October 2006 39

to operating a mission-critical pipeline efficiently and

safely across multiple monitor and data collection centers, we designed a redundant mesh satellite topology
network as the most cost effective solution, said Eric
Diamond, sales engineer, SES Americom.
The WAPCo pipeline extends from east to west,
starting in Escravos, Nigeria, and ending in Accra,
Ghana. In addition to Escravos and Accra, the pipelines
monitoring sites include Lagos, Nigeria; Cotonou, Benin;
Lome, Togo; and Tema, Ghana.
WAPCo is a joint venture of ChevronTexaco, Nigerian National Petroleum Corp.; Shell and Takoradi
Power Co. The project dates back
to 1995 when the governments of
Benin, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo
entered into a Heads of Agreement
to make available a clean, abundant, stable and cost-effective natural gas supply from Nigeria as fuel
for power generation and industrial
development in Ghana, Togo and
Benin. The pipeline is expected to
have a maximum capacity of 470
MMcfd and is expected to contribute toward the regions economic integration objectives
by establishing a reliable energy infrastructure to attract
further investment.
Through its Enterprise Managed Solution division, SES Americom, engineered a mesh network design
that will meet WAPCos requirement for a complex,
reliable and redundant solution, said Brent Bruun,
president, SES Americoms Managed Solutions Division. SES Americom is strongly focusing on providing
turnkey satellite solutions to the oil and gas vertical
market solutions similar to this that include selling
equipment, configuring networks, on-site installation
and network management.
www.ses-americom.com
Upstream Technology

Angstrom Unveils Titan64 QuadraBlade

Penguin New Altus Linux Servers

Angstrom Microsystems announced their first quad

processor blade server, which will support Next-Generation AMD Opteron processors. These blade
servers can be easily racked to provide one of the
highest densities of any 4P AMD Opteron processorbased server in a rack today up to 208 processors
and 52 blades.
Angstroms compute-hungry customers can take
full advantage of Next-Generation AMD Opteron
processors in one of the densest cluster-friendly form
factors available today, said Lalit Jain, CEO, Angstrom Microsystems. With our patent-pending cooling technology, Angstrom enables scaling of highvolume deployments with the most current processors AMD has to offer.
A Titan64 QuadraBlade rack is comprised of
four stacked nests, each nest housing 13 QuadraBlades for a total of 52 blades. Each blade is a fourprocessor cache coherent, shared memory (SMP)
system with the option of 2 SCSI, IDE or SATA-II
HDDs and high-speed interconnects such as Infiniband or Infinipath.
Angstrom Microsystems recognizes that AMD64
technology is able to address compute-intensive users
demands such as performance-per-watt and energyefficiency, said Pat Patla, director, server/workstation
marketing, AMD. Customers of the NextGeneration AMD Opteron processor-based Titan64
QuadraBlade server can expect a manageable and
reliable high-performance computing-specific cluster
solution that can scale as more compute power is
required.
www.Angstrom.com

Penguin Computing announced its new Altus 1600 and

2600 servers with up to two of the Next-Generation AMD
Opteron 2000 Series processors. The new line of Altus
Linux servers provides greater efficiency and compute power
and faster memory than ever before on an AMD processor
platform. The Altus family gives both high performance
computing (HPC) and enterprise customers increased
productivity and lower total cost of ownership, even for the
most compute-intensive applications.
Penguins 1U Altus 1600 and 2U Altus 2600 servers
feature SATA, SCSI and SAS storage options, expansion
slots for PCI Express serial input/output technology to accommodate high-performance cluster fabrics and enterprise-class storage adapters, and optional PCI-X slots for
legacy expansion cards.
New processor features, including AMD Virtualization, allow customers to increase productivity. This
advancement adds CPU level support to enable low overhead context transfers between virtual machine instances,
reducing complexity of third-party virtualization software
and reducing overhead. The new 64-bit Altus servers include
integrated support for IPMI 2.0 for secure remote management, eliminating the need for external management devices
and reducing the cost of server administration. They also
offer optional hot-swap capability for hard drive replacement
while the system remains in operation.
The new Altus line also incorporates up to 24GB of
DDR2 memory to ensure reliability. This type of memory
module increases performance, requires less power than pervious generations, and allows customers to build large RAM
configurations at lower total cost. All Altus servers support
Red Hat Linux and SuSE Linux operating systems.
www.penguincomputing.com

Oracle Application Express Update Released

Oracle announced the availability of Oracle Application
Express Release 2.2, a free tool that enables users to build,
deploy and manage secure Web applications easily using
only a Web browser. The update promotes the reuse of Web
applications by enabling users to package applications and
dependent objects such as tables, seed data and images, into
a single file. This enables applications to be installed seamlessly into other Oracle Databases running Oracle Application Express. The update also features an item finder that
allows users to search within applications, component-level
export capability, and a new Control Wizard.
Oracle Application Express is a Web-based application development tool integrated with all editions of Oracle
Database 10g and Oracle9i Database Release 2. It enables
users with limited programming experience to develop scal-

able Web applications that can be deployed quickly to tens,

hundreds or thousands of users. Oracle Application Expresss
debugging, reporting and user interface features were also
enhanced to speed user application development and testing.
Forrester Research Senior Analyst Noel Yuhanna
reported that the adoption of Oracle Application Express
has increased two-fold in the last calendar year because
it is easy to use, saves money when consolidating spreadsheets and desktop databases, and comes bundled for free
with Oracle Database.
Oracle Application Express a good fit, Yuhanna
wrote. Oracle Application Express is not a replacement
for Java or .NET, but it can help develop and deploy Web
applications quickly, Yuhanna said.
http://otn.oracle.com/apex
40

October 2006

Passlogix Tops 350,000 Licenses in

OpenSpirit Names Beijing Co-Sail

Agent for China

Passlogix, provider of enterprise single sign-on solutions, has sold more than 350,000 licenses to companies in the energy industry. Passlogix delivers easily
deployable, cost-effective password management solutions for simplifying user access to multiple enterprise
applications. Many of the licenses are for users outside
the US because the platform is available in nine languages, including Japanese, Chinese and Korean.
Three of the worlds largest energy companies as
well as many regional energy companies have adopted the Passlogix v-GO Sign-On Platform to
strengthen security policies and practices, eliminate the
need for users to remember dozens of passwords, and
eliminate calls to the help desk for password resets.
The energy sector faces multiple challenges in
controlling data access by employees, from the need to
adhere to homeland security regulations to the fact that
their distribution networks may extend from remote drill
sites in isolated fields to platforms in the middle of the
ocean, said Marc Boroditsky, president CEO, Passlogix.
Our enterprise single sign-on solution is becoming the
energy industry standard because of its robust functionality, rapid deployment and ability to integrate with virtually any other component of the identity infrastructure,
including two-factor authentication devices.
The Passlogix v-GO platform is compatible with
smart cards, tokens, public key infrastructure (PKI) and
biometrics to enhance network security. Passlogix technology also supplies IT administrators with comprehensive reports on application access-related activity to aid
regulatory compliance.
www.passlogix.com

OpenSpirit, provider of platform-independent, vendorneutral integration solutions for upstream data, has named
Beijing Co-Sail Software Ltd. as its regional OpenSpirit
representative.
During the past few years, China has seen significant
foreign investment, and many of the supermajors are showing an increased interest in developing partnerships with
the national oil companies, said Dan Piette, president and
CEO, OpenSpirit. This global interaction, coupled with
Chinas own interest in acquiring foreign oil and gas properties, makes the need for integrated data management a
priority. The Co-Sail team will be an excellent partner and
we are delighted to have them represent OpenSpirit.
Established in August 1997 with the support of the
Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of
Sciences, Beijing Co-Sail Software focuses on sophisticated
equipment and software for the global oil and gas exploration market. Co-Sail also provides technological research
and development of new theories, methods and software,
as well as exploration and data management technical and
consulting services.
Co-Sail is dedicated to finding innovative new ways
to exploit E&P technologies, said Leng Chuanbo, president, Co-Sail. OpenSpirit provides the level of seamless integration, support and customer support that our
clients demand. We are pleased to represent OpenSpirit in
China.
www.openspirit.com
www.co-sail-soft.com

RigNet Expands On-site Operations to Brazil

RigNet Inc., provider of managed communications
services for the global upstream oil and gas industry,
announced an expansion of the companys operations to
Brazil. RigNet has opened an office in Rio de Janeiro to
provide regional field support to existing customers and
respond to the growing demand of communication services from vessel owners and service companies operating
in Brazilian waters. The company uses leading satellite
and networking technologies to provide a high-quality
solution for broadband data, voice and video communications, as well as real-time data management. RigNets
on-site technical support staff will be based in Macae, and
will deliver the same high levels of service that its customers receive throughout the rest of the world.
Our expansion to Brazil is an exciting move for
RigNet as the company continues to grow and capitalize
on the tremendous opportunities in this part of the world
October 2006 41

and globally, said Omar Kulbrandstad, CEO, RigNet.

This expansion will allow our sales and technical support
staff to be closer to our customers, and allow us to better
serve this important market. It also supports our plan for
further growth in the South America region.
Laurent Maubre has joined RigNet as general manager of the Brazil office. Maubre comes to RigNet from
Litwin Engineering, where he served as VP of the companys oil and gas division. He brings more than 18 years
of offshore upstream oil and gas experience and offshore
project management in Brazil and Argentina.
RigNet has an outstanding track record for delivering
high-quality communication services that are on the cutting edge of offshore communication technologies. They
enable oil and gas players to tackle the E&P challenges
faced throughout the offshore industry, Maubre said.
www.rig.net

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Best Practices Guide to

Acquiring Enterprise Software
By David Craig
COO
McLaren Software

Anyone who has been involved with the acquisition of

enterprise-scale software knows that it is a complex process,
far more complex than buying shrink-wrap software. For
this reason, it should not be approached in the same manner. Unfortunately, this is often what happens. We refer to
this as lose-lose procurement, because neither the buyer
nor seller ends up getting what they need. We recommend
procurement approaches that are far more optimal and can
drive significant advantage for the buyer, creating a true
win-win situation.

Lose-Lose Procurement
What factors contribute to lose-lose situations? First,
the purchasing decision for enterprise software usually
requires a number of key stakeholders, each having different priorities and objectives. Each stakeholder expects
significant business process change and return on investment, and you inevitably have a too many cooks spoil
the broth scenario.
Second, rigid procurement guidelines, methods,
instruments and rules often disrupt and unfairly influence
the decision making process. In addition, RFP documents
often contain language so arcane that the meaning is lost
on both sides. Often, the buyer is full of fear and trepidation because of procurement rules or due to the organizational mindset that suppliers are the enemy and should be
treated with hostility and doubt. Taking such an adversarial
approach dooms the project to failure from the outset.
Third, the procurement process can mistakenly treat
enterprise software procurements the same as buying
pens and pencils. While procurement is rightly focused
on getting the best deal, the process must be expanded to
recognize the complexity of purchasing and implementing
enterprise software, as low price does not always equate to
the best deal. Using a low price method will most likely
produce an unsatisfactory outcome for both the buyer and
supplier. The customer does not get what they want and
wonders why the supplier is not doing more or appears to
nickel and dime the company at every opportunity.
Upstream Technology

Lose-lose procurement has the following symptoms:

The end users do not get what they want a solution
to their business problem; and
The software implementation is plagued by change
requests resulting in cost overruns and project delays.
Lose-lose procurement fuels these issues due to the fact
that buyers typically dont know the whole story, and the
procurement process limits the suppliers ability to share
new ideas that could improve business performance.
To combat this situation, the business must promote
getting the following questions answered:
Why would you want to make an electronic version
of the old world?
Why hard code the inefficiencies of your current and
old procedures?
If you describe a system to a supplier as you perceive
it, they may respond, but how do you get industry
best practice?
How do you get the best the supplier can offer?
How do you get the best value for the business?
Research shows that a partnership is far more likely to
deliver success than mutual distrust and argument. Both
parties want the project to be on time, on budget and
highly successful. We call this win-win procurement.

Four Levels to Win-Win Procurement

To embrace a win-win procurement approach, companies must address sponsorship at multiple levels and avoid
many pitfalls. By applying the following guidelines, your
company will have the sponsorship needed to procure enterprise software that successfully delivers a greater return
on investment and meets business expectations.
High level sponsors are fundamental to the success of any enterprise software project. These sponsors
must make sure that the project team understands the
corporate vision and that the software is intended to
act as a change agent to transform the business, enable
it to meet ongoing challenges, and gain competitive
advantage.
42

October 2006

To achieve success, the sponsor has to drive the change

process, the decision-making and the pace of the project. The
more engaged the sponsor, the easier, faster and better the
project executes. This is almost a Law of Enterprise Software
Physics: Every lack of action on the sponsors part results in
an equal and opposite lack of reaction in the project. Thus,
the four levels to win-win procurement are all about sponsorship best practices.

best-in-class application solution and a services partner who

is a change expert and industry practitioner - not keyboard
jockeys that can customize enabling technologies to look
something like your current processes.
Sponsorship is critical to making change a reality. A common pitfall is selecting service partners based on the lowest
daily rate. This is a direct route back to a lose-lose procurement approach that will result in a loss of the expertise needed
to drive business change.

Level 1 Getting the Right Solution

Business leaders must be engaged.

IT should not represent the business.

Level 2 Driving Business Change

Create an agenda for change.

Focus on business needs rather than user needs.

Level 3 Getting Business Value

Develop clear ROI targets.

Open purchasing processes.
Manage the delivery teams.
Buy, dont build.

Level 4 Managing the Project for Success

Set budgets and a sensible allowance for variations.

Get born, and then develop later.

Business Leaders Must Be Engaged

Only the business understands its application requirements.
Therefore, when it comes to business applications, it must be
the business that defines and procures what it needs. No one
else has the big picture, knows what changes are required,
and can think beyond a departmental level where silo mentalities prevail. Business leaders must take charge to ensure the
business needs are adequately represented.

IT Should Not Represent the Business

IT is very important in the procurement process. Corporate
IT functions do a superb job of understanding and supplying
the infrastructure and services that leverage company assets. It
is important that applications leverage the corporate infrastructure and fit with carefully crafted strategies that deliver
security, robustness and cost-effectiveness to the business. IT
can verify and support that process, but should not be the
owner and driver of business change. IT must agree with the
decision, but they cannot identify the solutions or make the
decision for the business; they generally dont know the business well enough.

Create an Agenda for Change

You do not buy enterprise software to be the same company
you were yesterday. It is vital that enterprise applications be
full of business processes based on industry best practices. By
taking this approach, you enshrine new approaches in your
business, not simply what youve always done! Change is vital
and the management of that change, to align user needs with
business needs, is fundamental. That is why you need both a
October 2006 43

Focus on Business Needs, Not User Needs

The sponsors job is to make sure the project team does not
forget that the new system belongs to the company and not
the users. The business focus must be on improving performance and company profitability. All too often, companies start to procure a system by asking, What are our user
requirements? The question should instead be, What are our
business requirements?
Many procurement programs and implementations get
bogged down by users demanding that A+B = C is a critical requirement, as this is how it is done today, when the purchased
application provides B+A = C functionality. Systems and procedures are often a function of common practice and historic
reasons no longer of relevance. Why would you build that into
your new system? An enterprise application is an opportunity
to change the way you work for the better. It is important that
you focus on what the business needs, then have the sponsor
align the users with the needs of the business - not vice versa.

Develop Clear ROI Targets

You need to be clear about what bottom-line return is expected, how that return will be measured, and how overall
project success will be defined. Too many projects fail because
the bottom-line success is not well enough understood and
features/functions become key project drivers versus the business requirements. Once again, sponsorship from the business
leaders is key, so that expectations are clear. In addition, sponsors must provide an environment that facilitates decision
making so that the project can be delivered on time, within
budget and on target, based on business objectives.

Open Purchasing Processes

The matrix in Figure 1 is essential to understanding the need
for open approaches to win-win procurement. For most companies, the majority of procurement transactions will happen
in the lower two boxes (non-strategic). Consequently, these
transactions often shape the procurement processes and rules.
Commodities are all about price competition. Quality,
performance and on-time delivery are expected, and price and
flexibility are all that matter. Traditional procurement processes work well in this arena, as do online auctions.
However, purchases that have strategic impact are much
more complex, making these methods inappropriate. The
concept of partnership is needed here for win-win sourcing.
Upstream Technology

There are many examples of ill-written RFPs which either do

not convey enough information or are too restrictive, preventing the supplier from giving you the best value response. Keep
the channels of communication open with vendors. If it is
time to negotiate, then negotiate! This will result in a win-win
for both parties when carried out using an open communication approach.

process; however, real benefit will be gained by changing

the existing business processes.
Avoiding the build pitfall requires good business sponsorship to make sure the procurement process addresses the real
business and the project has the ability to drive the needed
business change.

Set Budgets and a Sensible Allowance for Variations

Manage the Delivery Teams
The customer needs to make resources available, make decisions on time, review documents on time and work cooperatively and communicatively with the supplier. It is the
sponsors responsibility to make sure this gets done. While
suppliers can assist by helping to manage change or highlighting challenges and methods of dealing with them, they cannot
make decisions for the customer or alter the customer project
teams behavior without the help of the sponsor.
The worst-case examples of this occur in outsourcing
contracts, where companies forget that
they need to manage the outsource
partner. They are surprised when
things dont go as expected, yet they
did not articulate their needs and
expectations competently. To get the
desired results, buying enterprise
software needs the same level of
commitment as managing a fullblown outsourcing engagement.

Buy, Dont Build

When business practices

conict with the capabilities of
commercial software, we should
question and probably modify
the business practices rather than
the software.
Duke University
Strategic Planning Report

Purchasing off-the-shelf software

to support all non-core competency business areas has proven to
improve business processes and the
bottom line. However, we still see
cases where the major competition is
an in-house build scenario. We believe this is driven by three
primary reasons:
Procurement is led by the IT group, whose natural inclination is to build. This is especially true in document
management where IT has acquired an infrastructure
solution thinking it can address business needs. Building applications around an infrastructure technology
has proven to result in platform lock-in due to the costs
associated with upgrading the custom applications.
Lack of knowledge of existing applications that can address the business need. In many cases this is driven by
looking for a business solution that supports current processes, rather than identifying the business objectives and
looking for a solution that can deliver improved processes
and business performance.
Lack of business sponsorship necessary to drive the
required business change. Enterprise applications can
appear risky if they do not match the current business
Upstream Technology

Many companies underestimate the true cost of bringing

enterprise software online. The cost of the actual software is
only a portion of the cost associated with driving the needed
business change and rolling out the new application.
Using a win-win procurement approach, you will be in a
position to work openly with your suppliers to identify both
the real cost and real ROI for your application. In all likelihood, you will see value and benefits that you could never
have identified on your own.
The sponsor must be willing and able to appropriate the
needed funds for a successful
project. Without a win-win
partnership approach, the
chance of getting the budget
correct is fairly low. On the
other hand, a solid partnership will allow an open process that fosters mutual trust
and ultimate success.

Get Born, Then

Develop

Enterprise project teams

need to gain experience with
the enterprise application to
understand fully how it can
transform the business. We
are not born at age 40 with successful marriages, happy children, university degrees, beautiful
homes and a nice car. We develop from a limited state with
enormous potential, and realize that potential at a pace and
rate that we can accommodate.
A best practice approach would be to buy an application,
go live quickly with few changes, let a limited set of users
gain experience with the application and then work on configuring/customizing the solution as needed for a full rollout.
The tendency to build perfection before going live is flawed.
If you wait for perfection, you will always wait, spend a lot
more than budgeted and ultimately be disappointed.

Do It Right
As a software vendor and buyer, we have been on both sides of
the procurement experience and have witnessed the good, the
bad and the ugly. It is far too common and extremely unfortunate when either side does not have the right people in place,
or enough information at hand, to make it a successful project.
44

October 2006

Enterprise software can transform your business if you

do it right. Buy, dont build, engage and communicate openly
and intelligently at a business level, look for best practices,
go live quickly, and own the process from the top, driving

an agenda for real change and business benefit. The key to

success is based on a win-win procurement approach that
leverages sponsorship with a focus on business objectives.
www.mclarensoftware.com

Enterprise Software
is here

Non-Strategic

Strategic

Figure 1. The Business Value Quadrants

Source: IBM Procurement Strategy Procurement 2000

Low Value

October 2006 45

High Value

M
A
N
A
G
E
M
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T

Interview
Saad Bargach
CIO
Schlumberger

After Schlumberger refocused entirely on its oilfield

services business in 2003, it was spending more than
2% of its revenue on IT in the form of the core services
related to computer platforms, connectivity, security,
collaboration and business applications such as ERP.
This amounts to a respectable yearly investment in
IT, but it isnt an ambitious enough mission for Saad
Bargach, the companys new chief information officer.
He told Upstream Technology how he plans to move
Schlumberger up the ladder of IT maturity, then help
customers do the same.
IT cannot just be an enabler any more, but must
be a contributor to the business, he said.
Bargach explained that there are three main stages
on this ladder: Deliver, Harvest and Align. Each stage
is further subdivided into several rungs. The first stage,
Deliver, consists of stabilizing and standardizing the
infrastructure and basic tools throughout the enterprise,
providing a good foundation for the next stages while
wringing out all unnecessary costs and outsourcing
commodity services. Bargach pointed out that under
his predecessor, Schlumberger had pretty much put its
infrastructure in order. While he insisted that one must
not lose track of the cost and quality of these fundamental services, this success allows him to focus more of
his time on the next stages.
The second level, Harvest, uses data mining, business intelligence applications, and knowledge management to extract value from these IT investments. A key
part of this is to incorporate real-time data (both business data and technical data, such as production measurements) into the decision-making process. Bargach
has appointed Sanjaya Sood, VP Global Real-Time, to
oversee this initiative.
The third stage, Align, is the most difficult. The key
business objective that IT needs to align with, according to Bargach, is automation and augmentation. This
includes the smart field technologies that will contribute significantly to the hydrocarbon production value
Upstream Technology

chain. But Bargachs view of the concept of augmentation is a broad one, and is focused on people.
We added the word augmentation because our
industrys problem today is not to do the same amount
of work with fewer people, it is to do a vastly increased
amount of work with the same size workforce.
As a result, one challenge is to grow new hires into
experts in a very short time, so what we need is a sort
of pressure cooker that minimizes the time to competency and makes them into experts in fewer years, he
said. The oil and gas industry needs to develop ways to
virtualize experience in order to conquer its staffing
challenges, suggested Bargach, who considers this approach much more effective than ordinary knowledge
management. An expert can actually witness a frac job
in the field, watch how its done, look at the equipment,
and diagnose a problem without having to be sent
out to the field. Ten minutes later, he can be working
on another job at the other end of the world. We need
to find better ways of exploiting the corporate memory
using both knowledge and context management.
And as the industry moves from remote observation
to remote control, the value keeps increasing, Bargach
said. Not only is it more efficient to have a few experts
at a central location rather than dispatching a lot of experts out to fields all over the world, but it also provides
a better quality of life by minimizing employees travel
and time spent away from their families. Lifestyle issues are looming large in our industry, and our augmentation initiatives will address this directly.
People augmentation will also require better data
extraction, quality control and loading technologies.
Today, reservoir simulation is about 10% simulation
and 90% data preparation, Bargach said. We have to
find ways so our people dont spend days preparing a
job that will allow them to apply their real expertise for
a few hours, but rather the other way around. We have
to get rid of the clutter.
This concern for efficiency, and how IT can posi46

October 2006

tively impact it, extends beyond the field and into the office.
Schlumberger is planning, in partnership with Harvard Business School, to study how to streamline internal administrative business processes. Bargach called the study a bureaucracy buster that could eventually result in a three- to four-fold
increase in productivity, enabling employees to concentrate
more on high-value activities. Bureaucracy increases proportionally with the size of a company, and the wave of mergers and acquisitions in our industry is making companies
bigger, therefore less nimble, he said. We want to make sure
we dont grow our companies into large dinosaurs, but rather
remain agile with the ability to make more informed decisions.
The most radical changes in technology needed for
people augmentation are in the geoscience area, Bargach told
Upstream Technology. We are rethinking the way we handle
things in the geoscience workflow. We need to make a quantum leap in reservoir description, not only in speed, but in
uncertainty management using Bayesian models. We need a
more holistic approach.
Having an explicit model of the business value chain of
IT is a good start, but it is not enough to get everyone marching to the same drummer. Schlumberger realized that the
IT organization needed to change in order to accomplish this
October 2006 47

progression, and were just completing the necessary changes,

Bargach said. A key strategy is to make IT managers share
objectives with the business managers who are their clients.
In addition, Bargach revamped and vastly expanded an
existing program called the IT Innovation Initiative, or i3.
This program encourages employees, whether or not they are
part of the IT structure, to propose projects, take risks, think
outside the box, but also to focus on capturing the business
advantage by selecting initiatives that may give Schlumberger a definite competitive or productivity boost. Selected
projects receive innovation grants, and a certain failure rate
is accepted with the understanding that the lessons learned
will be useful.
www.schlumberger.com
Upstream Technology

ESS Opens New Canadian

Headquarters
ESS, provider of operational risk management
software for environmental, health and safety
(EH&S) and crisis management, announced the
opening of a new office in Calgary, Alberta, to
meet increasing demand in Canada for integrated
software and services. This office will better serve
the companys partners and customers in the region. including Shell Canada Ltd., Suncor Energy
Inc., Imperial Oil and IPSCO Inc.
Brad Blaisdell, a Canadian with a background
in high-tech sales and client-services management, has been appointed managing director, ESS
Canada. In this role, he is charged with building
an organization that will leverage all aspects of the
ESS portfolio to serve the growing needs of Canadian organizations. The office at Suite 600, Bow
Valley Square 2, Number 600-205, 5th Avenue
SW, is already operational and a grand opening
celebration is scheduled for autumn.
ESS is open for business in Canada and
people here are serious about environmental
stewardship, Blaisdell said. There is an enormous amount of corporate activity in Calgary and
throughout Canada, and our aim is to do all we
can to help these organizations meet their compliance, performance and risk management goals.
www.ess-home.com

Petris, EPIS Form Marketing Alliance

in China
Petris Technology Inc. has established a strategic alliance with EPIS, provider of information solutions
to the Chinese market. This alliance will focus the
considerable geoscience, integration and IT technology expertise of EPIS to market the full suite of Petris
products and services in China.
We are pleased to be partnering with EPIS in the
Chinese exploration and production marketplace, said
Jim Pritchett, president and CEO, Petris. The combination of our technology with EPIS customer network, technical skills and service capabilities will enable
both companies to provide key competitive solutions
to Chinese E&P companies within China and to their
businesses worldwide.
EPIS President Bao Shijie added: We are looking forward to increasing the pace of E&P knowledge,
information and data integration for effective and
efficient E&P decision-making processes through the
adoption of PetrisWINDS Enterprise technology
in China. We see great potential for the adoption of
PetrisWINDS Recall in well data management and
petrophysical applications in China.
www.petris.com

ONGC to Introduce Smart Wells for Marginal Fields

ONGC is planning to introduce remote-control
smart well technology in all the deepwater clusters
of marginal fields lined up for development in the
next few years. The technology was first introduced in
the G1-GS15 gas fields, which are now being commissioned in KG basin.
The company has already approved an investment
of Rs 3,195 crore in a cluster of C-series fields near
Daman, and a Rs 3,000 crore development plan for
B-series fields in the western offshore area is pending
approval of the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons.
Also under final stages of preparation is a development

plan for G-0, G-4, GS-29 and Vasisth field clusters

near the eastern coast.
Smart well is a necessity in the deep water, where
human intervention can be highly expensive. We
have introduced it for the first time in the G1-GS15
marginal fields. Though these fields are yet to be fully
operational, we have gained relevant knowledge that
would be useful in the future, a senior company
official told Business Line. In the next three to four
years, marginal fields will contribute a substantial part
of the total production by ONGC.
www.ongcindia.com

Jo Webber Appointed CEO of

Energy Solutions

Mark Carrigan Promoted to VP at

Tigress Software

Energy Solutions International, supplier of pipeline

management software, announced the appointment of
Dr. Jo Webber to vice chairman and CEO. Webber is an
experienced software executive who has spent her career
providing enterprise software solutions to many of the
worlds leading corporations. She served as president and
CEO of InnaPhase Corp., and when the company was sold
to Thermo Electron in 2004, she became VP of Thermo
Informatics. Webber led the company in its acquisition of
the Laboratory Automation Operations division of Beckman Coulter. She earned a doctorate in quantum physics
and a BS in applied chemistry from the University of Nottingham Trent in the UK. She is a Chartered Chemist and
a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. She serves on
the boards of Maxwell Systems, a provider of construction
accounting software applications, and Octagon Research, a
clinical R&D software and services provider.
Ann Casaday also has joined the Energy Solutions
management team as VP for global sales, having previously
served as director of North American sales for Thermo
Informatics and VP of North American sales for InnaPhase
Corp. Before that she worked for 10 years in the oil and
gas industry in both engineering and technology sales.
Casaday has a BS in petroleum and natural gas engineering
from Pennsylvania State University.
www.energy-solutions.com

Geotrace announced that Mark Carrigan is promoted to VP Western Hemisphere, Tigress Software.
Carrigan will initiate and build the Tigress brand in
the Americas, assimilating Tigress into Geotrace and
acting as the Geotrace liaison for Tigress integration.
He combines a deep understanding of the software
business with extensive knowledge of the market
gained over 25 years of experience.
Geotrace is part of the Geotrace Technologies
group of companies and is a leading provider of proprietary technologies aimed at imaging and integrated solutions used to optimize petroleum production.
www.geotrace.com

Philip Frink, Blade Join PetroSkills

As a result of Blade Energy Partners joining the PetroSkills
technical training alliance, Blade VP Philip Frink will take
over responsibilities as discipline manager of PetroSkills
well construction curriculum network, where he will work
with our member company representatives to further
enhance PetroSkills drilling courses. The new alliance will
serve Blades and PetroSkills combined customer base to
provide both oilfield E&P and facilities training courses,
technology transfer, and related competency analysis and
development tools. Blades core expertise includes the
technical aspects of complex well design, mature field development, underbalanced and managed pressure drilling,
tubular mechanics (jointed pipe, expandables and coiled
tubing), reservoir engineering and pipeline integrity management. As part of this relationship, Blade will be adding
four courses in Tubular Design, Managed Pressure Drilling, Underbalanced Well Design, and Underbalanced Well
Control to the PetroSkills alliance portfolio.
www.blade-energy.com
www.petroskills.com
October 2006 49

Stan Schatt Joins ABI Research

ABI Research has announced the appointment of
Stan Schatt as VP and practice director, networking.
Stan will lead the companys networking research
practice, in addition to authoring his own research
focused on Wi-Fi and other networking topics.
Schatt brings to his new post the experience
he previously gained as VP of research for current
analysis, responsible for managing a team of 22
analysts and covering home networking and wireless networking topics. Earlier, he served as VP and
research director for networks and communications at Forrester Research and its predecessor, Giga
Information Group, where he published hundreds
of networking research reports. Before joining Giga,
he served as research director for Ziff-Davis Market
Intelligence.
He is the author of more than 25 books on
networking and other areas of computing, and held
a Fulbright Professorship to Japan, where he taught
at Tokyo and Keio Universities. Schatt holds citations for outstanding teaching from the University
of Southern California, University of Houston,
and DeVry Institute of Technology, where he was
Chairman of the Telecommunications Management
Department. He holds a BA in Chemistry from
Arizona State University, an MBA from Thunderbird, the American Graduate School of International Management, and a PhD in English from the
University of Southern California. He will be based
in Carlsbad, CA.
www.abiresearch.com

Long Live the Queen!

When I took over the editorship of
Upstream CIO newsletter in January
2005, my first Editors Letter was
titled If I Were Queen. As Queen,
I made a lot of changes. I grew the
newsletter from 20 pages to 70 pages.
I increased advertising from two per
year to several per month. I established editorial guidelines for accepting guest editorials and submitted
case studies, and I made Upstream
CIO something that all the loyal readers who used computers the upstream
realm could benefit from. It was a
good reign.
As with any rapidly growing
monarchy, at some point the real
estate gets a little unwieldy to handle.
And thats just what happened to
Upstream CIO. It was no longer a
newsletter, and that led to a major
revolution. The Queen decreed that
it should now become a magazine,
a federation of individual technical
sections, each with its own color flag.
The Queen bestowed upon it a new
name, Upstream Technology Magazine,
and a new tagline: A Focus on the
Full Spectrum of IT Solutions for Oil
and Gas. And a new masthead with
all the colors of the individual section
flags flew in majestic grandeur over
the new cover.
The Queen appointed a Prime
Minister to round up a council of
twelve Charter Advertisers. Next,
the Queen made an alliance with

Upstream Technology

Jeanne M. Perdue
Editor

Energy Insights, an IDC company,

to co-develop the PetroComputing Insights 50 stock index, which
will be updated every workday and
posted to the royal website, www.
UpstreamTechMag.com. Also on
the royal website will be a Town
Crier tickertape of the latest news
stories, updated daily. The Queen
also signed a treaty with Quorum
Business Solutions to herald the
good tidings of the revolution to
hordes of potential subjects.
And finally, the Queen held a
royal ceremony on September 25
filled with pomp and grandeur at
a press conference at the Society of
Petroleum Engineers annual meeting in San Antonio. Upon seeing
the new cover unveiled and hearing the good tidings of the revolution, the gathered throngs shouted
Huzzah! and Long live Upstream
Technology Magazine!
Long live the Queen, indeed!
Love,
Jeanne

50

October 2006

Game Changing
E&P Results

Know how.
Put all the pieces together. Achieve breakthrough team performance
with Schlumberger Information Solutions.
Avocet* Integrated Asset Modeler software. Resolved discrepancies in simulations
and saved tens of millions USD on upfront facilities cost. SPE paper 90976.
Petrel* software. Sidetracked lateral wells through the predicted high-quality reservoir
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ECLIPSE* software through rapid response services. Made critical field development decisions
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Petrel software. Accurately visualized the geometry of a complex fault system and drilled
the second most productive basement well in Vietnam's history. Hoan Vu JOC.

Experience a whole new level of effectiveness.

www.slb.com/sis_breakthrough

*Mark of Schlumberger
2006 Schlumberger

06-IS-329