Eric Schoen, Technical Advisor and Chief Architect, Geoscience and Simulation, Schlumberger Information Solutions, What Oil Companies Want to Know: Inside Oilfield Data Interpretation

One of my favorite Richard Hamming quotes, "The purpose of computing is insight, not numbers," perfectly describes the goals underlying oilfield data interpretation systems. The oilfield is drowning in numbers—terabytes of seismic surface data and megabytes of borehole measurements—but fundamentally the question that oil company exploration departments need to answer is simple: Where should we drill? This talk will begin with an introduction to oilfield data interpretation, exploring the nature of data and information that influences exploration decision making. Next, I will show some examples of data interpretation systems in use today. Finally, I will delve into the interesting challenges for computer science—data volume, fusion, visualization and management—that these systems exemplify.