Mapping of oil and gas exploration business data entities for effective operational management

Spatio-temporal data of petroleum resources businesses are heterogeneous in nature with multiple relationships among various entities and attributes. Object oriented (OO) systems provide alternative solutions for handling the complex exploration business data entities, where traditional database systems pose serious limitations. Exploration, which is a key business object class in any petroleum business environment, is composed of several sub classes, such as navigation, seismic, vertical seismic profiling (VSP), well-log and reservoir. Authors classify these typical spatio-temporal data items as classes and sub class objects in the OO modelling. In the present paper, logical entity relationship (ER) models have been re-written in multidimensional and object-oriented models. Syntax of typical exploration data object classes, attributes, operations and their relationships has been described for implementation purposes. This work demonstrates how object class logical data models are flexible and interoperable for fast changing petroleum business situations. Models presented in this paper, guide exploration data managers for effectively managing their operations. An OLAP model discussed in this paper is a pursuit of cost saving detailed exploration for oil and gas prospect investigation in any basin.