Well Identification Standards Work Group

Meetings

Project Description

Early in 2009, the American Petroleum Institute (API) sought a new custodian for the API Well numbering standard, usually known as the “API number” or “D12a”. Based on the recommendation of the chair of the D12a committee (Jim Stolle, P2E Solutions), the custody of the well numbering standard has been transfered to the PPDM Association.

The PPDM Association is an international, not for profit, standards organization dedicated to Industry Standards for the persistence and management of Oil and Gas information. In collaboration with its members, the Association is organizing a vendor neutral, publicly available project to assess and update the well numbering standard. The revised standard will be made publicly available to anyone, free of charge. Industry and regulators will be encouraged to adapt their systems to use the revised standard.

Successful completion of this project will require industry funding to support the participation of some key experts, communication, technical and administrative costs. At this time, we estimate that the total cost of the project will be approximately $250,000 USD. The PPDM Association is presently soliciting this sponsorship, so that the project can be launched and completed in a timely and efficient manner.

Objectives and Vision

The PPDM Association, in collaboration with industry and regulatory experts, will undertake to:

Work with industry experts, both within and outside the PPDM Membership, to review and revise the D12A well numbering standard.
Where possible, other existing well numbering standards will be considered and reviewed.
Encourage regulatory agencies, vendors and operators to adopt the revised well numbering standard, and provide mechanisms that will facilitate this process. It is recognized that this will be a very long process, and success is not guaranteed.

Charter: Well Identification Draft 6

The API D12a Numbering Standard

The API Well Number and Standard State and County Numeric Codes Including Offshore Waters

Benefits

A revised Well Numbering Standard that will supersede the current API D12a standard
A recommendation for an adoption strategy by regulators, vendors and operators.
Regulatory / vendor scorecard
1. How each handles well numbering
2. What parts of the organization’s methods are conformant?
3. What parts of the organization’s methods are not conformant?
Recommendations that will allow vendors who define wells at different component levels
1. To communicate and share information effectively.
2. To accommodate the well numbering strategy.
3. To allow industry players to implement a common best practice for integrating vendor information.
Identify key challenges with adoption and recommend strategies to overcome them
1. Strategy on a go forward basis
2. Strategy for legacy wells
3. Strategy for current wells
Supporting documentation and illustrations including
1. Examples of problems that arise as a result of inconsistencies
2. Best practices for resolving integration problems
Education programmes as recommended by the workgroup sponsors