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Technology Transfer Activities
The world-wide-web and publish as-you-go design of the Digital
Petroleum Atlas Project provides immediate and ongoing technology
transfer activities. Based on increased usage statistics and
informal industry feedback, the DPA model appears to provide
an efficient method of technology transfer to the geographically
dispersed high technology petroleum industry (Figure 2 and Appendix
B). The pages that comprise the DPA are among the most visited
on the Kansas Geological Survey web site and usage continues
to grow (Figure 2). Periodic email updates provided to interested
operators and individuals have been well received. As part of
technology transfer efforts, seven formal talks and papers were
presented to local and national meetings (Table 1). In addition
to professional talks, several papers and an op-ed piece were
published as part of year two DPA activities (Carr and others
1997a,b,c). The paper for the Society of Petroleum Engineers
Proceedings uses the Digital Petroleum Atlas as a primary example
of a new form of on-line publication (Carr and others, 1997c).
Table 1.-- Formal presentations and short articles
that resulted from the second year of the Digital Petroleum Atlas
Project. Selected abstracts are included in Appendix.
- Geological Society of America, Salt Lake City, Utah, 10/97
- Op-ed piece for The Kansas City Star, Sunday September 22,
1996, p. K2
- American Association of Petroleum Geologist (AAPG) Annual
Meeting, Dallas, Texas, 4/9/97
- Society of Petroleum Engineers Annual Meeting, 10/97, San
Antonio, Texas,
Problems Encountered
The Digital Petroleum Atlas was designed to be a dynamic product
with the constant addition of new information and ideas. Within
this changing environment all defined tasks of the year two DPA
were completed. In using the DPA, oil and gas operators and the
interested public proposed many of the ongoing changes and additions.
The prototype DPA project was completed within budget and cost
sharing was in excess of 20%.
Recommendations for Future Work
Results from the year two Digital Petroleum Atlas Project
have significantly exceeded expectations. We continue to expand
the breath and depth of plays, fields and reservoirs covered,
enhance the included petroleum technology, expand the geographic
coverage, and improve the navigation and search technology for
access to DPA technology and information.
Conclusions
As the second year of a longer-term effort, the Digital Petroleum
Atlas (DPA) has developed a new methodology to provide efficient
and timely access to the latest petroleum data and technology
for the domestic oil and gas industry, public sector research
organizations and local governmental units. The DPA provides
real-time and cost-effective electronic publication of materials
typically found in published paper oil and gas atlases. The latest
technologies and information are continuously "published"
electronically when individual project components are completed,
reducing the lag and expense of transferring technology using
traditional paper publication. Additional information and technology
are constantly being added and older information updated to the
DPA increasing its scope and detail. Active links, graphical
user interfaces and database search mechanisms provide a published
electronic product with which the operator can interact in ways
that are impossible in a paper publication. Contained in the
DPA are forms of publication that can only be displayed in an
electronic environment (for example, animated exploration histories
through time). Through complete and flexible user access to technology,
interpretative products and the underlying geologic and petroleum
data, the DPA changes the relationship between interpretative
result and data, between technology generation and application.
Improved access to petroleum data and technology represents one
of the best and cost-effective options that is available for
maintaining domestic production.
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