UK’s first National Data Repository will deliver additional value and inward investment
The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) has today (25 March) launched what is believed to be one of the largest ever single open releases of data with the launch of the UK’s first UK Oil and Gas National Data Repository (NDR).
Freely-available to everyone, the NDR is an online platform which is home to 130 terabytes of well, geophysical, field and infrastructure data, (equivalent to around eight years’ worth of HD movies) covering more than 12,500 wellbores, 5,000 seismic surveys, and 3,000 pipelines. The NDR can be found at https://ndr.nstauthority.co.uk/.
The NDR aims to help achieve maximum economic recovery of the estimated 20 billion barrels of oil and gas that remains; unlocking new investment, new technology and more exploration activity. In addition, the NDR will play an important role in the energy transition, including for example enabling future carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) projects, thanks to the wealth of reservoir and infrastructure data available.
Nic Granger, Director of Corporate at the OGA said: “The world is arguably entering a ‘fourth industrial revolution’, with data at its heart. The National Data Repository is a UK first and is an important milestone in our vision to enable open, transparent data. The platform makes data available for machine learning and artificial intelligence and offers the opportunity to uncover new prospects and previously overlooked plays.”
Simon James, Chief Information Officer at the OGA added: “The NDR creates research opportunities for both technology and analysis. For the industry, it means access to a huge data pool to harness digital technology, relieves them of the regulatory requirement to retain information, and enhances collaboration. For the OGA, it means sustainable curation, maximising data for MER while enabling compliance monitoring.”
CDA’s Chief Executive, Malcolm Fleming said: “We are delighted to be able to put this unique collection of information, gathered by CDA working collaboratively with industry for over 25 years, at the centre of the NDR. The NDR positions the UK North Sea as a world leader in providing simple, low-cost access to subsurface information”.
The NDR enables the OGA to discharge its newly commenced information and samples powers and ensures that the UK’s petroleum-related information is maintained and enhanced as a sustainable collection of valuable and comprehensive data.
Notes for editors:
- Claire Perry, Minister for Energy and Clean Growth said: “The UK’s oil and gas industry is an integral part of the economy, contributing over £334 billion in taxes while meeting around half of our energy needs. The National Data Repository will help position the sector at the front of the data revolution and enable industry to unlock the full potential of the UK Continental Shelf, delivering further energy security, tax revenues and the high paid jobs that are at the centre of our modern Industrial Strategy.”
- BP North Sea Regional President Ariel Flores said: “Effective use of data can be a game-changer in the oil and gas sector, delivering improved safety, reliability and efficiency, yet the value of existing datasets are never fully realised. The NDR should bring about a step change, bolstering the UK’s digital infrastructure and liberating data flows to unlock a wealth of new opportunities that could ultimately boost recovery. Sharing data and information to build knowledge across the basin is key to maximising economic recovery from the UK. BP welcomes the launch of the NDR and, through active cooperation with the OGA and our industry colleagues, looks forward to fully realising the value that open data access can bring to the UKCS.”
- Professor John Underhill, Chief Scientist & Chair of Exploration Geoscience, Heriot-Watt University said: “The OGA’s efforts in releasing and providing public access to data via the new National Data Repository will be a game-changer for academics undertaking subsurface research that benefits geoscience in general and the wider academic community.”
- Greta Lydecker, Managing Director, Chevron Upstream Europe: “With the NDR in place giving access to the 50+ years of data …and the many bright young minds out there… we will certainly see many more creative and transformational ways we can access the data to drive more agile, effective and efficient economic recovery of oil and gas for the United Kingdom.”
- A consultation, carried out in 2017, sought views on establishing and maintaining the NDR, which it was proposed would be funded through the OGA levy, payable by all offshore petroleum licence holders.
- Imagery from the launch event is available to media free of charge.