IHS Signs Letter of Intent with POSC to Offer Enhanced Global Unique Well Identifier Service
Industry Standard Service Will Provide a Unique ID for all Known E&P Wells
HOUSTON (August 15, 2006) – IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS), a global provider of integrated oil and gas information, software and consulting services, and the Petrotechnical Open Standards Consortium, Inc. (POSC), a leading global provider of information and business process standards for the upstream oil and gas industry, announced today they have signed a letter of intent (LOI) to establish a service that will provide an industry standard for global unique well identifiers for all known oil and gas wells in the world.
Since no global definition of what represents a well exists, oil companies, service companies, governments and regulatory agencies differ in their practices and naming conventions. The new IHS/POSC service will provide a common method to address these challenges. With more than four million wells known to exist globally, a common system for identification (ID) has become essential. IHS has provided unique well ID services to its customers since the 1990s. The new offering will further integrate global systems and be made readily available to the entire industry, ensuring comprehensive global coverage and universal usage.
POSC representatives signed the LOI on behalf of an industry work group comprised of representatives from major oil companies (including IHS customers) and oil
service providers. A formal agreement detailing the IHS/POSC Global Unique Well Identifier Service deliverables will be announced by year end. In the interim, IHS is now delivering a basic service.
“As oil and gas companies continue to expand globally, a significant information management challenge is reconciling diverse well identifications in their technical and financial databases. Our customers asked us to make this issue a priority,” said Ron Mobed, IHS president and COO, Energy. “After meeting with a large cross-section of our customers, with POSC, and with others in our industry, it was clear they expected IHS to take a leadership role, and to work with POSC to ensure the service be as open as possible so that no oil company, service company or data vendor is precluded from obtaining a standard well ID.”
“The current Global Unique Well Identifier initiative began in 2003,” said Randy Clark, CEO of POSC. “The steering team endorses this resolution of a long-standing problem by leveraging the large inventory of well identifiers that IHS manages today for its customers as the basis for an industry well identification standard. IHS has extensive experience with the regional variances of well ID systems around the world, not only because of their management of well identifications, but also because of their network of global experts positioned in local markets. A work group is being established to guide and oversee this service to ensure its long-term viability.”
Through the service, IHS will continue to generate standard identifiers for all new and unique wells; deliver a complete Master Well Index file to customers comprised of the unique well identifiers and supporting attributes for reference and matching purposes; and provide a well-matching service to the industry by delivering a set of unique well identifiers from the Master Well Index against well data supplied by any industry organization.
In addition, the PPDM Association (PPDM) endorses the support and development of a global unique well identifier under the direction of the industry work group. “This initiative represents an exciting collaborative effort between different aspects of the E&P industry to solve what is an expensive and time-consuming problem for our membership,” said Trudy Curtis, CEO of PPDM.
IHS (www.ihs.com/energy) provides integrated E&P information, software, consulting services and industry insight to oil and gas companies worldwide. IHS is one of the leading global providers of critical technical information, decision-support tools and related services to customers in a number of industries including energy, defense, aerospace, construction, electronics and automotive. (NYSE: IHS). (www.ihs.com).
POSC, the Petrotechnical Open Standards Consortium, Inc., is an international, not-for-profit, membership organization. POSC is uniquely designed to unite industry people, issues and ideas to collaboratively address E&P information challenges and opportunities. POSC's energy eStandards are open specifications for improving E&P business performance by leveraging
Internet technologies in the integration of oil and gas business processes. For more information visit POSC's website at www.posc.org or contact POSC at info@posc.org.
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IHS
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Melissa.manning@ihsenergy.com