London, United Kingdom, 28th October 2009 – Exprodat today announces the release of the Exploration Analyst toolkit for building common risk segment maps for use in exploration play fairway analysis. With Exploration Analyst petroleum E&P companies can now improve their understanding of play risk, reduce technical uncertainty and significantly reduce technical evaluation cycle times.
Exploration Analyst is an ArcGIS extension for creating common risk segment maps of basins and play fairways. Multiple input layers from disparate sources (e.g. depositional environment, paleogeography, etc.) can be used as proxies and rapidly assigned numeric risk in order to create risk maps for key play system elements such as reservoir, source and seal, which can then be combined into a common risk segment model. Using the software the user can better understand play extents, spatial risk distributions, identify ‘sweet-spots’ and ultimately develop and refine play investment strategy.
Exprodat’s Technical Director, Chris Jepps, says, “As long ago as 1996 Peter Rose noted that ‘the most difficult and critical decision in petroleum exploration is not which prospect to drill, but which new play to enter’. Helping companies quantify and understand play risk to make better play investment decisions can obviously have tremendous financial ramifications down the line in the petroleum exploration process. Exploration Analyst helps geoscientists make better decisions, faster, while allowing E&P organisations to implement consistent and auditable processes through time and across assets.”
Exprodat’s software suite is made up of a number of extensions to ESRI’s ArcGIS Desktop that provide ‘out-of-the-box’ functionality designed specifically for the needs of the petroleum sector. The software is data independent and allows E&P companies to integrate vendor data with in-house datasets for use in GIS-based spatial analysis.
ArcGIS is a scalable family of software products comprising a complete geographic information system (GIS) built on industry standards. ArcGIS is used for the creation, management, integration, analysis, display, and dissemination of spatial data. Visualization, editing, and analysis, along with advanced data management, distinguish the ArcGIS software family as the leading GIS software. Much more than a specialized offering for a small niche of specialists, ArcGIS is designed as a scalable system that can be deployed in every organization, from an individual desktop to a globally distributed network of people.