More than 50 years’ worth of crucial North Sea data has been made available by the UK’s Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) through its National Data Repository (NDR) in an effort to help companies make better-informed decisions as part of the transition to net zero.
The introduction of the new data will help areas including exploration and production efficiency and the drive to net zero—particularly the identification of potential sites for carbon storage—by providing users with immediate access to data that was previously expensive and time-consuming to retrieve.
First opened as an online platform in 2019, the NDR originally housed 100 terabytes of well, geophysical, and other petroleum license data. Now, transferred to the OGA’s cloud-based Digital Energy Platform, a further 400 terabytes will be uploaded in the coming months.
The repository is used by more than 100 energy companies to report data under the Energy Act 2016 and Petroleum Act 1998, with that data subsequently disclosed to all.
“Accessible data is absolutely essential to the future of the industry. It’s vital for exploration, production and for reuse and decommissioning and the drive to net zero,” said Nic Granger, OGA’s director of corporate and chief financial officer. “The OGA is determined to meet that need by taking data and digital to the next level to enable a digital energy transition. The enhanced NDR is a key part of that improved service which we are proud to offer to industry.”
Data reported to the platform will be aligned to common standards, meaning subsequent users will not have to spend time and money reformatting with the information interpretation-ready and able to be analyzed quickly and easily.
The cloud-based technology eliminates the need for physical storage, reducing costs and enabling users to visualize data before downloading the data they need. The enhanced functionality also allows large quantities of data to be downloaded directly without the need to order.
The NDR is available free of charge, with organizations able to download as much as 3 terabytes per calendar month without charge, after which further data can be purchased at a minimal charge.