Oilfield Water Disposal Location Refinement via Auxiliary Data Intersection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Notifications of intent for oilfield activities, such as saltwater disposal, often lack precise location information, leading to ambiguity and challenges in determining the exact location of proposed activities, which can affect affected parties and entities with land or business interests.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented system and method that extracts relevant information from notifications of intent, analyzes it using novel rules-based methods, and provides refined oilfield location data with increased precision by combining the information within the notification with auxiliary data, determining a refined location area through the intersection of candidate areas defined by angular and distance ranges and auxiliary information.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If notifications of intent are used to publish approximate oilfield locations, then public notification and regulatory compliance are achieved, but location precision and clarity are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary system comprising multiple auxiliary information sources (well databases, geographic information systems, environmental databases) that mediate between the approximate notified location and the refined actual location. These intermediaries provide additional data layers that enable precise location determination without directly modifying the notification process itself.
Solution Approach 2:
The location determination process is segmented into distinct computational stages: extracting approximate location from notification, querying multiple auxiliary information sources, intersecting candidate areas, and determining refined location. This segmentation allows each stage to be handled by specialized modules, managing complexity through functional decomposition.
2Measurement precision
If auxiliary information sources are integrated to refine location data, then measurement precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs universal auxiliary information sources that serve multiple functions: well databases provide both operational context and location verification, geographic information systems provide both boundary definitions and spatial relationships, and environmental databases provide both protection zones and location constraints. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate specialized systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-establishing connections to auxiliary information sources and pre-processing their data into queryable formats before the actual location refinement is needed. Candidate areas are pre-defined based on auxiliary information, so that when a notification is received, the system only needs to perform the intersecting operation rather than building the entire spatial model from scratch.
3Reliability
If multiple candidate location areas are determined and intersected, then location reliability is improved, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system determines multiple candidate location areas (excessive action) rather than seeking a single immediate solution. By generating several candidate areas from different auxiliary information sources and then intersecting them, the system ensures that the final refined location satisfies multiple independent constraints, thereby achieving high reliability. The excessive computation of candidate areas is offset by the efficiency of the intersection operation that quickly narrows down to the precise location.
Data Source
AI summary
Provided herein are systems and methods for determining a refined oilfield location area from a notified oilfield location. The methods and systems access notifications of intent to obtain a notified oilfield location record that includes at least a notified place name, a notified distance from a place associated with the notified place name and a notified approximate direction from the place associated with the notified place name. The methods and systems further determine a candidate location area based on the notified distance and the notified approximate direction. The methods and system further obtain auxiliary information associated with information identified within the notification of intent. The methods and systems further determine a second candidate location area based on the auxiliary information and determine the refined location area based on an intersection of the first candidate location area and the second candidate location area.