Glossary

Fourth Industrial Revolution Center (Saudi Aramco acronym)

For more information, see the Saudi Aramco article at Fourth Industrial Revolution Center

Big Data is classified in terms of:
1. Volume
2. Velocity
3. Variety
4. Veracity
Some also include Value as a classification

Advanced Analytics and Emerging Technologies (legacy Anadarko, now Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) acronym)

The AAET digtalization and data analytics initiative is discussed in the SPE JPT here and here

Anadarko's Real-Time Drilling AAET initiative is featured in a youtube video here

Advanced Collaboration Environment (a BP acronym)

The Advanced Collaborative Environment (ACE) Programme was BP's strategic global implementation of ‘Real Time' Production and Drilling Operations Support Environments. ACE's were a key theme within the BP Field of the Future strategy.

See example SPE technical papers 20400-MS, 100113-MS, 106982-MS, 107035-MS, 112196-MS, 123101-MS, 123801-MS, 128650-MS, 138595-MS for further technical details

Asset Decision Environment (Chevron acronym)

Chevron and SAIC implemented asset decision environments (ADEs) across their global business units as part of the Chevron i-field initiative.

See example SPE technical papers 112215-MS, 112260-MS, 115367-MS, 149668-MS for further technical details

Advanced Drilling Simulation and Engineering Center (CNOOC acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper 180685-MS for further technical details

Applied Drilling Technology,  drilling optimization services (Halliburton acronym)

Automated drilling units (Gazprom Neft acronym)

Agile management is the application of the principles of Agile software development principles to business and management processes

Autonomous inflow control device

Autonomous Inspection Vehicle, the i-Tech 7 term for their fully autonomous, subsea vehicle deployed for unmanned inspections of pipelines, umbilicals, risers and subsea structures

Analytics  is defined as the field of data analysis.  Analytics often involved studying past historical data to research potential trends, to analyse the effects of certain decisions or events, or to evaluate the performance of a given tool or scenario.  The goal of analytics is to improve the business by gaining knowledge which can be used to make improvements or changes.

Definition provided by Priori Analytica

Artificial neural network (or neural network)

Advanced Process Control (BP acronym)

APC uses mathematical models derived from a refinery site’s data to find the optimal operation parameters

APEX is BPs digital twin of their simulation and surveillance system (BP acronym)

APEX is discussed in the SPE JPT here

APEX is featured in a youtube video here

(1) An application programming interface is a method for computer programs to share thir data and functionality with other computer programs
(2) American Petroleum Institute
(3) API gravity, a measure of hydrocarbon liquid density when compared to that of water, it is therefore an inverse measure of  the hydrocarbon liquid's specific gravity

Advanced Production Optimization (an Equinor acronym)

See example SPE technical paper OTC-30477-MS for further technical details

Augmented reality

AR is discussed in the SPE JPT here, here, here and here

Automated Rig Activity Measurement (Saudi Aramco acronym)

See example SPE technical paper 181315-MS for further technical details

Autonomous Robot for Gas and Oil Sites (Total acronym)

See example SPE technical paper 175471-MS for further technical details

ARGUS is the BP cloud-hosted data platform which holds data on their 2,500 wells located around the globe

An autonomous oil spill detection system comprising an Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV, or autonomous boat) and a Drone

Please see SPE technical paper OTC-30894-MS for further technical details

(1) Assembly, Repair and Testing Centre (Petroleum Development Oman LLC (PDO) and Schlumberger acronym)

(2) Advanced Rig Technology, an IADC drilling automation initiative

Advantage Real-Time Engineer (Baker Hughes acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper 112086-MS for further technical details  

Automated remote control and management system (Tatneft acronym, from Russian)

Please see OIJ technical paper OIJ-2017-10-120-124-RU for further technical details (NB in Russian)

Autonomous surface vehicle, which are also known as (1) unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) or (2)  unmanned surface vessels (USVs) are boats that operate on the surface of the water without a crew

Association for Unmanned Vehicles Systems International, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of unmanned systems and robotics.  AUVSI represents corporations and professionals involved in industry, government and academia.

Baker Expert Advisory Center Operations Network (a Baker Hughes acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper 78336-MS for further technical details

The MOTIVE Drilling Technologies bit guidance system uses cognitive computing algorithms to guide the directional drilling process in real-time

MOTIVE Drilling Technologies are discussed in the SPE JPT here

(1) Bottom hole pressure

(2) Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited (BHP)

Business Intelligence comprises the strategies, workflows and technologies used by organisations for the analysis of their business data, information and knowledge.

BI can provide organistions with an overview and insight into legacy, current, and future business operations and strategic performance.

Big data is a field of mathematics comprising methods of analyzing and extracting unknown information from data sets too large and / or complex to be addressed by traditional data-processing methods and software technologies

Big data analytics compises the analysis of large data volumes (i.e. big data) gathered from a wide variety of disparate sources in order to uncover relationships, patterns and connections that might otherwise be invisible

Blockchain is an open, distributed ledger that can efficiently record transactions between two parties in a secure, verifiable and permanent way

Totals implementation of blockchain technology is described here

Brisbane Operations Center (Santos Ltd acronym)

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management  manage the development of United States Outer Continental Shelf  (OCS) energy and mineral resources

Blow Out Preventer

BP International Center for Advanced Materials is the BP fundamental and applied materials science research centre

Shell’s onshore control room (CR) is located in New Orleans, Louisiana, and is known as the Bridge Center, or Bridge.

The Bridge is an integrated operations (IO) facility designed to monitor the Shell deep water offshore production activities in the Americas.

The Bridge is somewhat separate and distinct from the Shell asset linked integrated operations centers (IOC).

Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, the US federal agency tasked with (i) improving safety and (ii) ensuring environmental protection with respect to the offshore energy industry

Business Unit

Collision Avoidance System is a mining term, defined by the US Department of Labor Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) as a system that "Provides Equipment Operators with an Awareness of the Location of Nearby Personnel, Light Vehicles, Stationary Structures, and Other Pieces of Equipment through Display Screen in the Operator’s Compartment and through Audible and Visible Alarms", in addition, the CAS "can take Control of the Mobile Equipment to Slow Down or Stop it Before an Accident can Occur"

Please see the MSHA slide presentation here

Computer Analysis and Visualization Environment (other CAVE definitions are also used in oil and gas)

(1) Coal bed methane

(2) Condition based monitoring

Central Control Room

Total describe their CCR in the Netherlands here

also see Control Room

Carbon capture and storage (or carbon capture and sequestration or carbon control and sequestration)

The UK North Sea Acorn CCS initiative is discussed in the SPE OGF here

Critical Drilling Facility (legacy Amoco acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper 14732-MS for further technical details

Cambridge Energy Research Associates

Also see CERAWeek from IHS Energy

Center for High Performance Computing (BP acronym)

The CHPC is discussed here

Centro Integrado de Monitoramento de Turbomáquinas (CIM-TBM), translated as the Integrated Center for Monitoring Turbo Machinery (Petrobras acronym)

The CIM-TBM facility uses diagnostic algorithms to evaluate the performance conditions of remote turbo machinery, enabling remedial and preventative actions

Centro Inteligente de Pozos (or Smart Well Center in Spanish, PEMEX acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper IPTC-18736-MS for further technical details

Change Management

The key role of change management in digital transformation is presented by the SPE DSDE here and here

TRANSPETRO (Petrobras Transporte S.A.), the PETROBRAS National Operational Control Center (in Portuguese), discussed here

Centre of Excellence (ENI acronym)

Please see SPE technical papers 167909-MS and IPTC-18017-MS for further technical details

Centro Global de Operações Integradas (or Global Integrated Operation Centre in Portuguese, a Vale acronym)

Collaborative Real-Time Environments (BP acronym).

Please see SPE 173090-MS for further technical details

Chevron Project Development and Execution Process (Chevron acronym).

Please see SPE 117432-MS for further technical details

Control Room

Centre for Remote Controlled Operations (Wintershall DEA acronym)

Control room operator

Central Surveillance Center (Shell acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper 123147-MS for further technical details

Please also see the SPE JPT article here

Central Site Data Center (a legacy Tenneco acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper 14068-MS for further technical details

Collaborative Work Environment (Shell acronym).

See example SPE technical papers 123202-MS,167871-MS, 176817-MS for further technical details.

Collision Warning System is a mining term, defined by the US Department of Labor Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) as a system that "Provides Equipment Operators with an Awareness of the Location of Nearby Personnel, Light Vehicles, Stationary Structures, and Other Pieces of Equipment through Display Screen in the Operator’s Compartment and through Audible and Visible Alarms"

Please see the MSHA slide presentation here

Cybersecurity is becoming more critical in digital oil and gas operations due to their increased reliance on computer and hardware based systems

The importance of cybersecurity measures in oil and gas operations is discussed in the SPE JPT here

Drilling and Completions

Drilling and Measurements

Drilling and Workover (Aramco acronym)

Drilling Automation Real Time, a legacy real-time drilling data exchange initiative written using the CORBA standard, subsequently replaced by WITSML from Energistics, which uses the XML standard

Drilling Automation & Remote Technology (DART) Center, a Shell acronym

Please see SPE technical paper 189602-MS for further technical details

(1) Distributed Acoustic Sensing

(2) Drilling Advisory System, as discussed in the SPE JPT here, here and here

Data analytics is the field of data analysis.  Analytics often involves studying past historic data to research potential trends, to analyse the effects of certain decisions or events, or to evaluate the performance of a given tool or scenario,  The goal of analytics is to improve the business by gaining knowledge which can be used to make imperovements or changes

Definition provided by Priori Analytica

A data lake comprises a large collection of data from many disparate sources and systems, both within and outside an organisation

Data mining is the methodology of discovering patterns in large data sets using (i) machine learning, (ii) statistical methods and (iii) disparate databases and storage systems

Drilling Command and Control (legacy Amoco acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper 14732-MS for further technical details

Drilling and Completions Decision Support Center (Chevron acronym)

The DCDSC is presented in a youtube video here

Digitally connected operation centers (Schlumberger acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper 197301-MS for further technical details

(1) Digital Centre of Expertise (BP and Shell acronym)
(2) Digital Centre of Excellence (Equinor acronym)

A distributed control system has many computerised control loops, where autonomous controllers are distributed throughout the system, but there is no central operator supervisory control

Directional Drilling

Digital Decision Assistant (Shell acronym)

See example SPE technical paper OTC-30488-MS for further technical details

Data Driven Asset Performance (Total acronym)

Data Driven Drilling and Production conference, as held in Aberdeen, Scotland, UK and Houston, Texas, USA

European Drilling Engineering Association, which is managed by OTM

Downstream Efficiency Control Centre (Gazprom Neft acronym)

Drilling Execution Efficiency Platform (ConocoPhillips acronym)

SPE Digital Energy Technical Section

DevOps is a set of practices that combines software development (i.e. Dev) and IT operations (i.e. Ops), which is complementary with Agile software development methods

Digital Field Worker (an Equinor acronym)

The Equinor Digital Field Worker concept is described in a youtube video here

Digital Innovation Centre (Gazprom Neft acronym)

Digital Energy was the SPE brand for a biennial series of conferences held in Houston, Texas between 2007 and 2015

The SPE Digital Energy Conference technical papers are available via onepetro, for years 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2015

Digital Oilfield is an overarching oil and gas industry term that describes the ongoing process of digital transformation of the global oil and gas industry.

Successful digital oilfield strategies consider (i) people. (ii) process (iii) technologies and (iv) organisation, or PPTO.  Management of change is also key.

Regarding digital oilfield technologies in oil and gas, examples include artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML),  the Internet of Things (IoT), virtual and augmented reality, remote and mobile connectivity as well as the cloud, all of which enable operator and service companies to aggregate, analyze and proactively respond in real-time , thereby improving and optimizing hydrocarbon productivity, proactively reducing operating costs and working to reduce the HSEQ risks associated with their remotely located oil and gas operations.

Digital twin is a digital representation of a real-world physical asset or infrastucture system and its processes

Digital twins are presented and discussed in the December 2019 issue of the SPE JPT.

DigitUP is the digitalization initiative of the OMV Upstream division

Drilling Information Management Center (Exxon acronym)

The DIMC was formerly known as the Drilling Data Center (DCC, a legacy Superior Oil acronym)

Digital innovation organization (BP acronym)

Drilling Key Performance Indicator (legacy Anadarko, now Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) acronym)

Deep Learning (Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper 199584-MS for further technical details of their data analytics methods

Drilling Management Center (Gazprom Neft acronym)

Digital Oilfield

Digital Oilfield of the Future

Please see SPE technical paper 123096-MS for further technical details

The DOFF concept was introduced by Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) in the c. 2001-2002 time frame

Digital Oil Field International Academic Conference, a biennial series of digital oilfield conferences held in China

Drilling Operations and Monitoring Centre (PETRONAS acronym)

See example SPE technical paper 180580-MS for further technical details

Downstream Production Control Centre (Gazprom Neft acronym)

Drilling Cockpit is the OMV real time drilling support centre, where information about all of the OMV drill sites is gathered in one place.

This facility allows OMV to monitor every activity at every rig from a central location and give immediate feedback to the on-site team should any problem arise.

Drilling eXperts (Total acronym) is a strategic digital program aiming to deliver advanced real-time drilling data analytics to improve the safety and performance of the Total global drilling operations

As a specific use case example, Total present and discuss their DrillX kick prediction algorithm here

Drilling Real-Time Monitoring Center (ADNOC acronym)

Drilling Systems Automation

Please see SPE technical paper 163412-MS for further technical details

Drilling Systems Automation Technical Section of the Society of Petroleum Engineers

(i) Decision Support Center (Chevron acronym) (ii) Drilling Support Center (TNK-BP acronym) and (iii) Drilling Support Center (Gazprom Neft acronym)

For the Chevron DSC acronym, please see SPE technical paper SPE-196297-MS for further technical details

For the TNK-BP DSC acronym, please see SPE technical paper SPE-160501-MS for further technical details

The Gazprom Neft DSC is described here

Data Science and Digital Engineering in Upstream Oil and Gas (DSDE) is an online publication from the SPE that presents the evolving landscape of data management in the oil and gas industry.

Drill Site Manager (Chevron acronym)

Drilled but uncompleted

Drilling Uncertainty Prediction Technical Section of the SPE

Data Visualization Center (Veritas acronym)

For further details, please see SPE-56838-OGER

Data Validation and Recognition (Total acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper 112517-MS for further technical details

A Data Warehouse is a central repository of integrated data from one or more disparate sources, with further capabilities for (i) reporting and (ii) data analysis.

DW (or DWH) is a core component of business intelligence (BI).

Deepwater Exploration and Production (Chevron acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper 117432-MS for further technical details

Drilling & Wells Improvement Program (or … Deepwater Improvement Process) (Total acronym)

(1) Drill Well On Paper, a preplanning well construction process performed before spudding and drilling a wellbore

(2) Deepwater Operations Plan. a document required by the BSEE that provides sufficient information to review the deepwater development project from a “total system” approach, emphasizing operational safety and environmental protection  

Electric Oilfield

Please see SPE technical papers 68189-MS and 119681-MS for further technical details

Exploration and appraisal

Exploration and Production

Exception Based Surveillance (BP and Shell acronym)

For the BP use case, please see SPE technical paper 192627-MS for further technical details

For the Shell use case, please see SPE technical paper 127860-MS for further technical details

Equivalent Circulating Density

Echo is the Equinor digital twin for their Johan Sverdrup offshore operations, a 3D model used for planning, support, optimization, and followup of operations and maintenance

See example SPE technical paper OTC-30477-MS for further technical details

Edge computing brings computation and data storage capabilities near to where it is actually needed, thereby improving hardware response times and reducing data transmission bandwidth

Equipment Decision Support Center (Chevron acronym)

Enterprise Data Warehouse, please see entry for Data Warehouse

Events Management System (Total acronym)

Energy in Data Conference, a joint society data conference held by the AAPG, SEG,and SPE,

Enhanced Oil Recovery, also termed tertiary recovery

Chevrons use of EOR methods is presented here

Electronic Asset Development (a Gazprom Neft acronym, from Russian) is their strategy for developing digital initiatives in all areas of exploration and production, including geological prospecting, geology, drilling, development, production, and field construction

ERA:ISKRA is an integrated system for conceptual asset development, a key part of the Gazprom Neft ERA digital product family

(i) Equivalent Static Density

(ii) Engineering Simulator for Drilling (legacy Amoco acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper 14732-MS for further technical details

Electrical Submersible Pump

Event Stream Processing (Shell Acronym)

Energistics Transfer Protocol by Energistics

The ETP pilot project was described in the January 2018 issue of World Oil magazine

Exploration and Petroleum Engineering Center - Advanced Research Center (Saudi Aramco acronym)

Geophysics research work at the Saudi Aramco EXPEC ARC is discussed here

Full Control of Wells (Total acronym)

Fast Drill Process (Exxon acronym)

See example SPE technical papers 134580-MS , 150208-MS , 151133-MS , 170751-MS  for further technical details

Floating Light Detection and Ranging (an Equinor acronym)

The Equinor FLiDAR buoy technology is described in a youtube video here

 

Facilities of the Future (PETRONAS acronym)

(1) Field of The Future (BP acronym)

Please see SPE technical papers 99777-MS, 106859-MS, 112145-MS, 112149-MS and 112194-MS for more technical details

(2) Facilities of The Future (BP acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper 111957-MS for further technical details

(3) Facility of The Future  (OGTC acronym)

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is the current, ongoing transformation of manufacturing and industry methods, combined with the latest smart technologies, such as large-scale machine to machine communication and Internet of Things (IoT) enabled hardware deployments

Floating Production Storage and Offloading

Also known as a floating production unit

The Aker Solutions unmanned FPSO concept is described in the SPE JPT here

Please see SPE technical paper OTC-30905-MS for further technical details

Formation Pressure While Drilling

Artificial Intelligence Application for Geosciences (Total acronym)

Global Collaboration Centre (BP acronym)

Digital Integrated Management, in Portuguese (Petrobras acronym)

Please see SPE technical papers 112153-MS, 112191-MS, 112242-MS and 128675-MS for further technical details

Integrated Operations Management, in Portuguese (Petrobras acronym)

Please see SPE technical papers 150061-MS and 150233-MS for further technical details

Global Mining Guidelines Group is a mining industry-led open platform designed to develop knowledge, educate and provide guidance to the global mining industry

Gas Network Operations Centre (Petroleum Development Oman LLC (PDO) acronym

The PDO GNOC is presented on youtube here  and here

(1) Geo Operations Centre (Equinor acronym)

The Equinor GOC is discussed in the SPE JPT here

(2) Geosteering Operations Center (Saudi Aramco acronym)

Helmet camera technology

Highly Immersive Virtual Environment (BP acronym)

Houston Monitoring Center (BP acronym)

See SPE technical paper 173090-MS for further technical details

High Pressure High Temperature

Please see SPE technical paper 163376-MS for further technical details

Intelligent Field, or i-Field,  a (i)  Chevron digital oilfield initiative and (ii) Saudi Aramco digital oilfield initiative

(i)  The Chevron i-Field strategy is presented in example SPE technical papers, see  99548-MS, 112260-MS, 140640-MS for further technical details

(ii) The Saudi Aramco i-Field strategy is presented in example SPE technical papers, see 112201-MS, 112216-MS, 123540-MS, 128837-MS, 129706-MS for further technical details

Integrated asset modelling is the computer modelling of both the subsurface and the surface elements of a field development.

Integrated Collaboration Environment (BG Group acronym)

Please see SPE technical papers 112121-MS and 128413-MS for further technical details

Industrial control system

The Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) implementation of ICS is described in SPE paper 198089-MS

Influx Detection At Pumps Stopped (Shell acronym)

See example SPE technical paper 178821-PA  for further technical details

Intelligent Drilling Advisory System

Please see SPE technical paper IPTC-19269-MS for further technical details

International Digital Oilfield Conference

Integrated Data Warehouse (ConocoPhillips acronym)

Integrated Exception Management system (Chevron acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper 196494-MS for further technical details

Intelligent Field Center (Saudi Aramco acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper 128469-MS for further technical details

Integrated Field Development Centre (Gazprom Neft acronym)

Integrated Information Environment is the Gazprom Corporate Data Bank based on key performance indicators.

Invisible Lost Time

Intelligent Energy was the SPE brand for a biennial series of European and Middle East conferences held between 2006 and 2016

The SPE Intelligent Energy Conference technical papers are available via onepetro, for years 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016

To learn more about the Intelligent Oilfield concept, please see SPE technical papers 110729-MS and 156117-MS for further technical details

Integrated Operations, the Norwegian term for Digital Oilfield

Please see the Center for Integrated Operations website for more details

IOC can mean (i) Integrated Operations Center (Equinor acronym)

... or ... (ii) International Oil Company

Integrated Optimisation Decision Support Center (Chevron acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper 196494-MS for further technical details

Integrated Operations of the Future (ConocoPhillips acronym)

integrated production management, based on the definition of an IPM architecture (IPMA)

Please see SPE technical paper 144334-MS and the SPE JPT article here for further technical details

Integrated Remote Operations Centre (BHP acronym)

The BHP IROC is outlined here

The International Society of Automation ISA99 committee will establish standards, recommended practices, technical reports, and related information that will define procedures for implementing electronically secure manufacturing and control systems and security practices and assessing electronic security performance

See example SPE technical paper 167848-MS for further technical details of an ISA99 compliant architecture for real-time drilling

iScope is the name for Shell's Virtual Reality (VR) Centre, which is located at Rijswijk in the Netherlands

Integrated Surveillance Information System (BP acronym)

See example SPE technical paper 122676-MS for further technical details

ISO 11064 , the ISO standard for the  ergonomic design of control centres

ISO 15926, the ISO standard for "Industrial automation systems and integration — Integration of life-cycle data for process plants including oil and gas production facilities"  

ISO 16530, the ISO standard for well integrity

ISO/TS 17969 , the ISO guidelines on competency management for well operations personnel

Information Technology

Information Technology and Systems (BP acronym)

iValue, a legacy BG Group digital oilfield initiative

See example SPE technical paper 112122-MS for further technical details

Integrated Well Delivery (a Saudi Aramco acronym)

NB also known as Digital Well Factory

See example SPE technical paper IPTC-20114 for further technical details

JavaScript Object Notation is a lightweight data-interchange format, designed to be both human and machine-readable

In 2020, Energistics stated they are defining a  JSON Style Guide for Upstream Data Exchange Standards

The current Open Subsurface Data Universe (OSDU) initiative to build a common data platform for the energy industry uses JSON

Kuwait Integrated Digital Field (Kuwait Oil Company acronym)



Please see SPE technical paper 197811-MS for further technical details

Log ASCII Standard, as defined by the Canadian Well Logging Society

Load, haul, dump machine

Lukoil's Intelligent Functional Environment program is the Lukoil implementation of their intelligent field concept

Please see the Oil and Gas Vertical magazine article Suchok, S., Shalinov, A., Krukov, M. (2016) LIFE-FIELD — LUKOIL's pilot project to create an intelligent field based on international assets in the development and production of hydrocarbons.  Oil and Gas Vertical, #5, 2016 p.36–41 (please note that the article is in Russian)

Log Interchange Standard, as defined by Schlumberger

Liquefied Natural Gas

Maersk Planning Advisory & Collaboration Team (legacy Maersk Oil (now Total) acronym)

Manage by Exception is where you only look at things which are an exception to, or are significantly different from an expected result of the process

Multiphysics Exploration Technology Integrated System (Total acronym)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology  Center for Information Systems Research

(i) Management of Change (aka Change Management)

The key role of change management in digital transformation is presented by the SPE DSDE here and here

(ii) Mobile Operational Center (Gazprom Neft term)

Modbus,  a data communications protocol used with programmable logic controllers (PLCs).

Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit

Mine of the Future™ is a Rio Tinto acronym used for the application of digital and automation solutions and processes to their global mining operations

The Rio Tinto Mine of the Future™ is show on youtube here  

Multi-purpose dynamic simulator (Shell acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper OTC-30838-MS for further technical details

Machinery and Power Support Center (Chevron acronym).  The MPSC is located in the Chevron Houston offices.

The Chevron MPSC is described in a youtube video here

Maximum Reservoir Contact wells (Saudi Aramco acronym)

Please see SPE technical papers 85307-MS and 108806-DL for further technical details

MRC wells are discussed in the SPE JPT here

Mechanical Specific Energy

See example SPE technical papers 92194-MS, 102210-MS for further technical details

Mud Weight

Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij BV, a joint venture (JV) between Shell and ExxonMobil for the Groningen Gas Field in the Netherlands

Please see SPE technical paper 136927-MS for further technical details on remote operations at NAM

Norwegian Continental Shelf

Next Generation Mining is the BHP program for their autonomous mining strategy

National Oil Company

New Orleans real-time operations center (Shell acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper 92605-MS for further technical details

National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority is Australia's independent regulator for health and safety, well integrity and environmental management for offshore oil and gas activities

Not Permanently Attended Installation, the guidelines for which are published here by the Energy Institute 

Non-Productive Time

Normally unmanned installations

Some of the benefits of NUI are discussed in SPE technical papers 124100-MS, OTC-26863-MS, OTC-29367-MS and OTC-30826-MS

Normally Unattended Installations with presence of people on site only once per year (Total acronym)

See example SPE technical paper 197513-MS for further technical details

Oil and Gas

(1) Operational Control Center (Petrobras acronym)

(2) Operations Coordination Center (Saudi Aramco acronym)

(3) Operations Control Center (Sanchez Energy acronym)

(4) Onshore Collaboration Center (AkerBP acronym)

Overall Control of Well and Riser (Total acronym)

Open Data Protocol, an open data exchange protocol from Microsoft that provides RESTful APIs

Onshore Drilling Center (ConocoPhillips acronym)

See SPE technical papers 84167-MS and 111372-MS for further technical details

Operations and Design Challenge Process (StepChange Global acronym)

Please see the relevant StepChange Global web page describing ODCP here

Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), the UK oil and gas regulator

The Oil and Gas Technology Centre is located in Aberdeen, UK.

The OGTC was established in October 2016 with the mission to be the go-to technology centre for the oil and gas industry.

The OGTC has seven solution centres focused upon: (1) Asset Integrity, (2)  Wells, (3) Marginal Developments, (4) Decommissioning, (5) Digital Transformation, (6) Subsurface and (7) Net Zero

Operational Intelligence, the ability to analyse information to predict future performance

Please see the StepChange Global page here

Open Mining Format, an open-source file specification to support data interchange across the entire mining community

The OMF project group is a part of the Global Mining Guidelines Group (GMG)

Operations management system (often used in mining operations)

Onshore Operations Centre (BP, ConocoPhillips and Odfjell Drilling acronym)

Onshore Project Centre (ConocoPhillips acronym)

Also, see operation centre (OPC), a legacy Hydro (now Equinor) acronym, see SPE technical paper 110399-MS for further details.

Open Platform Communications Unified Architecture from OPC Foundation

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries

To Operate by Exception is where you only go to a remote site when you (i) plan a visit or (ii) there is an exception

Onshore Support Center (Statoil / Equinor acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper 90367-MS for further technical details

Onshore Support & Control Center (Exxon acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper OTC-28821-MS for further technical details

Open Subsurface Data Universe, from the Open Group

Oil Supply Planning and Scheduling (Saudi Aramco acronym)

Operational Support System (Sanchez Energy acronym)

(1) Onshore Technical Center (ConocoPhillips acronym)

(2) Offshore Technology Conference

Plug and Abandon

Panorama Digital Command Center, an ADNOC Integrated Operations facility located in the United Arab Emirates

The Panorama Digital Command Center is featured on video here

Primary Control Center (Santos Ltd acronym)

SPE Petroleum Data Driven Analytics section

Predictive Drilling Analytics (Total (formerly Maersk Oil) acronym)

ProDuction Center (ConocoPhillips acronym)

Proximity Detection System is defined by the US Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) as a "technology that can stop machine motion and/or send a warning signal to the machine operator when it detects a person or object in the machine’s path"

There are three types of proximity detection:
(1) PVD – Person to Vehicle Detection
(2) VVD – Vehicle to Vehicle Detection
(3) IVD – Infrastructure or Plant to Vehicle Detection

Production Historian Database (OMV acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper 176485-MS for further technical details

PETRONAS Integrated And Real-time Operations (PETRONAS acronym)

PINTAR is described in the PETRONAS presentations at POSC  (i) here and (ii) here

Pipe Line Control Center (Chevron acronym)

The Chevron PLCC is described here

Project Management Centre (Gazprom Neft acronym)

The BP Plant Operations Advisor analyses more than 150 million data points in real time across 1,200 mission-critical pieces of equipment.

(i) Performance Optimization Center (Shell acronym)

(ii) Production Optimization Centre (a ConocoPhillips acronym)

Production Optimisation Group (Equinor acronym)

Professional Petroleum Data Management Association

People, Process, Technology and Organization

Predictive Analytics includes a wide variety of mathematical and statistical techniques such as (i) data mining, (ii) modelling and (iii) machine learning, to analyze real-time, dynamic and static structured and unstructured datasets, in order to make predictions

Priori Analytica defines predictive analytics as the branch of the advanced analyics which is used to make predictions about unknown future events

Prescriptive analytics is defined by Priori Analytica as the area of analytics dedicated to finding the best course of action for a given situation

Prescriptive analytics is related to both descriptive and predictive analytics

Permanent reservoir monitoring (an Equinor acronym)

See example SPE technical paper OTC-30525-MS for further technical details

PRODuction xML , an Energistics data standard  

PETRONAS Real Time Visualization Center (PETRONAS acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper OTC-26858-MS for further technical details

pressure while drilling

Quality Assurance/Quality Control

Remote Assistance Intervention and Diagnosis (Total acronym)

Remote Assisted Operations (Shell acronym)

See example SPE technical papers 127861-MS and 181083-MS for further technical details

Rig Automation and Performance Improvement in Drilling is a driling automation research consortium based at the University of Texas in the United States.

RAPID is discussed in the SPE JPT here and  here

Regional Collaboration Center (BP acronym)

Remote Control Room (Shell acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper 181083-MS for further technical details

Rig-based Drilling Advisory System (Apache Corporation acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper 194184-MS for further technical details

Real-time Drilling and Optimization Centre (Chevron acronym)

REScue xML, an Energistics data standard)

The acronym 'RESCUE' stands for REServoir Characterization Using Epicentre, a legacy geomodel data exchange standard

Rig of the Future is a Schlumberger initiative to provide an open and scalable well construction platform using open source architecture

Rig of the Future is discussed in IADC Drilling Contractor magazine here

Nabors operate their Rigline 24/7™ Support Center to support their remote drilling and well operations

Real-Time Information Processing System (Equinor acronym)

Remote Metering Monitoring (Total acronym)

(1) Remote Operations Centre (a Rio Tinto, or RTZ acronym)

The Rio Tinto ROC role in their mining integrated operations in Pilbara, Australia is described here and shown in videos here and here

(2) Refinery Optimization Center (Chevron acronym)

The Chevron ROC at the El Segundo Refinery in California, USA is described here and here 

(3) Remote Operating Center (Murphy Oil acronym)

Rate Of Penetration

Remotely Operated underwater Vehicle

The Equinor E-ROV technology is described in a youtube video here

The Equinor Eelume self-propelled robotic arm ROV is described in a youtube video here

Robotic process automation is a form of business process automation technology based upon metaphorical software robots (i.e. bots) or on artificial intelligence (AI)

(1) Revolutions Per Minute

(2) Reservoir pressure maintenance (Tatneft acronym)

Please see OIJ technical paper OIJ-2017-10-120-124-RU for further technical details (NB in Russian)

Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America, a consortium of premier U.S. energy industry, research universities, independent research organizations, and foundations collaborating with state and federal agencies so as to meet the US hydrocarbon based resource requirements

Real-Time

Real-Time Center

Real-Time Drilling (a legacy Anadarko, now Occidental Petroleum acronym)

Please see SPE technical papers 194096-MS,  196228-MS and 199584-MS for further technical details of their data analytics methods

Please also see the SPE JPT article here

Real-Time Drilling Centre (ENI acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper IPTC-18017-MS for further technical details

Real-Time Drilling Decision Center (Kuwait Oil Company acronym)

See example SPE technical paper 172740-MS for further technical details

Real-time Drilling Data Services (Equinor acronym) ...or ... real-time data services (Schlumberger acronym)

(1) Real-Time Monitoring (Chevron acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper 179368-MS for further technical details

(2) Real-Time Monitoring is the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement process that allows personnel to remotely observe, review, and evaluate real-time data for (i) well control purposes; (ii) performance improvements and (iii) condition based maintenance  

Real-time operations

Real-Time Operations Center (a Halliburton, Hess, Saudi Aramco and Shell acronym)

The Halliburton Real-Time Operations Support services are described here

The Hess RTOC initiative is described here

The Saudi Aramco RTOC initiative is described in SPE technical paper SPE-125339-MS

The Shell RTOC initiative is described in SPE technical paper IPTC-17583-MS

Data analytics within RTOCs is discussed in the SPE JPT here

Real-time Operations Support (Schlumberger acronym)

Real-Time Production Operations (Petrobras and Halliburton acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper 138316-MS for further technical details

Real-time Surveillance System (Shell acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper OTC-30838-MS for further technical details

(1) Real Time Support Center (Total acronym)

The RTSC is located in Pau, France.  This shared smart room monitors key parameters from remote drilling operations and can detect any deviations and abnormalities in real time

(2) Real Time Support Center (Petrobras acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper 199077-MS for further technical details

Remote terminal unit, also known as remote telemetry unit and remote telecontrol unit, RTUs are a telemetry based interface between hardware and (i) distibuted control systems (DCS) or (ii) supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems

Real-Time Well Operations Centre (ENI aconym)

Please see SPE technical paper IPTC-18017-MS for  more technical details

Real Time Well Solution (PETRONAS acronym)

See example SPE technical paper 180580-MS for further technical details

Reservoir Well Facility Management (PETRONAS acronym)

See example SPE technical paper 192814-MS for further technical details

Synthetic aperture radar is used to detect and delineate spatial properties such as (e.g.) regional subsurface geology or oil spills

SAR use in oil and gas operations is discussed in the SPE JPT here as well as in SPE technical paper OTC-29115-MS

SAR use in monitoring mining subsidence is presented in a technical paper here

Remote Control Rooms (Petrobras acronym, from Portuguese)

Slide Drilling Guidance System (legacy Anadarko, now Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper 194096-MS for further technical details

Please also see the SPE JPT article here

Smart Drilling Optimization Monitoring Centre (PETRONAS acronym)

See example SPE technical paper 180580-MS for further technical details

Seabed hosted vehicle, a subsea inspection and support solution supported using seabed docking stations

Simultaneous Operations

Smart Fields a Shell digital oilfield initiative

The Shell Smart Fields initiative is described here, and in the various SPE technical papers listed here

Smart Wells (Shell terminology)

The Shell Smart Wells initiative is described here

Smart Metering Room (Total acronym)

Smart Mobile Worker (Shell acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper 181083-MS for further technical details

SOIL is a fully managed high-performance communications network hub in operation in the North Sea

Spot is the brand name for a mobile robot from Boston Dynamics that can navigate varied gradient terrain (e.g. stairs), thereby enabling the automation of routine inspection tasks and data capture

BPs use of Spot is described here

AkerBPs use of Spot is described here and is seen in a video here

Stand pipe pressure

Subsurface Support Centre (Equinor acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper 123218-MS for further technical details

Science & Technology Centre (Gazprom Neft acronym)

Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems

Please see SPE technical paper OTC-24640-MS for further technical details

Torque and Drag

Telemining is the control of remote underground mining operations from the surface

Please also see teleoperations

Theory guided data science (OMV acronym)

See example SPE technical paper 200540-PA for further technical details

Thamama Subsurface Collaboration Center, an ADNOC Integrated Operations facility located in the United Arab Emirates

The Thamama Subsurface Collaboration Center is featured on video here

Tieback of the Future  (OGTC acronym)

The Transportation Research Board is one of seven major divisions of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in the United States

In 2016, the TRB published their Special Report 322 entitled "Application of Remote Real-Time Monitoring to Offshore Oil and Gas Operations", which is available for download here and here

True Vertical Depth Sub Sea is defined as TVD minus the elevation above mean sea level of the depth reference point of the well

An unmanned aerial vehicle or UAV is also known as a drone and is used in oil and gas as well as mining operations to access and gather data from remote and difficult locations

Chevrons use of UAVs in their global O&G operations is described here

BHPs use of UAVs in their global mining operations is described here

Underbalanced Drilling

Upstream Control Center (Gazpromneft-Khantos acronym)

Unmanned ground vehicle, used in underground mining to traverse and 3D map mine tunnels

Upstream Production Control Centre (Gazprom Neft acronym)

Upstream Professional Development Center (Saudi Aramco acronym)

See example SPE technical paper 145235-MS for further technical details

Unmanned surface vehicles (also known as unmanned surface vessels) are boats that operate on the surface of the water without a crew

Please see SPE technical paper OTC-30894-MS for further technical details

Virtual Community of Practices (ADNOC acronym)

See example SPE technical paper 181594-MS for further technical details

Virtual Drilling Environment (ENI acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper IPTC-20267-MS for further technical details

VERTEX is a BP upstream facilities optimisation system, which was developed with Palantir

Virtual Reality is a 3D simulated experience that can be used to model the real world

In oil and gas, VR technology is used to model surface facilities and subsurface petrotechnical systems

For example, the OMV 3D seismic Visualization Center is shown in youtube videos here and here

In mining, VR technology is used to create innovative solutions for strategic issues, as demonstrated by Vale here

Wireless Advanced Nanosensor Device (Total acronym)

WebSocket, a full-duplex computer communications protocol

Well Construction Center (Devon Energy acronym)

Well Design and Execution Collaboration Center (Chevron acronym)

See example SPE technical papers 117432-MS and 151977-MS for further technical details

Wells Real-Time Centre (PETRONAS acronym)

See example SPE technical papers 188904-MS and OTC-28598-MS for further technical details

WellVantage, the Shell Integrated Operations program

Wireline Formation Testing

Wellsite Information Transfer Specification

See example SPE technical paper 16141-PA for further technical details

Wellsite Information Transfer Standard Markup Language (an Energistics data standard)

Well Infilling optimiZAtion through Regression and Data analytics,  a data driven reservoir model combining Machine Learning techniques with spatial interpolation methods (an ENI acronym)

Please see SPE technical paper 197293-MS for further technical details

Well Performance Monitoring (Total acronym)

Wellbore Positioning Technical Section of the SPE

WellVantage Remote Operations (Shell acronym)

Extensible Markup Language (XML)

The Energistics data exchange standards are based on XML