Abstract
Abstract During the last decade, a large amount of data has been collected for a field development project, located in a challenging geological area, deepwater offshore West Africa. It was necessary to create a database including these different data types, which represents the purpose of the work presented here. In order to integrate, visualize and query this database for the project needs (geohazard assessment, layout optimisation, etc), ESRI ArcGIS was selected as the appropriate analysis tool. The aim of this paper is twofold: to explain how the data was organized into an efficient GIS project and to highlight its principal applications. Firstly, the GIS project is organized into several thematic geodatabases. Each geodatabase corresponds to a field survey and its internal organization resulted from a complex approach. A geodatabase includes several feature datasets, which, in turn are composed of multiple feature classes. An attribute table with enhanced information was created for every data type. This offers a solution for data query using spatial analysis and map algebra. Secondly, the data visualization and integration allows the identification of possible geohazards and, further, their possible impact on the field development. The advantage of this GIS project is that it can be used in all the steps of the field development. This can help decision making related to the optimization of the field layout and the definition of targets for future site investigations. Moreover, the interface being user-friendly; it can be manipulated even by non-specialist project users. In conclusion, this GIS project is being considered as a reference for future projects dealing with wide diversity and large amount of data. Introduction During the last decades, oil and gas industry targets moved from shallow to deepwater challenging environments. Consequently, the planned infrastructures are often located in geohazard-prone areas. This is the case of the study area, located on the continental slope offshore West Africa. In order for the seabed and sub-seabed field infrastructures to be safely installed in this complex geological environment, desk top studies, various reconnaissance surveys and specific studies have been performed over a period of 10 years. Consequently, the associated large amount of data provided by different contractors needed to be integrated and visualized, taking into account the variable data formats and geodetic parameters. The Geographic Information System (GIS) globally recognized as the most efficient tool for data compilation, organization, management and integration (Noll IV et al., 2010; Varnell et al., 2010; Turner and Bell, 2010) was selected as the appropriate tool for this study. Figure 1 portrays a typical programme of an offshore development and the relationship between data gathering and GIS construction.
Published Version
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