Introduction

At the Fifth Oil Recovery conference held At the A & M College of Texas during December, 1952, we outlined a plan which, when completed, would result in the mechanization of not only many petroleum engineering calculations, but most of the routine and clerical work associated with processing petroleum engineering data.

The material presented herein represents six years progress in our thinking on how mechanization can best be fitted to such work.

Fitting the Maintenance of Production and Engineering Records Into a Producing Department Organization

Before a mechanization program of any magnitude is undertaken, it should first be determined just how record keeping and data handling fit into the overall organization of the production department and how it is linked with other departments of the company. Many of the requirements for production and engineering information from various departments within a company are similar enough that a mechanized system can be designed which will serve them all. In as much as mechanization and the planning for mechanization are expensive, an overall review should first be made to prevent unnecessary duplication.

Figure 1is a simplified diagram showing information now and supervisory control channels in the producing department of a typical company organized with Field, Division, and Headquarters offices. The three items of data shown as being collected are those which contribute the bulk of the data processing problems in the producing department of a company, namely, production (oil, gas, water), well test, and well status information.

Outlining the Record-Keeping Processing Currently Used

The next step in a mechanization program is to make a survey of the processing system currently used. How is the record-keeping ordinarily accomplished? One is always startled at the maze of paper work involved in recording and transcribing the major items such as production, tests, and well status.

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