KNOWLEDGE BASE SYSTEM FOR AN EQUIPMENT MARKET

• US 20080077479A1
• Filed: 11/28/2007
• Published: 03/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IHS Global Incorporated (Markit Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: ODS-Petrodata, Inc. (S&P Global Inc.)
• Inventors: Carter, Steven, Cochrane, Stuart, Isherwood, Ryan, Lindsay, Jeremy, Bouzek, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 7,580,854 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0202 Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0205 Location or geographical consideration
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0206 Price or cost determination based on market factors

Abstract

A system and method for managing and processing supply and demand information in an equipment market comprises a business logic engine, a database and interface engine and communications engine on a web host server. The communications engine is configured to enable the community of participants in the market to send market inquiries from the demand side of the market, and the business logic engine is configured to process market inquiries and responses to include them in the database of supply and demand information. The database is configured to enable the search engine to retrieve all types of data relevant to business planning and executing of equipment contracts and activities from community data and published data. The business logic engine comprises tools for collaboration, calculation, optimization and forecasting in the equipment market. In the exemplary embodiment the equipment is offshore drilling rigs.

Claims

1. A computer implemented system for managing and processing supply and demand information for participants in an oil and gas equipment, rig, and vessel market, the system comprising:

a. a data processor programmed to receive and store electronically received data as private information or public information in a relational database in an electronic storage medium concerning oil and gas equipment, rigs, and vessels engaged in oil and gas drilling and production, wherein the computer implemented system assigns the private information an unique requirements reference number;

b. a business logic engine comprising computer readable program code stored on a host computer wherein the computer readable program code comprises a search engine for selectively retrieving data from the relational database, and an interface engine for communication between a system user and the data processor and the business logic engine, whereby the business logic engine operates on data processed by the data processor and the interface engine displays results of operation by the business logic engine, further wherein the interface engine comprises a means for generating graphical output comprising a means for creating a partially interactive chart view, a means for generating a graphical user interface, and a means for generating tabular output for easily locating oil and gas equipment, rigs, and vessels for a particular use within a denoted timeframe; and

c. a communications engine for receiving a market inquiry from a demand side market participant and forwarding said market inquiry to a supply side market participant, receiving a response to said market inquiry from a supply side market participant and forwarding the received response to the demand side market participant, for two way concurrent communication to minimize lost time in locating, leasing, or selling oil and gas equipment, rigs, and vessels engaged in marine oil and gas drilling and production, and to minimize mismatching of oil and gas equipment, rigs, and vessels to drilling and production locations;

wherein the relational database further comprises one or more equipment related records, wherein each equipment related record comprises one or more unique equipment identifiers and data associated with the one or more unique equipment identifiers, wherein the data associated comprises equipment data selected from the group consisting of;

well specifications, well location, water depth, drilled depth, well angle, hole size, casing design, mud type, displacement, mechanical details, rig name, operator, hole problem incidents, HSE incidents, lost time incidents, downtime incidents, drilling costs, downtime, flat time and total time, stratigraphic description and stratigraphic penetration indices, and combinations thereof, and wherein the business logic engine further comprises computer readable program code for operating on the one or more equipment related records stored in the relational database, wherein the computer readable program code for operating includes code for;

searching for selected data, comparing selected data, applying an optimization algorithm to selected data, and applying a forecasting algorithm to selected data.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the search engine and the communications engine each comprise computer readable program code, and wherein the business logic engine further comprises computer readable program code modules selected from the group comprising:

a personalization tool module, a search engine module, a report engine module, a forecast tool module, an equipment planning tool module, an equipment usage sequences tool module, a collaboration tool module, an equipment deployment optimization tool module, and a day rate calculation tool module.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the data processor, the communications engine, and the business logic engine are stored on the host computer coupled to a network.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the means for generating graphical output comprises means for generating chart image using the selected data, wherein the means for generating a chart image comprises:

means for creating a session object from search criteria and search results to generate result objects;

a server-side script for generating a hypertext markup language page having embedded therein image tags, wherein each image tag has embedded therein a “

src”

component;

an image rendering engine;

means for using the “

src”

component of the embedded image tags created by the server-side script to pull the search criteria from the session object;

means for calculating the width and height of the chart image to be produced by the image rendering engine;

means for generating an image map from the calculated width and height of the chart image in combination with the search results;

means for generating a buffered object for receiving a drawn image;

means for drawing rows on the buffered object;

means for drawing each of the result objects on the buffered objects wherein each result object becomes a chart element that relates to a discrete event in time;

means for compressing the buffered object having the result objects drawn thereon;

means for encoding the buffered object as a streamed encoded image; and

means for sending the streamed encoded image to an Internet browser for display by the Internet browser to the system user.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the forecast tool module comprises means for building a query to invoke operation of the search engine to retrieve data selected from a data group comprising rig data, contract data, and activities data to facilitate creation of a set of market assumptions, and wherein the forecast tool module further comprises means for operating on a market assumption set to forecast oil and gas equipment, rig, and vessel supply, demand, and pricing.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein the oil and gas equipment comprises oil and gas equipment, rigs and, vessels, and wherein the equipment planning tool module comprises means for building a query to invoke operation of the search engine to retrieve data selected from a data group comprising rig data, contract data, and activities data to facilitate creation and updating of equipment deployment plans for effective utilization of available oil and gas equipment, rigs, and vessels in the oil and gas equipment, rig, and vessel market.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the equipment planning tool module further comprises means for building an equipment supply query from data selected from the data group comprising equipment location, equipment operator, equipment contractor, equipment type, equipment activity status, and equipment technical capabilities.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the equipment planning tool module further comprises means for building an equipment demand query from data selected from the data group comprising equipment location, equipment operator, equipment type, equipment status, and demand requirements.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the equipment planning tool module further comprises means for building an equipment specifications query from data selected from the data group comprising equipment technical specifications, and wherein the equipment specifications query invokes the search engine to cause the report engine module to produce a report presenting a side by side comparison of equipment specifications responsive to the equipment specifications query.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the forecasting algorithm comprises drilling activity factors selected from the group comprising:

well location, well water depth, total drilling depth, maximum well angle, hole size, maximum well displacement, number of casing strings, and drilling mud type.

11. The system of claim 2, wherein the equipment usage sequences tool module comprises means for building a query to invoke operation of the search engine to retrieve data selected from a data group comprising rig data, contract data, and activities data to facilitate selection of a rig, activity of a rig, contract activity of a rig, and operation of the report engine module to create an activity sequence for a selected rig.

12. The system of claim 2, wherein the collaboration tool module comprises:

means for invoking operation of the interface engine to display a data entry form for defining a set of requirements for a project requiring use of oil and gas equipment, rigs, and vessels;

means for invoking operation of the search engine to retrieve rig data for rigs matching the set of requirements input; and

means for invoking the communications engine to submit the set of requirements to selected supply side market participants.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the relational database comprises:

a plurality of equipment records containing information about specific pieces of oil and gas equipment, rigs, and vessels within an equipment category, wherein each equipment record comprises an unique equipment identifier and data associated with the unique equipment identifier, wherein the data associated is selected from a data group comprising technical specifications for equipment, type of equipment, equipment owner, equipment contractor, current equipment activity, current equipment status, equipment availability date, equipment ownership history, and equipment technical upgrade history; and

one or more equipment related activity records, wherein each equipment related activity record comprises an unique activity identifier and data associated with the unique activity identifier, wherein the data associated comprises data selected from a data group comprising activity location, activity status, activity operator, activity technical specifications, and equipment rental rate for an activity.

14. The system of claim 2, wherein the equipment deployment optimization tool module comprises:

means for invoking the interface engine to display a data entry form for defining a plurality of sets of requirements for a plurality of projects requiring use of oil and gas equipment, rigs, and vessels, a set of supply side market participants, and a set of objective project functions;

means for invoking the communications engine to send data entered in the data entry form to the data processor to invoke operation of the search engine to query the relational database in response to the data entered; and

means for invoking the business logic engine to apply an optimization algorithm to the data resulting from operation of the search engine to determine optimal trades and economic incentives for optimal trades with the supply side market participants.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the relational database further comprises one or more equipment contract records, wherein each equipment contract record comprises contract data selected from a data group comprising equipment operator, equipment rental rate, and contract length.

16. A method for calculating economical day rates for a group of oil and gas equipment, rigs, and vessels for use in drilling wells in underwater formations comprising:

determining a mechanical difficulty index for a well based on factors selected from the group comprising well location, well water depth, total drilling depth, maximum well angle, hole size, maximum well displacement, number of casing strings and type of drilling mud;

determining a drilling performance index based on factors selected from the group comprising stratigraphic well description and drilling performance as a function of described stratigraphy;

determining a capability index based on identification of oil and gas equipment, rigs, and vessels available for a drilling project, contractor capabilities associated with each of the available oil and gas equipment, rigs, and vessels, and combined contractor and rig performance histories;

calculating a rig/hole performance index based on the mechanical difficulty index, the drilling performance index, and the contractor capability index;

calculating a number of days required to complete the drilling project; and

calculating an economic day rate for each of the available oil and gas equipment, rigs, and vessels based on the rig/hole performance index and the number of days required to complete the drilling project.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of determining the mechanical difficulty index comprises the substep of determining drilling performance as a function of mechanical difficulty and a real earth model.

18. A computer implemented method for analyzing supply and demand information in an oil and gas equipment, rig, and vessel market comprising:

providing a relational database for receiving and storing in an electronic storage medium data relevant to supply and data relevant to demand;

providing a first set of computer readable program code for processing incoming data for storage in the relational database;

providing a second set of computer readable program code for selectively retrieving data stored in the relational database;

providing a third set of computer readable program code for performing operations on data stored in the relational database wherein the operations are selected from the group comprising searching for selected data, applying an optimization algorithm to selected data, applying a forecasting algorithm to selected data, and calculating a price based on historical and current data stored in the relational database; and

providing an user interface for selectively invoking operating of each of the first, second, and third sets of computer readable program code.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising providing a fourth set of computer readable program code for providing the user interface for invoking functions performable by each of the first, second, and third sets of computer readable program code.

20. A method for generating a chart image from data stored in a relational database in response to search criteria entered by a program user comprising:

providing a search engine in communication with the relational database for receiving the search criteria entered by the program user and for generating search results in response to the entered search criteria;

creating a session object from each of the search criteria and the search results to generate result objects;

providing a server-side script for generating a hypertext markup language page having embedded therein image tags, wherein each image tag has embedded therein a “

src”

component;

providing an image rendering engine;

using the “

src”

component of the embedded image tags created by the server-side script to pull the search criteria from the session object;

calculating the width and height of the chart image to be produced by the image rendering engine;

generating an image map from the calculated width and height of the chart image in combination with the search results;

generating a buffered object for receiving a drawn image;

drawing rows on the buffered object;

drawing each of the result objects on the buffered object, wherein each result object becomes a chart element that relates to a discrete event in time;

compressing the buffered object having the result objects drawn thereon;

encoding the buffered object as a streamed encoded image; and

sending the streamed encoded image to an Internet browser for display by the Internet browser to the program user.

21. Computer readable program code for generating a chart image from data stored in a relational database in response to search criteria entered by a program user comprising:

a search engine in communication with the relational database for receiving the search criteria entered by the program user and for generating search results in response to the entered search criteria;

means for creating a session object from each of the search criteria and the search results to generate result objects;

a server-side script for generating a hypertext markup language page having embedded therein image tags, wherein each image tag has embedded therein a “

src”

component;

an image rendering engine;

means for using the “

src”

component of the embedded image tags created by the server-side script to pull the search criteria from the session object;

means for calculating the width and height of the chart image to be produced by the image rendering engine;

means for generating an image map from the calculated width and height of the chart image in combination with the search results;

means for generating a buffered object for receiving a drawn image;

means for drawing rows on the buffered object;

means for drawing each of the result objects on the buffered object, wherein each result object becomes a chart element that relates to a discrete event in time;

means for compressing the buffered object having the result objects drawn thereon;

means for encoding the buffered object as a streamed encoded image; and

means for sending the streamed encoded image to an Internet browser for display by the Internet browser to the program user.