In E&P databases, every well and wellbore needs a unique identifier. PPDM supports the industry’s efforts to improve well identification systems. This responds to the increasing complexity of well construction, the rapidly expanding volumes and types of data, and the need for unambiguous exchange of well data among businesses, governments and computer systems.
Around the world, one encounters numerous systems for well identification. Some are not suitable for digital databases, requiring data managers to develop their own identifiers. When PPDM launched a work group project to revise the well identifier for the USA in 2011, a preliminary step was to develop a “framework” of general principles.
The PPDM™ Global Well Identification Framework describes seven important principles that well identification systems should follow to ensure that disparate data systems are positioned for integration and harmonization, and technical or business data associated with the appropriate well component as described in What is a Well.