Oil and Gas Software

How to select oil and gas software for your business

With the increased costs of oil and gas and the rising demand for petroleum products, choosing the best oil and gas software for your specific business is imperative. The right petroleum software for your business can help you operate more efficiently and effectively.

Many oil and gas software companies want your business and want to show their products to you. However, understanding your company's specific needs can help make the task of selecting oil and gas software much easier on everyone.

Things to consider when selecting oil and gas software for your company include:

1. The specific tasks that you need the oil and gas software to perform

2. Your staff''s preexisting training on and knowledge of petroleum software systems

3. The training and technical support oil and gas software companies can provide

 

Understand your company's oil and gas software needs

Petroleum software can aid with both oil and gas production and exploration. You can use oil and gas software for static or dynamic modeling, for seismic interpretation and for facilities engineering. Determine the main goals of your company and what aspects of petroleum software you will need to help you reach your goals.
Try: Look at Schlumberger Information Solutions for a wide variety of oil and gas software, such as Petrel for subsurface applications, ECLIPSE for reservoir engineering applications and the Avocet family of software for production needs. Consider downloading free demos of oil and gas software at GAEA Technologies Ltd.

Consider the experience level of your staff when choosing oil and gas software

A staff composed of entry-level geologists and reservoir engineers may need to use a simpler petroleum software program initially. Make sure that the software will allow your staff to ramp up to more advanced applications. If your staff contains experienced hires, you may choose a more complex software program for your business.
Try: Consult the petrophysical software providers from the Society of Petrophysicists & Well Log Analysts to find out general information about the oil and gas software applications used by members of your staff. Contact oil and gas software companies such as Seismic Micro-Technology, Inc. or Schlumberger Information Solutions to ask them about the intended users for their products.

Familiarize yourself with the training and technical support provided

When you purchase a suite of oil and gas software or a specific software application from an oil and gas software company, make sure that your staff will receive adequate training on the new software as well as technical support. You will want to check with your software provider to see what services you can either get for free or what services you can purchase for an additional cost.
Try: Take training classes on Schlumberger oil and gas software products to learn the software applications and to keep up to date with software improvements and changes. Register for Schlumberger's online support portal for technical assistance with their products. Use web-based support or take training courses from GAEA Technologies Ltd for their petroleum software applications.

 

• Obtain trials or demos of oil and gas software of interest. Many oil and gas software companies will provide these to you before you make a final purchasing decision.
• Be sure that the petroleum software that you purchase integrates well with other software programs used by your company and your company's computer operating system.
• Look into any maintenance or reliability issues of the oil and gas software. Make sure that the software purchased has a good track record of being reliable and that the future software maintenance won't cost your business a lot of time or money.

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