A Review on Data Transformation in Marginal Offshore Field Developments in Malaysia

Abstract

— Data transformation continues to pervade the petroleum industry thanks to the emergence of Big
Data. Companies continue to progress on the digitalisation front by adopting high-performance computing,
aiming to maximise asset value. This review aims at addressing the need for enhancing the insufficiency of
unstructured-data management in the development and operations of marginal oil and gas fields. Operators
find it challenging to articulate the density of unstructured data when the primary focus is more towards
managing structured data. The goal would be to develop an enhanced model that would efficiently extract
vital information from the mass of acquired data. The significant findings that emerged were that, existing
management architectures served as data collection points but not considered as part of the same data
collection system. Operators find it challenging to extract data from operational and production activities
that need to be structured, analyzed and converted into consumable information. The process-driven nature
of these operators allows for unstructured data to go unnoticed which is why the systems that will work best
will depend mainly on the organisation, the existing technical and operational workflow, solutions, and
geographical spread. In conclusion, the analysis of these data is an integral part of the processes in marginal
field developments as it is the pivot on which several decisions are made.