VISUALIZATION TECHNOLOGY FOR THE OIL AND GAS-INDUSTRY - TODAY AND TOMORROW

The fifth Archie Conference, ''Visualization Technology to Find and De velop More Oil and Gas,'' brought together 130 scientists and technolo gists to review current and future visualization technologies that are being developed and used in the petroleum and other industries. Visua lization in the oil and gas industry can be considered a tool for char acterizing and understanding surface and subsurface phenomena. In addi tion to allowing one to view and more easily understand large quantiti es of data, visualization is dramatically enhancing communications, an d thus interaction, among members of integrated exploration and develo pment teams. Current and potential end-users of visualization technolo gy consider the most important aspects to include common formats for d ata interchange, greater availability to consultants and independents (perhaps through PC-based visualization hardware and software), bigger bandwidth capabilities to drive more powerful machines, and the appli cation of sensitivity analysis to document uncertainty in visualizatio ns at all scales. Visualization technology is in its infancy, but grow ing so rapidly that it promises to have major impact on many aspects o f the petroleum industry, from improved day-to-day communications to b etter technology transfer and more powerful interpretive capabilities, all of which can ultimately lead to better economic decision making.