University-Industry Relations Bringing Solutions for O&G Exploration in Brazil

Recently a research project managed by the Geosciences Institute of Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) for BG Brazil chose a solution for petrographic knowledge and data management, developed by trading partners Endeeper and Carl Zeiss.

The project titled: "Stratigraphical-Sedimentogical-Petrological Integrated Study of Rift Section of Santos and Campos Basins, in the east of Brazil” used a solution that integrates Petroledge and RockViewer systems of Endeeper with the Axio Imager A2 Pol microscope, equipped with AxioCam MRc scientific camera and ZEN Lite 2011 system from Carl Zeiss. Petroledge is a knowledge system for management of reservoir petrographic information. An advanced software for capturing, codifying, storing, processing and sharing detailed petrographic descriptions of clastic and carbonate reservoir rocks, based on a high level geological ontology.

Petroledge integrates artificial intelligence and relational database technology for petrographic description and evaluation of reservoirs. Using Petroledge, the petrographic descriptions are organized and distributed simultaneously to different queries. Geologists will perform the systematic acquisition and management of petrographic data using the Server version of Petroledge and RockViewer and Carl Zeiss equipments.

The great advantage of this solution is that all data generated at different workstations are stored directly on the central server of the research project, making easier the exchange of information among researchers, ensuring data security and accelerating the data processing and the integrated interpretation.

Eduardo Castro, business developer of Endeeper, commented: "We are very pleased to have our products chosen for use in a research project important for the university-enterprise interaction and for the oil exploration in Brazil. This is the result of permanent investment from Endeeper in offering innovative and efficient solutions for the oil and mining markets."

The research project is supported by the Brazilian National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) and once again shows that Industry-University research relations is of great importance in developing new software and hardware technologies to tackle the challenges of O&G exploration in Brazil. These relations or interaction have been increasing steadily in Brazil and the many good results attained in recent years only highlights the potential for increased university research influence in the O&G industry.