This is certainly the case for Northrock Resources Ltd., in Calgary, Alberta, an oil and gas company that has undergone remarkable growth in recent years through a combination of aggressive exploration, development and acquisitions. In fact the company has doubled in production volumes in the last two years alone, with every indication that this growth trend will continue in the foreseeable future.

Northrock prides itself on the fact that among its many accomplishments, it has one of the most comprehensive and responsive data retrieval systems to be found anywhere. An established user of Labrador Technologies Petro-LAB^TM data query, browsing and analysis tools, Northrock has a data retrieval system that could eventually "perform all data querying needs across multiple departments, users and disciplines," says IS manager Kent Mitchell.

Petro-LAB^TM is a modular toolset that utilizes Labrador® Technologies retrieval software . A Windows-based system, Petro-LAB^TM allows users to query and browse data in real time from any relational database.

So what does this kind of access mean in real terms for a business enterprise? According to Mitchell, it means "having the best information available in real time all the time to give users the power to make better decisions."

"A key to our business is data," he continues. "The more data access we have, the more competitive we can be and the more successful our exploration and development initiatives. In simple terms, we have better and faster decision making capabilities based on having better information in hand.

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 The evolution of Petro-LAB^TM
Northrock began using Petro-LAB^TM technology in 1997, as a single license for accessing public well information by the company's geological technicians. Petro-LAB^TM soon evolved from serving a specific function to something much more. "As soon as I saw the openness and flexibility Petro-LAB^TM could offer, I realized the potential benefits it could offer other areas of our company, such as exploration, engineering and finance," says Mitchell. The decision was made to expand beyond the single license to apply the technology to a broader range of functions and users.

Ron Sterne, C.E.O. of Sterne Stackhouse Inc, the parent company of Labrador Technologies,. says that Northrock's long term strategy was to have "a single tool with a single interface to access as much information as possible. That includes externally managed public information as well as proprietary information that is internally managed. Having real-time access to all this data has traditionally presented numerous challenges to customers since each application has its own database and environment. Since Petro-LAB^TM is open-systems based, and can work with any data model, real time access is no longer an issue."

"What is truly remarkable about this solution is the fact that we have one tool that can deliver more capabilities and a broader, deeper range of information," confirms Mitchell. He adds that there are competitive offerings that can deliver data to users in real time, "but they tend to be limited as to what you can go after and are not as efficient in terms of returning answers in an optimal way that are easy for the end user to understand and utilize."

"With Petro-LAB^TM, you get what they have to offer - i.e. real time data - and so much more. The openness, the flexibility, and the richness of the data provide a whole new power that can change and grow as your business grows. Whatever new data sets we have to work with, all we need is the data model from the vendor, and we can have it modeled to suit our needs. Basically, any data that's stored can be accessed. That's a tremendous advantage from both a business and an IT perspective."

Sterne notes, "Northrock is a company that has experienced a lot of growth. With the Labrador technology, they have been able to build an effective infrastructure that supports future growth without the usual management headaches." Sterne's experience is that growth tends to be accompanied by the introduction of more and more applications and systems that cost money, drain internal I.T. support resources, and cause the organization to lose focus on their core competencies (in this case, finding oil and gas.)

 Petro-LAB^TM in action
Petro-LAB^TM is currently being used by Northrock to access three proprietary data sets: land, wells and seismic with the financial model in progress and field data capture and production accounting to be added in the near future. The system is also used to retrieve data from industry/public data sets that include land, well log curves, pipelines, grid and culture and other sources.

Any data accessed can be integrated with the various Petro-LAB^TM modules which can improve productivity greatly. For example, if Northrock wanted to create a map showing land position and land sales postings, the traditional procedure would have been to send stagnant proprietary data to an outside source for mapping. Now a user can go to Northrock's proprietary land holding database, retrieve the live data and generate a map showing Northrock's most current land holdings relative to land sales postings, including other data, public or proprietary, that is accessible.

Since the early days of serving as a tool for geological technicians, Petro-LAB^TM is now being utilized by staff throughout the company, from engineering to finance to geophysical. "It is definitely evolving into an enterprise tool that anybody in the organization would use," says Mitchell.

Mitchell is quick to point out that despite the specialized needs of the oil and gas industry, this type of openness in data retrieval can represent a powerful tool for any business enterprise. "Petro-LAB^TM is much more than an oil and gas product. The capabilities of the Labrador data retrieval system can be applied to any industry - health care, manufacturing and finance for example. After all, this is a query tool with a lot of functionality and flexibility - which is a need for any business enterprise."

"The key features are that it's open and it works efficiently," continues Mitchell. "From a casual user to a power user, it has the capability of delivering the desired results."

 About Petro-LAB^TM
Petro-LAB^TM is a high-performance, integrated suite of intuitive data query, browsing and analysis tools that runs in an open systems environment. The underlying Labrador® data retrieval technology is the software's "centrepiece" that provides a framework to build a consistent user interface. Labrador® can work with complex data models to accelerate development, reduce maintenance and streamline the decision making process.

 Petro-LAB^TM modules include:

• fieldLAB^TM - a module for production and drilling data query and analysis

• landLAB^TM - for retrieving public or proprietary land information, such as mineral agreements, land sales, and land sales results

• pipeLAB^TM - to provide query and analysis information on pipelines, facilities and related data

• resLAB^TM - for querying oil and gas reserves data

• seisLAB^TM - for retrieving public and proprietary seismic information, such as seismic surveys and individual lines

• finLAB^TM - for retrieving and analyzing proprietary financial information such as accounts payable, general ledger (GL) accounts, cost centres and authorization for expenditures (AFE).

Additional capabilities include extensive map-based browsing and evaluation functions for assessing other oil companies, including production numbers, land holdings and wells.

• 
• Case Study Intro
• Evolution of
  Petro-LAB
• Petro-LAB
  in Action
• About
  Petro-LAB
• Petro-LAB
  Modules

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