34 OCTOBER 2023 WorldWide Drilling Resource® Open Dataset for Onshore Geoscience Research Adapted from Information bythe British Geological Survey The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) in the United Kingdom authorized the release of all twell data for onshore hydrocarbon boreholes held by the British Geological Survey (BGS) in the National Geoscience Data Centre. Unlike borehole data from the North Sea, which has been available free of charge for some time, the data relating to these onshore boreholes was previously only available via Data Release Agents. It is now available free of charge to industry, academics, and the public via the BGS GeoIndex, providing a new free resource that will add to the knowledge necessary to meet net zero objectives. Few boreholes have been drilled to these depths (over 3200 feet) onshore in the UK and are almost exclusively a consequence of gas, oil, or coal exploration. The gas and oil wells deeply penetrate the crust under the UK mainland and are widespread geographically across the area. Unlike coal wells, the gas and oil drilling data is better structured and better conforms to global standards of deep geological and deep geophysical data collection. Most of the direct knowledge and samples the BGS has access to about the deep geology of the UK are based upon this data. Information from these deep hydrocarbon wells forms the best dataset to understand the geology of the deep UK subsurface. Widening access to the dataset could enhance the knowledge needed to meet net zero objectives such as assessing the suitability of UK rocks for extraction of geothermal heat; storing surplus energy from renewables and waste materials like carbon dioxide; and identifying potential new mineral resources. The data has been provided to the BGS under a regulation which sets the records and samples requirements for onshore surveys and wells licensed by the NSTA. The data was previously held for the BGS internal science use only, so this release widens the community of scientists who can access this important dataset. It includes the data for all boreholes that have been released (four years post-drilling) and for which the BGS holds original geophysical data. Data is being released using an Open Government Licence which allows users to copy, publish, distribute, and transmit the information, adapt the information, and exploit the information commercially and noncommercially - provided they acknowledge the source of the information. The NSTA has collected data from more than 2200 onshore wells drilled in the search for gas and oil. Historically, half of the data was released through the BGS with the rest provided by Data Release Agents on behalf of the NSTA. The new arrangement with the BGS means all onshore hydrocarbon well data will be available from the BGS. This free access to the unique onshore data will support the investment and innovation necessary to enable ongoing energy transition. The data is available via the BGS GeoIndex on a layer called “Onshore UK hydrocarbon well data” and currently includes over 60,000 logs from 1200 wells, with the number still increasing. All related records in the BGS Borehole Index (which contains summary borehole metadata) have also been marked as open, releasing over 2000 records previously marked as confidential in the index. Onshore UK hydrocarbon well datalayer on the BGS GeoIndex. Contains OS data © Crown Copyright and database right 2020. G&O See us at the WorldWide DownHome DrillFest™ Booth 7 & 7a
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