The National Hydrocarbons Data Archive (NHDA) is the primary, long–term data archive for the geoscientific legacy resulting from UK offshore oil and gas exploration and production activity. The data are made available from the archive at low cost to the public for commercial projects and academic research. Examples of potential uses are hydrocarbon exploration, field redevelopment and carbon dioxide sequestration.
The NHDA is operated by BGS under an agreement with DECC (formerly DTI then DBERR). DECC strongly encourages licensees to make the archiving of licence data with the NHDA a standard operating procedure as part of relinquishment of a licence or COP of a field (to benefit from the knowledge and input of the asset team before they are dispersed), and also to address the archiving of legacy licence data.
The NHDA is governed by a steering committee consisting of representatives from DECC, CDA and BGS.What is the benefit of the NHDA?
The NHDA is a PILOT initiative to help, reduce costs, remove perpetual licence obligations, and increase data availability for future exploration.
UK legislation requires UKCS licensees to store most hydrocarbon exploration and production data types in perpetuity (excluding cores and cuttings), even after licence relinquishment. DECC can request copies of data from individual licensees, which should be provided on modern media, at anytime. Data obligations are borne jointly and severally by all parties to a licence and not by the licence operator alone. Once the data are deposited in the archive, all the members of the licence group are relieved of their obligations for the data.
How does the NHDA operate?
The BGS National Geoscience Data Centre (NGDC) is the national long-term repository of geoscientific information in the UK, and the NHDA is component part of the NGDC. Licensees can transfer licence data to the NHDA at, for example, licence relinquishment or field COP. Once the data are archived, and the archive endowment fee has been paid, all members of the licence group responsible for the data obtain permanent relief from DECC for their obligation to manage and maintain the data in perpetuity.
While DECC prefers that all data associated with a licence or field are archived at the same time, the process is flexible. It is possible to archive individual seismic surveys and wells independently of the licence under which they were acquired or drilled. Site survey data can be archived at any time via the MEDIN DAC system.
The archive process is described in detail in the NHDA Archive Handbook.
Document downloads February 2010
- NHDA Archive Handbook Version 3.1 (260kb, pdf)
- NHDA Data Types (32.0kb, pdf)
- NHDA Standards and Formats (36kb, pdf)
- NHDA Archive Endowment and Access Fees (20kb, pdf)
| Malcolm Fleming | Colin Graham | Phil Harrison |
|---|---|---|
| CDA Ltd Second Floor 242 Vauxhall Bridge Rd London SW1V 1AU |
British Geological Survey Murchison House West Mains Road Edinburgh EH9 3LA |
DECC 3rd Floor, Area B 3 Whitehall Place London SW1A 2HH |
| Tel 020 7802 2435 | Tel 0131 667 1000 | Tel 0300 068 6036 |
| mfleming@cdal.com | phil.harrison@decc.gsi.gov.uk |
