“There are so many things that add up to make ZoneVu great.”
Hibernia Resources is a small operator running multiple rigs in the Midland Basin. They were doing fine with their ‘industry standard’ geosteering software, but they weren’t happy with fine. They wanted to excel. To do that, they needed a geosteering software that provides innovative features to give them a competitive advantage, while being nimble enough to keep up with Hibernia’s fast pace. With its cloud-based architecture, exceptional data management capabilities, real-time rig data integration, and completions integration, ZoneVu’s geosteering package has been that software for Hibernia. Reed Stevens, Hibernia’s VP of Geoscience, explains:
“I didn’t realize how critical the cloud-based structure of ZoneVu is. As Hibernia’s only geo, I travel regularly and when I’m not traveling, I’m with my family as much as possible. Being able to pop ZoneVu up at any point in time, anywhere I’m at, and flip through any geosteering interpretation I want to, has been truly game changing. You can open ZoneVu anywhere and you’re looking at the same interpretations as everyone else, no matter which machine you’re on. I was skiing in Colorado this weekend and didn’t even have to bring my computer.”
Because ZoneVu is built around a cloud database, it acts as a repository for all your field data and makes things easier when the rubber hits to road (or the bit hits the rock):
“ZoneVu’s setup is important, and while takes a little more time than other software to set up in the beginning, it saves you time in the long run. I’ve loaded type logs across all our assets, with all of our tops and our standard stratigraphic columns, and it’s really nicely organized. I much prefer having all that data in there from the get-go instead of working on stand-alone projects where you have to pull in type logs every time, pick top colors every time, and set everything up every time. With ZoneVu, you just create your interpretation, and everything’s pretty much set up for you.”
Another thing that sets ZoneVu apart is its cloud agent, RigStream™, which automatically pulls rig data from the WITSML source – a major advantage when Reed and his geosteering team are running three rigs at a time:
“The WITSML capability is extremely beneficial. It allows [our geosteering team] to focus on their job instead of loading every survey and every log, which can be crazy when you’re making 400 feet an hour. With the other geosteering software, small things like dealing with network keys became a problem. It was always something. There are just too many things you have to do, too many steps, and if we had stuck with the other software, it probably would have required a full-time geotech to load and QC all the data.”
RigStream isn’t just useful as a data management tool. It also gives Hibernia an advantage when it comes to making real-time geosteering decisions:
“The other advantage of the WITSML connection is that you can see live gamma ray data ahead of your survey points. You can do a lot with that data, like avoiding hazards. It’s been really beneficial. It’s harder to use Pason data when it’s not in your geosteering software and it’s in time instead of depth. Now I don’t have to have three different Pasons, remember three different passwords, and have three windows open to view that data. I don’t look at Pason nearly as much now because I’m seeing that critical data in ZoneVu.”
And so is everyone else who wants to keep up to date with rig operations:
“Our CEO is in ZoneVu a lot. He’ll just put it up on his computer at home and watch the interpretation as it moves. So that’s another powerful thing – we can all look the same interpretation and literally watch it move, live, without pressing a single button.”
Hibernia has also been putting ZoneVu’s unique completions module to good use – ZoneVu Frac™:
“Before, it was a little difficult to help our completions engineers when they had a problem stage. They’d ask me to take a look, and without having stages and perfs loaded into your interpretation, you’d have to isolate exactly where things happened. Now our completion engineer is loading our perf plans ahead of the job and we’re able to see if there are lithologies that might treat funny. We’re able to look ahead and more easily identify those half-carbonate, half-shale stages right off the bat. And you have that data loaded and on-hand while you’re pumping the job.”
Having a software that their entire team can collaborate in has been a massive advantage to Hibernia, and so has their collaboration with Ubiterra:
“[Collaboration] is the most important thing for me with ZoneVu. They have a great product, but the fact that they’re as nimble as we are is amazing. They implement things for us in real time. And that’s just not a relationship you’re not going to get with other software companies.”
