Discovering new sources of petroleum ahead of the competition is one of the key ways to staying successful in the petroleum industry. Global Coordinates can help use GIS technology to help one evaluate the potential for oil in promising locations.

Exploration requires analysis of a lot of different types of data such as satellite imagery, digital aerial photo mosaics, seismic surveys, surface geology studies, subsurface and cross section interpretations and images, well locations, and existing infrastructure information. Global Coordinates can assist in relating this data to the location in question and allowing overlaying, viewing, and manipulating the data in the form of a map for thoroughly analyzing the potential, using GIS Technology.

Global Coordinates can assist in using GIS technology for the management of the spatial components of everyday petroleum "business objects," such as leases, wells, pipelines, environmental concerns, facilities, and retail outlets, in the corporate database, and apply appropriate geographic analysis efficiently in a desktop-focused application.

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First off: One can locate in-ground resources of petroleum based against the surface or subsurface material that are normally present in/around large or usable deposits. One can also locate active or abandoned wells, and map them in relation to other active or abandoned wells in a specific region. This will allow a company to establish a more effective scheduled maintenance route between all sites, distribution or storage points. One can identify the fastest routes between a resource and distribution or storage points, thereby saving the company money on transportation. A GIS can also be used to identify pipes, pumps, switches and valves. Each can be an icon on a GIS hard-product or digital view, and then linked to or related to other items. Here's an example,

material
orientation: 08 and 188 degrees (NNE)
beginning coordinate: (first lat/long)
ending coordinate: (second lat/long)
installed: 9/1988
inspected: 9/1992, 1995, 1998
repaired: 1/1996
depth: -4.1 metres
nearest pump: 4 km, 188 degrees
nearest valve: .3 km, 188 degrees
connecting pipes: Pipe Segment A, Pipe Segment C

Now while all these are attribute of a specific length of pipe (Segment A) they are related to other items in a database.

One can identify all the segments that have not been inspected, identify all segments with the same material (if one finds a defect in one...), determine flow rate through that segment, know where to dig for maintenance (saves LOTS of time with on-site maintenance crews.) one can identify the closest road to a site, and the list goes on.