One of the most entertaining and enjoyable developments to hit the oil and gas industry in the last two years is immersive visualization. This technology, a subset of virtual reality, allows users to experience the subsurface in three-dimensional, interactive environments. Immersive visualization is rapidly becoming a mainstream tool for oil and gas professionals, thanks to its capacity to allow people to quickly understand extremely detailed and complex data sets. Users can move through, under and around the representations, changing and manipulating the virtual environment while immersed in it. Mike Zeitlen, <$iTexaco > fellow and manager of Texaco's visualization technology, is a pioneer in the field. Zeitlen started his efforts in visualization in 1989; in 1991 he formed a team charged with developing and deploying visualization technology. "Texaco's goals were to cut cycle time in the upstream sector, improve production margins, and find new reserves more accurately. I pursued visualization technology because I thought it could give us monumental improvements in those areas," he says. In November 1997 in Houston, Texaco installed the industry's first immersive visualization center. Within a month, the major built another facility in Bakersfield, California. Six months later, it added a second Houston location. Early in 1999, Texaco built two additional centers in Indonesia. Today, about 60 large-scale, visualization centers exist for the oil industry, scattered throughout the world. The benefits of the emerging technology are impressing people. "Visualization provides a communication breakthrough. It gives people a common, shared view of all available information," says Hovey Cox, Houston-based manager, reservoir products group, <$iGeoQuest >, an operating unit of Schlumberger. Schlumberger has built an immersive visualization center at its research facility in Cambridge, England. The ability to interact with extremely large volumes of data is one of the key benefits of the technology. Huge seismic data sets can be viewed in their entirety, and a user can easily zoom from large-scale features such as shelf/slope boundaries down to such reservoir-level features as AVO (amplitude versus offset) anomalies. Subsurface interpretations also benefit from visualization. By tapping into the tremendous visual processing capacity of the human brain, the technology allows an interpreter to grasp all the available data. Immersive visualization captivates the user, monopolizing the mind and eliminating distractions. The geoscientist can perceive the subsurface data far more quickly and fully than is possible with the ponderous paper-and-pencil approach, or even with flat-screen representations on workstations. Users can quickly discern important relationships and patterns in the complex models. "With immersive visualization, people can detect patterns in the data-such as turbidite fans and sand channels-much faster and easier," says Zeitlen. Notes Cox, "Visualization also immediately reveals if the cross sections and markers match the geophysical interpretation. It's a powerful tool to determine if an interpretation is logically sound and if it takes into all information available about the subsurface." At Halliburton's <$iLandmark Graphics >, clients using immersive visualization expend about 40% to 50% of their efforts on geophysical applications, says Jeff Coffman, Houston-based product manager. Landmark has constructed two large-format facilities, one in Houston and one in the UK. "Companies also use the technology for everything from planning wells and modeling reservoirs to locating pipelines and platforms. Visualization crosses a very broad spectrum. We've even had a group of accountants interested in interactively working on spreadsheets in a visualization environment," says Coffman. Texaco mainly employs its immersive visualization technology for 3-D seismic interpretation, prospect generation and well planning. "We built the technology because we were collecting enormous amounts of 3-D seismic data, and we needed better and quicker ways to interpret it. That's what visualization does," says Zeitlen. "We can look at all the data and leave no stone unturned." Indeed, Texaco credits visualization with its several-hundred-million-barrel Agbami discovery that it made in 1999 in Nigeria's central Niger Delta. The well, which encountered 420 feet of net pay in multiple zones, is one of the largest Texaco discoveries of the last three decades. "The visualization technology changed the location of the well, and there is some evidence that if we had proceeded with the original plan we would not have made the discovery," says Zeitlen. Geoscientists at Texaco can now prospect live, on a visualization screen in real time, he says. They can interact with and interpret data directly. "We handle between 30% and 40% of our projects via visualization, and all the large projects are visualized. All of our risk assessment uses visualization as well," he says. Visualization has also become valuable for quality control on large seismic data sets, says Cox. Today, companies are using visualization to aid in selecting speculative data for purchase, to assist in quality control on data processing, and to high-grade areas for more intense study. With visualization, people can very rapidly determine the best opportunities in an overall data set. Collaboration is perhaps the most outstanding advantage of the technology. Proponents of visualization say that immersive environments enhance collaboration-people report increased insight, innovation and interaction. The sharing of the complex data sets among professionals broadens the viewpoint of the whole group, and the sum is greater than the parts. "Visualization allows us to integrate all the data, information and knowledge that were previously developed," says Cox. "All the data comes together in this view of the reservoir. Not only does visualization integrate the data, it also integrates the ideas and the people." Houston-based Continuum Resources sees collaboration as the unique strength of immersive visualization. The firm, formed a year ago, opened large-scale collaboration centers in London, Houston and Perth this past summer. Continuum offers a service-center approach to visualization, renting its centers to outside parties, says president and chief executive officer Jeff Hume. An entire asset team can be inside a visual database, without any wires or keyboards. Each member can explain specialization to his or her colleagues by pointing at an item with a wand that acts like a remote mouse, identifying the item and getting the computer to respond with all the information about the item that the team members can't possibly remember. "Visualization is changing the way knowledge management is done. We are moving to the point where human beings can interact with data in a completely natural, spontaneous way," says Hume. The big gain delivered by large-scale immersive environments is collaboration between the disciplines, concurs Huw James, Houston-based product manager, <$iParadigm Geophysical. > "Engineers and geophysicists can work together in the immersive environments, and it's a place they want to be. People like visualization environments." Also, visualizations commonly display depth-indexed rather than time-indexed seismic. "Seeing the seismic data in depth helps engineers tie into their engineering data," says James. "Engineering data mixed with derived seismic data is understandable to both parties. Everybody sees the same thing, and their points of view are aligned." Remote collaborations also offer huge potential rewards. The most compelling promise for virtual technology is to tie people together who have to make collective decisions, says Bowen Loftin, director of the Virtual Environments Research Institute and professor and chairman of the computer science department at the University of Houston. The institute is sponsored jointly by the university and by NASA. VERI has been investigating how to share virtual environments over long distances for NASA and for the Department of Defense, and this translates readily into the needs of the oil industry. Remote sharing will be the true value that virtual technology can add to the industry, he maintains. "The oil business is far-flung. With this technology, we could send an engineer or geologist into the field to collaborate with people on location. That will save time, cost and wear-and-tear on people." Visualization technology can also speed decisions. "In the two years since Texaco installed our first large-scale visualization center, we've done more than 100 projects," says Zeitlen. Without exception, it has reduced the cycle time of our projects from up to four weeks to three or four days." For now, immersive visualization is the domain of major oil companies, national oil companies and extremely large independents. The club is exclusive for several reasons. First, costs are quite hefty for the large-format systems. "The big theater setups typically cost upward of $1.5 million," says Cox. "Some companies have spent $4.5- to $5 million on their installations." Further, although costs are dropping, the rate of change of the technology gives buyers pause. "Costs for the computers and for the projection systems are coming down dramatically," James says. "Companies question whether they should buy now or wait for more cost reduction." Another dampener on wider adoption is that the technology is hardly uniform in function or capability. "Each environment is different. One of the problems for software developers like ourselves is a lack of standardization," he says. "Large visualization environments are very dramatic, but the market for these systems is quite small. That makes it difficult for us to offer commercial products to the industry." Much work also remains on retrofitting existing applications to take advantage of visualization. "A lot has to be done on the infrastructure in oil and gas to make use of this technology," says Hume. Databases have to be organized around spatial assets, rather than by traditional departments. All information-well locations, production histories, well logs, core analyses, seismic data-must be accessible to the visualization of a particular field or prospect. "There is certainly an entry barrier to visualization. If a company wants to use visualization across its entire enterprise, it will have to bite the bullet and rework its databases," says Hume. Once a system is installed, other concerns crop up. People are often intoxicated with the technology when they first come into an immersive environment. "We have to get them past that, and get them focused on the component they are contributing to the task," says Coffman. A third-party facilitator can be helpful, he adds. "We've found that groups of highly educated, highly experienced scientists find it very frustrating to have one of their team members driving a display." People must learn to react to what is important and ignore what is not. "It takes about a day to learn to navigate in a visualization system. But it takes about six months to master the techniques and use it to identify prospects," says Zeitlen. "People need to adopt a new paradigm." Indeed, the industry largely lacks the visual training and visual techniques to allow users to take advantage of the new technology, he says. "We are now writing that book." Despite some bumps in the road for the fledgling technology, the gains it promises to deliver to the industry appear to be quite solid. Further, the benefits of visualization are certainly not confined to large-scale immersive environments. Options exist from the theater-style setups to portable domes to workbenches to desktop systems. The lower-end assemblies can effectively address the cost issue. "Smaller theater-style systems can be put together for approximately $400,000, and portable dome systems can be purchased for $200,000," says Cox. Hardware is key-smaller systems can even be supported by PCs, whereas the large-scale systems require much more powerful and expensive computers. "We see midlevel companies particularly starting to look at cost-effective ways to access collaborative systems." The theaters are the very high end of the visualization business. "We expect that as people move from the semigraphic environment that prevails today to the full-graphic environment of the future, they will look for an integrated technology that will work in a desktop setting," Hume says. Desktop displays do not supply the immersive experience of the larger systems. Still-aside from collaboration-many of the advantages of visualization can be gleaned from desktop systems. "The desktop environments are very popular, and that's where we see the real numbers growth in visualization technology," says James. "Visualization already dominates the interpretation market." Desktop use is burgeoning. "Many of the smallest companies we work with use desktop visualization extensively," says Cox. "We think visualization will permeate the industry at every level, from workstations to workrooms to corporate visualization theaters." Certainly, display devices ranging from the individual to the large group can be effectively employed in visualization, says Loftin. Loftin's VERI performs research in many aspects of virtual environments, including applications in space exploration, automotive design and pharmacology. About 10% of VERI's work is directed at visualization for the oil and gas industry, mainly accomplished through a virtual environment-geosciences consortium called VR-Geo. The group, in its third phase, includes Statoil, Arco, Mobil, Marathon, Exxon, Shell and Landmark Graphics among its members. "The VR-Geo partners have focused on finding ways to make visualization technology fit into small groups or individual offices, as opposed to large-scale arrangements," he says. "A lot of independent companies are intrigued by visualization, but they want solutions that are not expensive and that don't require huge spaces. If they can put something in an office-sized space at a relatively low cost, that can be an enormous advantage for them." Smaller companies are especially attracted by the tremendous promotional and marketing powers of visualization. Many companies see the value in using visualization to build models to help sell high-dollar prospects. Asset divestiture is another area where visualization makes sense to an independent. "A visualization model is a geospatial model that can be updated and interrogated. The model itself becomes an asset to the buyer," says Hume. Visualization can also allow nontechnical investors to quickly comprehend projects. And, use of visualization sends the message that the company inhabits the cutting edge of oilfield technology. In short, visualization can offer an edge to companies both large and small. Look for the technology to become ever more prevalent as people increasingly appreciate its strengths. M As in any fast-emerging field, virtual reality proponents have yet to fully agree on common definitions. The term "virtual reality" has been in popular use for the past 15 years or so, although many working in the technology prefer tags such as "artificial reality," "virtual worlds" or "synthetic environments." "The expression 'virtual environment' is better, in my view, because we may be creating a world that isn't anything like real," says Bowen Loftin, director of the Virtual Environments Research Institute and professor and chairman of the computer science department at the University of Houston. Visualization is a subset of virtual reality. "With visualization, we are trying to visualize data produced by computer programs, simulations or sensors. We are trying to make that data more understandable." A virtual environment that replicates scenarios from Bosnia can be used to train military personnel in peacekeeping operations, but that's not considered visualization, he says. "We're not trying to use that version of reality to teach the soldiers anything about the data. They are being trained to perform a task." Immersion is a further enhancement of visualization. An immersive visualization environment concentrates the attention of the user, removing the distractions of the outside world. An immersive environment extraordinarily focuses the mind. Says Loftin, "Visual immersion means you can't see anything but what the computer provides for you. Beyond that is sensorial immersion, in which auditory, olfactory and tactile senses are fully engaged in the virtual environment. The technology is not there yet, but that's one of the directions we are going." An audience enjoys a visualization demonstration at Continuum Resources' large-scale collaboration center in Houston. The 3-D glasses allow the images to be viewed in stereo. Left, a desktop visualization shows a new voxel volume (in red) that has been picked from a seismic cube. Only the high amplitudes are shown (in purple) in the transparent cube. In the middle image, wells, logs, seismic, interpreted cross sections, markers and horizons are brought together and displayed in the 3-D space. The right image illustrates a geologic cross-section compared with an interpreted geophysical fault. (Images are courtesy of GeoQuest.) Visualization is changing knowledge management, says Jeff Hume, president of Continuum Resources. The technology allows people to interact naturally and spontaneously with data. "It takes about a day to learn to navigate in a visualization system. But it takes about six months to master the techniques and use it to identify prospects." Mike Zeitlen, Texaco