Access to information and samples

As recommended by the Wood Review, the OGA aims to make information and samples publicly available as soon as possible.

Accordingly, the 2018 disclosure regulations shortened (in most cases) the length of time that information and samples can remain confidential. However, these new confidentiality periods will generally only apply from 2018 onwards; for legacy data, the rules for release under the 1998 Petroleum Act licence model clauses will still continue to apply.

Offshore technical information is made available either through the National Data Repository (NDR) or the OGA’s Open Data pages. Samples are made available for inspection by the British Geological Survey (BGS).

Well data release agents will continue to make onshore well data available and value-added products from wells already released.

Full details of confidentiality periods under the licence model clauses and the Energy Act 2016 are available in Petroleum Operations Notice (PON) 9 and the OGA’s Guidance on the Reporting and Disclosure of Information and Samples (available on the OGA guidance pages)

If you have any questions about data access or issues relating to Information and Samples in general please contact OGA technical services on OGA.TechData@ogauthority.co.uk

Contacts

  • For data viewing

    Digital information for offshore wells is now available through the National Data Repository (NDR) NDR registration is free. Please visit the NDR home page for information on how to register. 

    British Geological Survey

    The BGS have released well data for viewing on microfiche and on DVD.  Please contact:

    Scott Renshaw
    British Geological Survey
    Kingsley Dunham Centre
    Keyworth
    Nottingham NG12 5GG

    Tel: +44 (0) 115 9363228
    Email: kwcorestore@bgs.ac.uk  

    Please note the contacts above must only be used to make appointments to view data.

    General data enquiries

    OGA Technical Data Services
    4th floor, 21 Bloomsbury Street
    London WC1B 3HF

    Tel: +44 (0) 300 067 1667
    Email:OGA.TechData@ogauthority.co.uk

  • To view core and samples for offshore and onshore wells

    Scott Renshaw
    British Geological Survey
    Kingsley Dunham Centre
    Keyworth
    Nottingham NG12 5GG

    Tel. +44 (0)115 9363228
    Email: kwcorestore@bgs.ac.uk  

    Regulations and application for examining/sampling well samples (MS Word Document, 58.3KB)

Data purchase

  • Well data

    The OGA’s appointed Data Release Agents from whom you can purchase information about wells:

    Agent

    Data types

    Website and telephone contact
    TGS-NOPEC (A2D) Well logs and reports
    UKNS Facies Map Browser    		 TGS-NOPEC website 
    Rhys Blake
    +44 (0) 208 339 4200 rhys.blake@tgs.com
    Exploration Geosciences United Kingdom Discovery Digest Exploration Geosciences Website 
    Yvonne Drummond 
    +44 (0) 1580 212080 
    CGG Services (UK) Ltd Logs and reports, Merged wireline logs,
    Workstation-ready well logs, Well attributes,
    Core Analysis database, Geothermal database,
    Rw database    		 CGG Services Website 
    Peter Handy 
    +44 (0) 1492 564500 
    DMS.DigitalProducts@CGG.COM
    IHS Markit Well logs and reports, merged wireline logs,
    merged well logs, workstation-ready well logs,
    well attributes, re-interpretted pressure data    		 IHS Website 
    Richard Longhurst 
    +44 (0) 1666 501822 
    releaseddata@ihs.com 

  • Seismic data

    Offshore proprietary seismic data is now made available through the NDR.  

    Revised guidelines for the release of geophysical data acquired under an exploration licence will be published in due course.

    A selection of pre-1992 2D seismic data and more recent offshore data is available from CGG Data Management Services (contact DMS.DigitalProducts@CGG.COM).

    Lynx Information Systems have released a selection of offshore surveys.

    Onshore seismic data

    The UK Onshore Geophysical Library, managed by Lynx Information Systems, releases onshore seismic data. Contact Neil Anderton on (+44) (0) 20 8780 2634 for further details.