BLM to save time, resources through data digitization

The Bureau of Land Management has been scrutinized recently for inconsistencies in data monitoring throughout its offices, but an update to its 20-year-old tracking system may be coming soon.

The current program, automated fluid minerals support system (AFMSS), is used to monitor those drilling for oil and gas under federal leases on public and Native American lands. This adds up to roughly 40,000 onshore oil leases in 32 different states — about 27 million acres and 94,000 wells — and around 3,000-4,000 operators, from the small mom-and-pop companies to the larger oil companies. The agency is also responsible for 1 billion acres of surface and subsurface federal minerals.

“Some of these leases are over 100 years old … and the lease is a contract that stays valid as long as there is production,” Steve Wells, BLM division chief for fluid materials, said on Federal Drive with Tom Temin. “[Consistency] is a little bit of a challenge just because we are scattered through 32 different states, and in many areas, it’s in people’s backyards.”

The proposed update to the system, retitled AFMSS II, will overhaul paper applications and turn to web-based software to create more of a national standard application to ensure the offices are looking and tracking the same data.

Wells said BLM is working on the first module of the new program designed to begin the drilling permit process. Granted permits are next tied to a lease and then an inspection of the site is done.

He said the process has been complex thus far and the modules are being staged in. The agency will also have to have training sessions for its operators.

“Anytime you try to redo something and [also] throw in more features, it becomes quite a challenge for the software programming,” Wells said. “We are trying to add more features to allow additional automation … but also better tracking and also internal reports [so a] manager can see [if a] certain part of the workload is constricted.”

Under AFMSS II, Wells said operators will be able to log in remotely to access and submit both their permit and lease information, as well as transfer information between projects. This cuts out the need for BLM or the Department of the Interior analyses to be completed for each individual project, both related and unrelated to the current one the operators are assigned to.

Some of the problems in the past boiled down to the inconsistency in tracking between offices.

“We’ve been working on developing the system so it is more of a national application, and that all offices are looking at similar data,” Wells said. “We are hoping that it will give us a better product out there.”

He said another goal with the update is to be able to more quickly acknowledge when additional resources or help is needed between projects or offices.

Should an influx of permits be granted under the Trump administration, as has been predicted, Wells said the new system should be able to accommodate it.

“One thing I do want to caution is a large part of activity is also driven by market prices and we have already seen twice as many drilling permits come in this year in 2017 versus 2016,” Wells said. “Part of it may be due to the elections, but a good share of it is just market prices and the economy.”

The next stage of the project will touch on sundry notices, well completions and inspection platforms.  While the official status of the new system is pending,

Wells said the system upgrade could be ready by the end of the next fiscal year.

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