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Now, it’s working even smarter. Russian WellView has become perfectly bilingual – Russian and English – to satisfy the needs of mixed-language teams at Peloton’s international Russian clients.

WellView is a complete well data management system that allows oil and gas companies to manage their data from request to drill, through abandonment. More than 100 companies world-wide use Peloton software which is marketed in English, Spanish and Chinese as well as Russian. But the only bilingual version is Russian/English reflecting Peloton’s understanding of the Russian market (and a big reason for the Canadian company’s success.)

“Our target for the bilingual software is international companies,” said Andrei Yefimenko, CIS Region Manager for Peloton in Moscow. Peloton has clients that buy only the Russian version, as well as international customers more likely to have mixed-language teams. This autumn, senior students at Gubkin Oil&Gas University in Moscow will also be using WellView software in laboratory simulations under a licensing agreement with Peloton. Such hands on training is preparing these drilling specialists for careers in a global oil industry.

Language is Much More than Just Words

If you’ve worked in a multi-language environment you know that it is one thing to speak a foreign language and something much different to be perfectly bilingual. Bilingual adults usually grew up speaking more than one language and they slide easily between cultures because they understand shades of meaning beyond just words. In the oil industry this culture gap is most obvious when a North American who thinks in “feet and inches” works with a Russian who measures in “meters and centimeters.”

“A Russian speaking rig supervisor can enter all his data in Russian,” Andrei Yefimenko, CIS Region Manager for Peloton explained. “The system feeds information into the database from the rig reports. Then the English speaking specialist can call up the data and see everything in English. “All reports are identical for Russian and English speaking users, except for report headers, which are native for the user. The software also converts the data and its presentation into a form to which the user is accustomed – metric or English measurements, for example. Any comments can also be presented in bilingual form, for example – drilling/bureniye,” he said. “So the Russian user can input data in metrics through the Russian language interface, and another can see the data in imperial units through the English language interface. The system makes the conversion. It’s like when you create a distinct user profile on the Internet, the software knows the profile of the user and presents the information in a user specific format.”

Peloton’s WellView provides advantages that will improve field data entry, data quality, access to data and integration to third party or internal databases and software. Peloton started developing WellView in 1991 and focused on well production operations/schematic well history and then expanded the program for drilling data management in 1997 to further complete the life cycle of the well. By using the program clients can lower training requirements and IT maintenance. The interactive reporting and visualization provides field users with the ability to quickly enter or change data with minimal training.

Three More Product Launches in Russia

Peloton introduced WellView to Russia in 2004 and in 2005 tripled its business in the CIS, according to Yefimenko. In 2006, in addition to introducing its new bilingual version of WellView, Peloton chose the Neftegaz exhibition in June to launch three new software packages that, in combination, offer comprehensive management of a drilling site. These include:

• RigView which allows oil producers and drilling contractors to manage rig usage more economically. RigView rig scheduling software is capable of managing rigs workload, monitoring jobs progress and rigs availability and managing existing rigs more efficiently. “You can monitor all your rigs and because the network version of the software provides current information from every rig, you can get realistic up-to-date picture to schedule your rigs no matter where a rig is located. This way you can fulfill more jobs with existing rigs,” Yefimenko said. RigView lets users share schedules and files, prioritize jobs, manage change notifications and create customizable reports.
• SiteView which is similar to WellView software. It enables the user to plan and depict a drilling site from construction to reclamation. The software maintains a history of information on the site including landowner information and contact history, location and facilities, spill information, environmental assessments, costs, vendors and equipment. “This controls jobs on the rig site other than drilling and downhole jobs,” Yefimenko said. “You can monitor it, analyze historical data, and make educated decisions what solutions are right or wrong. This software is used in the United States and Canada. Overall it saves you money.”
• MasterView which controls and integrates other Peloton software packages into a comprehensive corporate database for drilling and well operations data. It enables users to share schedules and files, prioritize jobs, manage change notifications and create customizable reports. Masterview insures that the back-end components of Peloton software will work and scale as expected so end users get fast, stable and consistent access to data. In Yefimenko’s words: “It avoids double entries, helps improve integration, access to, and quality of well operation data.”

Stressing Service 24/7 on a Global Scale

Along with tailoring its products to Russian speaking and multi-language teams, Peloton has also focused on after-sale customer service which in a country the size of Russia can be problematic. “We’re reacting to realities in the Russian market,” said Yefimenko. “We have bilingual tech support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you call a Moscow number after-hours, it will connect you to the cell phone of a Russian speaking engineer in Houston. So think about it. If it’s 8 a.m. in Irkutsk and you need support, it’s 3 a.m. in Moscow and that office is closed. But it is only 6 p.m. in Houston and a Russian speaking engineer will help. It’s important to think about what a customer thinks of you and not just what they might think about the competition.”

“At the beginning of 2006 we launched the new version of WellView. At Peloton we’re always developing our software,” Yefimenko said. “When the development team releases a version, we start giving the team customer feedback as they move forward to develop the next version. We replace old versions used by our customers with the new updates free of charge. Currently, we’re working on Version 9 and we’ve sent suggestions from our Russian clients on such things as new calculation and information fields that should be included.

Peloton started developing WellView in 1991 for well operations and schematic visualization. Today, the company has evolved to provide a full well life cycle data management solution for operations, drilling and construction/reclamations. The software’s comprehensive data model improves morning reporting, well and site visualization and data quality.

 

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