Public Datasets for Machine Learning in Geoscience

The best open source geoscience datasets for applying data science, machine learning and petrophysical techniques

For many years well logging and petrophysics datasets have remained locked up in oil and gas company servers or government servers and has only been accessible to those people who have the right access privileges. However, in recent years there has been a noticeable shift towards open data, which has resulted in vast amounts of well log and field data becoming publicly available and easily accessible.

When practising machine learning, data science or petrophysics the data provided during courses has often been sanitised to make the teaching of concepts easier. However, when it comes to the real world, data is often messy, contains errors and values/features may be missing. When you start practicing with real-world data, that is when your skills are put to the test and your knowledge develops.

This article provides a list key websites where you can freely download well-log data and more. Datasets can contain regular core analysis data, special core analysis data, formation pressure data, detailed reports, seismic data and even fully developed geomodels.

If you prefer to learn about some of these libraries by video, check out my YouTube video where I cover 5 of these datasets in more detail:

Equinor Volve Field Data Set

The first dataset we have is the Volve dataset released by Equinor in 2018 as a way to promote learning and research by providing a complete and realistic case study. The Volve field is situated around 200 km off the west coast of Norway and contains 10 years worth of data.

This dataset contains around 40,000 files ranging from well log data to geological models, and is a gold mine for anyone wishing to practice petrophysics, machine learning or data science.

Once on the website, you do have to register to be able to access the data, but once you are in you will easily be able to download the data you require.

Check it out at the link below:

NLOG — Dutch Oil and Gas Portal

Offshore and onshore well data is available for thousands of wells from the Netherlands. The dat contains a mixture of borehole log data, seismic data and production data. However, it can be difficult to find the data you require, and you may need to spend some time searching through the wells.

The data can be accessed without registering by:

• Changing the language to English, if Dutch is not your first language, by clicking on English in the footer of the webpage
• Navigate to Data in the main menu
• Select Boreholes
• On the left hand menu that appears, click search followed by Listing Boreholes or selecting Map Boreholes
• From here, you should be able to find the data you need

A good starting point based on wells I have used begin with L05, L06 and L07.

Check it out at the link below:

XEEK — Force Machine Learning to Predict Lithology

In 2020, a machine learning competition was hosted by XEEK and Force in order to predict lithology data from well-log measurements. This dataset contains over 100 wells with a mixture of well log measurements and geologically interpreted lithologies.

This dataset provides a great opportunity to understand how to apply supervised classification-based machine learning algorithms.

Click below to access:

Or you can access the github repository directly at this link:

National Offshore Petroleum Information Management System (NOPIMS)

The Australian government has released an excellent database containing well log measurements from offshore Australia. The data is easy to access and search through.

When you arrive on the website, you will be presented with search boxes. If you want to browse the entire database, leave these blank and press search. Alternatively, if there is a specific data type you are looking for then you can select it from the report types and press search.

You can access the database by clicking below:

COASTA MODEL — Carbonate Well Log and Seismic Data

The COSTA model database was recently released to the public by the authors (Costa Gomes J, Geiger S, & Arnold D) and Heriot Watt University. The database contains a wide range of data related to carbonate succession, and includes well log measurements, regular core analysis and special core analysis data, as well as static and dynamic models.

As it can often be difficult to find good quality data on carbonates, this dataset is well worth checking out at the link below.

Kansas Geological Survey

A vast amount of data has been made public by the Kansas Geological Survey, with data including core images, wireline logs (LAS files), tops and other associated well data.

You can either manually search based on counties, operators or leases if you are familiar with these. Or you can download well log ascii (LAS) files by selecting on of the options under Other information online. This will allow you to download LAS files for specific years, information about wells containing well log data and more.

You can check it out at the link below:

Porosity, Permeability, Rock Type Core Data from 1240 Norwegian Wells

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, at the end of 2018, released core measurement data for 1,240 wells. Attempts have been made to make meaningful rock type descriptions, however, this work appears incomplete and caution should be used when using this data.

You can access it by clicking the link below:

Groningen Gas Field Petrel Geological Model

Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM) has developed and released a geological model for the Groningen Gas Field in the Netherlands.

The model was developed in Petrel 2018, and contains RESCUE 3D grid data which can be read by many open source software packages. Data also includes well log data and seismic data.

Check it out at the link below:

Data Underground

Data Underground has create a searchable database where you can find online subsurface datasets. These include well log and seismic data from various sites across the globe.

Check it out at the link below:

International Ocean Drilling Program

Well log data is not only acquired during oil and gas exploration, it has also been acquired as part of scientific exploration and research. The JRSO database contains varying well log data (logs, core, advanced core analysis) acquired from scientific research missions and is well worth checking out.

Click on the link below to check it out:

Society for Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) Wiki Open Data

The Society for Exploration Geophysicists (SEG) Wiki contains a wealth of links to Geophysical datasets that can be readily downloaded directly or by request.

You can access the wiki at the link below:

Thanks for reading!

If you have found this article useful, please feel free to check out my other articles looking at various aspects of Python and well log data.