Guidelines for GNSS positioning in the oil and gas industry

Version history

June 2024 Rev. 1.1 – Page 2 and bookmarking revised; no change to content

February 2021 Rev. 1 – Updated and revised version

July 2011 — Initial publication

Summary

Since the issue of the Guidelines for the use of differential GPS in offshore surveying by the United Kingdom Offshore Operators Association (UKOOA) in 1994, these have been widely adopted by the oil exploration and production industry. In 2005 the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (OGP) Geomatics Committee (formerly Surveying & Positioning Committee) took over custodianship of the guidelines from Oil & Gas UK (formerly UKOOA). At that time it was generally recognised that the original guidelines needed updating. Version 2 of this original document was released in 2011, and this version, the third, was released in 2021.

The document provides guidelines for the use of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) to position vessels, vehicles and other fixed and mobile installations during oil exploration and production (E&P) related surveying and positioning activities. It represents an overview of the recommended principles for reliable positioning and includes recommended minimum statistical testing and quality measures essential for rigorous quality control and performance assessment. Although primarily aimed at E&P related surveying and positioning activities, the principles and recommendations of this guideline are equally valid for any similar activities where precise position is critical, for example: renewable energy plants, cable laying operations, harbour construction and management, etc.

The document assumes a basic knowledge of GNSS. References to text books and other sources are included where relevant and readers are encouraged to refer to these for in-depth descriptions of the principles. The document has been written as far as possible in plain and general terms to provide guidance to those wishing to use GNSS techniques and requiring a suitably authoritative source to support them.

The document does not aim to review the costs of GNSS systems and augmentation services other than to emphasise that each system may have numerous configuration and installation options as well as performance differences. It is recommended that selection of positioning systems and services to provide adequate positioning accuracy and service availability, should not be driven by cost alone.

Contents

• Preface
• Executive Summary
• Glossary
• Introduction and Background
• Installation and Operation
• Quality Measures – Introduction to Quality Assessment and Statistical Testing
• Competence
• Receiver Outputs/Data Exchange Formats
• Further Reading
• Appendix – Estimation and Quality Control