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Divestco donates new exploration software

Divestco Inc. has donated $2.35 million in software to Western’s Faculty of Science. This gift-in-kind supports the work of the Bell Chair in Petroleum Geology, Dr. Burns Cheadle, specifically for teaching and research purposes.

“The software is used to interpret three dimensional seismic data with the intent to create an accurate picture of the geometry of geological layers below the surface of the earth,” says Cheadle.

Divestco, based in Calgary, is a growth-oriented company that provides a comprehensive and integrated portfolio of software, data, services and consulting to the oil and gas industry. The company has donated approximately $5 million in software to Western over the years.

“Having a range of software from Divestco and other donors will expose students to exactly the kind of software they will use in industry,” notes Cheadle. “Rather than using something exotic or narrowly academic, the students can use the exploration tools commonly in use in the upstream oil and gas industry. No one piece of software does everything perfectly, so we can use a variety of products to arrive at a better answer.”

Cheadle says the Divestco products the students will be using are WinPICS, WinPICS 3D, Synthetic Suite and VistBridge seismic interpretation packages. He says these, in combination with other analytical tools, will allow students to gain insight into the evolution of the planet as well as the practical application of finding and assessing petroleum and natural gas deposits.

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