COMPUTATION OF OIL WELLS ELEVATION POINTS USING DIGITAL ELEVATION MODELS

Abstract

The elevations of points considered as one of the most important element of the site of oil wells. The importance of knowing the elevations of points appear in determination of depth during drilling of wells to ensure the required depth. The main objective of this research is a comparison between methods of generating digital elevation models (DEM) which are used to determine the elevation of oil wells. Three methods had been used ,in the first method the observed data of points using the GPS device using Real time Kinematic (RTK). Extraction of the data from the Google Earth program, were used in the second method. Method three is downloading the digital elevation model resolution 30 meters from the website. A comparison between generated DEMs was done, and the elevation of the test points (oil wells) was computed using an interpolation method. Arc map program was used in generating DEM for each method, to insert test points into each model by means of one of the interpolation method inverse distance method (IDW) and obtain points elevation and then to comparing the actual elevation values with the elevation values obtained from each method. The results show that a DEM which created from the GPS data (RTK) giveresults for the elevation valuesclose to the true values which best than the other two methods.The Google Earth data model give result better than Shuttle Radar Topography Mission SRTM method.