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Welcome to the PWLS Curve Catalog

Work in progress

The PWLS Curve Catalog is currently a WIP! The content on this site is in active development.

TL;DR

  • PWLS defines what a measurement means; the Curve Catalog shows how companies label those measurements in practice.
  • PWLS 4.0 deliberately separates the stable, vendor‑neutral standard from company‑specific curve mnemonics.
  • This site hosts a community‑maintained, Git‑based catalog where companies map proprietary curve names to PWLS Property Kinds.
  • The catalog is informative, not normative—it complements PWLS and supports interoperability, automation, and data discovery.

Overview

The PWLS Curve Catalog is a public GitLab repository where companies publish well‑log curve mnemonics and map them to the Practical Well Log Standard (PWLS) list of Property Kinds.

PWLS defines the meaning of measurements, while the Curve Catalog documents how those measurements are labeled by individual companies in operational data.

As part of the PWLS v4.0 release, Energistics intentionally removed company‑specific mnemonic listings from the core PWLS standard. This separation allows PWLS to remain stable, concise, and vendor‑neutral, while enabling curve mnemonics—which evolve frequently—to be maintained independently in a transparent, version‑controlled environment.

More information on PWLS is available at https://energistics.org/practical-well-log-standard.

RP66 Company Codes

The Curve Catalog uses RP66 company codes as a stable identifier to distinguish curve mnemonics originating from different companies.

RP66 is a long‑established list of numeric company codes originally defined as an API Recommended Practice and later adopted and maintained by Energistics. These codes are used in industry data standards, including DLIS, and PWLS v3.0, to provide a consistent and unambiguous way to identify the source of proprietary data elements.

Within the Curve Catalog, RP66 company codes serve a practical purpose: they ensure that curve mnemonics defined by different companies can be uniquely identified and aggregated, even when identical mnemonic names are used across organizations.

While alternative approaches to company identification are possible, RP66 was selected to preserve continuity with historical well‑log data, existing standards, and industry practice.

Intended Audience

This site is intended for anyone working with well‑log data across organizational and vendor boundaries, including:

  • Service and technology companies publishing and maintaining mappings from proprietary curve mnemonics to PWLS Property Kinds.
  • Operators and data managers normalizing and comparing log data across multiple suppliers.
  • Software vendors and system integrators consuming curve mappings for ingestion, quality control, search, and analytics workflows.
  • Standards users and implementers seeking alignment with PWLS without embedding company‑specific content in the standard itself.

How the Curve Catalog Is Used

PWLS defines what is measured through a hierarchy of Property Kinds and associated Quantity Classes. The Curve Catalog provides examples of how those measurements are labeled by individual companies.

In practice, the catalog is commonly used to:

  • Map proprietary curve mnemonics to PWLS Property Kinds during data ingestion.
  • Facilitate cross‑vendor comparison and analysis by showing how different companies map proprietary curve mnemonics to the same PWLS Property Kinds.
  • Support automation workflows, where appropriate, by providing public access to vendor‑maintained curve mappings, with the expectation that consumers apply validation and governance suitable to their use case.

The Curve Catalog documents how the community typically uses curves. It is meant to inform, not to mandate, and it does not change or restrict the meaning of PWLS.

Company‑Supplied Content

Content published in the PWLS Curve Catalog is authored and maintained by the contributing companies. Energistics provides the hosting platform and structure but does not validate, reconcile, or arbitrate individual curve definitions or mappings to PWLS, or mappings between companies.

What the Curve Catalog Is Not

  • It is not a replacement for the PWLS standard
  • It does not impose required curve names or mappings
  • It does not resolve differences between company definitions

Contributing

All modifications and additions to the Curve Catalog are managed through the project’s GitLab repository:

GitLab Repository: https://community.opengroup.org/energistics/pwls-curve-catalog

  • Submitting changes
    Additions and modifications are made via merge requests in GitLab. Contributors should follow the repository’s contribution guidelines when proposing changes.

  • Company-owned catalogs
    Each company is responsible for maintaining its own catalog entries. Companies may add to or modify their own catalogs through the GitLab workflow.

  • Cross-company changes
    Companies may not directly modify catalogs owned by other organizations. If issues, errors, or improvement opportunities are identified in another company’s catalog, contributors are encouraged to raise a GitLab issue for discussion and resolution.

  • Review and publication
    All proposed changes are reviewed in GitLab. Once a change is accepted and merged, it automatically triggers an update of the Curve Catalog website and associated downloadable artifacts.

Contents

The PWLS Curve Catalog provides a public listing, by company, of:

  • Log curve mnemonics
  • Tool definitions
  • Curve‑to‑tool mappings

Catalog Organization

The PWLS Curve Catalog is organized by contributing company and by catalog type, reflecting how curve information is authored, maintained, and consumed.

Each contributing company maintains its own catalog entries, which are presented consistently across the site to enable comparison and aggregation.

Catalog Types

Within each company’s catalog, content is organized into the following logical types:

  • Curves
    A company‑maintained listing of well‑log curve (channel) mnemonics mapped to PWLS Property Kinds. Curve entries describe what is measured and how proprietary curve names relate to shared PWLS semantics. Entries may include associated Quantity Class, LIS mnemonic (where applicable), and descriptive information.

  • Tools
    A company‑maintained list of tools associated with curve measurements. Tools are typically identified by tool code or model and provide context on how measurements are produced.

  • Curves within Tools
    Company‑supplied mappings between tool identifiers and curve mnemonics, describing which curves are commonly produced or associated with specific tools. These mappings provide additional operational and contextual information beyond curve definitions alone.

This organization allows users to explore curve information from multiple perspectives—by measurement, by tool, or by company—while preserving clear ownership and maintenance responsibility.

Downloads

The following links provide access to PWLS standards and Curve Catalog exports. Individual company pages include downloadable Excel catalogs specific to each contributor.

Current References

Description Download Link
PWLS Curve Catalog (combined export) https://community.opengroup.org/energistics/pwls-curve-catalog/-/jobs/artifacts/main/download?job=Generate%20Combined%20Excel
Practical Well Log Standard (PWLS) v4.0 https://gitlab.opengroup.org/energistics/reference-standards/pwls/-/jobs/artifacts/master/download?job=publish

Historical References

Description Download Link
Practical Well Log Standard (PWLS) v3.0 https://publications.opengroup.org/v241