RBDMS 3.0: Release 1 Goes Live in North Dakota

The North Dakota Industrial Commission (NDIC) Oil and Gas Division is in the process of upgrading from RBDMS Classic (Risk Based Data Management System) to RBDMS 3.0 (NorthSTAR). On April 30, 2019 the first release of the application went live. It included bond and entity management capabilities.

There is currently an initial set of oil and gas operators registered in NorthSTAR that have been using the two online forms that were part of Release 1. NDIC staff have been able to both review and release bonds in the system for the operators as part of the rollout. More users will continue to be added as time goes on. “Release 1 has gone very smoothly,” said GWPC Project Coordinator Dan Jarvis. “It seems to be accepted by both the operators and NDIC staff who are the first to use it.”

The NDIC was able to leverage the application architecture that was developed by the Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC) in partnership with the California Department of Conservation Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR). The two live online forms in NorthSTAR were DOGGR forms that the NDIC modified to suit their needs. “Starting with what was built in California was a huge cost savings for us,” said NDIC Engineering, Geology and IT Support Staff Officer Michael Ziesch. “We were pleased that we had so much commonality that affirmed the approach of upgrading to RBDMS 3.0 was appropriate.”

Now that NorthSTAR is live, GWPC and the NDIC are working towards Release 2 which will include capabilities in the following areas:  well management (including well stimulation and idle wells), transfers, and Underground Injection Control (UIC). Release 2 is scheduled for completion by the end of the year.

RBDMS is a suite of integrated software products that assists state agencies in the regulating, oversight and management of oil, gas and Underground Injection Control (UIC) facilities and activities. It was developed by GWPC and member states, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy. Over 20 states have implemented one or more RBDMS products and have found that RBDMS increases efficiency in mission-critical tasks. For questions about RBDMS, contact GWPC (Paul Jehn National RBDMS project manager) at paul@gwpc.org.