Chinese Well Data is Expensive!
The Chinese government recently sentenced an American citizen to eight years for selling data relating to the locations and reserves associated with more than 30,000 Chinese oil and gas wells to IHS. The sentence has provoked demands from US officials for Xue Feng’s immediate release and deportation to the US.
As outrageous as this may sound to Americans accustomed to “freedom of information,” we should look in the mirror before we judge the Chinese too harshly. Here in the US we can usually purchase this type of information (well locations, production data, well logs, etc.) from companies such as IHS, Tobin, and others, or in many cases get the data for free from state regulatory agencies; but this is not always the case.
I was recently involved in an Eminent Domain case which involved a large interstate pipeline company wishing to expand a gas storage facility. In this case the pipeline company was concerned that its storage gas may leak out of the boundaries of the existing facility onto the property of nearby landowners. The pipeline company was exercising its federally backed right to take the mineral rights of these owners so it could expand the storage facility to prevent this potential loss.
Despite the fact the pipeline company was taking the property of these citizens, they refused to disclose the locations of their wells, the current and future boundary of the storage facility, and their geologic justification for the expansion. They claimed “national security” as their basis for withholding this information from the citizens being impacted.
While the US government hasn’t nationalized its oil industry, these large interstate pipelines and utilities have been granted powers approaching that of a NOC. US oil and gas companies are required by most states to provide this type of information with the knowledge that it will be made publicly available, but these interstate pipeline gas storage facilities can hide behind the federal government (FERC).
So, before we start making demands of other countries let’s take a minute to think what the repercussions would be for an employee of this US pipeline company had they sold their “national security” secrets to IHS.
Selling company information is total misconduct and although the caught are met with harsh reactions it would only seem fair to administer some type of severe penalty to dissuade others from following in the path. Unfortunately globalisation and ease of travel doesn't make us look at other cultures and their rules with the serious they deserve.