Schlumberger's Techlog versus GeolOil petrophysics software

This article compares the features of Techlog petrophysics software to GeolOil —this is of course a biased opinion by us—. TechLog is certainly powerful, and currently the most complete on the market. However, it is far from perfect. Techlog's price tag makes it almost impossible to acquire by small to medium companies and individual consultants. On the technical side, GeolOil has nice features that even TechLog still misses.

Schlumberger high salaries, vacations and benefits, costly medical insurances, high retirement pensions, heavy overheads and infrastructure, costly advertisement campaigns and sponsoring, and pharaonic onmi-presence conference stands, ends in costly software products with really over-priced tags.

However, they provide the best software, hardware, and well logging tools in the market. For decades we have compared Schlumberger logs with other providers, and in our experience, they are the best, both in quality and innovation, but perhaps not the best on the price/value ratio.

`Feature`	`TechLog`	`GeolOil`
`Price`	`Very expensive, depending on modules: ˜ $53 / hour ˜ $3,089 / month ˜ $250,000 for purchase + taxes + maint. Medium to small E&P, consulting companies, and individual petrophysicists interpreters and geologists can't afford to acquire TechLog.`	`Affordable: Check our current price list Medium to small E&P companies can acquire GeolOil with a low financial impact. Small consulting companies and individual petrophysicists and geologists won't add a huge overhead price per hour to their clients.`
`Client Service`	`Occasionally slow and with low expertise Sometimes they may take days or weeks to solve problems, and months to fix a bug. Schlumberger have top scientists and developers, but the ones that take your service ticket may be fresh graduates from 0 to 5 years of experience only.`	`Normally fast and with high expertise We usually solve customer tickets within 1 to 3 days. We have experienced geo-scientists to attend your needs, normally with +20 years of professional experience. Tough tickets may be even scaled to the developers.`
`Platform`	The Cloud, depends 100% on networks Since 2020, by default TechLog runs on the cloud. On the upside you don't need a tremendously powerful computer hardware to work. We tested TechLog right before Covid-19 in a Denver office with a top quality internet connection, and on the downside it some times took 1 or more seconds to move the mouse. Cloud server problems? Network problems?. We don't know but was instable and very annoying. Your local client computer acts only as some sort of TV that receives a display from a cloud remote computer after your local machine only task is to basically send the mouse coordinates. Our user experience was not good. Of course, if you pay enough or reach an agreement, they might provide you a standalone license.	Standalone, physically on your computer GeolOil runs locally on your machine. No worries about network blinks, instability, or the mouse to become unresponsive. It is stable, fast, and easy to install. Period. Major software companies are abandoning standalone software for their risk of being attacked and hacked. Banks and financial institutions were the firsts to do that, and it is understandable. We are committed with the best user experience and still provide standalone software. Yes, we have had two hacker attacks from China, but that is a risk that runs on our side, not yours.
`Operat. Systems`	`Windows TechLog only runs of Windows machines. Client network software installation is quite complicated.`	`Windows, MacOS, and Linux GeolOil runs on Windows, MacOS, and Linux machines. Installation is easy and guaranteed. Try to install Tech-Log on the cloud and compare.`
`Scripting`	`Python based, need programming skills Python is one of the easiest and less verbose programming languages to learn. But you must have programming skills and experience to use it. It is not for everyone. Also, Python is notoriously slow, and have several incompatible legacy versions. TechLog has implemented three front ends for several Python versions to deal with incompatibilities and features.`	GLS scripting. The easiest log scripting GeolOil GLS scripting is by far the easiest scripting tool in the log petrophysics industry, yet powerful. We mean it. Instead of being a general purpose scripting programming language, it is specifically designed to process petrophysical logs. In spite of being a minimalistic tool, it offers full capabilities in two programming modes. Even a middle school student can learn basic concepts in minutes. Advanced users can exploit every corner of the language.
`Usage`	`Quite difficult, not easy at all It has so many, tiny, almost microscopic icons, buttons, and windows, that it is really complex to start-up using TechLog. In our opinion, customer service is poor, and with very limited self learning tools. Furthermore, TechLog training is really expensive. Even if you are a geo-scientist with decades of experience, it is difficult to handle TechLog without taken first a training course on its usage.`	`Very simple, with obvious bold buttons It is very easy to learn the basics of GeolOil in just hours, specially if you have some previous experience with other software. GeolOil sequential work-flows are powerful and easy to change and update. Of course, its advance use may take weeks to master, but it worths. GeolOil provides absolutely free, official videos on our web-site, even with sub-titles in English, Spanish, and French. Furthermore, our customer service is expedite and easy to reach.`
`Modules`	`Complete, largest collection of modules TechLog has the most complete collection of capabilities in the market. No doubt. Virtually, there is a module or a tool to compute any thing you may need —yes, we have tested and compared TechLog— But it comes with a price. If you need to go to a grocery store, do you need a car or a supersonic airplane? Just pay for what you need.`	`Limited, probably suits for your needs GeolOil ships with 123+ classic pre-defined petrophysical equations and correlations. Most users find that say 60% to 75% of their needs are covered with GeolOil. Some independent interpreters earn their living using GeolOil on a daily basis. Even advanced features, like mineral solvers are provided in GeolOil's core as default, without any extra cost.`
`Params.`	`Constants, or constants per zone Basically in TechLog, parameters are constants, or step-case constants per formation, member, or bed. It is difficult to deal with continuous parameters without writing a custom script.`	`Either constants or continuous curves In GeolOil, any parameter is a first class citizen. Each parameter can be seamlessly defined as a global constant, a step-case constant, like a constant per stratigraphic zone, or a regular, fully featured continuous curve. Try to do that in TechLog without writing a script!`
`Upscale`	`Conventional TechLog provides conventional, regular accurate upscaling per stratigraphic zone.`	`Advanced GeolOil provides advanced upscaling algorithms with corrections for non vertical wells as normal. However, GeolOil's internal engine uses trilean logic in its computations and yields not only summary values, but also upscaled curves. For instance, if you run a simulation project, you need to properly capture upscaled permeability curves that correctly capture seals and baffles to the vertical fluid flow.`
`Log Plots`	`Good Conventional, as good as any other in the market.`	`Beautiful, one of the best on the market GeolOil provides beautiful displays for log plots, easy to read and smooth. The display panel is mouse responsive: by dragging the mouse you can easily measure vertical distances between stratigraphic bodies. Also GeolOil handles transparencies for curve fillings, which for instance, is a must have when plotting effective permeabilities.`