WITSML

WITSML (Wellsite Information Transfer Standard Markup Language) is an open data exchange standard for the upstream oil and gas industry. It defines how to encode, transport, and share technical data acquired at the wellsite—such as drilling parameters, measurements, logs, mud data, and well construction information—between rigs, operators, service companies, and software systems. The goal is to enable interoperable data exchange and real-time data workflows across diverse IT landscapes.

Developed and maintained by Energistics, a standards organization for energy data exchange, WITSML specifies a common set of data objects and a repository-oriented approach. Data is organized into objects such as Well, Wellbore, Trajectory, Log, LogCurve, MudLog, and ChangeLog, and is typically exchanged as XML (and increasingly via streaming protocols) according to versioned schemas.

Versions: The protocol has evolved from WITSML 1.3.1 and 1.4.x to WITSML 2.x (2.0, 2.1). The 2.x families introduce a refined information model and, for high-performance workloads, support Energistics Transfer Protocol (ETP) to enable streaming and publish/subscribe data services, while preserving compatibility with prior tooling via adapters.

Applications: WITSML enables real-time drilling telemetry, well construction and completion data sharing, historical well data management, and integration with analytics, ERP, and GIS systems. It is adopted by operators, service companies, and software vendors to improve data quality, reduce integration costs, and support automated workflows.