Method and system for monitoring oil well development and operations

A method for monitoring oil well development, comprising the steps of:

• defining an area of interest;
• periodically receiving imagery of the area of interest;
• analyzing the imagery to identify a cleared area of land, which confirms that construction of an oil well at a site has commenced;
• subsequently analyzing the imagery to identify and confirm arrival of a drilling rig at the site;
• subsequently analyzing the imagery to identify and confirm departure of the drilling rig from the site;
• subsequently analyzing the imagery to determine if and when construction of the oil well has been completed;
• subsequently analyzing the imagery to determine if and when production facilities have been built at the site;
• and
• communicating information about development of the oil well at the site to an interested party.

A system for monitoring oil well development, comprising:

• an imagery-receiving module for receiving imagery for an area of interest, which is then stored in a database;
• an analysis module for analyzing the imagery to (i) identify an oil well location in the area of interest or (ii) identify one or more milestones associated with the development of an oil well in the area of interest;
• and
• a communications module for communicating information about the development of the oil well to an interested party.