Electricity: measuring and testing – Of geophysical surface or subsurface in situ – With radiant energy or nonconductive-type transmitter
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-21
2001-04-03
Strecker, Gerard (Department: 2862)
Electricity: measuring and testing
Of geophysical surface or subsurface in situ
With radiant energy or nonconductive-type transmitter
C702S007000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06211678
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to logging while drilling and particularly to resistivity tools. More particularly, the present invention relates to resistivity tools which profile resistivity at multiple depths of investigation.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Wells, also known as wellbores or boreholes, are drilled to reach reservoirs of underground petroleum and other hydrocarbons. Often, wells are drilled in a vertical direction. The geological formations or strata that make up the earth's crust, however, generally lie in horizontal layers, so vertical wells are substantially perpendicular to the strata. If a certain formation contains hydrocarbons, it is often desirable to steer the drill in the horizontal direction to keep the well bore within that formation (called the “pay zone”), thus maximizing the recovery. Because the formations are underground and thus hidden from view, the well operator usually does not know exactly where to drill. Steering also can be difficult since formations may dip or divert.
To aid the well operator in locating and identifying subterranean formations, a probe (or “sonde”) may be lowered into the wellbore to collect information about the structure of the formations, a procedure commonly known as “logging.” The sonde typically includes one or more sensors to measure parameters downhole, is constructed as a hermetically sealed cylinder for housing the sensors, and hangs at the end of a long cable or “wireline.” The cable or wireline provides mechanical support to the sonde and also provides an electrical connection between the sonde and electrical equipment located at the surface of the well. Normally, a cable within the sonde supplies operating power to the sonde and transmits information signals from the sonde to the surface. In accordance with conventional techniques, various parameters of the earth's formations are measured and correlated with the position of the sonde in the borehole as the sonde is pulled uphole.
The information collected by the sonde provides insight into the composition of the formations, including whether or not the formations are likely to contain hydrocarbons. Geological formations must be sufficiently porous to contain hydrocarbons, for example, so porosity of the strata is often measured to determine the capability of the formation to store hydrocarbons. Saturation of the formations is often measured, as well, to determine the amount of water, hydrocarbon, or fluid stored in the porous formations. Fundamental properties such as porosity and saturation can be used to estimate important characteristics of the formation, such as the size and quality of a reservoir and the ability of the reservoir to flow through the formation into the borehole.
While wireline logging is useful in characterizing formations downhole, it nonetheless has certain disadvantages. For example, before the wireline logging tool can be run in the wellbore, the drillstring and bottomhole assembly must first be removed or tripped from the borehole, resulting in considerable cost and loss of drilling time for the driller (who typically pays daily fees to rent the drilling equipment). In addition, because wireline tools are unable to collect data during the actual drilling operation, drillers must at times make decisions (such as the direction to drill) possibly without sufficient information, or else incur the cost of tripping the drillstring to run a logging tool to gather more information relating to conditions downhole. Furthermore, wireline logging occurs a relatively long time after the wellbore is drilled, calling into question the accuracy of the wireline measurements. As one skilled in the art will understand, the wellbore conditions tend to degrade as drilling fluids invade the formation around the wellbore. In addition, the borehole shape may begin to degrade, reducing the accuracy of the measurements.
To address the limitations associated with wireline logging, special tools were developed to collect data during the drilling process. By collecting and processing data during the drilling process, without the necessity of tripping the drilling assembly to insert a wireline logging tool, the driller can make accurate modifications or corrections “real-time” to optimize drilling performance. With a steerable system, the driller may change the direction of the drill bit. By detecting the adjacent bed boundaries, adjustments can be made to keep the drill bit in an oil rich pay zone. Moreover, measuring formation parameters during drilling, and hopefully before invasion of the formation, increases the usefulness of the measured data. Making formation and borehole measurements during drilling also can save valuable rig time which otherwise would be required to run a wireline logging tool.
Designs for measuring conditions downhole and the movement and location of the drilling assembly during drilling are known as “measurement-while-drilling” techniques, or “MWD.” Similar techniques, concentrating more on the measurement of formation parameters of the type associated with wireline tools, are commonly known as “logging while drilling” techniques, or “LWD.” While distinctions between MWD and LWD may exist, the terms MWD and LWD often are used interchangeably. For the purposes of this disclosure, the term LWD will be used with the understanding that the term encompasses both the collection of formation parameters and the collection of information relating to the position of the drilling assembly while the bottomhole assembly is in the well.
Because hydrocarbon-bearing formations tend to have unique and identifiable electrical properties, one type of logging, generally known as electric logging, measures these electrical properties. One of these electrical properties, known as conductivity, is a measure of how readily the formation conducts electric current. Conductivity, and its reciprocal property, resistivity, provide insight into formation characteristics such as fluid saturation, net reservoir thickness, porosity, and structural or stratigraphic dip. Measuring resistivity or conductivity is generally known as resistivity logging and is achieved by measuring electrical potentials, and sometimes currents, and/or electromagnetic waves in the borehole. These measured potentials, currents, and electromagnetic waves are influenced by the resistivities of all the materials surrounding the borehole.
Resistivity logging generally involves sending an electromagnetic wave from a transmitter on the LWD tool and capturing the wave at a receiver which is at another location on the LWD tool. For this reason, this type of resistivity logging is also known as electromagnetic wave logging. Typically, the transmitter sends the waves at a frequency between one and two million cycles per second (or 1-2 megahertz). Some tools, however, utilize frequencies in the range of thousands of cycles per second, or kilohertz. The formation resistivity causes changes in the intensity and timing of the transmitted wave, so the receiver does not receive an exact copy of the wave that the transmitter sent. Instead, the resistivity of the formation reduces (or “attenuates”) the intensity of the signal and causes a time delay (or “phase shift”) in the signal. Accordingly, the attenuation and phase shift can be measured at the receiver and used to gauge the resistivity of the formation, providing insight into the formation characteristics as described above. Resistivity derived from attenuation measurements is commonly called “attenuation resistivity,” and resistivity derived from phase measurements is commonly known as “phase resistivity.”
In a type of formation called “shaley-sand,” for example, the shale bed can have a resistivity of about 1 ohm-meter. A bed of oil-saturated sandstone, on the other hand, is likely to have a higher resistivity of about 10 ohm-meters or more. The sudden change in resistivity at the boundary between beds of shale and sandstone can be used to locate these boundaries. In horizontal drilling, the drill bit can be st
Conley Rose & Tayon
Halliburton Energy Service,s Inc.
Strecker Gerard
LandOfFree
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