Advancement and economic benefit of geosteering

and well-placement technology

Michael Bittar 1 and Ahmet Aki 1

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Abstract
In the development of many of todays reservoirs, the oil
and gas industry is challenged to drill more eciently and is
asked constantly to maximize recovery and production. However, drilling through these reservoirs is challenging because
geologic models often are limited to the resolution of seismic
data, and oset wells often have signicant variations. Geosteering is the process of adjusting the borehole trajectory in
real time to correct for unanticipated variations in geology and
structure to avoid exiting the target zone. It is a technique currently used on many horizontal and deviated wells for better
well placement and for eciently draining a reservoir. Recent
improvements in well-placement and formation-evaluation
technologies have helped in gaining access to bypassed reserves that originally were not thought to be practical targets.
Examples highlight the economic benet of geosteering and
well-placement technology. Maximum reservoir contact in the
sweet spot leads to increased production, and early warning of
approaching faults and bed boundaries results in reduction of
sidetracks. Furthermore, keeping the well trajectory away from
the oil-water contact optimizes production by producing less
water. Finally, maximizing production by placing the wellbore
entirely within the best reservoir zone boosts productivity so
that wells that previously appeared dicult or uneconomic are
now becoming viable.

Introduction
Since the introduction of enabling technologies such as
rotary-steerable drilling systems and logging-while-drilling
(LWD) sensors, the oil and gas industry has been migrating
steadily to drilling and completing horizontal and deviated
wells, especially in unconventional and oshore operations.
The advantages of this migration from vertical wells to horizontal and deviated wells are to create more reservoir contacts and to increase reservoir exposure. Horizontal drilling
requires far fewer wells than vertical drilling. Generally, one
horizontal well can yield similar production to that of several vertical wells combined. This signicantly reduces the
surface infrastructure requirements and results in huge savings, especially in unconventional and oshore operations. In
an unconventional operation, a single pad can accommodate
multiple horizontal wells, and in an oshore operation, multiple high-angle wells can be drilled from a single platform
(Figure 1).
A successful and economic drilling and production operation in a horizontal well is the one that enables more ecient
sweeping of hydrocarbons from the reservoir. To accomplish
this, the well must be placed entirely in the reservoir along the
entire length of the lateral and placed in an optimal location in
the sweet spot in the reservoir. Failure to accomplish those goals
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often leads to sidetracks to reclaim lost reservoir. Positioning

the well relative to geologic boundaries is known as geosteering.
Geosteering requires continuous real-time adjustment of the
well trajectory using data generated by logging-while-drilling
(LWD) sensors and transmitted to the surface by a real-time
telemetry system.
Recent advancements in rotary-steerable technology have
allowed the driller to control and change the bit position and
orientation to a great degree of accuracy with commands sent
from the surface to the rotary-steerable drilling tool. On the
LWD side, there has been steady advancement in tool features
and capabilities. Several important LWD sensors have been
introduced recently to help guide the drill bit to the optimum
position in the reservoir. With newer LWD sensors that produce large amounts of data, there is a need for higher-bandwidth telemetry systems. Several improvements have been
made to such systems, but continuous improvements still are
required to handle the large amount of data generated by the
latest LWD sensors.
LWD imaging sensor technologies, such as azimuthal
density and azimuthal resistivity, are used to obtain images of
the borehole as the bottom-hole assembly (BHA) rotates. The
sensors provide quality real-time images while drilling, making ideal instruments for geosteering. However, because of the
sensors shallow depths of investigation, decisions to change
the well direction often cannot be made until after the well
has crossed a boundary. This geosteering method is known as
reactive geosteering.
An alternative technique, known as proactive geosteering,
employs deep-reading LWD sensors to allow the driller to
change the well trajectory before the well crosses a boundary.
For proactive geosteering, the principal enabling technology is
the azimuthal deep-reading resistivity sensor. This technology
makes multiple deep-reading resistivity measurements, giving
visibility of surrounding formations and allowing the drilling

Figure 1. Multiple vertical wells or a single horizontal well can be

used to drain a reservoir.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1190/tle34050524.1.

May 2015

Special Section: Well geosteering

and geology team to proactively geosteer the well path to remain in the optimal position in the reservoir and avoid reservoir exits, minimizing sidetracks.

Geosteering with LWD imaging technology

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Depending on the formation and reservoir complexity,

several types of imaging sensors can be used for geosteering
and well placement. Azimuthal gamma-ray sensors generate
borehole images from measurements of the natural gamma radiation emitted by the formation. This information can be used

Figure 2. LWD density sensor with a source and two detectors on a

stabilizer blade.

Figure 3. LWD focused resistivity sensor with high-resolution button

electrodes.

Figure 4. Schematic illustration of frowning and smiling patterns.

to geosteer the well relative to lithology layers with contrasting

gamma-ray signatures, such as in sand-shale sequences.
However, there are many cases in which reservoir layers
can be distinguished better by variations in porosity rather than
natural gamma ray. In those cases, the best technology choice
for geosteering might be an LWD azimuthal density tool. This
tool contains a cesium gamma source and two gamma detectors, typically located on a stabilizer blade, as shown in Figure
2. It generates borehole images from measurements of formation
density around the borehole, which allow the well to be positioned in the best quality rock.
In places where density contrast is low or higher-resolution
images are required, geosteering can be carried out using LWD
resistivity-imaging technology. Resistivity images in LWD
typically are constructed by using focused electrode-type sensors, sometimes referred to as galvanic sensors. Figure 3 shows
one of the latest LWD high-resolution resistivity imagers (AlMushar et al., 2010). This sensor consists of three arrays of
electrodes arranged to provide full wellbore coverage under a
wide range of axial and rotational speeds. The tool can be congured with dierent button electrode sizes to provide images
over a wide range of drilling and reservoir conditions. These arrays also yield quantitative, laterolog resistivity measurements at
multiple depths of investigation.
One qualitative quick-look interpretation of wellbore images
consists of focusing on sinusoidal patterns and classifying them
as smiling or frowning. Sinusoids with frowning patterns
imply that the well is being drilled downdip or downstructure
with respect to the geologic boundary, whereas sinusoids with
smiling patterns indicate that the well is being drilled updip or
upstructure. Figure 4 shows a schematic illustration of a frowning pattern for a well path going downstructure and a smiling
pattern for a well going upstructure.
Figure 5 shows a geosteering example from the Middle
East (Ramos et al., 2008) using the image obtained from an
azimuthal-resistivity tool. The well was landed in the desired
zone by using resistivity images. When the well approached
the bottom of the zone, it was steered
up, based on the resistivity images
that were transmitted in real time.
The well path was adjusted in real
time, keeping the well in the desired
zone for maximum reservoir contact,
avoiding the need for any sidetracks
and enhancing future production.
Toward the end of the run, when the
desired exposure to the reservoir had
been achieved, the well inclination
was dropped intentionally to conrm
the location of the zone below.

Geosteering with deep-reading

resistivity technology

Figure 5. Successful well placement using focused resistivity images.

Special Section: Well geosteering

Many successful geosteering operations are established using nearwellbore images. However, in many
instances, because of the shallow

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depth of investigation of such sensors, the decision to change

the well direction cannot be made until after the well has
crossed a boundary. Deep-reading resistivity-sensor technology allows the operator to anticipate reservoir boundaries
proactively, long before they are crossed. The earliest implementation of proactive geosteering relied on nonazimuthal
resistivity measurements to recognize approaching boundaries. One shortcoming of nonazimuthal resistivity is that
the tool reading is the same whether the tool approaches a
boundary from above or below. This similarity in response is
because of the lack of azimuthal sensitivity, making geosteering in the pay zone unpredictable and uncertain. Without

azimuthal sensitivity, the tool response can be ambiguous,

increasing the risk of the operators making incorrect geosteering decisions.
To overcome the shortcomings of nonazimuthal sensors, azimuthal deep-reading sensors were introduced. Figure 6 shows
a deep-reading resistivity sensor (Bittar et al., 2007). The main
feature is a set of tilted receiver coils with multiple transmitters to provide multiple depth-of-investigation measurements.
As the sensor rotates with the bottom-hole assembly, resistivity
measurements are acquired in 32 azimuthal sectors around the
borehole. For any given spacing, these readings are displayed as
resistivity images.
Unlike near-wellbore images, deep resistivity images
originate several inches to several feet from the borehole wall.
As a rule, the longer the spacing between the transmitter and
the receiver, the deeper is the sensing into the formation.
Signals from the lowest frequency have deeper investigation
capabilities than those from higher frequencies. Similarly,
resistivity images generated from attenuation measurements
Figure 6. LWD deep-reading azimuthal-resistivity sensor with tilted
receiver antennae.
generally sense more deeply than those from phase-shift
measurements.
For an LWD electromagneticwave resistivity sensor, it needs to be
noted that the depth of investigation
of the sensor depends not only on the
transmitter-to-receiver spacing and
the operating frequency but also on
the resistivity of the formation. As an
example, the depth of investigation of
the sensor is higher if the sensor is in
Figure 7. Multiple images from an azimuthal deep-reading sensor.
a high-resistivity (less conductive) formation than if it is in a less resistive
(more conductive) formation. The most
favorable condition for geosteering that
yields the best detection condition is
when the sensor is in a high-resistivity
formation seeking a much lower-resistivity formation. Moreover, when the
sensor is in a low-resistivity formation
seeking a high-resistivity formation,
the depth of detection is reduced.
In addition to deep images, the
azimuthal deep-resistivity sensor
produces azimuthal measurements,
which are optimized for geosteering.
For all spacings and for each operating frequency, a 32-bin geosteering signal or geosignal (Bittar et al.,
2007) is produced which is sensitive
to approaching boundaries and is
used in the calculation of the distance
to bed boundaries.
Figure 7 shows an example of deep
electrical images from an azimuthal
deep-resistivity tool. This example
comes from a horizontal well in the
Oseberg eld in Norway (Bittar et al.,
Figure 8. Geosteering operation in real time using deep and near-wellbore images.

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2008). Observe the two images displayed side by side. One is produced by the 16-inch spacing at 2 MHz and the second by the 48inch spacing at 500 kHz. The deeper image sees the nearby shale
from farther away. By combining real-time wellbore images with
deep-resistivity images and geosignals, the well was geosteered to
remain within the most desirable part of the reservoir, as dened
by the geologist.
Figure 8 shows a representation of the well path with the
geologic layering. The geosteering operation enabled optimal
well placement and provided information about the subsurface
that allowed the geologic model to be updated.
Geosignals and deep-resistivity images play complementary roles in geosteering. The geosignal is related quantitatively to the distance separating the well path from the
nearest formation boundary. Deep-resistivity images help the
operator to understand the geologic environment where the
well is being drilled.

Summary and conclusions

Successful well placement is critically important to the
economics of a eld. A new family of near-wellbore imaging
and deep-resistivity imaging tools provides real-time information that helps in making geosteering decisions with increased condence. Near-wellbore images from azimuthalfocused resistivity, density, and gamma-ray sensors provide an
improved understanding of the geologic structure surrounding the wellbore.
Many geosteering challenges require the use of a combination of proactive and reactive geosteering methods. The
proactive method is geared toward preempting reservoir exits
by detecting approaching boundaries before they intersect the
well being drilled. The reactive method depends on the wellbore crossing boundaries for the LWD tools to detect them,
and in some cases, the method can produce less optimal well
placement than the proactive approach. However, the reactive
method might be more appropriate in reservoirs comprising
multiple thin layers, in which shallower-reading sensors might
provide a clearer picture of the reservoir structure than deeperreading ones. Shallower-reading sensors, when used in combination with deeper-reading ones, also allow for ne-tuning
of the well position, which might not be possible with deepreading sensors alone.
The economic benets of geosteering are realized by maximizing reservoir contact in the sweet spot, which results in increased production and increased long-term recovery. An early
warning of approaching faults and bed boundaries also results in
reducing the cost of a well by reducing nonproductive time and
the number of sidetracks.

Corresponding author: Michael.Bittar@Halliburton.com

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Suggested reading

The authors thank Halliburton management for support and

for permission to publish this article. Special thanks to the Halliburton Sperry Drilling team for reviewing and enhancing the
content of the article.

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Acknowledgments

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