World Oil

Defining Technology for Exploration, Drilling and Production June 2010

June 2010

DRILLING AND COMPLETION

TECHNOLOGY
Cement-free lateral technique
Casing wear in extended-reach wells
WELL LOGGING AND FORMATION EVALUATION
DRILLING AND COMPLETION TECHNOLOGY

REJUVENATING BROWNFIELDS
DRILLING AND COMPLETION FLUIDS FILES

www.worldoil.com
Gulf Publishing Company
Rejuvenating Originally appeared in:
Brownfields June 2009 issue, pgs 48-50.
Posted with permission.

Precise well placement technology

revitalizes brownfield environments
Batch horizontal drilling campaigns in Western China deploy unique
real-time bed boundary mapping technology to target thin oil columns
and rejuvenate an onshore brownfield.
Song Yu Xin, Mai Xin, Du Hong Lin and Li Qing, PetroChina Xinjiang Oilfield Co.;
Parlindungan M. Halomoan, Yang Bin and Chow Yuk Ha, Schlumberger

In recent years, major breakthroughs have been made in Cretaceous reservoirs since 2001. Production remained both
extremely precise placement of horizontal wellbores using new high and stable through 2005, when watercut began increas-
logging-while-drilling (LWD) technologies. Since 2007, Pet- ing rapidly and oil recovery began declining, Fig. 2.
roChina has batch drilled 47 horizontal wells in a mature oil Lu Liang Field is a low-relief anticlinal structure whose
field in Western China using real-time bed boundary mapping primary reservoir is characterized by fairly low-resistivity sand
technology and conventional downhole motors. Despite very lenses and pinchouts, a thin oil column, a complex oil-water
thin oil columns and high structural uncertainties, every one contact and strong, natural water drive, Fig. 3. As a result, it
of these wellbores has been geosteered accurately within the proved difficult to develop bypassed oil accumulating in the
very top of the target reservoir. As a result, watercut has de-
clined dramatically, production has increased and the field has
been successfully revitalized.
6x Oil production stable Oil production
decreases slowly
Field challenges 5x
Xinjiang Oilfield Company (XOC), a subsidiary of Pet-
roChina Company Ltd., has been prospecting, developing 4x
and producing oil and gas in the Xinjiang region of Western
China for almost 30 years. Today, this region has the largest 3x
annual hydrocarbon output in the country. The Lu Liang oil
field (Fig. 1), which contains millions of tons of recoverable
reserves, is the most productive field in Xinjiang. 2x
Water increases
Discovered in 2000 and initially developed with vertical rapidly
wells, Lu Liang has been producing light oil from Jurassic and x Water increases slowly

0
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
Year
Oil production Watercut

Fig. 2. Until 2005, oil production in Lu Liang Field remained

stable, then it began declining as watercut rapidly increased.

Fig. 3. The light oil target reservoir consists of sand lenses

Fig. 1. The Lu Liang oil field is located in the Xinjiang region of with low structural relief, a thin oil column (red) and bottom
Western China. water (blue).
upper few meters of the reservoir using
vertical wellbores, which experienced bot-
tom water breakthrough.
To minimize watercut and maintain
production, XOC drilled two horizontal
wells in Lu Liang Field in 2006. Since
conventional methods of landing and
geosteeringmud logging and measure-
ment-while-drilling with gamma-ray
resistivity measurementshad proven
unsuccessful, XOC decided to apply real-
time imaging using laterolog azimuthal Fig. 4. To maximize reservoir exposure, capture bypassed attic (red) and avoid the oil-
resistivity in these two wells. However, the water contact, horizontal trajectories required precise geosteering within 0.5 m of the
danger always existed of landing the well upper reservoir boundary.
too shallow or too deep. Also, the hori-
zontal wellbore could accidentally exit the
upper boundary of the reservoir or fail to
maintain the optimal trajectory very close
to it. Any of these scenarios would reduce
net-to-gross (NTG) reservoir contact, by-
pass valuable reserves and lower ultimate
recovery. In some cases, costly and time-
consuming sidetracks would be necessary.
Although both of these horizontal wells
reached relatively high NTG, the goal of
placing the horizontal trajectory near the Fig. 5. Deep azimuthal resistivity bed boundary mapping technology detects formation
top of the reservoir was not achieved. Both and fluid boundaries up to 6.4 m (21 ft) around the borehole, enabling proactive
wells were completed below expectations. geosteering.
The company was planning a series of
fast-paced batch horizontal drilling cam-
paigns, and could not risk missing the sweet spot in every
well. Due to thin oil targets and high structural uncertainties
in areas far from reliable well control, XOC needed to land
numerous wells accurately in real time, stay away from the
oil-water contact, and steer wells horizontally within 0.5 m
of the reservoir top (Fig. 4), which had proven unsuccessful
using conventional geosteering techniques.

Testing bed boundary mapping

In early 2007, XOC began experimenting in a heavy oil field
with an advanced well placement technology that successfully
mapped reservoir boundaries in real time. This technology, the
Schlumberger Periscope deep azimuthal electromagnetic re-
sistivity LWD system, makes 360 measurements that (when
interpreted in real time by special software at the surface) pro-
vide both orientation and distance to formation boundaries up
to 6.4 m (21 ft) around the borehole, even in the presence of
anisotropy and dip variations, Fig. 5. Such a deep detection
range enables well placement engineers, directional drillers and
geoscientists to make proactive, rather than reactive, decisions
for well landing and geosteering in real time.
Application of the real-time bed boundary mapper enabled
XOCs heavy oil wells to achieve an NTG ratio of more than
90%. In fact, five horizontal sections achieved 100% reser-
voir contact.1 Having experienced the precision and value of
this new technology, XOC wanted to repeat similar benefits in
wells targeting the thin Lu Liang light oil reservoir.
The service company well-placement team conducted a
study to determine the feasibility of using the real-time bed
boundary mapper in the Lu Liang low-resistivity light oil res-
ervoir, given its unique challenges and uncertainties. Based on
offset well data, the feasibility study demonstrated that deep
azimuthal resistivity measurements were compatible with ex-
Fig. 6. Bed boundary mapping image of the landing section of
one Lu Liang horizontal well, which landed successfully within
the 0.5-m target window despite encountering the reservoir
top deeper than expected.
pected petrophysical properties of the reservoir. Because of its
proprietary automated inversion process, the tool was capable
of accurately detecting the top of the sand within a distance
that met the project requirements, without relying on a pre-
defined geological model. In collaboration with the well-place-
ment team, the XOC engineers and geoscientists defined possi-
ble risk scenarios and corresponding risk mitigation strategies.
Three horizontal wells were planned for the pilot test, which
was implemented in 2007.
During drilling and geosteering operations, service com-
pany personnel worked closely with XOCs regional geolo-
gist to capture and interpret real-time LWD data from the
tool. Since the system presents updated maps of formation
boundaries in real time, the team was able to accommodate
structural uncertainties and take quick action to avoid drill-
ing out the top of the reservoir while maintaining the hori-
Rejuvenating Brownfields

zontal section within 0.5 m of the top

of the target zone. All three pilot test
wells were successful, achieving an aver-
age 96% NTG reservoir exposure, with
a significant increase in the productiv-
ity index (PI). The three wells produced
four times more, on average, than verti-
cal wells or horizontal wells drilled with
conventional geosteering techniques. As
a result, XOC felt confident to begin
large-scale implementation of the real-
time bed boundary mapping technology
in the Lu Liang oil field.

Large-scale
implementation
In 2008, XOC batch drilled 25 hori-
zontal wells in the target reservoir using
the real-time bed boundary mapping sys-
tem. In 2009, 19 more wells were drilled.
Typically, batch horizontal drilling cam-
Fig. 7. The horizontal section of a Lu Liang wellbore remained within 0.5 m below the
paigns were conducted within a three- upper reservoir boundary despite encountering unexpected variations in dip.
month period. XOC used its own rigs to
drill the top hole and kickoff sections to
a pre-determined inclination. From that benefits. Compared to vertical offset wells and convention-
point, Schlumberger and XOC collaborated to land the well ally geosteered horizontal wells drilled in the past, the daily
and geosteer the horizontal section. Three different types of average watercut has decreased 70%. The recoverable reserve
reservoir profiles were encountered, each sharing common ob- factor has increased by 20%, and production has improved by
jectives but presenting a different challenge: five times over the last three years. Significant increases in the
edge water type, with 34-m oil columns PI ensured longer production sustainability.
thin reservoir type, with 12-m oil columns Literature Cited
bottom water type, with 45-m oil columns. 1 Zhang Jun Jie et al. Proactive well placement using new boundary-mapping technology, presented at the
In all these wells, XOC deployed bottomhole assemblies 14th Formation Evaluation Symposium of Japan, Sept. 2930, 2008.

with the real-time bed boundary mapping tool and conven-

tional mud motors.
Due to limited well control and lack of high-resolution
seismic data between offset wells, the well placement team had
to update interpretations in almost every well. For example,
while landing wells, the reservoir top often came in shallower
or deeper than anticipated, requiring rapid adjustments of the
trajectory. Nevertheless, with precise, real-time distance-to-
boundary information in hand, all wells were landed smoothly
inside the reservoir, Fig. 6. Once inside the target section, vari-
ations in dip and lateral facies along the horizontal trajectory
were often encountered. Despite these challenges, all the hori-
zontal sections were successfully maintained within 0.20.5 m
of the top of the reservoir, maximizing reservoir exposure and
staying well above the oil-water contact, Fig. 7.
A total of 47 horizontal wells were placed using the dis-
tance-to-boundary technology through the end of 2009, with
an NTG ratio of 94%. The average length of each horizontal
section drilled in the Lu Liang reservoir to date has been about
312 m with average length of reservoir exposure of 294 m.
The few percent of borehole not exposed to oil-bearing sand
was due to various laminations, interbedded shale breaks and
pinchouts that were encountered along the horizontal section.
No sidetracks were necessary. By placing the wellbore near
the upper boundary without exiting the reservoir, drilling ef-
ficiency increased rapidly from year to year. Without real-time
azimuthal resistivity bed boundary mapping, it may have been
difficult to achieve comparable results.
Large-scale application of this technology in the Lu Li-
ang oil field has yielded a number of economically valuable
The Authors
Song Yu Xin is Oil Field Development Manager for PetroChina Xinjiang
Oil Co. He has more than 27 years of working experience in the industry
and holds a PhD degree in petroleum engineering from Southwest Pe-
troleum University in China.
Mai Xin is Oilfield Development Vice Manager for PetroChina Xinjiang
Oil Co. He has more than 16 years of working experience in the industry
and holds a masters degree in logging from the University of Petroleum
(East China).
Du Hong Lin is a Project Manager for PetroChina Xinjiang Oil Co. He
has more than 14 years of working experience in the industry and holds
a bachelors degree in petroleum geology from the University of Petro-
leum (East China).
Li Qing is a Project Manager for PetroChina Xinjiang Oil Co. He has more
than 13 years of working experience in the industry and holds a bach-
elors degree in petroleum geology from the University of Petroleum
(East China).
Parlindungan M. Halomoan is a Well Placement Domain Champion
for China-Japan-Korea-Taiwan GeoMarket, Schlumberger. He has more
than 12 years of working experience in the industry and holds a degree
in geophysics engineering from the Bandung Institute of Technology.
Yang Bin is a Well Placement Domain Champion for China-Japan-Korea-
Taiwan GeoMarket, Schlumberger. He has more than 12 years of work-
ing experience in the industry and holds a degree in reservoir geology
from the University of Petroleum (East China).
Chow Yuk Ha is a Resistivity Product Champion for Drilling and Mea-
surements, Schlumberger. She has more than nine years of working ex-
perience in the industry and holds a degree in electrical engineering from
the University of Melbourne.

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