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Russian Geology and Geophysics 54 (2013) 1103–1107
www.elsevier.com/locate/rgg

A geosteering tool for horizontal well logging

M.I. Epov a,*, V.L. Mironov b,c, K.V. Muzalevskiy b,c, I.N. Eltsov a, U.P. Salomatov d
a
A.A. Trofimuk Institute of Petroleum Geology and Geophysics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences,
pr. Koptyuga 3, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia
b
L.V. Kirensky Institute of Physics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Akademgorodok 50, bld. 38, Krasnoyarsk, 660036, Russia
c
M.F. Reshetnev Siberian State Aerospace University, pr. Krasnoyarskii Rabochii 31, Krasnoyarsk, 660014, Russia
d
Siberian Federal University, 79, pr. Svobodnyi, Krasnoyarsk, 660041, Russia

Received 12 October 2011; accepted 14 August 2012

Abstract

A theoretical study has been performed to check the possibility of using ultrabroadband nanosecond electromagnetic pulses as a geosteering
tool for horizontal drilling to estimate the distance to the oil-water contact (OWC) in a floating oil accumulation. The voltage of a
microwave-bandwidth pulse at the dipole receiver of a downhole radar was modeled for the case of a horizontal borehole near OWC in a
formation saturated with oil and water. Numerical solutions to the boundary problem formulated on the basis of the Maxwell equations were
obtained with the Microwave Studio software (www.cst.com). The frequency-dependent dielectric constants of the layered saturated formation
and the drilling fluid were assumed according to experimentally tested models. The modeling has demonstrated that nanosecond electromagnetic
pulses arriving from a layered oil-water contact can in principle be acquired and the distance from the wellbore to the OWC median can be
inferred from the respective time delays recorded by a downhole radar. Additionally, the possible dynamic range and accuracy of sensing
have been estimated.
© 2013, V.S. Sobolev IGM, Siberian Branch of the RAS. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: geosteering; downhole radar; saturated formation; oil-water contact; ultrabroadband nanosecond electromagnetic pulse

Introduction However, OWC in those models was simulated as a break

Horizontal drilling (www.slb.com) has been increasingly
used through recent decades as a way of enhanced oil
recovery. However, it requires precise geosteering to avoid
abandonment risks if the borehole taps gas- or water-saturated
zones of the reservoir. Currently geosteering is provided with
the method of high-frequency (0.875 to 14 MHz) induction
logging (Epov and Antonov, 2000) which allows estimating
the depth to interfaces to an accuracy defined by measured
resistivity errors. The resistivity of a typical oil-saturated
formation measured at 0.4 to 1.1 m away from the borehole
may bear an error from 24% to 50%, respectively, while errors
in the width of the low-resistivity zone may reach 40%, as
one can see in Fig. 5.8 from (Epov and Antonov, 2000). To
improve the resolution of high-frequency induction logging,
earlier we (Epov et al., 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011) investigated
theoretically the possibility of using ultrabroadband nanosec-
ond electromagnetic pulses for precise borehole positioning.
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: EpovMI@ipgg.sbras.ru (M.I. Epov)
1068-7971/$ - see front matter D 201 3, V.S. So bolev IGM, Siberian Branch of the RAS. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rgg.201
+ 3.07.022
in the water content function at the oil-water interface while
the transition is actually smooth in the real subsurface. As a
development to the previous modeling (Epov et al., 2007,
2009, 2010, 2011), we now check the applicability of
ultrabroadband electromagnetic pulses to geosteering in highly
permeable reservoirs for the case of a smooth oil-water
transition, up to 1 m thick, with its petrophysics assumed
according to the respective parameters at the Fedorovskoe
oilfield (Epov et al., 2010). The calculations are made for a
more realistic electrodynamic model of the logging tool (a
downhole radar), with regard to the effects of the dielectric
tool body and drilling mud.
Problem formulation
The downhole radar (Fig. 1) consists of spaced receiving
and transmitting dipole antennas mounted in a cylindrical
dielectric case, with its radius 0.045 m. The receiver and the
transmitter are joined cylindrical ideal conductors, 0.15 m long
each, of the radius 0.02 m, with a clearing of 5 mm between
1104 M.I. Epov et al. / Russian Geology and Geophysics 54 (2013) 1103–1107

mixing dielectric model (GRMDM) reported in (Epov et al.,

2009):
εs = ε′s + i ε″s ,
ε′s = n2s − κ2s , ε″s = 2ns κs,
(1)
ns = nd + (nw − 1) Ww + (no − 1) Wo,
κs = κd + κw Ww + κo Wo,
where i = √  is an imaginary unit, ε′s, ε″s , are the real and
−1
imaginary parts of the complex dielectric constant, ns, nd, nw,
no are the refraction coefficients, κs, κd, κw, κo are the loss
factors, and Ww and Wo are, respectively, the volumetric
Fig. 1. An oil and gas reservoir with an oil-water contact, including a borehole percentages of water and oil. The subscripts s, d, w, and o
and a logging tool (T and R are, respectively, transmitter and receiver antennas). refer to fluid-saturated rock, dry rock, water, and oil, respec-
tively. The refraction and attenuation coefficients are related
with the complex dielectric constant as
them. The clearing centers of the dipole antennas are spaced
1/2
np = √ε′2 + ε″p2 + ε′p

at zr = 0.5 m. The radar is placed in a borehole (radius rb=
/√
2 ,
0.05 m) filled with drilling mud (saline water with 5 g/l NaCl  p  (2)
and 3% clay content). The dielectric tool body is 0.9 m long 1/2

κp = √  
ε′ + ε″p − ε′p
2 2
/√
2 ,
and has a relative permittivity of 14.
 p 
In the Cartesian coordinates (Fig. 1), with the origin at the
receiver center, the ox axis is directed downward, while the where p stands for the subscripts s, d, w, and o. The
centers of the receiver and transmitter antennas lie on the oz frequency-dependent complex dielectric constants of water,
axis which coincides with the axis of the hole. oil, and drilling mud (assuming that the minor clay content of
The radar is placed in the oil-saturated zone of the reservoir. 3% causes no significant effect on the mud permittivity) were
The distances to the top and bottom of the oil-water transition found using the Debye equation
from the hole axis are, respectively, x1 and x2 (Fig. 1). ε0p − ε∞p σp
The parameters of the nanosecond pulse correspond to a εp = ε∞p + +i , (3)
1 − i 2π f τp 2π ε0 f
FID-Tekhnika GIN-2-02 pulse power source (St. Petersburg).
The power is connected to the transmitter with a 50 Ohm where f is the EM field frequency; σp, τp, ε0p, and ε∞p are
coaxial cable plugged at the break between the dipole legs. the parameters of the Debye relaxation model (conductivity,
Figure 2 shows the pulse, with its waveform, envelope, and relaxation time, and static and high-frequency dielectric
spectrum at the source output. The voltage envelope peaks at
tg = 2.2 ns. The peak frequency and the pulse width are, constants, respectively); ε0 = 8.854 × 10−12 F/m is the vacuum
respectively, 0.210 GHz and 0.554 GHz. dielectric constant; p stands for the respective subscripts (w
The dielectric spectra (relative complex permittivity or for water, o for oil, d for drilling mud). Hereafter the following
dielectric constant) of the reservoir saturated with oil and parameters are used: nd = 1.63, κd = 0.012, σw = 2.75 S/m,
saline water were calculated using the generalized refractive τw = 8.8 ns, ε0w = 74.3, ε∞w = 4.9, σo = 0.0001 S/m, τo =

Fig. 2. Waveform (1), envelope (2), and spectrum (3) of the pulse at the source output.
 M.I. Epov et al. / Russian Geology and Geophysics 54 (2013) 1103–1107
Fig. 3. Profiles of water (Ww) and oil (Wo) contents (curves 1 and 2, respec-
tively) in the OWC zone.
209 ns, ε0o = 2.2, ε∞o = 2.1, σb = 0.9 S/m, τb = 8.9 ns, ε0b =
79.6, εb = 5.2, which correspond to water and drilling fluid
salinities of 17 and 5 g/l, respectively at the formation
temperature 62 ºC. The model dielectric parameters of water
and drilling fluid are calculated using regression equations
from (Stogryn, 1971), applicable also to the temperature
62 ºC, as shown in (Epov et al., 2009). The reservoir porosity
is assumed to be 23%. The contents of oil and water in the
respective reservoir zones (x ≤ x1 for oil and x ≥ x2 water
saturation) are assumed to be Ww = 7 vol.% and Wo =
16 vol.%; Ww = 23 vol.% and Wo = 0, respectively. The rock
physics corresponds to that at the Fedorovskoe oilfield in West
Siberia (Epov et al., 2010).
The smooth change of complex permittivity at the oil-water
interface is simulated using the Fermi distribution of water
Ww(x) and oil Wo(x) contents from (Schwank et al., 2004):
Ww (x) = Ww,os + (Ww,ws − Ww,os) ⋅
1 − 1 / (1 + exp [(xow − x) / ∆ ow ]),

 (4)

Wo (x) = 0.23 − Ww (x),
Fig. 4. Output pulse voltage (1), its envelope (2), and spectrum (3) in a uniform oil reservoir.
1105
where Ww,os and Ww,ws are the water contents in the oil- and
water-saturated zones of the reservoir, respectively, xow =
(x1 + x2)/2 is the coordinate of the OWC median plane
corresponding to the maximum gradient of the Ww(x) and
Wo(x) functions, and ∆ow is the OWC effective thickness, with
the top at x1 = xow – dow/2 and the bottom at x2 = xow + dow/2.
The thickness dow = 2 ∆ow ln 9 equals to that of a layer
between the levels (Wo,ws + Wo,os) / 2 ± 0.4 (Wo,ws − Wo,os) and
(Ww,ws + Ww,os) / 2 ± 0.4 (Ww,ws − Ww,os) for the oil and water
contents, respectively. The oil and water profiles in the OWC
layer calculated with (4) at dow = 0.64 m are shown in Fig. 3.
In further numerical analysis, the OWC zone is divided into
20 thin layers with constant oil and water contents found as
the means over each layer.
Numerical modeling
Peak voltage at the receiver output was modeled using the
Microwave Studio software (www.cst.com). Figure 4 shows
the pulse waveform, its envelope, and spectrum for a radar
placed in a uniform oil reservoir. The pulse width (Fig. 4),
estimated at 0.1 of the envelope peak amplitude is 6.3 ns.
The spectrum of the pulse propagating in a uniform
oil-saturated formation has a width about 0.25 GHz (Fig. 4),
and the central frequency is equal to 0.33 GHz. The delay td,
found from the shift of the envelope peak in Fig. 4 relative
to its position at the source output (Fig. 2) is 5.2 ns. In the
approximation of a lateral wave pulse (see Fig. 25, in
(Daev D.C., 1974)), the lateral wave pulse velocity alonge the
hole axis (Vp = [zr + 2rb]/td) is equal to 0.386⋅c, where c is the
vacuum light velocity. The apparent refraction coefficient of
the oil-saturated formation is then na = 2.6, which is close to
that for a 0.33 GHz pulse (no = 2.4) calculated using the
complex permittivity model. Therefore, the wavefield along
the tool axis localizes mainly in the oil-saturated zone rather
than in the dielectric tool body, which has the refraction
1106 M.I. Epov et al. / Russian Geology and Geophysics 54 (2013) 1103–1107
Fig. 5. Output pulse voltage (a) and its envelope (b), for different OWC thicknesses (curve codes in meters).
coefficient nc = 3.7 or in the drilling mud between the tool
and the borehole wall with nc = 9.3. It means that the complex
permittivity model (1) is applicable to infer oil and water
contents from the measured delay of the pulse propagating
along the hole, the formation porosity being known.
Then we calculated the voltage at the receiver output for
a borehole with its axis at a distance of 1 m from the median
plane of OWC varying in thickness as 0.08 m ≤ dow ≤ 0.64 m.
In this case, there appears another pulse in the interval from
15 to 30 ns, with an additional delay (Fig. 5a), besides that
propagating along the borehole within the same time span
between 3 and 15 ns as the pulse in the oil zone (Fig. 4). This
additional peak may appear as the ray path becomes longer
because of refraction at OWC.
The voltage is × 60.6 times enlarged in the 15–30 ns
window (Fig. 5a) in order to highlight the waveform details
of the refracted pulse. As the OWC thickness increases from
0.08 to 0.64 m, the amplitude of the refracted pulse attenuates
notably (by a factor of ~4.7 or by 13.4 dB), while its delay
does not change much (compare the envelopes of the refracted
pulses in Fig. 5b). The envelope of the refracted pulse, at the
OWC thicknesses dow = 0.08 m and 0.64 m, peaks at tp =
20.0 ns and 19.2 ns, respectively. If OWC is thin, the sense
of a refracted ray experiences a reversal relative to the ox axis
in a small vicinity of the OWC median (1 m – 0.04 m < x <
1 m + 0.04 m). The reversal near the median plane of OWC
may be expected to be independent of its thickness since the
delay of the refracted pulse in an 8 times thicker OWC is only
2% greater. Therefore, the distance from the borehole to the
OWC median can be inferred from the measured refraction
delay.
Now we consider modeling results for a 0.64 m thick OWC
and a borehole at 1.1, 1.4, and 1.9 m away from its median
(Fig. 6).
The left-hand pulse (Fig. 6) propagating along the borehole
is stable within the 2–13 ns interval at any distance to the
OWC median plane, while the right-hand one is refracted at
OWC, and its time intervals of 14–16 ns, 16–22 ns, and
24–30 ns correspond to the distances 1.1, 1.4, and 1.9 m to
the OWC median. The amplitudes of the refracted pulse were
enlarged in the 13–50 ns window ×79.5 (38.0 dB),
285.9 (49.1 dB), and 753.6 (57.5 dB) against that of the pulse
propagating along the borehole, respectively, for the three
distances (1.1, 1.4, and 1.9 m).
As the calculations predict, a 60 dB signal can penetrate
to a distance of 1.9 m to the median of a smooth OWC, which
is quite realistic for the modern radars with the dynamic range
up to 120 dB.
Below we estimate the accuracy of the estimated distances
to OWC assuming that the refracted pulse propagates at the
same velocity as the one along the borehole. The source-re-
ceiver offset being known, this velocity can be found from
the delay of the pulse that arrives the first at the receiver
output. Another assumption is that the refracted pulse propa-
gates along the intercepts of a straight line corresponding to
the transmitted plane wave and the one reflected from the
median. Then, the distance from the borehole axis to the OWC
median is
xow,0 = √

lef2 −z2r / 2, (5)
where lef is the effective distance travelled by the refracted
wave being approximately lef = trVp, where tr is the refraction
time delay and Vp is the velocity along the borehole.
The distances to the OWC median estimated with (5) are
0.82 m, 1.08 m, and 1.53 m, while the true values assumed
in the model are 1.1 m, 1.4 m, and 1.9 m. Therefore, the
errors in the distances estimated with the above assumptions
about the refraction velocity and raypaths are, respectively,
25%, 23%, and 19%. Note that these distances are in all cases
shorter than the true ones. According to the reported calcula-
tions, the resolution of the microwave radar at the penetrations
1.1, 1.4, and 1.9 m is 2, 2.2, and 2.6 times better than that
provided by high-frequency induction logging tools.
 M.I. Epov et al. / Russian Geology and Geophysics 54 (2013) 1103–1107
Fig. 6. Output pulse voltage (a) and its envelopes (b) at different distances to OWC median (curve codes in meters).
Conclusions
Numerical modeling at broad and ultrabroad bandwidths
has shown that reflections from smooth OWC between an oil-
and water-saturated zones of the reservoir can, in principle,
be acquired at distances to 1.9 m by a microwave radar system
with a dynamic range 60 dB, if the OWC thickness is 0.64 m.
It is suggested to estimate the distance to the OWC median
plane from time delay of waves that arrive at the receiver
output after travelling along the borehole and refracting at
OWC. At distances longer than 1.1 m, the ultrabroadband
nanosecond electromagnetic geosteering tool provides more
accurate data than high-frequency induction logging. The
apparent refraction coefficient in an oil-saturated zone of the
reservoir, estimated from Vp velocity along the borehole
differs from the true one for no more than 8.3%. This allows
using ultrabroadband nanosecond electromagnetic geosteering
tool sensing to estimate the oil and water contents, if the
reservoir porosity is known.
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Editorial resposibility: A.E. Kontorovich