GEOSCIENCES

Victor Schmidt
Houston

Geoservices' new RWD tool uses an EM wave communication system instead of mud transducers.

Latin laterals

Geoservices of France is having success in Venezuela with its new 4-3/4 in. OD Resistivity-While-Drilling (RWD) tool. The tool is being used for underbalanced drilling of horizontal wells. The drains are drilled using aerated mud.

The RWD sensor is a borehole-compensated electromagnetic wave (EM) propagation system operating at 2 MHz transmitter frequency. It is independent of the EM MWD directional, gamma ray and resistivity package, permitting selective positioning of the tools within the bottom hole assembly. (Contact Henri Crouhade at Tel: +33-1-48-14-83-20 or Email:[email protected] for more information).

Deep logging record

Schlumberger Oilfield Services announced the successful completion of the deepest logging job ever performed in the Gulf of Mexico. An EEX well was logged to 25,772 ft TVD using tools deployed on drillpipe with the Tough Logging Conditions (TLC) system. Maximum well deviation was 28° with bottomhole hydrostatic pressure of 19,968 psi.

New-generation equipment was used in this logging run that expanded the operation envelope of the Maxis imaging system into the hostile operating environment.

Ramform records

During July the Ramform Explorer set a new daily production record by shooting 101 sq km of 3D data on a 1,415 sq km survey in the Barents Sea. The record was set while towing 10 streamers with a total spread of 1,350 meters.

The Ramform Challenger set a production record for the second quarter by acquiring over 2,100 sq km of 3D seismic during a continuous 30-day period. This tops the previous industry monthly production record, formerly held by the Ramform Explorer.

Timor Sea lithology

Scott Pickford, a unit of Core Laboratories Group, has begun a non-exclusive lithology study of the Bonaparte Basin, Timor Sea, Australia. The Australia North West Shelf Interpretation Lithology project (ANWIL) is being sponsored by BHP, Shell, and Woodside Petroleum.

Detailed consistent lithological interpretations for 212 released wells will be created using Lithlog software. Digital files will be available in workstation formats for ongoing regional work. (Contact Phillip Slater or Ken Gardiner at Tel: +44-181-686-6051 or Email:[email protected]).

"Starfire" power

Schlumberger Geco-Prakla enhanced seismic data processing at its Perth, Australia facility. The company added a Sun Microsystems Ultra Enterprise "Starfire" server to its existing capability. "This latest addition to our data processing hub at Perth provides a significant improvement in our turnaround capabilities and supplies an efficient engine for computer intensive processes such as prestack migration," according to Dieter Ramcke, Regional Manager for Data Processing.

Indian transition zone

CGG has been awarded contract extensions for its transition zone crews in the coastal areas of eastern India. The crews are collecting over 2,500 km of 2D seismic data for ONGC in water depths out to 30 meters. The surveys are in the deltaic zones of the Krishna and Godavari rivers in Andhra Pradesh, and in the Cauvery area of Palk Strait between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka.

Software integration

GeoGraphix announced the release of GeoGraphix Release 98, a suite of products, on a single compact disc. GES97, Prizm and SeisVision are included as a fully integrated set of software offering improved functionality. SeisVision has been enhanced with three new tools: SynView, for synthetic seismic plots; an interactive planimeter tool; and 3D Fault, a tool to easily construct fault planes.

Adding Charisma

CGG-Petrosystems is extending the reach of its Stratamagic software to include Schlumberger-GeoQuest Charisma seismic databases. The software is already open to Landmark Garaphic's SeisWorks databases. "Since your seismic data is already loaded into your interpretation system, it is logical to expect cutting-edge software to have direct access to it, avoiding redundant storage and tedious data reading activities," says Marc Philton, Marketing Manager.

Data loading

Panther Software Corp became the first seismic data management software vendor to license the GeoFrame Developer's Kit. In cooperation with GeoQuest, Panther will develop the first fully automated poststack seismic data loading software. "By integrating the expertise of our SEG-Y technology with GeoFrame, we will be able to deliver the functionality and value, currently available to users of Landmark SeisWorks and Paradigm SeisX software users, to users of IESX and Charisma applications," said Brad Youmans, President of Panther Software.

More EAGE '98

The EAGE '98 conference (Leipzig, Germany) provided more information about progress in the geophysics, geology, and engineering sectors of the business. Below is a summary:

AVO/AVA techniques: A new seismic approach was presented using an established well log technique - crossplotting. By looking at the distribution of different attribute populations over known water and oil zones, it was possible to establish geostatistical trends that were used to identify the fluids in unfamiliar zones. This technique has high potential for future hydrocarbon indicator work.
Seismic inversion: Transforming well logs into seismic signals was raised to a new level in a paper by Bert Bril and Paul De Groot. A suite of wells within a 3D seismic volume was inverted to yield seismic curves. The inversion curves were then tied to specific lithologies and "scored" to find the best fit between seismic and lithology character. The best fits were then used across the 3D dataset to create porosity and thickness models of reservoir zones.
Data integration: Several papers were presented that demonstrated the value of integrating multiple geophysical datasets: seismic, gravity, and magnetics. This is an "outward" extension of the process that ties discrete well log readings to 3D seismic. It is used routinely for pre-stack depth migration in salt basins.

The result creates an increasingly detailed earth model of the prospect area. Successive order-of-magnitude steps - magnetics, gravity, seismic, well logs, core data, and fluid flow metering - provide feedback and boundary constraints to the earth model, producing a tightly focused investigation. Computer workstations now allow interpreters to capture, process, and integrate these varying data types in a timely manner.