Significant improvements in shale gas reservoir characterization have been recently obtained by means of detailed geochemical and mineralogical analysis on cuttings and cores directly at wellsite using the combined application of different technologies. These technologies include: X-ray diffractometry for mineralogy, X-ray fluorescence for rock chemical (elemental) composition, TOC analysis for Total Organic Carbon measurement and Pyrolysis for source rock characterization (Hydrogen Index, free oil content, Petroleum Potential & Maturity Index). The analyses, normally carried out in specialized laboratories, have been performed while drilling into a field unit. Dedicated procedures were also defined in order to improve the quality of the cuttings and to optimize the analyses timing to obtain near real time responses. The first field application has been carried out within an exploratory campaign for a shale gas drilling project. The rig site analyses provided in near real time complete geochemical/mineralogical log of the reservoir section. Wellsite analyses have been afterwards validated by laboratories analyses repeated on the same samples, confirming the reliability and accuracy of the rig site measurements. The Advanced Real-Time Cutting Analysis provided a strong support to the drilling operations (selection of the coring point, identification of sweet spot, etc.) resulting in significant time and cost savings in the well target phase and allowed for a reliable quick Formation Evaluation by using the organic matter and mineralogy data to calibrate the wireline logs response. The acquired data were also used to update the geochemical model utilized in the Petroleum System Model performed during the pre-drilling phase for a better understanding of the reservoir during the ongoing exploratory campaign.

Efficiency is a key factor on any operation. In this paper, we introduce the heterodyne Distributed Vibration Sensing (hDVS), which is an innovative technology based on fiber optic system to improve the duration of borehole seismic operations. We designed a survey aimed at comparing standard downhole geophone accelerometers measurements to i) optical fiber seismic installed inside the hybrid Wireline cable and ii) optical fiber clamped permanently to the well completion tubing. This comparison was conducted using a standard rig source VSP in association to advanced Offsets VSP. The purpose of the study was to evaluate this innovative technology and to assess the feasibility of drastic operation time reduction without compromising output data quality. To better evaluate the readiness of the technology, we decided to compare three distinct types of downhole measurements and designed a specific advanced acquisition which allowed us to compare various configurations. Consequently, the borehole seismic acquisition performed in the MR-SE1 well located in Makhrouga field (Tunisia) was split into two phases. Phase #1: during open-hole Wireline logging, using the standard downhole geophone accelerometers (VSI) and fiber optic seismic cable (single-mode cable) installed inside the Wireline logging cable (called hybrid Wireline cable). Phase #2: at the departure of the drilling rig, using a fiber optic seismic cable (single-mode cable) installed permanently along the intelligent completion. The results highlight the effectiveness of the hDVS technology with a proven decrease on operation timing, with reliable and good SNR recorded data. Nowadays, efficiency is a key requirement for any data acquisition process. The heterodyne Distributed Vibration Sensing (hDVS) is an innovative technology designed to achieve such effectiveness by making the Vertical Seismic Profile (VSP) a matter of minutes instead of hours, as using standard downhole equipment, without compromising output data reliability and allowing the measurements repeatability (no well interventions required). Finally, based on the quality of the dataset acquired, further analysis can be conducted for imaging purpose by analyzing the reflected waveforms, which could bring additional information and could change the way we are operating.

Reservoir characterization of laminated turbiditic sequences is often problematic due to the highly anisotropic setting, which affects the formation evaluation from conventional LWD, wireline logs and mudlog data. The reservoir, fluid content and pay petrophysical parameters are usually underestimated. Time and cost constraints can prohibit the utilization of new generation high resolution tools and to perform conventional DSTs. An oil and gas bearing well in deep water Indonesia was accurately evaluated with a relatively low time and cost investment in formation evaluation and data acquisition. Pay, porosity and water saturation were calculated by integrating high resolution image logs with standard wireline logs. An ample dataset of reliable formation pressures and fluid samples were obtained in a thin bed environment from Wireline Formation Testing (WFT) utilizing standard and large size probes. Mini DSTs were carried out to characterize reservoir and fluid properties. Thin beds were recognized using an imaging log in oil base mud and through a Thin Layer Analysis (TLA) approach the net sand calculation was enhanced. The TLA result was cross-checked with an electrofacies profile obtained using standard well logs (density, neutron and gamma ray) and calibrated with the sedimentological core description from other wells. In the final net sand computation beds not corresponding with actual reservoir facies were not considered so that only the effective reservoir was included. The result of this integrated approach resulted in an increase in the net pay evaluation in comparison with the conventional formation evaluation, and confirmed the high potential of nonconventional pay in a deep water environment. An exhaustive reservoir and fluid characterization was also achieved without coring and conventional DSTs.

Recent experience with a newly introduced sampling-while-drilling service has shown that it is possible to make reliable downhole formation fluid property estimates during sampling-while-drilling operations. Such fluid properties, derived by means of downhole optical spectrometry, include hydrocarbon composition (C1 through C5 and C6+), carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration, gas/oil ratio (GOR), formation volume factor (FVF), and, asphaltene content. Oil-based mud filtrate contamination estimates made during the sample cleanup process enable assessing the quality of the pumped fluid in real time. These property and contamination estimates facilitate the management of the entire while-drilling sampling process by aiding sample-capture decisions and allowing the best possible utilization of the sample bottles currently available on a drilling bottomhole assembly. Moreover, the contamination estimates together with the real-time fluid property estimates enable prediction of the uncontaminated fluid properties. These may be the only available estimates of clean-fluid properties in zones where fluid scanning was performed with no physical sample recovery. The real-time while-drilling fluid property predictions made during sampling-while-drilling operations performed in a Gulf of Mexico deepwater exploration well are compared to the properties measured during pressure/volume/temperature (PVT) laboratory analysis performed on recovered samples. Furthermore, the predicted clean-fluid properties are compared to uncontaminated properties derived using an equation-of-state (EoS) after mathematically “removing” the contamination from the composition of the laboratory-analyzed samples. The downhole estimated fluid properties are found to be in good agreement with the properties measured in the PVT laboratory on recovered samples. Similarly, the downhole predicted clean-fluid properties are found to be in good agreement with the laboratory cleaned estimates obtained by the EoS approach.

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