A New Logging-While-Drilling Method for Resistivity Measurement in Oil-Based Mud

Abstract

Resistivity logging is an important technique for identifying and estimating reservoirs. Oil-based mud (OBM) can improve drilling efficiency and decrease operation risks, and has been widely used in the well logging field. However, the non-conductive OBM makes the traditional logging-while-drilling (LWD) method with low frequency ineffective. In this work, a new oil-based LWD method is proposed by combining the capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection (C4D) technique and the inductive coupling principle. The C4D technique is to overcome the electrical insulation problem of the OBM and construct an effective alternating current (AC) measurement path. Based on the inductive coupling principle, an induced voltage can be formed to be the indirect excitation voltage of the AC measurement path. Based on the proposed method, a corresponding logging instrument is developed. Numerical simulation was carried out and results show that the logging instrument has good measurement accuracy, deep detection depth and high vertical resolution. Practical experiments were also carried out, including the resistance box experiment and the well logging experiment. The results of the resistance box experiment show that the logging instrument has good resistance measurement accuracy. Lastly, the results of the well logging experiment indicate that the logging instrument can accurately reflect the positions of different patterns on the wellbore of the experimental well. Both numerical simulation and practical experiments verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the new method.

Improving reliability of logging process: A Bohai Bay case study

“…Jin et al 14 described a transducer that is integrated into a logging while drilling tool to meet the size and robustness requirements, and can provide reliable imaging even in heavy mud. Wu et al 15 proposed a new oil‐based logging while drilling method which combines the capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection technique and the inductive coupling principle. It can prevent the nonconductive oil‐based mud from invalidating the traditional low‐frequency logging while drilling method.…”