The emergence of real-time enabled support centers has significantly improved the level of service delivery that is received by the operator companies that are drilling across the numerous oil fields in Russia. These support centers are multidisciplinary in approach and are focused on supporting measurement-while-drilling, logging-whiledrilling, and directional drilling services and executing work flows without incurrence of nonproductive time. Many challenges, ranging from ensuring connectivity in remote areas to client acceptance of the role of support centers in their internal decision-making processes, have been successfully overcome. Key to this success was the implementation of work flows that optimize drilling processes in the holistic well construction cycle with incorporation of geomechanics and that support the optimal geological well placement based upon petrophysical analysis and interpretation.These process work flows were synthesized to capitalize on the strong petrotechnical expertise and synergies existing within the collaborative environment of the support center. To further improve on the performance of such support centers, an engineering study was conducted in 2010 to assess further possibilities for improving service quality. Several areas of opportunity were identified, one of which included the incorporation of Lean and Six Sigma techniques to quantify the effect of modifications on these work processes. It was critical in this assessment to ensure that these process work flows seamlessly integrated into the work flows of the internal and external stakeholders that are beneficiaries of the support centers. This paper discusses the results from the initial generations of these process work flows and the way forward for the continued process work flow integration, using a support center that was developed in Russia as an example. The application of these work flows has brought demonstrable financial and service-quality benefits to both operators and service companies, and the broader applications in its consistent execution have presented a critical step change in Russian environment drilling performance.
To increase the efficiency of field development, more and more wells are drilled with horizontal or high angle section at the end (HAHZ). Despite this, well logging data analysis is based on methodic and models developed using data from vertical and slant wells with relatively low inclination angle. Although it works well for vertical wells, it does not take into account geometric effects associated with high angle of drilling where wells are drilled almost parallel to formation layers. That often leads ambiguities while logging data analysis and formation evaluation in HAHZ wells compared to low angle wells. This fact does not allow using logging data from horizontal wells for geological and hydrodynamic models, which reduces its credibility.
The paper describes uncertainties that exist when using conventional processing and interpretation techniques in horizontal wells and their causes. For demonstration purpose, the paper uses an example from real well XX04, which has been drilled horizontally in complex environment in one of the field of Western Siberia region of Russia.
Azimuthal measurements application together with advanced modeling software packages enable more reliable estimation of well length exposed to reservoir, spatial position of its boundaries and essential reservoir properties, such as porosity and saturation. As a result, the geological model may be refined locally.
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