First Successful Application of Multi-layer Bed Boundary Mapping Technology to Achieve Maximum Reservoir Contact in Horizontal Wells in Saudi Arabian Gas Reservoirs

Abstract

Distance-to-bed boundary technologies have been successfully deployed to geosteer wells horizontal sections for the last 10 years. As the technology is based on the propagation of electromagnetic waves, its preferred operational environment is to be in the resistive reservoir layer, while mapping the adjacent conductive layers. Technology advances have driven the development of a more robust inversion engine, as well as opened the opportunity to acquire and transmit a richer suite of measurements in real-time that are more sensitive to reservoir dip and anisotropy. The evolution has taken the technology from distance-to-bed boundary to multi-layer bed boundary mapping improving the resolution from a simple 3-layer model of up to ~15 ft radially from the wellbore to multi-layer detection in excess of 20 ft. The new inversion engine is also better equipped to resolve for information about the reservoir in the less-favorable environment, such as, conductive target reservoir with resistive adjacent layers.