CASE STUDY

Resistivity-at-the-Bit Measurements Guide

Geostopping 0.2-m TVD Below Top of Reservoir
geoVISION service helps CLJOC with precise well placement
and eliminates pilot hole, reducing well costs offshore Vietnam
CHALLENGE

Land well and set liner as soon as bit

reaches top of reservoir, without a pilot
hole, and reduce the overall well cost.
SOLUTION

Guide well placement with real-time

data from geoVISION* imaging-whiledrilling service.
RESULTS

Reduced costs by using LWD data

to land well without having to drill
a pilot hole.
Identified the top of target reservoir 15m
deeper than expected and landed the
well at 0.2-m TVD inside the reservoir
without losing reservoir thickness.

Exploit undeveloped thin sands offshore Vietnam

The Cuu Long Joint Operating Company (CLJOC), having developed much of the Cuu Long
basin offshore Vietnam over the year, was looking to access undeveloped, thin-oil reservoirs
to counteract production decline in the field. CLJOC decided to take advantage of thin oil-bearing
sands that had been identified during past exploration and development drilling. Operations faced
large uncertainties in reservoir thickness and lateral continuity, hydrocarbon content was
untested, and there was low confidence in the depth conversion of the top of the structures
interpreted from previous seismic data.
The plan was to drill two horizontal wells with objectives to reduce the depth uncertainties for
landing the producer well, test the hydrocarbon content, and maximize reservoir contact in the
thin sands. In addition, CLJOC wanted to land the second well without a pilot hole to reduce costs
for the project.

Measure resistivity at the bit for early indication of reservoir top

Schlumberger designed the 8-in section to land as close as possible below the top of the
24 m thick reservoir to prevent loss of sand thickness for the drainage section while also
evaluating reservoir quality. To support this objective, the BHA included the geoVISION service
for at-bit resistivity measurements to provide the earliest possible indication of an approaching
resistivity contrastin this case, the highly resistive hydrocarbon-bearing sandand enable
precise geostopping.
Offset Well 2

Well B
Bit Resistivity,
Real-Time
200
0.2
ohm.m

Offset Well 1
Array Induction 1-ft
Resistivity
200
0.2
ohm.m

TVD
m
0

Spectroscopy
Array Induction 1-ft
Gamma Ray
Resistivity
200
200 0.2
ohm.m
gAPI

TVD
m

Gamma Ray (GR),

Real-Time,
arcVISION service

gAPI

Phase-Shift Resistivity
40-in Spacing at 2 MHz,
Environmentally
Corrected

200 0.2

ohm.m

Uncorrected Phase-Shift
Resistivity for 16-in
Spacing at 2 MHz

0.2
TVD
m

200

2,171.3

2,187.3

2,173.2

2,172

2,188

2,174

2,173

2,189

2,175

2,174

2,190

2,176

2,175

2,191

2,177

2,176

2,192

2,178

2,177

2,193

2,179

2,178

2,194

2,180

2,179

2,195

2,181

2,180

2,196

2,182

2,181

2,197

2,183

2,182

2,198

2,184

Bit-resistivity
increased when
approaching
the reservoir

Top of reservoir

Gamma Ray (GR),

Real-Time,
arcVISION service

gAPI

ohm.m

200

Uncorrected Phase-Shift
Resistivity for 40-in
Spacing at 2 MHz

200 0.2

ohm.m

200

At-bit resistivity measurements from geoVISION service identified the top of the reservoir 15 m
deeper than expectations set by offset data. Bit resistivity increased and gamma ray data indicated
sand as the well approached the target.

Drilling

CASE STUDY: geoVISION service guides precise well placement and eliminates pilot hole offshore Vietnam

00
2,9

20
2,9
40
2,9

2,165
2,170

TVD, m

2,175
2,180

2,110

60
2,9 80
2,9
00
3,0 ,020
3
40
3,0
60
3,0 ,080
3
00
3,1
20
3,1
40
3,1

2,185
2,190

Planned
Actual

2,115
2,120
2,125
2,130

60
3,1
80
3,1
00
3,2

2,195
2,200

2,135

20
3,2
40
3,2 ,260 0
3 3,28 0
0
3,3 ,320
3

TVD subsea, m

2,160

2,140
2,145
2,150

Projection at bit

2,155
1,640

1,700

1,800

1,900

2,000

2,100

2,200

True horizontal length, m

Using geoVISION service for early indication of the thin target reservoir helped the team geostop the section 0.2-m TVD within the reservoir, preventing loss of sand
thickness for the production hole.

Landed well at 0.2-m TVD below top for minimal penetration

During landing, the trajectory was adjusted according to key depth

markers that were 15 m deeper than expected. When the top of the
reservoir was not reached as planned, the decision was made to drop
the angle to 86.5 inclination to reduce the drilled measured depth
interval. The team landed in the reservoir at 15-m TVD deeper than
plan, which was confirmed by bit resistivity readings of 30 ohm.m and
hydrocarbon show in the bottoms-up circulation. Based on LWD data,
landing point was determined to be at 0.2-m TVD below the top of the
reservoir, so the liner could be set without inhibiting the production hole.
The well was precisely landed using real-time data from geoVISION
service. The landing section was geostopped based on bit resistivity
after penetrating 5 m of the thin target sand, and a pilot hole was
successfully eliminated, which reduced the overall well cost.

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