Using Reservoir Navigation Service and Formation Pressure Testing to Meet Drilling Objectives in Offshore Niger Delta

Abstract

Oil and gas drilling has fully embraced the practice of drilling horizontal and extended-reach wells in place of deviated wells to avoid multi-platform drilling and increase hydrocarbon recovery. However, the producer is still faced with multiple challenges that include lateral facies change, lateral variation in reservoir properties and structural uncertainties. Consequently, it is paramount that continuous advancement is achieved in combining fit-for-purpose, real-time logging-while-drilling (LWD) solutions to assist further in the enhancement of hydrocarbon recovery. Reservoir navigation services (RNS) involve predicting the geology ahead of the bit to place the wellbore correctly in the zone of interest in a horizontal or near-horizontal path. LWD data, obtained from downhole drilling suites, transmitted in real time through mud pulses to a surface computer where the data are interpreted and used to steer the well in the desired direction. Formation pressure while drilling (FPWD) is a process of acquiring reservoir pressures downhole and this is done with a specialized downhole LWD pressure-testing tool. The use of RNS in Well-MX played a significant role in the drilling project – landing Well-MX in the targeted M reservoir bed and drilling the lateral section. The major geosteering technologies used are the at-bit resistivity and azimuthal propagation resistivity, which provides geostopping capability, reservoir bed boundary mapping and accurate distance to bed boundary calculation. These technologies helped in keeping the wellbore within the hydrocarborn unit of the M reservoir. Performing formation pressure testing in realtime, the team was able to carry out a reservoir gradient analysis which helped with reservoir fluid identification, fluid contact determination, and connectivity of hydrocarbon zones before drilling was concluded. Well-MX is a horizontal well located in the Mirum field of the Niger Delta Basin, offshore Nigeria. The well was drilled to target the deep multi-lobed M reservoir to a total hole depth of 11,307ft MD. By using Well-MX as a case study, this paper discusses how the combination of reservoir navigation service and real-time formation pressure sampling helped meet drilling objectives for this well. Some of the challenges encountered includes vertical seismic interpretation uncertainty, poor reservoir quality along the drain hole section, change in depth of oil to water contact and undulating bed boundaries. Other challenges and decisions taken to successfully geosteer the well will be reviewed in this paper.