Schlumberger Technology Corporation

Services Petroliers Schlumberger

Schlumberger Holdings Limited

Prad Research and Development Limited

Paul Simon Hammond

Cheng-Gang Xie

Ashley Bernard Johnson

John Mervyn Cook

Arthur H Hartog

J Ernest Brown

Jonathan James Elphick

Gary Martin Oddie

Ian Atkinson

Paul Bolchover

Oliver Clinton Mullins

Julian J Pop

Terizhandur S Ramakrishnan

Benjamin Peter Jeffryes

Alexander F Zazovsky

Richard Timothy Coates

Iain Michael Cooper

Andrew Meredith

Gareth P Lees

Gerard Segeral

Gilles Roux

Philip Christie

James Ernest Brown

Ralphe Wiggins

Daniel R Hines

Theo Cuny

Paul Frederick Cilgrim Dickenson

Franck Bruno Jean Monmont

David Edward Nichols

William Li-Tien Wang

Stephen P Cramer

Jeffrey Tarvin

Stephen Garoff

Noboru Wada

Techniques for determining depths of provenance of drill cuttings contained in a drilling fluid received from a wellbore. The drilling fluid contains drill cuttings of different sizes that arrive at surface at different times, and the drill cuttings originate from different formation layers at different depths along the wellbore. Such techniques may include extracting samples of drill cuttings from the drilling fluid and repeating this step as necessary to provide samples of drill cuttings that arrive at surface at different recorded times; characterizing one or more formation attributes associated with the drill cuttings; and for each formation attribute, estimating a distribution of formation attribute characterization versus depth of provenance.

Method and system for determining depths of drill cuttings

Methods of and systems for determining depths of provenance of drill cuttings contained in a drilling fluid received from a wellbore, the drilling fluid containing drill cuttings of different sizes that arrive at surface at different recorded times, the drill cuttings originating from different formation layers at different depth along the wellbore. Such methods may include repetitively extracting samples of drill cuttings smaller than a predetermined threshold from the drilling fluid as necessary to provide samples of drill cuttings that arrive at surface at different recorded times; characterizing drill cuttings in the samples, comprising characterizing one or more formation attributes associated with the drill cuttings; and for each formation attribute estimating a distribution of formation attribute characterization versus depth of provenance, comprising defining a hydrodynamic transport of the characterized drill cuttings within the drilling fluid, including an effect of diffusion and dispersion on the hydrodynamic transport.

Monitoring one or more items of equipment associated with a borehole or other conduit. A sensor system includes a vibration sensor for sensing vibrations at one or more sensor locations associated with one or more items of the equipment and/or the borehole or other conduit. A processing system processes the sensor information to determine a characteristic of the operation of the one or more items of equipment and/or the borehole or other conduit.

Monitoring of equipment associated with a borehole/conduit

A multiphase flow meter comprising two Venturis separated by a choke. The choke may be varied to adjust the properties of the multiphase fluid flow being measured. The two Venturis may be identical and may be arranged horizontally with respect to the multiphase fluid flow. The choke may be a choke in a return line of a managed pressure drilling system.

Multiphase flowmeter

A method for compensating for changes in a property of water in a multiphase fluid during analysis of the multiphase fluid is provided. In one embodiment, the method includes providing a multiphase flow meter system configured to emit and detect nuclear radiation, to emit and detect microwave radiation, and to analyze a received multiphase fluid. The method can also include measuring a temperature and a microwave complex permittivity of the multiphase fluid. Further, the method includes compensating for changes in the property of water in the multiphase fluid during analysis of the multiphase fluid by using an empirical transformation between the fluid temperatures, microwave complex permittivities and nuclear mass attenuation coefficients for mixtures of different waters expected to be produced and received by the multiphase flow meter system. Additional systems, devices, and methods are also disclosed.

Method of compensating for changes in water properties in a multiphase flow meter

A well completion and related method are provided for formations susceptible to simultaneous production of oil and water. In one embodiment, two closely spaced, preferably horizontal wellbores are drilled from a single well into the reservoir. The reservoir rock surrounding one leg (typically the upper leg) is chemically treated to make it hydrophobic, whereas the reservoir rock surrounding the other leg is chemically treated to make it hydrophilic. Separate production tubing and a dual completion is installed in order to enable independent flow from each leg. Drawdown pressures in both legs are controlled to be sufficiently close to each other such that only oil flows into one leg and only water into the other. The water produced is re-injected downhole or brought to the surface.

Dual or twin-well completion with wettability alteration for segregated oil and water production

An immersion probe is described that includes sensing elements that allow for hydrate inhibitor dosage to be more efficiently provided into gas and/or oil wells. The immersion probe allows for detection of first appearance of water in a multiphase flow in a well, measuring the amount of inhibitor in water within the well, determining an accurate water-cut, and measuring other property such as water salinity. Accordingly, with the known water-cut, salinity and the water flow rate inferred from the inhibitor injection flow rate and inhibitor-in-water fraction, a correct dosage of the inhibitor can be injected to the well in order to prevent hydrate formation, while reducing overdosing. Water flow rate may also be inferred from an independently measured liquid flow rate and the immersion-probe measured water cut.

Immersion probe for multi-phase flow assurance

A method and system for acoustic monitoring using a fiber optic cable. The optical fiber is used as a distributed interferometer that may be used to monitor activity, such as activity with respect to a conduit, wellbore or reservoir. The distributed interferometric monitoring provides for accurate detection of acoustic occurrences along the fiber optic cable and these acoustic occurrences may include fluid flow in a pipeline or wellbore, processes taking place in a wellbore or pipeline, fracturing, gravel packing, production logging and/or the like.

Systems and methods for distributed interferometric acoustic monitoring

Acoustic monitoring is carried out using a fiber optic cable. Coherent Rayleigh noise generated by the transmission of a coherent beam of radiation through the fiber optic cable is detected, a phase of the coherent Rayleigh noise is measured and the measured phase is processed to identify an acoustic occurrence along the fiber optic cable. In certain aspects, an optical fiber serves as a distributed interferometer that may be used to monitor a conduit, wellbore or reservoir. The distributed interferometric monitoring provides for accurate detection of acoustic occurrences along the fiber optic cable and these acoustic occurrences may include fluid flow in a pipeline or wellbore, processes taking place in a wellbore or pipeline, fracturing, gravel packing, or production logging.

Devices and methods for measuring the fraction of a liquid in a wet gas flow are described, the device including one or more light sources emitting at a first wavelength at which the liquid is highly absorbing and emitting at a second wavelength close to the first wavelength and at which the liquid is not highly absorbing; and one or more sensor for detecting the transmittance of the light at the first and second wavelengths through said gas flow, the device further including processing means for determining a liquid fraction of the liquid in the wet gas flow by correcting the transmittance measured at the first wavelength for the effects of scattering using the transmittance measured at the second wavelength. By making use of cross-correlations or know flow rate meters the device can be used as a flow meter.

Devices and methods for quantification of liquids in gas-condensate wells

Acoustic monitoring is carried out using a fiber optic cable. Coherent Rayleigh noise generated by the transmission of a coherent beam of radiation through the fiber optic cable is detected, a phase of the coherent Rayleigh noise is measured and the measured phase is processed to identify an acoustic occurrence along the fiber optic cable. In certain aspects an optical fiber serves as a distributed interferometer that may be used to monitor a conduit, wellbore or reservoir. The distributed interferometric monitoring provides for accurate detection of acoustic occurrences along the fiber optic cable and these acoustic occurrences may include fluid flow in a pipeline or wellbore, processes taking place in a wellbore or pipeline, fracturing, gravel packing, or production logging.

Acoustic monitoring of a conduit, a wellbore or a reservoir associated with hydrocarbon production or transportation and/or carbon dioxide sequestration is carried out using a fibre optic cable extending along or appurtenant to it as a distributed interferometer. Coherent Raleigh noise generated by the transmission of the coherent beam of radiation through the fiber optic is detected and processed to identify an acoustic occurrence.

A method of sampling a multi-phase fluid stream is provided which comprises the steps of: sampling, with a sampling probe, a portion of the fluid stream; measuring the flow rate of said sampled portion; and measuring, independently of the sampling step, the total flow rate of the fluid stream, wherein the flow rate of the sampled portion is controlled according to the ratio of the flow rate of the sampled portion to the flow rate of the fluid stream, in order to obtain substantially isokinetic sampling of the fluid stream. The method may provide isokinetic sampling to an accuracy of 5% or less and preferably only samples a small portion of the fluid stream. The method has particular application for high rate condensate gas wells. A corresponding sampling system is provided which has particular application in the sampling of streams from well-heads. A flow conditioner for use with sampling methods and systems is also provided, the flow conditioner being a pipe section including: a swirl inducing section; a flow straightener; and an orifice plate.

Isokinetic sampling

A method is provided for estimating the amount of supercharging in a formation penetrated by a wellbore. According to the method, pressure fluctuation measurements are obtained at a position in the formation accessible from the well bore and at an adjacent position in the wellbore, and a model is provided which relates variations in pressure with time at these positions to one or more adjustable parameters from which the amount of supercharging can be estimated. The or each parameter is then adjusted to optimize the fit between the pressure variations predicted by the model and the measured pressure fluctuations, and the amount of supercharging is estimated from the adjusted parameter(s).

Method and system for estimating the amount of supercharging in a formation

A method for determining formation pressure at a depth region of formations surrounding a borehole, including: keeping track of the time since cessation of drilling at the depth region; deriving formation permeability at the depth region; causing wellbore pressure to vary periodically in time and determining, at the depth region, the periodic and non-periodic component of pressure measured in the formations; determining, using the time, the periodic component and the permeability, the formation pressure diffusivity and transmissibility and an estimate of the size of the pressure build-up zone around the wellbore at the depth region; determining, using the time, the formation pressure diffusivity and transmissibility, and the non-periodic component, the leak-off rate of the mudcake at the depth region; determining, using the leak-off rate, the pressure gradient at the depth region; and extrapolating, using the pressure gradient and the size of the build-up zone, to determine the formation pressure.

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Bourn, United Kingdom

Paul Simon Hammond