Method to test exploration well's hydrocarbon potential while drilling

Abstract

A method for performing a drill stem test (DST) is disclosed. The method includes performing underbalanced drilling (UBD) of exploration wells to penetrate a target interval in a subterranean formation, where UBD is performed when a wellbore fluid pressure is less than a formation fluid pressure to allow a fluid flow from the target interval to surface during a drilling phase of the UBD, determining, based on the UBD of the exploration wells, a measure of the fluid flow from the target interval to the surface, obtaining, based on the UBD of the exploration wells, open hole logs of the exploration wells, where the open hole logs represent a reservoir property of the target interval, and selectively performing, based at least on the measure of the fluid flow and the open hole logs, the DST of the exploration wells.