Seamless in seam – new geosteering technology delivered challenging coal seam gas project with success
Arman Nick Kholgh A , Martin Mackinlay A , Sophie Garrard A , Mohammad Zaman A , Haifeng Wang B * , Chris Hibberson B , Nicholas Challands B , Hoan Van Luu B , Rohit Tekale B , Francis Advent Kalukal B , Yang Liu B and Nadia Ardikani BA Santos Limited, 32 Turbot Street, Brisbane, Qld, Australia.
B Schlumberger, 10 Telethon Ave, Perth, WA, Australia.
The APPEA Journal 62(1) 319-333 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ21189
Submitted: 21 December 2021 Accepted: 3 February 2022 Published: 13 May 2022
© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of APPEA.
Abstract
A recent coal seam gas (CSG) appraisal project posed several challenges. The target reserve area had limited seismic data available and yet had complex structure with several faults of variable orientations and throws between 2 and 25 m. Dual-lateral extended-reach drilling (ERD) wells needed to be drilled in order to access this reserve, with a 1000 m in-seam section for each lateral planned to maximise production. Conventional technologies for CSG projects included motor bottom hole assembly with a boundary mapping tool for geosteering in the coal seams. However, for drilling ERD wells in this unknown area, these methods were insufficient to deliver success, due to the limited mapping capabilities and drilling efficiencies. Recently there has been significant development on the directional resistivity-based mapping tool, on both the measurements and processing. The operator adopted a new mapping-while-drilling technology which has the first-in-industry tool with axial, tilted and transverse antennas integrated in one module. This new technology can provide high-resolution multilayer mapping with doubled depth of investigation, even when drilling out of the coal seam. The results from utilising this new tool, together with a rotary steerable system for directional control, were very encouraging. The new multilayer mapping-while-drilling tool mapped both the top and base of the coal seam throughout horizontal sections in-seam. In addition, it detected the coal seams during landing and after fault-crossing from up to 4 m true vertical depth away, enabling the team to navigate through complex fault zones confidently, and to deliver the project with success.
Keywords: coal seam gas, CSG, directional resistivity tool, dual-lateral, ERD, extended reach drilling, geosteering, multilayer mapping-while-drilling, rotary steerable system (RSS).
Arman Nick Kholgh, NER CPEng RPEQ is a Petroleum Engineer. He graduated from the Petroleum University of Technology with a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering and a Major in Drilling Engineering in 2003. He has been working in the oil and gas drilling and completions sector for over 18 years and has held various positions in well engineering roles in different countries and regions including the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia. He has been involved with CSG drilling and completions operations in Queensland since 2012 and currently holds the position of Senior Drilling Engineer with Santos Ltd. Arman is a Chartered Engineer and Project Manager with Engineers Australia and BPEQ. |
Martin Mackinlay graduated from the Queensland University of Technology and holds a BSc (Hons) in Applied Geology. Martin has over 7 years’ experience in the industry, working across petrophysics, operations and development geology in multiple major Australian basins. He currently works for Santos as a Development Geologist based in Brisbane and holds committee positions in both the Queensland and Federal PESA bodies. |
Sophie Garrard is a Geologist and holds a BSc (Zoology and GIS) from the University of Queensland and a MSc in Geoscience from Macquarie University. Sophie has 10 years’ experience in the oil and gas industry and has held various positions across appraisal, petrophysics and development teams. She currently works for Santos Ltd as a Senior Geologist. |
Mohammad Zaman has a Bachelors degree in Chemical Engineering and is the Drilling Team Leader in the CSG Drilling and Completions department at Santos Ltd. He has over 12 years of experience in drilling and completions across Queensland CSG and Vietnam offshore. Mohammad leads a team of engineers delivering the planning and execution of CSG well construction. He is a chartered professional member of Engineers Australia, a registered Professional Engineer of Queensland and a member of SPE. |
Haifeng Wang graduated from Peking University in China and holds two BSc degrees (Computer Science and Economics) and a MSc degree in Geology. Haifeng has 20 years of experience in the oil and gas industry involving many areas like MWD/LWD, directional drilling, geosteering and reservoir mapping, G&G software, project management and marketing and sales. He current works for Schlumberger as Geosteering & Reservoir Mapping Domain Champion for Asia and is based in Perth, Australia. Haifeng is an active member of SPE, SPWLA and PESA. He joined Schlumberger in 2001. Before joining the Perth office, he worked in Stavanger, Norway, covering North Sea operations for over 9 years. |
Chris Hibberson is a Sales Engineer for Schlumberger across Australasia. He holds multiple Information Technology based qualifications across Australia. He has over 15 years of experience as a Field Engineer, a Directional Driller and M/LWD Engineer across land and offshore within Australasia and North America. Chris has had several operations and commercial based assignments including shale plays, CSG, geothermal and offshore. |
Nicholas Challands is an Engineering Manager who has worked in the energy industry for 8 years, gaining experience managing well construction operations across multiple basins in Australia, New Zealand and PNG. He holds a BEng in Civil Engineering and a MSc in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Queensland. A key focus of his postgraduate study has been the mechanics of innovation in the Australian upstream oil and gas sector. Nick currently holds the position of Product and Service Delivery Manager with Schlumberger in Brisbane, Australia. |
Hoan Van Luu graduated from Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and holds a BSc in Petroleum and Geology. Hoan has more than 21 years of experience in the oil and gas industry involving many areas like MWD/LWD, directional drilling, drilling engineering and operations support. He currently works for Schlumberger as Senior Drilling Engineer and is based in Brisbane, Australia. Hoan is an active member of SPE. |
Rohit Tekale graduated from the University of Pune, India, and holds BSc (Geology) and a MSc in Petroleum Technology. Rohit has 14 years of experience in the industry involving many areas like mudlogging, data engineering, MWD/LWD, directional drilling, geosteering and reservoir mapping. He is an approved NExT Trainer for Petrel, specialising in Drilling Domain Workflow integration. He currently works for Schlumberger as a Geosteering and Reservoir Mapping Engineer and Petrel Drilling Expert and is based in Perth, Australia. Rohit is an active member of SPE and PESA. |
Francis Advent Kalukal graduated from the University of Papua New Guinea with a BSc in Geology. Francis has had almost 30 years of industry experience both in mining and petroleum. His experience in the oil and gas sector includes basin evaluation studies, prospect evaluation, government liaison and inspectorate, borehole geology specialising in wireline and LWD image log analysis. He currently works for Schlumberger as a Well Placement Engineer in Australia. |
Yang Liu graduated from Northwest Polytechnical University Xi’an (China) with Master’s Degree of Automatic Control and joined Schlumberger as Field MWD/LWD engineer in 2003 and moved to well placement in 2006. With 19 years of experience in the oil and gas field, she is an expert on the geosteering and reservoir mapping service, familiar with MWD/LWD tools, directional drilling operations and Petrel software. Yang Liu currently is the Well Placement Team Lead for Schlumberger Australia. |
Nadia Ardikani graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Industrial Engineering from Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology, Indonesia. Nadia has 15 years of experience in the oil and gas industry including MWD/LWD, directional drilling, drilling optimisation, geosteering and reservoir mapping. She is currently working as a Senior Well Placement Engineer based in Jakarta, Indonesia. Nadia is an active member of SPE and IPA. |
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