Schlumberger Launches First Photorealistic Reservoir Geology Service

Schlumberger today launched the Quanta Geo* photorealistic reservoir geology service at the Offshore Northern Seas Annual Conference and Exhibition.

The new service includes the industry’s first microresistivity imager that produces oriented, photorealistic, core-like images of the formation in wells drilled with oil-base mud (OBM). Interpretation of the images identifies geological features and predicts reservoir trends in 3D with a high degree of certainty.

“Geological imaging in wells drilled with OBM has long been recognized by operators as a major technical challenge, particularly in deepwater,” said Hinda Gharbi, president, Wireline, Schlumberger (SLB). “The Quanta Geo service provides photorealistic images that can be used to condition and constrain reservoir models, enabling our customers to better understand their reservoirs and make decisions with more confidence.”

The physics of the Quanta Geo service’s high-resolution array of 192 microelectrodes overcomes the electrically resistive barrier imposed by OBM. The unique articulated caliper and independently applied pads enable down-logging at up to 3,600 ft/hour, which significantly reduces rig time while mitigating operational risk and delivering data assurance. The service is combinable with most other Schlumberger wireline openhole tools.

Using the Schlumberger Techlog* wellbore software platform, data acquired by the Quanta Geo service are easily rendered, creating an image of 0.24 in resolution that resembles a whole core. Geologists interpret these images in the same manner that they would perform continuous core description, with the added benefit that these images cover a longer continuous interval and are precisely oriented. This enables extraction of key reservoir parameters such as the structural dip, or the identification of sand body type, extent and orientation.

The Quanta Geo service has been field tested in more than 50 wells in deepwater, unconventional and carbonate environments in the Gulf of Mexico, West Africa, North Sea, North America and Australia.

In the Gulf of Mexico, a customer drilled a deepwater exploration well in an area of limited seismic resolution. Images were acquired with the Quanta Geo service to address large uncertainties related to the type and distribution of sand bodies intersected by the well. For the first time in an OBM environment, the customer was able to visually categorize the various sands and directly measure their orientation. This information was used to refine the geological model and define the field appraisal strategy.

Quanta Geo service is the inaugural member of the new Quanta Family* reservoir characterization services, which employ new measurement physics to deliver highest accuracy, workflow-ready downhole measurements for direct use in refining reservoir models.

slb.com/qgeo.