Look-ahead-while-drilling service
The World Oil Awards honor leading innovations and groundbreaking strides in the upstream energy industry. This year, IriSphere look-ahead-while-drilling service earned the New Horizons Idea Award for its advanced capability to combine deep directional measurements with advanced automated inversion. Continuous resistivity ahead of the bit reduces drilling uncertainties, empowering operators with proactive decision-making rather than reactive.
IriSphere look-ahead-while-drilling service combines deep directional measurements with advanced automated inversion to accurately detect formation features ahead of the bit while managing drilling risks, optimizing casing placement and coring location. The look-ahead capability is delivered while drilling in real time by using multifrequency transmitter and multireceiver directional subs. Electromagnetic (EM) signals are sent from the transmitter into the formation and retrieved by the receivers to enable the enhanced look-ahead sensitivity and resistivity profiles.
Operators can now drill ahead with confidence and reduce drilling uncertainties in real time. Applications include ahead-of-the-bit detection of formation features with potential pressure differentials for integration in a standard pore pressure prediction workflow. Penetrating a high-pressure reservoir might result in stuck pipes, lost circulation, and other potential wellbore instability issues.
IriSphere service provides drillers with real-time mud properties management and enables optimized casing design and contingencies planning. Unlike the current geostopping technology available in the industry, IriSphere service can differentiate between a thin high-resistivity stringer and a target reservoir. Consequently, premature casing seating or coring location is avoided.
