Lundin Norway Efficiently Samples Pure Oil in Fractured Basement Rock

By digitally integrating downhole automation, pumps with a wide dynamic range, and new dual-packer architecture, the Ora intelligent wireline formation testing platform efficiently obtained pure oil samples in low-permeability fractured basement rock in less than 90 minutes on station.

Eliminate long station times and sample contamination

Extracting oil from basement rock is difficult and can take many hours before an acceptable level of contamination is achieved. Some fractures are present in Lundin Norway’s targeted basement formation but are often of low conductivity. The matrix is mostly of low permeability.

A dual-packer wireline formation testing configuration is typically the toolstring of choice in this environment, but it is historically associated with long station times. Inflating the elements can take as much as 30–40 min. Then fluid contents of the borehole interval isolated between the packer elements has to be cleaned of mud and mud filtrate. Despite the resulting long station time, samples typically still have levels of immiscible contamination that significantly reduce the sample volume.

Deploy intelligent wireline formation testing platform

The new Ora wireline formation testing platform integrates high-flow-rate pumps and dual-packer architecture with downhole processing power and intertool communication that enable automation of entire workflows. This digital capability enables inflating the packer elements in as little time as 4 minutes, cutting the traditional inflation time by at least 85%. Once the interval is isolated, the pumps and dual-inlet configuration are highly effective at separating formation oil from immiscible mud filtrate, as validated by downhole fluid analysis.

Obtain pure fluid samples while reducing CO₂ emissions

Lundin Norway’s deployment of the Ora platform with the dual-packer system was the first implementation worldwide of this configuration. Compared with the conventional wireline formation tester performance in a similar reservoir, the Ora platform saved more than 72 hours (3 days) of a deepwater semisubmersible rig, reducing CO₂ emissions by 74% (420 metric tons of CO₂e). The platform acquired pure samples of oil with such a high level of efficiency that company representatives noted it will “definitely change the way we will approach formation testing in the future.”