CASE STUDY

New Multilayer Bed Boundary Detection

Service Enables Precise Landing for INAgip
PeriScope HD service helps avoid critical mud loss in fractured carbonate gas reservoir
CHALLENGE

Drill horizontal well to increase production in Croatian gas field

Land the well without entering the fractured

gas bearing carbonate target, preventing
the risk of total losses and reducing
seismic uncertainty.

INAgip, an operator based in Croatia, planned to drill a horizontal well to increase production in a
fractured carbonate gas field offshore Croatia. The structural setting of the reservoir, a narrow and
elongated anticline striking from northwest to southeast, consists of gas accumulated in a combined
structural-stratigraphic trap. The proposed location for the new well was set to avoid zones of high
fracture intensity that could potentially cause early water breakthrough.

Use PeriScope HD* multilayer bed boundary

detection service to detect the approach of
the target in the high-resistivity carbonate
formation and stop the well during the
landing stage.
RESULTS

Landed accurately approximately 0.5 m

above the target carbonate formation.
Stopped the well optimally, avoiding
critical mud loss.
Decreased the distance needed to
penetrate the target zone within the
drain section.

The well was planned in two different sections. The first and most critical section was designed to
stop the trajectory just above the fractured carbonates to prevent mud circulation loss, avoid possible
gas influx, and provide a suitable environment for proper cementation. The second, a horizontal
section, would maximize reservoir contact.

Mitigate drilling risks and geological uncertainty with real-time decision making
Schlumberger provided a BHA with the PeriScope HD multilayer bed boundary detection service
to help determine where to stop the well. Schlumberger experts collaborated with the INAgip
geology and geophysics team for 24/7 interpretation of the distance-to-boundary measurements,
gamma ray data from the PowerDrive X5* RSS, and resistivity images from the geoVISION*
imaging-while-drilling service.
The real-time data were transmitted and shared through InterACT* global connectivity, collaboration,
and information service and analyzed in Petrel* E&P software platform. Dip picking, well-to-well
correlation, and proactive geosteering techniques were used to determine the location of the desired
landing point. A constant flow of communication was maintained with the rigsite to ensure a decision
to stop drilling could be quickly and effectively executed. This effective communication is crucial
to avoiding potential mud circulation loss and decreases the MD needed to penetrate the target
formation with the following section.

True vertical depth, m

SOLUTION

X,450
X,452
X,454
X,456
X,458
X,460
X,462
X,464
X,466
X,468

X,945

X,950

X,955

X,960

X,965

X,970

X,975

True horizontal length, m

The interpretation of the real-time data shows the top of the target formation (red) while crossing several conformable
bed boundaries above it.

Drilling

CASE STUDY: PeriScope HD service enables precise landing in fractured carbonate gas formation
Achieved accurate landing point approximately 0.5 m above the target
The distance-to-boundary measurements acquired by PeriScope HD service guided the team
to a successful landing section. The target carbonate formation was characterized as having
higher resistivity than the overlaying lithology. The incoming resistivity contrast was detected by
PeriScope HD services deep azimuthal electromagnetic measurements, indicating a variation in
the prognosed landing point of 4-m TVD. The well was landed approximately 0.5 m above the
target formation.
By working together, well placement experts from Schlumberger and INAgip were able
to overcome high-resistivity challenges. Combining LWD deep azimuthal electromagnetic
measurements from the PeriScope HD service with resistivity images and at-the-bit
measurements, INAgip optimally landed the well.
INAgip planned to use the PeriScope HD service in additional wells in nearby fields.

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