Avances en Acidificacion

Oilfield Review
Autumn 2013
Acidizing Advances
Monitoring Casing Corrosion
Geomagnetic Referencing
Solar Storms
ew pp
n
he ad a
t
ing w iP
c
n
e
ou evi
n
An eld R
lfi
i
O
Oilfield Review App

Schlumberger Oilfield Review iPad app for the Newsstand is available free of charge at the Apple iTunes App Store.
Oilfield Review communicates advances in finding and producing hydrocarbons to oilfield professionals. The free Oilfield Review
Apple iPad app for accessing content is part of the Newsstand and allows access to both new and archived issues. Many articles
have been augmented with richer content such as animations and videos, which help explain concepts and theories beyond the
capabilities of static images.
The app offers access to several years of archived issues in a compact format that retains the high-quality images and content
youve come to expect from the print version of Oilfield Review.
Download and install the app from the iTunes App Store by searching for Schlumberger Oilfield Review from your iPad or scan
the QR code below, which will take you directly to the iTunes site.
Apple,
iPad, and iTunes are marks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
13-OR-0004
Geomagnetic Referencing for Well Placement

Widely hailed as a breakthrough technology, extendedreach drilling enables cost-effective development of offshore reserves from shore-based locations and centrally
located platforms. In addition, it achieves maximum contact with the reservoir and accesses multiple reservoirs
with a single wellbore.
For Eni US Operating Company Inc., extended-reach
drilling has been instrumental in our development of the
Nikaitchuq eld off the North Slope of Alaska, USA. The
elds characteristicsfrom its offshore location and
downhole temperature to its complex geologymake this
a highly challenging project.
Our leases are offshore in the Arctic Ocean and the
Beaufort Sea north of the Arctic Circle. For better access
to the reservoir, weve built an island a few miles offshore,
in less than 10 ft [3 m] of water. Of the 30 wells we plan to
drill from the single pad on the man-made island, we have
drilled 17; we have also drilled 22 from an onshore pad
located at Oliktok Point. In addition to the economic benets, restricting drilling sites to just two pads minimizes our
environmental footprint.
The reservoir we are targeting is shallow and relatively
cool, making the oil viscous. This reservoir had been developed as a line-drive waterood for optimal oil recovery; the
development plan features alternating horizontal injectors
and producers, with a total of 52 wells to be completed by
2014. The injection water for waterood is produced from a
deeper, warmer formation.
We are drilling shallow, extended-reach wells. While
these wells are between 3,200 ft [1,000 m] and 4,200 ft
[1,300 m] deep, some are more than 23,000 ft [7,000 m]
long. More than 90% of the wells in the development have
a reach/TVD ratio of more than 4 and some are as high
as 6. The wells are spaced 1,200 ft [370 m] apart along
their production intervals, and several follow faults that
compartmentalize the reservoir. Accurate well placement
is crucial to ensure we dont short-circuit the waterood or
inadvertently cross a major fault. A 1% location error in a
23,000-ft long well translates into an unacceptable error
of more than 200 ft [60 m] at TD.
This is where geomagnetic referencing comes in.
Although traditional gyroscopic surveys could produce
data of sufcient quality to achieve the necessary wellbore placement positions, gyro surveys are impractical in
this environment and require additional costs and time
that make them prohibitively expensive for drilling programs in this area. Geomagnetic referencing provides us
with real-time, precise positioning and the certainty of
knowing where our wellbores are without having to stop
the drilling process. By using geomagnetic referencing,

we are able to construct a detailed model of the Earths
magnetic eld for comparison with magnetic measurements acquired while drilling (see Geomagnetic
ReferencingThe Real-Time Compass for Directional
Drillers, page 32). The model is made up of contributions from the Earths main magnetic eld, the local magnetic variations in crustal rocks and time-varying
disturbances caused by solar activity.
Solar-related magnetic storms occur unpredictably, and
at Arctic latitudes, they generate high-amplitude swings in
magnetic eld strength and direction that must be incorporated into the model. To quantify these disturbances,
Schlumberger partnered with the US Geological Survey to
build a geomagnetic observatory nearby in Deadhorse,
Alaska. The observatory supplies the high-quality referencing data required for real-time drill-ahead corrections and
for denitive surveys at the end of each bottomhole assembly run.
We are drilling our 39th well using geomagnetic referencing. Since the earliest applications of this technology in
our wells, our wellbore position uncertainty has continually
decreased. And because we know the positions with a high
degree of certainty, we are reentering wells to create dual
laterals from single laterals. This strategy allows us to
essentially double the wellbore contact with the reservoir
and increase production rates. Even with these increased
rates, we expect to produce from this eld for more than
30 years.
Andrew Buchanan
Senior Operations Geologist
Eni US Operating Company Inc.
Anchorage, Alaska, USA
Andrew Buchanan is the Senior Operations Geologist with Eni US Operating
Company Inc. in Anchorage, where he has been since 2009. He previously
worked for ASRC Energy Services as a geologic consultant. Andrew earned a
BS degree in geology from the University of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.
He currently serves as Past President of the Petroleum Club of Anchorage.
Schlumberger
Oilfield Review
www.slb.com/oilfieldreview
Executive Editor
Lisa Stewart
Senior Editors
Tony Smithson
Matt Varhaug
Rick von Flatern
Geomagnetic Referencing for Well Placement
Editorial contributed by Andrew Buchanan, Senior Operations Geologist,

Editor
Richard Nolen-Hoeksema
Contributing Editors
H. David Leslie
Ted Moon
Parijat Mukerji
Erik Nelson
Ginger Oppenheimer
Rana Rottenberg
Design/Production
Herring Design
Mike Messinger
Illustration
Chris Lockwood
Mike Messinger
George Stewart
Stimulating Naturally Fractured

Carbonate Reservoirs
Stimulation of naturally fractured carbonate reservoirs has

improved signicantly with the application of innovative
acidizing uids that contain degradable bers. The bers
congregate and form barriers that impede uid movement
into fractures, redirecting the acid to lower permeability
regions. This type of enhanced stimulation efciency has led
to increasingly uniform production proles across multiple
zones and substantial production increases in many oil and
gas elds worldwide.
Printing
RR DonnelleyWetmore Plant
Curtis Weeks
18 Casing Corrosion Measurement to

Extend Asset Life
Corrosion in downhole tubulars may shorten a wells productive life and contribute to costly damages for operators.
Downhole corrosion monitoring serves as the rst line of
defense against casing corrosion.
On the cover:
The aurora borealis appears as shimmering curtains of colored light in the
Arctic regions of the Earths northern
hemisphere. Auroras, which may occur
in both of the Earths polar regions, are
created when emissions from solar
ares and coronal mass ejections interact with the Earths magnetic eld. A
large loop of plasma, referred to as a
prominence, emanates from the Suns
surface (inset). Such a mass of plasma
ejected in the direction of the Earth
would create space weather events
that could disrupt modern electromagnetic-related technologies, including
well guidance methods that depend on
magnetic measurements.
About Oilfield Review

Oilfield Review, a Schlumberger journal,
communicates technical advances in
finding and producing hydrocarbons to
customers, employees and other oilfield
professionals. Contributors to articles
include industry professionals and experts
from around the world; those listed with
only geographic location are employees
of Schlumberger or its affiliates.
Oilfield Review is published quarterly and

printed in the USA.
Visit www.slb.com/oilfieldreview for
electronic copies of articles in English,
Spanish, Chinese and Russian.
A free iPad app is available for download.
2013 Schlumberger. All rights reserved.

Reproductions without permission are
strictly prohibited.
For a comprehensive dictionary of oilfield
terms, see the Schlumberger Oilfield
Glossary at www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com.
Autumn 2013
Volume 25
Number 3
ISSN 0923-1730
Advisory Panel
32 Geomagnetic ReferencingThe Real-Time

Compass for Directional Drillers
Hani Elshahawi
Shell Exploration and Production
Houston, Texas, USA
In recent years, demand for accurate wellbore placement

has driven technology developments that have advanced the
science of wellbore guidance. This article examines magnetic
surveying methods that improve real-time measurement
accuracy and allow drillers to reach their targets efciently
and cost-effectively.
Gretchen M. Gillis
Aramco Services Company
Houston, Texas
Roland Hamp
Woodside Energy Ltd.
Perth, Australia
Dilip M. Kale
ONGC Energy Centre
Delhi, India
George King
Apache Corporation
Houston, Texas
48 Blowing in the Solar Wind: Sun Spots,

Solar Cycles and Life on Earth
Andrew Lodge
Premier Oil plc
London, England
Space weather can affect terrestrial systems that are crucial

for modern society. This article describes solar events that
contribute to space weather and are the source of electromagnetic pulses that have the potential to disrupt and
damage electronic, power, communication, transportation
and other infrastructure technologies on Earth and in space.
Solar sunspot cycles and their inuence on solar and terrestrial weather are also discussed.
61 Contributors
63 Defining Production Logging:
Principles of Production Logging
This is the eleventh in a series of introductory articles
describing basic concepts of the E&P industry.
Editorial correspondence
Oilfield Review
5599 San Felipe
Houston, TX 77056
United States
(1) 713-513-1194
Fax: (1) 713-513-2057
E-mail: editorOilfieldReview@slb.com
Subscriptions
Customer subscriptions can be obtained
through any Schlumberger sales office.
Paid subscriptions are available from
Oilfield Review Services
Pear Tree Cottage, Kelsall Road
Ashton Hayes, Chester CH3 8BH
United Kingdom
E-mail: subscriptions@oilfieldreview.com
Distribution inquiries
Matt Varhaug
Oilfield Review
5599 San Felipe
Houston, TX 77056
United States
(1) 713-513-2634
E-mail: DistributionOR@slb.com
Stimulating Naturally Fractured

Carbonate Reservoirs
Khalid S. Asiri
Mohammed A. Atwi
Saudi Aramco
Udhailiyah, Saudi Arabia
Naturally fractured carbonate reservoirs can be difcult to stimulate because
Oscar Jimnez Bueno

Petrleos Mexicanos (PEMEX)
Villahermosa, Mexico
uids contact the largest possible reservoir surface area. Engineers and chemists
Bruno Lecerf
Alejandro Pea
Sugar Land, Texas, USA
Tim Lesko
Conway, Arkansas, USA
treatment uids tend to enter the fractures and avoid less permeable regions.
Effective uid diversion techniques are usually necessary to ensure that stimulation
have developed an innovative acidizing uid that employs degradable bers to

temporarily block permeable fractures and force the uid into less permeable zones.
Operators have applied the ber-laden acid to naturally fractured oil and gas reservoirs in which achieving complete zonal coverage is difcult and, as a result, have
witnessed substantial production improvements.
Fred Mueller
College Station, Texas
Alexandre Z. I. Pereira
Petrobras
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Fernanda Tellez Cisneros
Villahermosa, Mexico
Oileld Review Autumn 2013: 25, no. 3.
Copyright 2013 Schlumberger.
For help in preparation of this article, thanks to
Charles-Edouard Cohen, Rio de Janeiro;
Victor Ariel Exler, Maca, Brazil; Luis Daniel Gigena,
Mexico City; Daniel Kalinin, Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia;
and Svetlana Pavlova, Novosibirsk, Russia.
ACTive, MaxCO3 Acid, POD, SXE and VDA are marks
of Schlumberger.
1. Crowe C, Masmonteil J, Touboul E and Thomas R:
Trends in Matrix Acidizing, Oileld Review 4, no. 4
(October 1992): 2440.
2. Robert JA and Rossen WR: Fluid Placement and
Pumping Strategy, in Economides MJ and Nolte KG
(eds): Reservoir Stimulation, 3rd ed. Chichester,
West Sussex, England: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd (2000):
19-219-3.
Oileld Review
Since the dawn of the oil and gas industry, operators have endeavored to maximize well productivity, employing a variety of techniques to do so. For
example, as early as the 19th century, engineers
began pumping acid in wells to improve production. Acidizing treatments dissolve and remove
formation damage resulting from drilling and
completion operations, create new production
pathways in producing formations or both.
Acidizing treatments fall into two categories.
Matrix acidizing consists of pumping uid into
the formation at rates and pressures that will not
fracture the reservoir. The resulting treatment
stimulates a region extending up to about 1 m
[3 ft] around the wellbore. Fracture acidizing is a
hydraulic fracturing treatment that pumps acid
during at least one uid stage. The stimulation
distance may extend one or two orders of magnitude farther into the formation than that
achieved by matrix acidizing.
The composition of acidizing uids depends
on the type of formation to be stimulated.
Carbonate formations, composed mainly of limestone (calcium carbonate [CaCO3]) or dolomite
(calcium magnesium carbonate [CaMg(CO3)2]),
are treated with hydrochloric acid [HCl], various
organic acids or combinations thereof. Sandstone
formations typically consist of quartz [SiO2] or
feldspar [KAlSi3O8NaAlSi3O8CaAl2Si2O6] particles bound together by carbonate or clay minerals. Silicate minerals do not react with HCl; they
respond instead to stimulation uids that contain
hydrouoric acid [HF] or uoboric acid [HBF4].1
Despite the uid chemistry differences, the engineering aspects of carbonate and sandstone
acidizing are largely similar. However, this article
concentrates on recent advances that are particularly relevant to carbonate acidizing.
Carbonate Acidizing Fundamentals
Limestone and dolomite rapidly dissolve in
HCl, forming water-soluble reaction products
mainly calcium and magnesium chloridesand
liberating carbon dioxide. The dissolution rate
is limited by the speed at which acid can be
delivered to the rock surface. This dissolution
process results in rapid formation of irregularly
shaped channels called wormholes (above right).
Wormholes radiate outward in a dendritic pattern from points where acid leaves the well and
enters the formation. Once formed, they become
the most permeable pathways into the formation
and carry virtually all of the uid ow during production. For efcient stimulation, the wormhole
network should penetrate deeply and uniformly
throughout the producing interval.
Autumn 2013
> Acid-induced wormholes. An intricate network of wormholes formed during

a laboratory-scale matrix acidizing treatment of a carbonate formation sample.
The length, direction and number of wormholes depend on the formation
reactivity and the rate at which acid enters the formation. Once formed, the
wormholes may carry virtually all of the uid ow during production.
Achieving stimulation uniformity can be particularly challenging when large permeability

variations exist within the treatment interval. As
acid penetrates the formation, it ows preferentially into the most-permeable pathways. Higherpermeability areas receive most of the uid and
become larger, causing the treatment uids to
bypass lower-permeability regions where stimulation is needed most. To address this problem,
engineers and chemists have developed methods
to divert acidizing uids away from high-permeability intervals and into less permeable zones.
Engineers accomplish diversion by employing
mechanical or chemical means or both.2
Mechanical diversion of treatment uids may be
achieved using drillpipe or coiled tubingconveyed tools equipped with mechanical packers
that isolate and direct uid into low-permeability
zones. Alternatively, ow can be blocked at individual perforations by dropping ball sealers into
Ball Sealers
Straddle Packers
> Mechanical diversion methods. Ball sealers (green spheres) are pumped down the well during the
stimulation treatment (left). The balls provide mechanical diversion because they preferentially block
the perforations that take the highest volume of treatment uid. Straddle packers may also be deployed
on coiled tubing to isolate the preferred treatment interval (right). In this example, engineers have
already stimulated the bottom zone and moved the packers up in preparation for stimulating the next zone.
the stimulation uid as it travels down the well.

The ball sealers are drawn to and seat against
perforations accepting the most uid. After the
treatment, the ball sealers fall away, are mechanically dislodged or dissolve (above).
Chemical diverting agents incorporated in
stimulation uids may be divided into two categoriesparticulates and viscosiers. Particulates
include plugging agents such as benzoic acid
akes and salt grains that are sized to plug formation pores. Foaming the acid may achieve a similar plugging effect because of two-phase ow.
Viscosiers include water-soluble polymers,
crosslinked polymer gels and viscoelastic surfactants (VESs).3 A decade ago, Schlumberger scientists and engineers applied VES chemistry to acid
stimulation and introduced the VDA viscoelastic
CaCO3 + 2HCl
diverting acid system. VDA uids have been particularly successful in both matrix and fracture
acidizing applications around the world.4
The surfactant molecule in the VDA system,
derived from a long-chain fatty acid, is zwitterionica neutral molecule that carries a positive
and a negative charge at separate positions.5
While being pumped down a well, VDA uida
blend of HCl, VES and common acid-treatment
additivesmaintains a low viscosity. As the acid
is consumed in the formation, the surfactant molecules begin to aggregate into elongated
micelles.6 The micelles become entangled and
cause the uid viscosity to increase (below). The
higher-viscosity uid forms a temporary barrier
that forces fresh acid to ow elsewhere. In addition to providing diversion, the viscosity decreases
the rate at which the acid reacts with the formation, thereby allowing more time for the creation
of deeper and more intricate wormholes.
When production begins, VDA uid is exposed
to hydrocarbons, which alters the ionic environment and causes the micelles to become spherical. Entanglement ceases, the micelles roam
freely, and the uid viscosity decreases dramatically, enabling efcient poststimulation cleanup.
Unlike polymer-base uids, VESs leave virtually
no damaging residue behind that may interfere
with well productivity.
Naturally fractured reservoirs are the most
challenging environments for carbonate acidizing because they can present extreme permeability contrasts. The fractured regions may be
several orders of magnitude more permeable
than the unfractured layers. Until recently, the
industrys considerable portfolio of diversion
technologies has been inefcient in this environment. Even when using self-diverting uids such
as the VDA formulation, engineers struggled to
block the fractures and treat the rest of the formation. Consequently, operators were forced to
pump large volumes of uid to achieve stimulation, leading to higher treatment costs and less
than optimal results.
However, Schlumberger engineers and chemists discovered that signicant diversion improvements could be achieved by adding degradable
bers to VDA uid. As ber-laden diversion uid
enters a fracture, the bers congregate, entangle
and form structures that limit uid entry. The
new product, MaxCO3 Acid degradable diversion
acid system, has been used successfully and efciently to stimulate notoriously difcult carbonate reservoirs around the world.
CaCl2 + CO2 + H2O
Spent acid
Hydrocarbon
Surfactant
molecules
Elongated micelles
Spherical micelles
> Viscoelastic surfactant (VES) uid behavior during an acidizing treatment. Initially, when the surfactant is dispersed in acid, each molecule moves
independently throughout the uid (left). As the acid reacts with the carbonate minerals, the surfactant molecules assemble and create elongated micelles
(center). The micelles entangle and hinder uid ow, resulting in higher uid viscosity. When hydrocarbon production begins after the treatment, the
elongated micelles transform into spheres (right), resulting in a dramatic decrease in uid viscosity and facilitating efcient cleanup.
Oileld Review
Openhole Acidizing
Cased Hole Acidizing
Wormhole
Perforation
Wormhole
Wellbore
wall
Casing
Filtercake
Filtercake
Treatment fluid
Treatment fluid
Filtercake
Perforation
Filtercake
Well
Well
Casing
> Fiber deposition and diversion scenarios. During openhole acidizing (top and bottom left), bers form
a ltercake that covers the entire wellbore wall. During cased hole acidizing (top and bottom right),
bers form ltercakes in the perforation tunnels.
This article describes the development of the

MaxCO3 Acid system in the laboratory and its
introduction to the oil eld. Case histories from
Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Brazil demonstrate
how application of this new acid system is achieving signicant well productivity improvements.
Studying Fiber-Laden Acids in the Laboratory
For more than 20 years, chemists and engineers
have explored ways in which bers could be used
to improve well servicing operations. Working
3. For more on water-soluble polymers and VESs: Gulbis J
and Hodge RM: Fracturing Fluid Chemistry and
Proppants, in Economides MJ and Nolte KG (eds):
Reservoir Stimulation, 3rd ed. Chichester, West Sussex,
England: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd (2000): 7-17-23.
4. Al-Anzi E, Al-Mutawa M, Al-Habib N, Al-Mumen A,
Nasr-El-Din H, Alvarado O, Brady M, Davies S, Fredd C,
Fu D, Lungwitz B, Chang F, Huidobro E, Jemmali M,
Samuel M and Sandhu D: Positive Reactions in
Carbonate Reservoir Stimulation, Oileld Review 15,
no. 4 (Winter 2003/2004): 2845.
Lungwitz B, Fredd C, Brady M, Miller M, Ali S and
Hughes K: Diversion and Cleanup Studies of Viscoelastic
Autumn 2013
with both mineral- and polymer-base bers, they

discovered techniques for controlling the behavior of uids and suspended solids, both during
and after placement in a well. The research
resulted in several innovations, including methods for limiting lost circulation during drilling
and cementing, improving the exibility and
durability of well cements, aiding proppant transport during hydraulic fracturing operations and
preventing proppant owback into the well after
a fracturing treatment.
Surfactant-Based Self-Diverting Acid, SPE Production &
Operations 22, no. 1 (February 2007): 121127.
5. Sullivan P, Nelson EB, Anderson V and Hughes T: Oileld
Applications of Giant Micelles, in Zana R and Kaler EW
(eds): Giant MicellesProperties and Applications.
Boca Raton, Florida, USA: CRC Press (2007): 453472.
6. A micelle is a colloidal assembly of surfactant molecules.
In the aqueous environment of an acidizing uid, the
surfactant molecules are arranged such that the interior
of the micelle is hydrophobic and the exterior is
hydrophilic. Worm-like micelles may be microns long and
have a cross section of a few nanometers.
Studying applications for bers in the context

of acidizing has been a more recent endeavor. In
2007, scientists at Schlumberger began exploring
the ability of bers to improve uid diversion in
both openhole and cased hole scenarios (above).
The principal difference between the two conditions is that, for openhole completions, bers
must accumulate along the entire wellbore surface to provide diversion, but in a cased hole
situation, ber deposition may be conned to
perforations.
The engineers discovered that simply adding
bers to a conventional HCl solution failed to create a stable brous suspension. Shortly after
addition, the bers congregated, formed clumps
and separated from the acid. Success was
achieved by adding bers to VDA uid. The resultant higher uid viscosity allowed the creation of
a robust suspension of discrete bers.
Openhole Simulation
Pressure
Acid and
fibers
Filtercake
Pressure cell
Core
Cased Hole Simulation
Backpressure
regulator
Pump
Filtrate
Pressure sensor
Wormhole Geometry
Balance
Orifice
Piston
1 to 2 mm
20 mm
25.75 mm
Fluid flow
142 cm
Acid
and fibers
Fissure or Fracture Geometry

Orifice
130 mm
2 to 6 mm
ID 21 mm
Filtercake
65 mm
75 mm
Orifice
> Laboratory-scale equipment for testing leakoff behavior and ltercake deposition. Engineers used a conventional ltration cell to simulate an openhole
stimulation (top). Technicians rst placed a carbonate core at the bottom of the cell and then poured in ber-laden acid. After sealing the cell, they applied
differential pressure across the core and used a balance to measure the amount of ltrate passing though the core. For the cased hole simulation (bottom),
engineers used a bridging apparatus. The apparatus consisted mainly of a 300-mL tube tted with a piston, a high-performance liquid chromatography
(HPLC) pump and an orice (left). The orice could be circular to simulate a wormhole (top right) or rectangular to mimic a fracture (bottom right).
Technicians installed a piston at the top of the tube, which contained ber-laden acid. Acid exiting the tube passed through the orice, and the technicians
assessed the diversion capability of bers by measuring the ltrate volume, the ber ltercake volume and the pumping pressure at various ow rates.
The engineers then began performing experiments with laboratory-scale equipment for
simulating uid leakoff and ber deposition
(above). The principal simulator was a bridging
apparatus that accommodated a variety of orices through which ber-laden acid could pass
at various ow rates. Circular orices, with
diameters between 1 and 2 mm [0.04 and
0.08 in.], simulated wormholes. Rectangular orices with widths between 2 and 6 mm [0.08 and
0.24 in.] were analogous to fractures. Engineers
observed ber plug formation and recorded the
corresponding system pressure as ber-laden
acid passed through an orice.
Pressure evolution in the apparatus followed

a consistent pattern (next page, top left).
Initially there was no pressure increase, but
within a few seconds, the pressure rose rapidly
as the bers formed a bridge and began to ll
the orice. These results indicated that as early
volumes of ber-laden acid reach the perforations, the acid penetrates the reservoir as if no
bers are present. Then, as the bers bridge,
they accumulate inside the perforations and
form a ltercake. Next, the bers plug the
perforation, decreasing injectivity and promoting uid diversion into other perforations.
The engineers also discovered that the ber
concentration required to achieve bridging

increased with the uid injection rate (next
page, top right).
In the laboratory, after pumping the berladen acid through the orice, engineers performed a freshwater ush. As the viscous acid
left the apparatus, the pumping pressure gradually decreased and eventually stabilized. At the
end of each test, a stable ber plug remained in
the orice. Knowing the pressure, ow rate,
uid viscosity and ber plug length, engineers
were also able to use Darcys law to calculate
the ber plug permeabilities. Depending on the
ber concentration and the uid ow rate dur-
Oileld Review
Linear fluid velocity, ft/min

2-mm
slot
150
16.4
32.8
49.2
65.6
82.0
98.4
Degradable fiber concentration, lbm/1,000 galUS
Fluid inflow
60
50
40
Pressure, psi
30
20
Bridging region
100
Nonbridging region
10
50
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
> Pressure-versus-time plot from a slot-ow experiment. During this

experiment, the MaxCO3 Acid composition consisted of 15 wt% VDA uid and
6 kg/m3 (50 lbm/1,000 galUS) degradable bers. In Period 0, MaxCO3 Acid uid
begins owing through the slot, and the bers have not yet formed a bridge.
In Period 1, the pressure rises as the bers entangle and form a plug in the
slot. Pressure continues to climb until the volume of acid is exhausted. In
Period 2, the pressure gradually falls as freshwater enters the slot and
displaces the viscous acid. The system pressure stabilizes during Period 3.
The white ber plug remains intact and stable inside the slot (photograph).
1,000
Apparent permeability, mD
10
15
20
25
30
> Effect of degradable ber concentration on

bridging ability in a slot. During the slot-ow
experiments, engineers determined that the ber
concentration required to achieve bridging and
promote uid diversion increases with the uid
injection rate.
ing ber deposition, the measured permeabilities varied between 400 and 2,400 mD. These
data led engineers to conclude that bers would
provide the most efcient diversion in zones
with permeabilities exceeding 100 mD (left).7
The data acquired during the simulator experiments also allowed scientists to develop a mathematical model for predicting the behavior of
ber-laden acids under openhole and cased hole
conditions; the model may be used to optimize
treatment designs.8 They performed 340 ne-scale
3D simulations that evaluated typical perforation
schemes, brous ltercake permeabilities and
formation permeabilities. The resulting model
allows scientists to track the movement of the uids and bers through the wellbore and into the
reservoir and track the propagation of wormholes
generated as the acid reacts with carbonate rock.
10,000
100
10
0.1
0.1
10
100
1,000
10,000
Core permeability, mD
> Apparent permeability resulting from plugging a perforated zone with

bers. The x-axis shows the original core permeability. The y-axis shows the
apparent zone permeability after a brous ltercake with a permeability of
2 D has formed. The results show that after plugging occurs, when core
permeability exceeds about 1 mD, apparent permeability eventually levels off
at about 100 mD and becomes independent of core permeability.
Autumn 2013
Linear fluid velocity, m/min
Time, s
7. It may appear counterintuitive to imagine that ber plugs

with permeabilities higher than that of the formation
could provide signicant diversion. However, signicant
diversion is also provided by the ow restriction and
pressure drop as uid enters the perforations.
8. Cohen CE, Tardy PMJ, Lesko T, Lecerf B, Pavlova S,
Voropaev S and Mchaweh A: Understanding Diversion
with a Novel Fiber-Laden Acid System for Matrix
Acidizing of Carbonate Formations, paper SPE 134495,
presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and
Exhibition, Florence, Italy, September 1922, 2010.
Apparent reservoir permeability, mD
10,000
Fiber plug permeability

2,400 mD
1,500 mD
400 mD
1,000
Layer permeability
30 D
10 D
3D
1D
Flow rate
100
10
0.1
0.1
10
100
Reservoir permeability, mD
1,000
10,000
Time
> Diversion predictions from the MaxCO3 Acid simulator. During ber deposition experiments in the perforation simulator, the permeabilities of the resulting
ber plugs varied between about 400 and 2,400 mD (left). The simulator predicts how the ber plugs decrease the apparent permeabilities of reservoirs and
promote diversion. Lower-permeability ber plugs are more efcient diverters. Modeling studies also demonstrated that brous ltercakes provide uid
diversion by equalizing the permeabilities of layers in the treated interval. For example, if the interval contains four layers with various permeabilities, the
uid ow rate into the more permeable layers decreases and the uid ow rate into the less permeable layers increases. Eventually, the ow rates
converge to a single ow rate, and the interval behaves as if it has a single permeability (right). Flow rate convergence occurs more quickly in a cased hole
with perforations because the ltercake surface area is lower.
> MaxCO3 Acid uid batch mixing. The degradable bers (top left) are light and nely divided, presenting a mixing challenge. Traditional equipment for
batch mixing of acidizing uids was inefcient. Engineers discovered that equipment for batch mixing cement slurries (bottom left) could disperse the bers
in VDA uid. The VDA uid ows into an 8,000-L [50-bbl] paddle mixer (top right). To avoid the formation of clumps, eld personnel manually add bers to the
uid. After the bers have been added, the tank is lled with more VDA uid, and agitation continues until the mixture reaches a uniform consistency
(bottom right). During the job, engineers maintain the agitation to preserve uid uniformity.
10
Oileld Review
120
100
Fiber degradation time, h
In addition, the model predicts uid diversion

behavior (previous page, top).
After demonstrating the diversion capabilities of ber-laden VDA uids in the laboratory,
the developers considered the effects of bers on
reservoir productivity following an acidizing
treatment. If bers remained in the wormholes
indenitely, their presence would hinder the ow
of uids from the reservoir to the wellbore. For
this reason, degradable bers were viewed as an
attractive option. After a treatment, the bers
hydrolyze and degrade within a few days. The
absence of bers leaves unobstructed wormholes
and maximizes formation productivity. Furthermore, the degradable bers are composed of an
organic acid polymer whose degradation products are acidic, giving rise to further formation
stimulation (right).9
The results of the laboratory study were sufciently encouraging to allow the engineers to
advance to the next development stageyard
testing to demonstrate that the ber-laden
MaxCO3 Acid uid could be prepared and pumped
efciently and safely.
80
60
40
20
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Volume of acid spent at 100C, %
16-h
shut-in
16-h
shut-in
10
2% KCI (injection direction)

2% KCI (production direction)
Fibers injected with spent acid (pH = 6.5)
9
8
Autumn 2013
Permeability, mD
Verifying Wellsite Deliverability

Because matrix acidizing treatments typically
consume small uid volumes compared with
other stimulation techniques, engineers usually
employ batch-mixing procedures. By contrast,
fracture acidizing usually requires large uid volumes, and continuous mixing is necessary to
keep pace with the higher pump rates.
Consequently, engineers needed to develop
methods for mixing MaxCO3 Acid formulations in
both scenarios. The principal objectives were to
disperse the bers safely and efciently in the
uid and prepare a uniform suspension. Because
the degradable bers are light and nely divided,
engineers were challenged to devise ways to
immerse the bers in the VDA uid so that they
would form a homogeneous mixture.
Experimentation led to the discovery that
uniform MaxCO3 Acid mixtures can be efciently
batch mixed with existing equipment (previous
page, bottom). The equipment consists of a vessel, into which engineers pour the base VDA uid,
and an 8,000-L [50-bbl] recirculating mixing tank
equipped with rotating paddles. Field personnel
dispense the bers manually. Until the treatment
commences, continuous agitation prevents ber
and uid separation.
The POD programmable optimum density
blender is standard Schlumberger equipment for
continuously dispensing solid materials such as
proppant into fracturing uids, and it proved to
K0
K6
K1
K7
N2
K4
K2
K5
K3
3
2
1
0
0
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
Fluid volume, pore volumes
> Behavior of degradable bers. Engineers performed static bottle tests during which degradable
bers were immersed in partially spent HCl uids. The data show that the rate of ber dissolution
decreases as the HCl becomes neutralized. Nevertheless, complete ber dissolution occurs within a
few days (top). Core testing demonstrated that the acidic ber degradation products may further
stimulate the formation (bottom). Using a standard core testing apparatus at 115C [239F], engineers
pumped 2% KCl solution into a limestone core rst in the injection direction and then in the reverse, or
production, direction (K0 and K1). Technicians recorded the pressure across the core and, applying
Darcys law, determined that the initial core permeability was 5.1 mD. Next, they injected a partially
spent 20% HCl uid (pH = 6.5) containing degradable bers (N2). Subsequent pumping of 2% KCl in both
directions revealed that the core permeability had fallen to 3.5 mD (K2 and K3). Following a 16-h shut-in
period, the bers had begun to degrade, and the core permeability rose to about 4.8 mD (K4 and K5).
After another 16-h shut-in period, complete ber degradation had occurred, and the core permeability
rose to 5.5 mD (K6 and K7)an 8% improvement over the initial permeability of 5.1 mD.
be an efcient system for preparing MaxCO3 Acid

mixtures. However, the uid exit points must be
secure to ensure that personnel are shielded
against uid leaks and sprays. Therefore, engineers designed a special splash protection kit
9. For more on formation damage testing in the laboratory:

Hill DG, Litard OM, Piot BM and King GE: Formation
Damage: Origin, Diagnosis and Treatment Strategy, in
Economides MJ and Nolte KE (eds): Reservoir
Stimulation, 3rd ed. Chichester, West Sussex, England:
John Wiley & Sons, Ltd (2000): 14-3114-33.
11
IRAN
IRAN
SAUDI
ARABIA
South
Pars
BAHRAIN
North
Field
Fiber feeder
SAUDI
ARABIA
QATAR
0
0
> Continuous mixing of MaxCO3 Acid uid. A POD blender is outtted with a
special ber delivery feeder (top right) that has no restrictions or bends,
thus ensuring smooth metering. Field workers place a berm (top left) under
the blender to guard against uid spills. A plastic sidewall around the mixing
tubs (bottom) further shields the mixing process.
MEXICO
Jujo-Tecominoacn
Field
50
that includes a berm below the blender and a

plastic sidewall (above left). They also developed
a special chute for metering the degradable
bers as they are dispersed into the mixing tub.
The modied chute, mounted directly above the
mixing tub, has no restrictions or bends that
might hinder smooth ber delivery.
After verifying that MaxCO3 Acid uids could
be prepared reliably with existing eld equipment, the project team traveled to Qatar for
eld testing. A principal test objective was to
evaluate the accuracy of the acid placement and
diversion simulator.
Field Testing in Qatar
The North eld in Qatar is an offshore gas producer that presents unique challenges for completion and stimulation (above right). The
reservoir is 1,000 to 1,300 ft [300 to 400 m] thick
and the wells, which may be deviated by as much
as 55, can be as long as 2,000 ft [610 m]. The reservoir comprises alternating sequences of lime-
Tabasco
State
Villahermosa
km
50
miles
50
> Jujo-Tecominoacn eld. This region is among the most prolic oil and gas producing areas in
southern Mexico. The reservoirs are naturally fractured and difcult to stimulate uniformly.
12
50
mi
> Qatar North eld. Discovered in the 1970s, this accumulation is the largest
gas eld in the world, with estimated reserves as high as 25.5 trillion m3
[900 Tcf]. The reservoir is called the South Pars eld on the Iranian side of
the maritime border (dashed black line). The producing formation is
characterized by large interzonal permeability contrastsup to a ratio of
100:1. The reservoir depth is about 3,000 m [9,800 ft] below the seabed, and
the elevated hydrostatic pressure tends to favor stimulation of bottom
zones at the expense of upper reservoir layers, further increasing the
difculty of achieving uniform stimulation in one treatment.
UNITED STATES
0
0
km
10. Bullheading is the pumping of uids into a wellbore from

the surface with no direct control over which intervals
will accept the uids.
11. Thabet S, Brady M, Parsons C, Byrne S, Voropaev S,
Lesko T, Tardy P, Cohen C and Mchaweh A: Changing
the Game in the Stimulation of Thick Carbonate Gas
Reservoirs, paper IPTC 13097, presented at the
International Petroleum Technology Conference,
Doha, Qatar, December 79, 2009.
Oileld Review
Autumn 2013
Optimizing Production in Southern Mexico

The Jujo-Tecominoacn eld, operated by
Petrleos Mexicanos (PEMEX), is located 60 km
[40 mi] from Villahermosa, Tabasco, in southern
Mexico (previous page, bottom). The eld has

48 producing wells and 19 injection wells to
maintain reservoir pressure. The average depth
of the producing intervals is 5,000 m [16,400 ft],
12,200
12,300
12,400
12,500
Measured depth, ft
12,600
12,700
12,800
12,900
13,000
13,100
13,200
0.1
10
100
1,000
Permeability, mD
> Permeability prole. The permeability varies four orders of magnitude in a

test well in the Qatar North eld.
7,500
Pump rate, bbl/min
40
35
8,000
30
BHP, psi
stone and dolomite that have a permeability

contrast ratio as high as 100:1.
The typical workow for designing and performing a MaxCO3 Acid treatment consisted of
several steps. To build a reservoir model, engineers rst acquired a thorough description of the
candidate well. The description included well
completion diagrams, petrophysical and pressure
log measurements and pretreatment well production data. The simulator produced a pumping
schedule designed to provide optimal zonal coverage and maximize posttreatment reservoir permeability. During the treatment, engineers
measured the bottomhole and wellhead pressures and compared the results with those predicted by the simulator. Posttreatment activities
included production logging to further verify the
accuracy of the simulator.
One test well had 290 ft [88 m] of perforations
along 830 ft [250 m] of measured depth
between 12,270 and 13,100 ft [3,740 and 3,990 m].
The principal obstacles to effective acid placement were the high permeability contrast and
hydrostatic pressure effects favoring preferential
stimulation of deeper high-permeability zones
(right). Prior to these eld tests, installation of
bridge plugs had been the preferred technique to
achieve uid diversion.
Schlumberger engineers performed a matrix
acidizing treatment from a stimulation vessel
using the bullheading technique.10 The treatment
consisted of alternating stages of 290 bbl [46 m3]
of 28% HCl and 320 bbl [51 m3] of MaxCO3 Acid
uid containing 75 lbm/1,000 galUS [9.0 kg/m3]
of degradable bers. To ensure uniform ber suspension, engineers set up the treatment so that
160-bbl [25-m3] spacers of VDA uid preceded
and followed the MaxCO3 Acid stages. During the
treatment, the simulated and measured bottomhole pressures were in good agreement, providing conrmation that the diversion physics of
MaxCO3 Acid behavior were well described by the
simulator (right).
After the success of the rst test well, engineers performed 10 more acidizing treatments in
the eld with similar results.11 The ber-laden
acid performed as predicted, and operational
efciencies were gained by not having to rely on
mechanical diversion. The time required to complete, perforate, stimulate and clean up the
MaxCO3 Acid wells was two to four days shorter
than that of the traditional approach, representing a savings of US$ 480,000 to US$ 960,000 per
well. Environmental benets included a 72%
reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases
because of reduced aring. Following the success
of the Qatari eld tests, the operator deployed
MaxCO3 Acid technology in other regions.
7,000
25
20
6,500
15
6,000
10
5,500
5,000
80
5
0
100
Fluid at perforations
MaxCO3 Acid fluid
Gas
Water
HCI
VDA acid
120
140
160
Time, min
Measured BHP
Simulated BHP
Pump rate
> Simulated and measured pressures from a eld test in the Qatar North eld. Engineers pumped four
stages of 28% HCl and MaxCO3 Acid uid. A VDA uid spacer preceded and followed each MaxCO3
Acid stage to preserve ber suspension uniformity. The excellent agreement between the measured
(blue curve) and simulated (black) bottomhole pressures (BHP) helped conrm the validity of the
MaxCO3 Acid placement model.
13
Fluid Name
Stage Fluid
Volume, m3
Preflush
Aromatic solvent
10
Acid
HCIformic acid blend
20
Diverter
MaxCO3 Acid fluid
Spacer
3% NH4Cl brine
Preflush
Aromatic solvent
10
Acid
20
Diverter
MaxCO3 Acid fluid
Spacer
3% NH4Cl brine
Preflush
Aromatic solvent
10
Acid
20
Flush
Nitrogen
Stage Name
Nitrogen Pump
Rate, m3/min
80
80
150
> Pumping schedule for a matrix acidizing treatment in the JujoTecominoacn eld. During the 11-stage treatment, engineers pumped an
aromatic solvent to clean up perforations, an HClformic acid blend,
MaxCO3 Acid uid and an ammonium chloride brine spacer. The nal stage
contained nitrogen [N2] to enhance well cleanup.
and the reservoir temperature varies between

120C and 160C [250F and 320F]. Wells in this
eld typically produce from multiple perforated
intervals with a highly variable natural fracture
density. This scenario creates a large permeability contrast between intervals that can reach
1,000:1. Consequently, achieving uniform zonal
coverage during stimulation treatment presents

a major challenge.
One typical well that was drilled in 2005 has
two producing intervals: from 5,274 to 5,294 m
[17,303 to 17,369 ft] and from 5,308 to 5,340 m
[17,415 to 17,520 ft]. The reservoir temperature
and pressure are 137C [279F] and 22.8 MPa
3,500
Oil production rate, bbl/d
3,000
Oil production
2,500
2,000
1,500
Begin MaxCO3 Acid treatment

1,000
500
0
Jan 2009
Apr 2009
July 2009
Oct 2009
Jan 2010
Apr 2010
Date
[3,300 psi]. Porosity varies between 5% and 8%.

The permeabilities of the upper and lower intervals are 1,000 mD and 3 mD; therefore, the permeability contrast is 333:1.
The initial oil production rate was 1,278 bbl/d
[203 m3/d]. Between 2006 and 2009, PEMEX performed several stimulation treatments using conventional acids and diversion techniques. The
production rate increased immediately after
each treatment but failed to stabilize and continued to decline. In 2009, PEMEX engineers
decided to evaluate the MaxCO3 Acid technology
in the hope of achieving uniform and long-lasting
stimulation of the two intervals.12
Schlumberger engineers performed a matrix
acidizing treatment consisting of bullheading
30 m3 [7,800 galUS] of aromatic solvent preush to
clean the perforations, 60 m3 [15,600 galUS] of
HClformic acid blend, 10 m3 [2,600 galUS] of
MaxCO3 Acid uid containing 90 lbm/1,000 galUS
[11 kg/m3] bers and 2 m3 [520 galUS] of ammonium chloride brine spacer (above left). Pump
rates varied between 8.2 and 15 bbl/min [1.3 and
2.4 m3/min]. The last treatment stage contained
nitrogen to energize the uid and accelerate well
cleanup, and hydrocarbon production commenced
within three days. The initial oil production rate,
3,000 bbl/d [480 m3/d], exceeded PEMEXs forecast. After three months, the average oil production rate had stabilized at 1,600 bbl/d [250 m3/d]
(below left). Following the success of this treatment,
PEMEX has continued to apply MaxCO3 Acid technology in this eld with favorable results.
12. Martin F, Quevedo M, Tellez F, Garcia A, Resendiz T,
Jimenez Bueno O and Ramirez G: Fiber-Assisted
Self-Diverting Acid Brings a New Perspective to Hot,
Deep Carbonate Reservoir Stimulation in Mexico,
paper SPE 138910, presented at the SPE Latin American
and Caribbean Petroleum Engineering Conference,
Lima, Peru, December 13, 2010.
13. Rahim Z, Al-Anazi HA, Al-Kanaan AA and Aziz AAA:
Successful Exploitation of the Khuff-B Low Permeability
Gas Condensate Reservoir Through Optimized
Development Strategy, Saudi Aramco Journal of
Technology (Winter 2010): 2633.
14. Aviles I, Baihly J and Liu GH: Multistage Stimulation
in Liquid-Rich Unconventional Formations,
Oileld Review 25, no. 2 (Summer 2013): 2633.
15. Jauregui JL, Malik AR, Solares JR, Nunez Garcia W,
Bukovac T, Sinosic B and Grmen MN: Successful
Application of Novel Fiber Laden Self-Diverting Acid
System During Fracturing Operations of Naturally
Fractured Carbonates in Saudi Arabia, paper
SPE 142512, presented at the SPE Middle East Oil and
Gas Show and Conference, Manama, Bahrain,
September 2528, 2011.
> Production history in a PEMEX well in the Jujo-Tecominoacn eld. Initial oil production was
1,278 bbl/d [203 m3/d]. Subsequent matrix acidizing treatments employing conventional techniques
failed to achieve sustained production improvements. After a MaxCO3 Acid treatment in December
2009, oil production increased to 3,000 bbl/d and stabilized at 1,600 bbl/d, exceeding the original
production rate.
14
Oileld Review
Improving Gas Production in Saudi Arabia

The vast carbonate reservoirs of Saudi Arabia are
prime locations for stimulation treatments using
acidic uid systems. From simple acid washes to
major acid fracturing operations, every carbonate stimulation technology has found an application in this region.
Most gas production in Saudi Arabia comes
from the Khuff Formation, located in the eastern
part of the country (right). The Khuff Formation
is highly heterogeneous, exhibiting wide variations in formation permeability (0.5 mD to
10 mD) and porosity (5% to 15%). It is composed
mainly of calcite and dolomite interbedded with
streaks of anhydrite. The average temperature
and pressure are 280F [138C] and 7,500 psi
[52 MPa].13
Saudi Aramco engineers applied MaxCO3 Acid
technology during several matrix acidizing
treatments, all of which yielded excellent
results. Following this success, Saudi Aramco
engineers decided to perform 25 acid fracturing
treatments employing the MaxCO3 Acid formulation. Eight acid fracturing stages were performed in three wells equipped with openhole
multistage fracturing completions that enabled
continuous treatments.14 The remainder of the
jobs, single-stage treatments in vertical or deviated wells, were completed with cemented and
perforated liners.15
Engineers performed one treatment in a
cemented and perforated well that had a 65
deviation. Three pay zones existed along a 240-ft
[73-m] interval in the central sector of the eld.
From reservoir parameters obtained from openhole logs, engineers concluded that, to meet
Saudi Aramcos production expectations, it would
be necessary to pump a treatment that stimulated all three perforated zones simultaneously.
Engineers developed a fracturing treatment
that consisted of 19 uid stages that alternated
portions of a 35-lbm/1,000 galUS [4.2-kg/m3]
borate crosslinked guar fracturing uid, 28% SXE
superX emulsied acid to retard the rate of acid
consumption, 28% HCl and 15% MaxCO3 Acid formulation with degradable ber concentrations
between 75 and 175 lbm/1,000 galUS [9 and
21 kg/m3] (right). During the treatment, after the
rst MaxCO3 Acid stage contacted the formation,
engineers recorded a 4,500-psi [31-MPa] bottomhole pressure risethe rst time such a large
increase had been recorded in this carbonate
reservoirindicating that excellent uid leakoff
Autumn 2013
IRAN
IRAN
EGYPT
SAUDI
ARABIA
BAHRAIN
South Ghawar
Field
QATAR
UNITED ARAB
EMIRATES
0
0
Oil
km
SAUDI ARABIA
100
mi
100
Gas
> South Ghawar eld in eastern Saudi Arabia. The producing reservoirs, in the Khuff Formation, are
composed of heterogeneous carbonates. The permeability and porosity vary widely within 100 to 200 ft
[30 to 60 m] of formation thickness, presenting difcult uid diversion challenges.
Treatment Schedule
Stage Name
Pump Rate,
bbl/min [m3/min]
Fluid Name
Stage Fluid
Volume, galUS [m3]
Acid
Concentration, %
Pad
20 [3.2]
Crosslinked 35-lbm gel
9,000 [34]
Acid 1
20 [3.2]
SXE emulsified acid
9,000 [34]
28
Pad
30 [4.8]
3,000 [11]
Diverter 1
30 [4.8]
MaxCO3 Acid fluid
3,000 [11]
15
Pad
30 [4.8]
9,000 [34]
Acid 2
30 [4.8]
SXE emulsified acid
9,000 [34]
28
Pad
35 [5.6]
3,000 [11]
Diverter 2
35 [5.6]
MaxCO3 Acid fluid
3,000 [11]
15
Pad
40 [6.4]
9,000 [34]
Acid 3
40 [6.4]
SXE emulsified acid
9,000 [34]
28
Pad
40 [6.4]
3,000 [11]
Diverter 3
40 [6.4]
MaxCO3 Acid fluid
3,000 [11]
15
Pad
40 [6.4]
10,000 [38]
Acid 3
40 [6.4]
SXE emulsified acid
9,000 [34]
28
Overflush 1
40 [6.4]
Overflush
7,000 [26]
Diverter 4
10 [1.6]
MaxCO3 Acid fluid
3,000 [11]
15
Acid 4
10 [1.6]
28% HCl
7,000 [26]
28
Overflush 2
10 [1.6]
Overflush
5,000 [19]
Flush
10 [1.6]
Water
11,200 [42]
> Pumping schedule for an acid fracturing treatment in Saudi Arabia. The total uid volume was
124,200 galUS [2,960 bbl, 470 m3], allowing simultaneous stimulation of three zones without the need for
mechanical diversion techniques. Such treatment simplicity saved several days of rig time, resulting in
signicant operational cost savings.
15
15,000
13,600
12,200
10
100
10,800
85
9,400
Fracturing pressure
70
8,000
55
6,600
Rate, bbl/min
Pressure, psi
1115
Bottomhole treating pressure

Pump rate
40
5,200
25
3,800
2,400
10
1,000
10
30
50
70
90
110
130
150
170
Treatment time, min
> Pressure and temperature data. During a Saudi Aramco acid fracturing treatment, the pumping rate
(blue line) varied from 10 to 40 bbl/min [1.6 to 6.4 m3/min], and the bottomhole treating pressure (red
line) exceeded the formation fracturing pressure (dashed black line) throughout most of the treatment.
The vertical blue bars denote periods during which MaxCO3 Acid uid entered the perforations.
control and diversion had been achieved (left).

Moreover, the bottomhole pressure exceeded the
fracturing pressure throughout most of the treatment, which had not been possible to achieve
during previous attempts using conventional
diversion techniques.
After the treatment, the well cleaned up in
less than three days; previously, four to ve days
had been necessary. Prior to the treatment, the
gas production rate had been 8 MMcf/d
[230,000 m3/d] with a wellhead pressure of
2,060 psi [14.2 MPa]. The posttreatment production rate was 23 MMcf/d [650,000 m3/d]a
nearly threefold increasewith a wellhead pressure of 2,230 psi [15.4 MPa]. The excellent poststimulation performance of this well has been
observed in the majority of other wells in this
region treated with the ber-laden acid.
Elimination of mechanical diversion techniques reduced the well completion and stimulation time up to six days, resulting in a savings of
US$ 480,000 to US$ 600,000. As a result, the
MaxCO3 Acid system is now a prominent element
of Saudi Aramcos stimulation strategy.
SOUTH
AMERICA
0
1,000
2,000
Overburden formations
BRAZIL
Espirito Santo
Basin
Depth, m
3,000
4,000
Salt
5,000
Rio de Janeiro
So Paulo
Campos Basin
6,000
Curitiba
Presalt
oil
7,000
Santos Basin
8,000
0
0
km
500
mi
500
9,000
> The presalt reservoirs of Brazil. The main producing elds are located primarily offshore (left). The reservoirs are in carbonate formations that lie
underneath a thick layer of evaporite minerals (right). The reservoir depth is between 4,500 and 6,500 m [14,800 and 21,300 ft].
16
Oileld Review
8,000
HCl plus mutual solvent

15% HCl
VDA fluid
MaxCO3 Acid fluid
40
8,000
36
7,000
7,500
32
6,000
7,000
4,000
3,000
6,500
24
20
6,000
16
5,500
Bottomhole pressure, psi
Rig pressure, psi
5,000
Pump rate, bbl/min
28
12
2,000
5,000
8
1,000
4,500
4
0
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
8,000
9,000
4,000
10,000
Time, s
> Matrix acidizing treatment. In a presalt well offshore Brazil, engineers pumped 13 uid stages
consisting of alternating portions of 15% HCl, VDA diverter and MaxCO3 Acid uid at various pump rates
(blue curve). A mixture of 15% HCl and a mutual solvent preceded and followed the treatment. As the
treatment progressed, the rig pressure (red curve) and bottomhole pressure (green curve) rose,
indicating that the bers were effectively diverting treatment uid to zones with lower permeability.
Stimulating Oil Production in Offshore Brazil

In South America, the presalt region comprises
a group of oil-bearing carbonate formations
located in an offshore region along the coast of
Brazil (previous page, bottom).16 The producing formations occur at depths between about
4,500 and 6,500 m [14,800 and 21,300 ft] and
lie directly underneath a 2,000-m [6,500-ft]
layer of evaporite minerals. The reservoir temperatures vary between about 60C and 133C
[140F and 272F].
The producing carbonate reservoir is a result
of the deposition of mollusks followed by diagenesis. Such reservoirs, called coquinas, feature
large variations in reservoir properties. Porosity
varies from 5% to 18%, and permeability varies
from less than 0.001 mD to tens of mDs. Such heterogeneity presents an especially difcult diversion challenge during stimulation treatments.
16. Beasley CJ, Fiduk JC, Bize E, Boyd A, Frydman M,
Zerilli A, Dribus JR, Moreira JLP and Pinto ACC:
Brazils Presalt Play, Oileld Review 22, no. 3
(Autumn 2010): 2837.
17. Mutual solvents are chemicals in which both aqueous
and nonaqueous compounds are miscible. These
solvents may be used to prevent emulsions, reduce
surface tension and leave formation surfaces
water-wet.
Autumn 2013
Engineers at Petrobras decided to evaluate

the MaxCO3 Acid ber-assisted diversion technology in a new well in the Pirambu eld. Using
the acid placement and diversion simulator,
Schlumberger engineers designed a matrix
acidizing treatment for an interval between
4,500 m and 4,570 m [14,800 and 15,000 ft]. The
simulator called for a 790-bbl [12.6-m3],
13-stage bullheaded treatment consisting of
alternating volumes of 15% HCl, VDA uid and
MaxCO3 Acid uid with a ber concentration
between 100 and 120 lbm/1,000 galUS [12 and
14 kg/m3]. The treatment was preceded by a
brine and HCl mixture containing a monobutyl
ether mutual solvent.17 After the treatment,
engineers pumped another volume of HCl with
mutual solvent followed by diesel to accelerate
well cleanup. The pump rate varied from 5 bbl/min
[0.8 m3/min] during the MaxCO3 Acid uid
stages to 10 bbl/min [1.6 m3/min] during the
injection of HCl and to 20 bbl/min [3.2 m3/min]
during the VDA diverter stages (above).
After well cleanup, engineers at Petrobras
evaluated the results by performing production
logging. The logs showed that the well was producing from all of the treated zones as predicted by the simulator. Since this treatment,
Petrobras has continued to specify the use of

MaxCO3 Acid fluid.
Rening MaxCO3 Acid Technology
As of this writing, more than 300 MaxCO3 Acid
stimulation treatments have been performed
around the world. In addition to the examples
featured in this article, treatments have been
performed in Kazakhstan, Angola, Canada, the
US, Kuwait and the Caspian Sea.
As the number of treatments has increased,
the larger treatment database has allowed continuous renement of the simulator and improvement of stimulation results in naturally fractured
carbonate reservoirs. The technique has also
allowed operators to reduce or eliminate the use
of ball sealers or packers, thereby reducing costs
and operational risks.
At present, work is underway to combine
MaxCO3 Acid technology with the ACTive family of
live downhole coiled tubing services. This arrangement employs distributed temperature sensors
that will allow engineers to monitor uid placement in real time and change treatment designs
during a job. Such exibility will further enhance
the effectiveness of acidizing treatments employing ber-based uid diversion.
EBN
17
Casing Corrosion Measurement

to Extend Asset Life
Dalia Abdallah
Mohamed Fahim
Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil
Operations
Abu Dhabi, UAE
Corrosion challenges are not new to the oil and gas industry, and producers are
continually seeking new ways to keep corrosion at bay. Experts have made advances
in corrosion monitoring along several fronts. The implementation of these technologies may help operators optimize infrastructure utilization, maximize production and
Khaled Al-Hendi
Mohannad Al-Muhailan
Ram Jawale
Kuwait Oil Company
Ahmadi, Kuwait
Adel Abdulla Al-Khalaf
Qatar Petroleum
Doha, Qatar
minimize negative impact on the environment.
Oil and gas companies typically serve two masters. On the one hand, protability dictates that
producers maximize long-term production while
minimizing operating expenditures. On the other
hand, environmental compliance requires that

companies conduct exploration and production
operations safely and in an environmentally
responsible manner.
Zaid Al-Kindi
Abu Dhabi, UAE
Abdulmohsen S. Al-Kuait
Hassan B. Al-Qahtani
Karam S. Al-Yateem
Saudi Aramco
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
Nausha Asrar
Sugar Land, Texas, USA
Syed Aamir Aziz
J.J. Kohring
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
Energy Added During Refining
Abderrahmane Benslimani
Ahmadi, Kuwait
M. Aiman Fituri
Doha, Qatar
Iron Ore (Oxides) and Corrosion Products
Refined Metal or Alloy
Mahmut Sengul
Houston, Texas
For help in preparation of this article, thanks to Ram Sunder
Kalyanaraman, Clamart, France.
Avocet, EM Pipe Scanner, FloView, Petrel, PipeView,
PS Platform, Techlog, UCI and USI are marks of
Schlumberger.
Energy Released by Corrosion
> Typical rening-corrosion life cycle for metals. Energy is stored in a metal as it is rened from its
naturally occurring state (such as iron ore) to an alloy. Corrosion takes place spontaneously and
releases the stored energy, which returns the metal back to a lower energy state. That process can be
slowed by the application of one or more eld-based mitigation measures.
18
Oileld Review
The two mandates share a common enemy.

Corrosion, which is the natural tendency for
materials to return to their most thermodynamically stable state by reacting with agents in the
surrounding environment, attacks almost every
component of a well. Wells are constructed primarily of steel, which is rened from naturally
occurring iron ore. The process of rening ore
into a steel alloy suitable for oil and gas drilling
and production takes the ore to a higher energy
state. Corrosion reverses this process and brings
metal back toward its original, lower energy state
(previous page).1
The process of corrosion, which begins the
moment steel is cast, is accelerated in the oil
eld by the presence of acidic speciessuch as
hydrogen sulde [H2S] or carbon dioxide [CO2]
in many formation uids and by the elevated
temperatures and pressures in producing formations. The consequences of corrosion include a
reduction in wall thickness and loss of strength,
ductility and impact strength in the steel that
makes up the downhole tubulars, wellheads and
surface piping and downstream processing equipment (right).
Failure to address corrosive attacks early
impacts well protability because operators must
then implement potentially expensive, and perhaps extensive, mitigation methods. Not only
does mitigation increase operating expenses, it
may force operators to shut a well in for some
period of time. In the worst cases, unattended
corrosion can lead to a leak or rupture, which
may threaten the safety of oileld personnel, lead
to production losses and introduce hydrocarbons
and other reservoir uids into the environment.
The total annual cost of corrosion in the US
alone is estimated at approximately US$ 1.4 billion, of which US$ 589 million is surface pipeline
and facility costs, US$ 463 million is downhole
tubing expenses and US$ 320 million is capital
expenditures.2 These estimates do not factor in
the nes that may be levied by government regulatory agencies against operators that experience
a corrosion-related discharge of production uids
into the environment. The costs and risks
may also increase as hydrocarbon sources are
discovered in more-challenging environments
deeper reservoirs with higher temperatures and
pressures that contain higher concentrations of
1. For more on the corrosion process: Brondel D,
Edwards R, Hayman A, Hill D, Mehta S and Semerad T:
Corrosion in the Oil Industry, Oileld Review 6, no. 2
(April 1994): 418.
2. Koch GH, Brongers MPH, Thompson NG, Virmani YP and
Payer JH: Corrosion Costs and Preventive Strategies in
the United States, Washington, DC: US Department of
Transportation Federal Highway Administration, Ofce of
Infrastructure Research and Development, Publication
no. FHWA-RD-01-156, September 2001.
Autumn 2013
Problem
Cause of Corrosion
Control Methods
Monitoring
Oxygen corrosion
Oxygenated water
Internal attack
External attack
Resistant materials
Oxygen scavengers
Oxygen stripping
Improved seal design
Coatings
Cathodic protection
Water and oxygen sampling

Iron counts
Corrosion probes
Oxygen sensors
Coupon surveys
Wall thickness surveys
Visual internal inspections
Visual surveys
Hydrogen sulfide
corrosion pitting
Water from
production aquifer
or other deep aquifer
Water contaminated
by stripping or lift gas
Degassing at
low pressures
Control of
contaminated gas
Use of resistant
materials
Probes
Iron counts
Sulfate-reducing
bacteria (SRB)
Anaerobic fluids
Stagnant fluids
Conditions under scales
or other deposits
Biocides
Chlorination
Anaerobic bacteria
counts
Chlorine residuals
measurements
Carbon dioxide
corrosion
Water from
production aquifer
or other deep aquifer
Water contaminated
by stripping or lift gas
Degassing at
low pressures
Control of
contaminated gas
Use of resistant
materials
Probes
Iron counts
Hydrogen sulfide
stress corrosion
cracking
Hydrogen-induced
cracking
Produced fluids
containing hydrogen
sulfide
Anaerobic systems
contaminated with SRB
Suitable materials
Materials quality control
Acid corrosion
Stimulation and
cleaning acids
Acid inhibitors
Acid inhibitor checks
Galvanic (bimetallic)
corrosion
Two metals with

different ionic potentials
in a corrosive medium
Electrical isolation
of metals
(cathodic coating)
Improved design
Design reviews
Pitting corrosion (rapid

corrosion at defects
in inert surface film)
Immersion
Inert surface films
Materials selection
Equipment inspections
Subdeposit
corrosion
Wet solids deposits

Biofilms
Porous gaskets
Pigging
Biocides
Improved sealing and
design
Minimum velocity design
Bacteria counts
Crevice corrosion
Poor design
Imperfections in metal
Improved design
Materials selection
Equipment disassembly
and inspections
Leak detections
Chloride corrosion
(rapid cracking on
exposure to hot
chloride media)
Salt solution
Oxygen and heat
Materials selection
Oxygen analyses
Fatigue
Rotating equipment
Wave-, wind- or
current-induced loading
Vibration design
> Summary of corrosion problems and solutions. In the oil eld, corrosion is pervasive and takes many
forms. By properly identifying the source of corrosive attack, an operator can implement a suitable
corrosion monitoring and control program.
19
Drilling and
Completions
Production
Well
Decline
Decommissioning
Production
Well
Design
Perform
reservoir
modeling.
Perform
core
analysis.
Select
suitable
drilling mud.
Select
suitable alloys
for pipe work
and equipment.
Perform
materials Select suitable
selection. oxygen and
sulfide
Perform
scavengers.
risk
analysis.
Use corrosion
monitoring tools
and services.
Use corrosion mitigation
Implement more-stringent
and expansive asset integrity evaluation.
Implement or expand
oil and water separation operations.
technologies (corrosion
inhibitors, sand control systems
and oxygen scavengers).
Evaluate infrastructure condition
and track corrosion rates.
Implement repairs and
replacement strategies
as needed.
Ensure long-term
containment of
abandoned well.
Ensure
compliance with
environmental
regulations.
> Corrosion considerations at each stage of the asset life cycle. During each stage of a wells life, engineers must consider
operational factors to keep corrosion at bay and minimize the threat of production uid leaks into the surrounding environment.
acidic gaseswhich may present more-aggressive corrosion environments.

The industry has advanced several methods to
combat corrosion and extend the operating life of
a well. These may be broadly classied into four
main categories:
metallurgysubstituting traditional wellbore
tubulars with those manufactured with a corrosion-resistant alloy (CRA)
chemicalmodifying production uids to
reduce the intensity of corrosive attacks or creating barriers that isolate the metal from produced uids through the application of a
protective coating
injectionpumping surfactant-base uids that
aggregate at the metal surface and block metalwater contact, thus inhibiting corrosion
cathodic protectionusing DC current to create impressed cathodic protection.3
The rst optionupgrading tubulars to those
composed of CRAmay be cost prohibitive on a
large scale. In the US alone, there are more than
100,000 producing oil and gas wells with casing,
tubing, wellheads, processing equipment and
gathering lines.
Manufacturers may employ another mitigation option: applying permanent coatings, which
combat corrosion by forming a resistant barrier
between the corrosive uid media and the metal
surface. Many coating types exist and are generally categorized as follows:
metalliczinc, chromium and aluminum
inorganicenamels, glasses, ceramics and
glass-reinforced linings
organicepoxies, acrylics and polyurethanes.4
20
As with CRAs, coatings may promise a longer

operating life with reduced maintenance, but
they come at a cost premium.5
Operators may use inhibition by chemical
means during the production stage of the well to
mitigate corrosion on the internal surface of piping and equipment. Corrosion inhibitors are typically surfactant-base chemical formulations that
are added to the production stream in concentrations ranging from tens to several hundred parts
per million (ppm). The inhibitor molecules
migrate and collect at surfaces; in the case of a
wells production infrastructure, the molecules
collect at the metal surface to form a barrier
between it and the corrosive uid phase. In this
way, they act in a manner similar to that of a coating, but at a lower cost than that of a permanent
coating or a CRA. Unlike a coating, a corrosion
inhibitor must be reapplied to replenish the
inhibitor lm that is degraded or washed away by
the owing action of the production stream.6
Corrosion prevention through cathodic protection works by forcing anodic areas of the
metalthose susceptible to corrosive attack
to become cathodic or noncorrosive. To accomplish this, operators apply a DC current through
the metal to counteract the corrosion currenta
technique known as impressed cathodic protection (ICP)or use sacricial anodes, which are
composed of metal that has a greater corrosion
tendency than the metal to be protected.7
This article focuses on corrosion monitoring
and measurement techniques for downhole infrastructure during production. Case studies from
the Middle East demonstrate how corrosion monitoring tools and mitigation technologies have
helped operators identify the location and severity of corrosion in the subsurface infrastructure,
which informed each companys choice of mitigation solution.
Corrosion and the Life Cycle
Corrosion is a major concern throughout the life
of a well, and specic considerations and mitigation strategies are required at each stage. Asset
personnel usually begin making corrosion mitigation decisions for a well before drilling.
During the well design stage, the operator conducts comprehensive reservoir studies, which
include reservoir simulation modeling, core
studies and uid analysis from offset well data.
Engineers use the information obtained from
these studies to develop risk assessments for
corrosion threats in subsequent stages of the
well. Engineers then develop and implement
mitigation strategies that include appropriate
materials selection, optimal production rates,
monitoring programs and corrosion inhibitor
treatments (above).
During the drilling process, operators focus
corrosion mitigation strategies on extending the
working life of drillpipe, which is exposed to high
operational stresses as well as potentially corrosive drilling muds and formation uids. The drillpipe may undergo one of several types of corrosion
mechanisms, including localized pitting, in which
H2S, chloride salts or oxygen in water-base drilling muds cause a corrosion rate that exceeds
25 cm [9.8 in.] per year.8 Other corrosion sources
Oileld Review
include the presence of CO2 at a partial pressure

of 20 to 200 kPa [3 to 30 psi] or greater, microbiologically inuenced corrosion (MIC) caused by
the presence of certain bacteria (microbes) in
produced uids and crevice corrosion in which
localized corrosion rates at metal-to-metal or
metal-to-nonmetal interfaces, such as at joint
couplings or gaskets, reach elevated levels and
lead to pitting or cracking.9
The common ingredient in these various corrosion events is drilling mud. To prevent drilling
muds from becoming corrosive, mud engineers
use specic chemical treatments in the mud.
These treatments focus on keeping the pH of the
mud within an acceptable rangetypically
between 9.5 and 12by dosing it with alkali or
adding oxygen scavengers to reduce dissolved oxygen levels below 1 ppm or by adding sulde scavengers that eliminate H2S from the mud system.10
The completion phase of a well refers to the
assembly and installation of downhole tubulars
and equipment such as packers and articial lift
pump systems. Information collected during the
well planning stage, including the temperature
and pressure of the reservoir and the composition
of the production uids, helps inform the operators decision on corrosion mitigation measures to
be included in the completion. For example,
anticipation of H2S or CO2 production may lead
the operator to use CRAs in the completion casing
strings, control valves, permanent downhole
gauges and hydraulic and electric control lines.11
At the end of the wells life cycle, hydrocarbon
production levels falloften with a corresponding rise in water production ratesto a point at
which the well is no longer protable and the
operator must plug and abandon (P&A) it. The
operators corrosion mitigation strategies shift to
permanently prevent reservoir uid releases to
the environment long after the well is abandoned. The basics of a P&A operation include
removing completion hardware, setting isolation
plugs and squeezing cement into the annular
spaces at various depths to permanently seal off
producing and water-bearing zones.12
P&A operations represent a pure cost, which
motivates operators to conduct these activities as
quickly and efciently as possible. At the same
time, a P&A job must be carried out with strict
adherence to government regulatory requirements. While these regulations vary widely in
their severity and punitive measures, should a
regulator nd a leak in a previously abandoned
well, it is the responsibility of the operator to
return to make any necessary repairs and replug
the welloften at a signicantly higher cost
than that of the original P&A operation.
Autumn 2013
Operators realize a prot during a wells production stage, which may last from only a few
years to several decades. During this stage, corrosion mitigation efforts are generally focused
on keeping corrosion rates low and preventing
leaks (below). The operator must continually
monitor and inspect the infrastructure to gauge

the integrity of downhole and surface piping
and equipment and the effectiveness of the
mitigation.
Companies use a variety of corrosion monitoring techniques in oil and gas elds. Techniques are
Cement sheath
Corrosion-induced
cracks
Water sand
Packer
Perforations
Oil sand
> Corrosions impact on casing integrity. Casing leaks typically arise from
excessive corrosion in the production system. These leaks, which can prove
costly and environmentally damaging, may allow additional formation water
and sand to enter the production string of the well (blue arrow). Alternatively,
crossows (green arrows) may result, which can be difcult to characterize
and treat, and in severe cases, the operator may have to pull and replace the
entire casing string.
3. Nalli K: Corrosion and Its Mitigation in the Oil & Gas

IndustryAn Overview, PetroMin Pipeliner (January
March 2010): 1016.
4. Heim G and Schwenk W: Coatings for Corrosion
Protection, in von Baekman W, Shwenk W and Prinz W
(eds): Handbook of Cathodic Corrosion Protection, 3rd ed.
Houston: Gulf Coast Publishing Company (1997): 153178.
5. Craig BD, Lane RA and Rose DH: Corrosion Prevention
and Control: A Program Management Guide for Selecting
Materials, Spiral 2, 2nd ed. Rome, New York, USA:
Advanced Materials, Manufacturing, and Testing
Information Analysis Center, Alion Science & Technology
(September 2006): 40.
6. Corrosion inhibitors are applied either continuously by
strategically injecting them into the well or production
string at a steady rate to maintain a desired
concentration or through batch application, wherein a
larger volume often called a batch, or slug, of inhibitor is
applied into the well on a periodic basis. Continuous
injection provides an added benet in that the inhibitor
can be applied without shutting in the well.
7. For more on impressed cathodic protection: Brondel et al,
reference 1.
8. The corrosion rate is the thickness of metal that would

be lost to corrosion in one year. This rate clearly
indicates that a hole would be created in drillpipe wall in
far less than a year.
9. For more on microbiologically inuenced corrosion:
Augustinovic Z, Birketveit O, Clements K, Freeman M,
Gopi S, Ishoey T, Jackson G, Kubala G, Larsen J,
Marcotte BWG, Scheie J, Skovhus TL and Sunde E:
MicrobesOileld Enemies or Allies?,
Oileld Review 24, no. 2 (Summer 2012): 417.
10. Sloat B and Weibel J: How Oxygen Corrosion
Affects Drill Pipe, Oil and Gas Journal 68, no. 24
(June 1970): 7779.
11. Saldanha S: Intelligent Wells Offer Completion Solution
for Lower Tertiary Fields, Offshore Magazine 72, no. 8
(August 1, 2012): 5457.
12. For more on plug and abandonment operations:
Abshire LW, Desai P, Mueller D, Paulsen WB,
Robertson RDB and Solheim T: Offshore Permanent
Well Abandonment, Oileld Review 24, no. 1
(Spring 2012): 4250.
21
Casing
Ultrasonic signal
Amplitude
Transducer
rate one or more of the various logging tools that

are deployed downhole via wireline, tractor or
coiled tubing.
Time
Amplitude
Radius
Thickness
> Basic principles of the UCI ultrasonic corrosion imager. The UCI tool uses
a 2-MHz focused transducer to improve the resolution of the ultrasonic
measurement. The transducer also acts as a receiver of the reected signal
and records its amplitude and time of arrival. This signal is emitted (or
pulsed) through the well uid and into the casing (top). As this signal
encounters a discontinuity, such as the inner or outer wall of the casing
(center), the signal is reected back. Most of the energy is reected in the
initial echo at the inner casing wall because of the large impedance contrast
between the mud and the steel; the remaining energy transmitted into the
casing is again reected at the outer wall. The signal reected back at the
inner wall can be used to evaluate the casing condition and radius. The time
difference between the rst two echoes can be used to determine the
thickness of the casing (bottom). In comparison, the USI tool is more
commonly used for ultrasonic pipe inspection and employs a 200- to 700-kHz
unfocused ultrasonic transducer to induce a casing resonance. In the USI
measurement, thickness is determined from the resonance frequency.
(Adapted from Hayman et al, reference 15.)
selected based in part on the systems ease of

implementation for a given application or location
in the production system, the ease with which
results can be interpreted and the relative severity
of corrosive attack. Some corrosion measurement
techniques use inline monitoring tools placed
directly in the production system; these tools are
exposed to the owing production stream. Other
techniques provide analysis of corrosion effects
after the fact in a laboratory setting.13
The weight loss technique using coupons, a
direct visual identication method, is a wellknown and simple monitoring method. This technique exposes a specimen of materialthe
couponto the process environment for a given
period of time before a technician removes it
from the system and analyzes it for its physical
condition and the amount of weight lost.14 The
22
coupon technique is advantageous because coupons can be fabricated from the same alloy that
makes up the system under study, the corrosion
rate can be easily calculated from the coupons
weight loss over the time of exposure and the
technique allows visual verication of corrosion
deposits or localized corrosion. However, if a corrosion event such as a leak occurred while the
coupon was in the system, the operator could not
use the coupon alone to accurately pinpoint its
time of occurrence. In addition, the coupon technique is applicable only in system locations that
provide easy or practical access for placing and
extracting the coupon.
This second limitation makes coupon monitoring, or any visual inspection technique, essentially impossible for the wells downhole tubulars
and casing strings. The remaining options are
indirect measurement techniques that incorpo-
Advances in Downhole Corrosion Monitoring

Logging techniques for monitoring downhole corrosion include ultrasonic, electromagnetic and
mechanical methods that yield detailed information about the location and extent of a corrosion
event. Ultrasonic monitoring employs a centralized sonde that is immersed in well uid and uses
a subassembly containing a rotating transducer
to perform measurements.15 Most ultrasonic tools
work by the principle of pulse echo measurement, and operators choose a transducer with
the characteristics necessary for the type of measurement to be taken. Measurements include
cement evaluation, openhole imaging and corrosion imaging.
A USI ultrasonic imager transducer, which
transmits an ultrasonic signal at a frequency
ranging from 200 to 700 kHz to make the casing
resonate, is typically designed for cement evaluation and pipe inspection. The quality of the
cement bond is directly related to the degree of
casing resonance: A good cement bond dampens
the acoustic signal and causes a low-amplitude
secondary signal to be returned to the transducer; a poor cement job or free pipe allows the
casing to ring and returns a higher amplitude
echo. Additionally, USI measurements include 2D
internal radius imaging of the casingderived
from the traveltime of the main echo from the
internal surfaceand the 2D casing thickness,
derived from the frequency response.
Higher resolution casing measurements may
be acquired with the UCI ultrasonic casing imager,
which uses a focused 2-MHz transducer with
improved resolution compared with that of the USI
tool (left).16 The UCI tool records two echoes: the
main echo from the internal surface of the casing
and the smaller echo from the external surface.
The radius and thickness of the casing are computed from the arrival times of the two echoes. The
relative sizes, or amplitudes, of the two echoes are
qualitative indicators of the casing condition.
Although the UCI device provides a better indication of the condition of the casing than does the
USI imager, use of the UCI tool is limited to operations in which the well uid comprises brines, oil
and light oilbase or water-base muds. Weighted
muds produce an acoustic attenuation that is too
strong to allow meaningful measurement.
Ultrasonic inspection provides several advantages as a corrosion measurement tool, including
its sensitivity to both internal and external
Oileld Review
defects and instantaneous in-eld notication

when a defect is encountered. In addition, the
technique requires access to only one side of the
material to gauge the condition of the entire
object and obtain detailed exterior and interior
images of the object. However, inspection is difcult for materials that are heterogeneous in composition, irregular in shape or thin; to improve
the results of the inspection, technicians must
prepare the internal surface prior to measurement by scraping away scale or other debris.
Operators may also employ another corrosion monitoring method: electromagnetic (EM)based inspection. The basic principle of this
technique involves measuring the changes to a
magnetic eld as it passes through a metal
object; the changes are related to the condition
of the material such as its thickness and its
electromagnetic properties.
The industry currently uses two EM corrosion monitoring tools. The rst, a ux leakage
tool, magnetizes the metal object using an electromagnet. When the magnetic ux encounters
a damaged section or hole in the material, part
of the ux leaks out of the metal; coils on the
tools sensors detect this leakage. While this
method is useful for measuring abrupt changes
in pipe thickness, such as pitting or holes in the
inner string, and the location of those changes,
it is less effective for monitoring the steady
increase of corrosion or corrosion that varies
gradually over a large section of pipe or concentric casing congurations.
The second EM-based monitoring technologythe remote eld eddy current toolmeasures the signal of not only the primary EM eld
but also the secondary eld from the induced
eddy currents in the surrounding pipe.17
The EM Pipe Scanner electromagnetic casing
inspection tool makes four distinct measurements. Using a transmitterwhich operates at
three frequenciesand two receivers, the
EM Pipe Scanner tool makes a measurement of
impedance (Z), which depends on the casings
electrical and magnetic characteristics. Using a
low-frequency signal transmitter in the middle of
the tool and two sets of receiversone set above
and the other below the transmitterthe tool
measures the average thickness of the metal normalized by the skin depth.18
The remaining two measurements provide 2D
images of the pipe; the tool obtains these measurements by pressing pad sensors against the
inner wall of the pipe. One measurement uses a
low-frequency signal to obtain 2D thickness
information, and the other uses a high-frequency
Autumn 2013
Tool outer
diameter
2D discrimination
Discriminator
transmitter, TH
TH
RP
Pipe
Pad
receiver, RP
RP
RP
TL
RLL
2D thickness
TH
Average thickness
RLL
RP
RLS
RLS
TL
RLS
RLL
TL
RLS
Skin depth decay
RLL
, EM Pipe Scanner tool. The tool (left) makes

four measurements. The Z-properties
measurement (bottom right) uses a transmitter
(Tz ) operating at three frequencies and one of the
tools two receivers (R z ). The impedance
response signal depends strongly on the
dimensionless quantity, , which is a function of
the pipe internal diameter (ID), the angular
frequency and the electromagnetic properties
of the pipe metal: the permeability and the
conductivity . The term 0 is the constant
permeability of free space. The average pipe wall
thickness, d, is determined using the lowfrequency transmitter (TL ) in the middle of the
tool, along with two receivers above and two
below the transmitter (center right). Two
low-frequency receivers (RLL ) are termed
long-spacing receivers and two are termed
short-spacing receivers (RLS ). The phase shift of
the signalwhich is a function of skin depth
as it goes through the pipe at the transmitter
and again at each receiver is used to determine
the thickness of the pipe d/. Near the top of the
tool, 18 caliper arms press pad receivers (RP )
against the inside of the pipe (top right).
Combining measurements from these sensors
with the low-frequency signal from the
transmitter (TL ) at the middle of the tool provides
a 2D thickness measurement. The 18 sensors are
also used with a high-frequency discriminator
transmitter (TH ) located on the tool mandrel
aligned with the sensor pads (top left). The
high-frequency signal does not penetrate the
pipe wall; this part of the tool provides a 2D map
from signals that discriminate damage on
the inside wall from signals that may indicate
other phenomena.
Z properties
RZ
RZ
RZ
TZ
RZ
TZ
1 1
0 ID
discriminator transmitter located on the tool

mandrel to generate signals that do not penetrate
the pipe wall, creating a 2D map that discriminates between damage on the inside and outside
walls. Changes in the geometric properties of the
metal, such as thickness or diameter, will cause
changes to the mutual impedance, which is
caused by aws in the casing.
Since 2009, the EM Pipe Scanner tool has
been used in wells around the world to detect
large holes, casing splits and corrosion-related

metal loss from both the internal and external
surfaces of casing; the tool can also measure loss
from an outer casing string when multiple strings
are present. The tool consists of 18 radial arms
with pad sensors afxed around a slim mandrel.
The sensors scan the interior surface and local
thickness of production casing; the mandrel
measurement helps identify average metal loss,
damage and splits in the casing (above).
13. Introduction to Corrosion Monitoring, Metal Samples:

Corrosion Monitoring Systems, www.alspi.com/
introduction.htm (accessed March 20, 2013).
14. Introduction to Corrosion Monitoring, reference 13.
15. Hayman AJ, Hutin R and Wright PV: High-Resolution
Cementation and Corrosion Imaging by Ultrasound,
Transactions of the SPWLA 32nd Annual Logging
Symposium, Paris, June 1619, 1991, paper KK.
16. Hayman AJ, Parent P, Rouault G, Zurquiyah S, Verges P,
Liang K, Stanke FE and Herve P: Developments in
Corrosion Logging Using Ultrasonic Imaging,
Transactions of the SPWLA 36th Annual Logging
Symposium, Paris, June 2629, 1995, paper W.
17. For more on electromagnetic induction as a corrosion
monitoring method: Acua IA, Monsegue A, Brill TM,
Graven H, Mulders F, Le Calvez J-L, Nichols EA,
Zapata Bermudez F, Notoadinegoro DM and Sofronov I:

Scanning for Downhole Corrosion, Oileld Review 22,
no. 1 (Spring 2010): 4250.
Brill TM, Le Calvez JL, Demichel C, Nichols E and
Zapata Bermudez F: Electromagnetic Casing Inspection
Tool for Corrosion Evaluation, paper IPTC 14865,
presented at the International Petroleum Technology
Conference, Bangkok, Thailand, February 79, 2012.
18. When the EM eld encounters a conducting material
such as the metal of a pipe, the amplitude of the eld
decreases exponentially with a characteristic rate given
by the skin depth. A conductive and ferromagnetic
material, such as casing, has a short skin depth. All
media other than a vacuum have shorter skin depths at
higher frequencies.
23
1.5
1,000
2,000
65% metal loss of

double casings
in.
1.5
1,000
1,000
2,000
2,000
62% metal loss of

double casings
Total EM Pipe Scanner

Thickness
0
65% metal loss of

double casings
3,000
in.
1.5

Thickness
0
in.
1.5
1,000
2,000
63% metal loss of

double casings
3,000
3,000
3,000
True Vertical Depth, ft
in.

Thickness

Thickness
4,000
4,000
4,000
4,000
9 5/8-in. shoe
9 5/8-in. shoe
9 5/8-in. shoe
9 5/8-in. shoe
5,000
5,000
5,000
> EM Pipe Scanner logs. The logs for four Saudi Aramco wells showed varying degrees of metal loss
(red), remaining thickness (gray) and total measured thickness (green) with respect to depth. A distinct
pattern correlation, as well as a similar decrease in total thickness with depth, existed among the
wellbores. All wells showed metal losses in the range of 62% to 65% of the outer double casings at a
depth of approximately 2,500 ft. The operator used this information to anticipate similar metal loss
patterns and expected a comparable level of severity of corrosion in adjacent wells not yet logged.
24
Operating companies can obtain these measurements without having to pull the completion
tubing out of the hole, which saves rig time and
intervention expense. While the engineer lowers
the EM Pipe Scanner tool into the well on wireline, tractor or coiled tubing, the tool conducts an
initial high-speed reconnaissance run to ag
areas of interest for detailed diagnostic scans to
be performed as the tool is retrieved to the surface. The tool records a continuous log of both
the average casing inner diameter and total
metal thickness and provides corrosion estimates. The tool responds to overall metal thickness, allowing corrosion of the outer casing or
tubing to be detected. Measurements of the inner
casing metal radius are valid in the presence of
most kinds of scale. Its 2 1/8-in. diameter affords
access through tight restrictions. The tool can
operate in gas or liquid environments.
Forewarned Is Forearmed
In 2011, using the EM Pipe Scanner tool, Saudi
Aramco conducted a well-casing corrosion monitoring campaign in a eld containing both
onshore and offshore wells. Initial scans of seven
onshore wells indicated relatively little metal
loss and conrmed that the existing ICP system
was working satisfactorily. Because of the lack of
a sufciently large power supply, the offshore
wells had limited ICP, which raised the possibility of higher corrosion rates.
The EM Pipe Scanner tool was deployed to
determine the extent of metal loss from well casings in the offshore portion of the eld and to
help the operator geographically map wells
exhibiting the most severe metal loss. In one
campaign, in four adjacent wells that were originally completed in 1976, Saudi Aramco checked
to determine whether any of these well had concentric casings that might soon leak.19 If engineers observed metal loss, they planned to
analyze the loss prole for the purpose of mapping and anticipating the likelihood of casing corrosion in nearby, nonlogged wells.
The EM Pipe Scanner logs showed varying
degrees of metal loss in each of the four subject
wells, although the logs indicated a distinct depth
correlation among them. One noticeable correlation occurred between 2,500 and 2,800 ft [760 and
850 m], where the four wells had casing metal
losses ranging from 62% to 65% (left). The operator
concluded that other wells in this geographic
vicinity were susceptible to signicant metal loss
and at risk of casing leaks in this depth interval.
This conclusion may guide completion decisions
for future wells drilled in the area, which could
include landing the outermost casing string
Oileld Review
typically 13 3/8-in. casingdeeper than in the previous wells. The original landing depth of 700 ft
[213 m] could be extended to a depth of 3,000 ft
[914 m] to provide an additional layer of corrosion
protection to the inner string. Another solution
could be to add a further level of protection by running chrome alloy or coated 13 3/8-in. casing from
1,000 ft [300 m] to 3,000 ft.
The metal loss proles from these wells also
may inuence the operators decision to implement more cost-effective and efcient workovers
for repairing leaks. For example, the operator
could reduce workover costs by running a cement
squeeze limited to the depth of signicant metal
loss rather than incurring additional costs of a
liner, casing patch or scab liner, which might be
normally recommended if massive metal loss covered a long interval.20
In addition to the acoustic and electromagnetic monitoring techniques discussed, mechanical methods are also helpful. A multinger
mechanical caliper tool uses a fundamentally different approach. Caliper tools rely on direct
physical contact with the pipe wall to make measurements and to detect small changes in the
tubular wall such as deformations arising from
the buildup of scale or metal losses from corrosion. While they are well established for evaluating internal problems, caliper tools provide no
data regarding the condition of the external wall.
The Schlumberger PipeView multinger caliper tool for PS Platform toolstring has been
deployed to investigate corrosion in many types
of wells but particularly in those with excessive
scale and corrosion in which acoustic-based
tools cannot be run. The tool can be deployed
with 24, 40 or 60 ngers and used in casing
diameters ranging from 13/4 in. to 14 in. It provides a mechanical image of the internal tubular corrosion using 3D analysis and visualization
software (right).
Measurements over Time
Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations
(ADCO) deployed the PipeView tool to measure
corrosion over time in a well within a mature and
prolic eld. The well was originally drilled in
1969 and has been worked over many times.
During the most recent workover in 2006, a 7-in.
19. Because the production uids in these wells were
known to be noncorrosive and the tubing-casing
annulus contained diesel and corrosion inhibitor, any
measured metal loss was assumed to be external only.
20. A cement squeeze is a remedial operation designed to
force cement into leak paths in wellbore tubulars and
casing strings. Squeeze cementing operations are
performed to repair poor primary cement jobs, isolate
perforations or repair damaged casings or liners.
Autumn 2013
Motorized
centralizers
Calipers
Motorized
centralizers
PMIT-24 Fingers
PMIT-40 Fingers
> Multinger caliper tools. Multinger caliper tools measure the internal
diameter in casings. Numerous calipers, or ngers, pressed against the wall
of the pipe detect small changes in the pipe inner diameter that may be
interpreted as wear or corrosion. In general, multinger calipers come with
varying numbers of ngers; a higher number of ngers is required for larger
internal pipe diameters. The PipeView PS Platform new-generation
production services multinger imaging tool, the PMIT-24 ngers tool (left),
requires mechanical centralizers (not shown). The PipeView PMIT-40 ngers
tool (right) incorporates motorized centralizers. A third version, not shown,
has 60 ngers.
25
Average metal loss, 2009

X,500
X,550
Average metal loss, %
Depth, ft
50
40
30
20
10
0
Depth
1,000 ft
Y,000

Y,050
Average metal loss, %
Depth, ft
50
40
30
20
10
0
500 ft
Depth
> Corrosion logs obtained from a caliper tool. PipeView service data (top left) and average metal loss versus depth (top right) were recorded in 2009, 2010
and 2011 for the tubing across the point of gas injection. The logs in Track 1 (top and bottom left) include a measurement for nominal internal radius (dashed
black line), nominal outer radius (dashed green line), eccentricity (dashed red line), minimum internal radius (solid blue line), maximum internal radius (solid
red line) and average internal radius (solid black line) above and below the point of gas injection (top and bottom left, respectively). Track 2 is a trace of
each caliper. Track 3 is an image log of thickness loss in the casing. Dark blue indicates the presence of scale, blue to white indicates 0% to 20% thickness
loss, white to pink is 20% to 40% loss and orange to red indicates 40% to 80% loss. Pure red (not shown) would indicate 100% loss and a hole in the casing.
The average metal loss above the point of gas injection (top right) did not change signicantly during the three years, suggesting that the presence of the
gas had a mitigating effect on corrosion. A similar plot for the tubing below the point of gas injection (bottom right) showed greater metal loss, which
increased over the three-year period, suggesting more-aggressive corrosion.
tieback liner was run and cemented to the surface to cover a corroded section of 9 5/8-in. casing.
The operator then drilled a single 5 7/8-in. horizontal well into a previously bypassed carbonate
formation. This lateral was completed as a gas
lift oil producer.21
Company engineers used naturally produced
gas with no corrosion inhibitor treatment as the
injection gas, which entered the system through a
gas lift side pocket mandrel. Concerned with the
corrosion potential posed by the injection gas,
ADCO engineers elected to run time-lapse monitoring surveys with the multinger imaging tool to
identify, quantify and track the growth of internal
corrosion in the tubing and estimate a corrosion
rate and time-to-failure. ADCO conducted surveys
over a three-year period2009 to 2011using a
111/16-in., 24-nger version of the tool.
26
The caliper logs revealed various degrees of

corrosion in two sections of the tubing string, one
below and one above the injection gas entry point
at the side pocket mandrel (above). The lower
section, from the bottom of the tubing up to the
gas injection point, had experienced a signicant
degree of corrosion and subsequent metal loss
that increased between 2009 and 2011. The upper
interval, from the gas lift mandrel to the top of
the tubing string, underwent minimal corrosion
over the same period and retained its original
manufacturing dimensions.
The operator postulated that the injection
gas, which enters the produced oil-water ow at
the mandrel and ows upward, provides an inhibitive effect on the production uids. This effect
reduces the corrosion rate in the upper interval,
but because the produced uids below the man-
drel did not contain lift gas, that section experienced a higher corrosion rate.
ADCO engineers are still speculating about
the exact inhibitor mechanism; one plausible
theory holds that the injected gas adds turbulence to the production ow and alters the ow
regime, which reduces water holdup and water
contact with the tubings internal surface. This
same phenomenon of less corrosion above the gas
injection point has been observed in other gas lift
wells in which caliper surveys were acquired. A
caliper log in a similar well, in combination with
a FloView holdup measurement, corroborates the
theory that gas injection may be reducing water
contact with the tubing (next page). The operator plans to use these results to rene the design
of future gas lift well completions to take advantage of this effect.
Oileld Review
Depth, ft
Gamma Ray,
2011
Average Metal Loss, 2011
gAPI 100 0
Gamma Ray,
2010
gAPI 100 0
Gamma Ray,
2009
gAPI 100 0
100
100
100 0
Image View
Water Holdup,
Flow Volume
Corrected
0.9 0.4
Flow
regime
Cross-sectional
holdup
distribution
D,500
E,000
E,500
F,000
Above the
side pocket
mandrel,
gas breaks the
water/metal
contact.
F,500
G,000
Gas
injection
G,500
H,000
H,500
Below the
side pocket
mandrel, the
water/metal
contact is
stable.
I,000
I,500
J,000
> Changes to the water holdup prole. A caliper log run in combination with the FloView water holdup probes in an ADCO well
shows increasing corrosion over time (Track 2) below the point of gas injection and very little corrosion above the gas
injection point. This phenomenon is attributed to a decrease in water holdup above the gas entry point. Analysts believe there
is increased gas within the ow regime (right, red dots), which also includes signicant water (blue) and oil (green dots).
Water holdup, corrected for owline volume (Track 4), is reduced in the upper section; the corrosion rate is less in the upper
section than in the lower section, in which less gas is present. Water holdup is imaged (Track 3); blue represents water and
red represents oil and gas.
Combining Measurements for Improved

Corrosion Monitoring
Operators may increase their understanding of
the location and extent of downhole tubular corrosion by combining information from multiple
tools. Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) did this for a
well in an onshore eld that includes wells that
have been producing for more than 60 years.
Autumn 2013
Several factors, including the age, increased

commingling of formation water production and
the high CO2 and H2S content of the produced
uids, prompted KOC to examine the corrosion
potential of these wells.
During a workover designed to perform a
cement squeeze on existing perforations and
recomplete the wellwhich had been drilled and
completed in September 2001 as a single producerengineers discovered a leak in the wellbore. To locate the leak zone by quantifying the
21. Gas lift is an articial lift completion method in which
gas is injected into the production tubing to reduce the
hydrostatic pressure of the uid column in the well and
the bottomhole pressure. This method allows reservoir
liquids to enter the wellbore at a higher ow rate.
27
PipeView Multifinger Caliper Tool
Section: 31/2 in. and 9 5/8 in.
EM Pipe Scanner Casing Inspection Tool
31/2-in. Tubing Thickness

Maximum
Internal Radius
1.4
in.
1.9
Minimum
Internal Radius
1.4
in.
Total Metal Loss

Tubing Plus Casing
Thickness
1.9
Nominal Internal Radius

1.4
Depth, ft
Well Schematic
Casing Collar
Locator Depth
8
in.
1.9
Nominal Outer Radius

1.4
in.
1.9
Radii Minus Average
1 1.4
in.
1.9 0.8
Tubing Pseudothickness
0.649 in.
in.
0.4
0.8
0.254 in.
degree
9 5/8-in. Casing Metal Loss

Outer Casing Thickness
Double Coil B
Long-Spacing Phase
Normal Tubing Thickness

in.
Nominal Total Thickness
0.2
Average Internal Radius
in.
3 1/2-in. Tubing Metal Loss
360
in.
Baseline of Outer Casing Thickness

0.395 in.
X,000
100%
metal loss
Y,000
Z,000
> Side-by-side comparison. Logs from the PipeView multinger caliper tool and the EM Pipe Scanner casing inspection tool run through the interval that
contained 3 1/2-in. and 9 5/8-in. casing strings showed damage and holes in the 3 1/2-in. tubing and showed metal loss (Tracks 4, 5 and 6, green shading) on the
9 5/8-in. casing, including one section that suffered 100% metal loss.
metal loss on the 3 1/2-in. tubing and the 7-in. and

9 5/8-in. casing strings, the operator considered
pulling the tubing out of the hole and performing
pressure tests on the casing. However, this would
have added signicant cost and taken the well
off-line for several weeks.
KOC engineers decided instead to evaluate
the integrity of the tubing and casing strings using
the PipeView and EM Pipe Scanner tools. The logging plan consisted of running the PipeView caliper tool to assess the metal loss of the tubing and
using the EM Pipe Scanner tool to measure the
total thickness of the casing strings. By knowing
the total combined thickness of the tubing and
28
casing strings at the outset and subtracting the

metal loss from the tubing, engineers were able to
attribute any metal loss to the casing strings.
The logging was divided into three sections
according to casing design: The rst section consisted of 3 1/2-in. and 9 5/8-in. casings; the second
section of 3 1/2-in., 7-in. and 9 5/8-in. casings; and the
third section consisted of a 7-in. casing. The caliper logs showed tubing damage in the interval of
the well with 3 1/2-in. and 9 5/8-in. casings, indicating the presence of holes (above). Also in the rst
section, the EM Pipe Scanner average thickness
measurement revealed metal loss in the outer
string of the 9 5/8-in. casing.
Based on these ndings, KOC pulled the tubing to conrm the damage. The processed caliper
log and a photograph of the damage from the tubing show a direct correlation between the corrosion measurements and the location of the
damage (next page, left). The results of this survey gave KOC condence that it could accurately
measure corrosion and identify a leaking interval
behind the tubing in wells in the future without
having to pull the tubing out of the hole.
Qatar Petroleum also implemented a combined corrosion measurement strategy in a well
in an offshore eld. The well, which was drilled in
Oileld Review
Eccentricity
0
in.

2
in.
20-in.
casing shoe
Maximum Internal Radius

2
in.
Minimum Internal Radius

2
in.
Excentralization
0
in.
Radii Minus Average

1

2
in.
13 3/8-in.
casing shoe
Relative Bearing
Multifinger Caliper Display

3
degree
360
3 1/2-in. tubing
Collar
9 5/8-in. casing
shoe
7-in. liner shoe
3 1/2-in. Tubing Thickness

Maximum Internal Radius
Minimum Internal Radius
Internal Radius
Minus Average PMIT-A
Nominal Internal Radius

1.4
in.
0.08
in.
0.08
Radii Minus Average
1.9 0.16
in.
0.44
Holes visible in 3D image and log
Caliper, in.
1.500 1.625
1.750
> Processed caliper log. The eld logs from the PipeView multinger caliper tool of the interval with
3 1/2-in. and 9 5/8-in. casing (top) correlated precisely with the visual damage observed in the retrieved
tubing (bottom right). The caliper log (top left) includes measurements for eccentricity (dashed red
line), average internal radius (solid black line), maximum internal radius (solid red line), minimum
internal radius (solid blue line), excentralization (dashed black line) and nominal outer radius (dashed
green line). The caliper log (top center) is composed of three traces that indicate casing collars used
for depth correlation (horizontal red line). The image log (top right) in the casing indicates thickness
losses. Dark blue indicates scale, blue to white indicates 0% to 20% metal loss, white to pink is 20% to
40% loss and orange to red indicates 40% to 80% loss. Red (circled) indicates 100% loss and a hole
in the casing. A 3D processing image (bottom left) based on multinger caliper data also indicates
strong correlation with the damage observed in the retrieved tubing, as do the processed logs
(bottom center).
Autumn 2013
> Casing program. The subject well in a eld

offshore Qatar contained 3 1/2-in. tubing, a 7-in.
liner and concentric strings of 9 5/8-in., 13 3/8-in.
and 20-in. casing.
1998, contained 9 5/8-in., 13 3/8-in. and 20-in. casing

strings, a 7-in. liner and a 3 1/2-in. production tubing string (above). In 2011, the operator observed
that the 13 3/8-in. casing had subsided at the wellhead. A pressure test designed to check the
integrity of each casing string demonstrated uid
ow in the annular space between the 9 5/8-in. and
13 3/8-in. strings and in the annular space separating the 13 3/8-in. and 20-in. strings. This indicated
a leak in the 13 3/8-in. casing string.
Qatar Petroleum engineers implemented a
workover operation, which they began by evaluating the integrity of the cement and presence of
corrosion for the 7-in. liner and 9 5/8-in. casing. An
ultrasonic inspection test identied the top of
the cement behind the 9 5/8-in. casing and conrmed that the 7-in. liner and 9 5/8-in. casing were
free from any signicant corrosion or a hole in
the casings that might allow uids communication. Based on the location of the top of the
cement, which was identied by the USI tool
cement log, Qatar Petroleum engineers were able
to determine the interval to cut for casing
29
Water
Water
Annulus
Annulus
Ultrasonic Azimuth
0
degree
0.5
Wave Amplitude
Minus Maximum
Cable Speed
Casing
Casing
Maximum Internal
Radius
Maximum Internal
Radius
Bonded
Microdebonding
ft/h
1,000 6
Motor Speed
6
RPM
8 0
Depth, ft
Amplitude of
Eccentricity
0
in.
0.5 0
Casing Collar
Locator, Ultrasonic
20
in.
dB
0.5
Wave Maximum
Amplitude
20 0
dB
5
Maximum Internal
Radius
100 4.2
in.
4.7 5
Wave Minimum
Amplitude
Average Internal
Radius
dB
in.
100 4.2
Minimum Internal
Radius
dB
in.
3.5 5
in.
3.5 5
in.
3.5
in.
in.
in.
3.5
Average External
Radius
Average External
Radius
in.
in.
4.7 5
3.5 5
Microdebonding Ratio
Minimum Thickness
3.5
Average Internal
Radius
3.5 5
Liquid
Minimum Internal
Radius
Average Internal
Radius
4.7 5
Wave Average
Amplitude
100 4.2
in.
Minimum Internal
Radius
0.1
Internal Radii
Minus Average
in.
0.6
Maximum Thickness
0.1
in.
0.6
Average
Casing Thickness
Cement Acoustic
Impedance
0.08 0.1
in.
0.6 0.08
Microdebonding
Gas
Measurements/Total
Average Thickness
3.5 0.08
0
Cement
Measurements/Total
0.08 0
Mrayl
8.0 1
0 2.0
Mrayl
8.0
300
310
320
330
340
350
360
No severe metal
loss detected
Top of cement
370
380
390
400
410
420
430
440
> Top of cement. Engineers used logs from the USI tool to accurately locate the top of the cement behind the 9 5/8-in. casing (Tracks 10 and 11); standard USI
tool data indicated that the 7-in. liner and the 9 5/8-in. casing were free of signicant corrosion.
retrieval (above). They could then directly evaluate the 13 3/8-in. casing for corrosion defects.
Engineers next deployed the EM Pipe Scanner
tool to evaluate the external casing strings.
Despite the fact that measurements were made
outside of the recommended specications, the
tool identied an anomaly at a depth above the
seabed; the amplitude level across the anomaly
was high, and the phase level was low, both of
which suggested that less metal was present at
the anomaly than would be expected under normal circumstances. This information reinforced
the interpretation of the annular pressure test
30
data and pinpointed the precise location of the

hole in the 13 3/8-in. casing. A PipeView multinger imaging tool log was then run to evaluate
the 13 3/8-in. casing; the log showed that the casing
was corroded and completely parted at the same
depth where the EM Pipe Scanner tool had
detected the metal loss (next page). These measurements provided Qatar Petroleum with a clear
understanding of the location and extent of the
corrosion damage such that company engineers
could plan a strategy to retrieve the 13 3/8-in. casing and perform a casing patch operation.
Qatar Petroleum had performed several workovers on another offshore well in the eld and is
using the well as a dump ooder, in which produced water is injected into another formation.
Because the injected water is untreated, the production casing regularly experiences corrosion.
The well was originally cased with three sets
of steel casing: a 20-in. surface casing, a 13 3/8-in.
intermediate casing and a 9 5/8-in. production casing. After corrosion problems were detected in
2002, engineers overlapped the production casing with 7-in. casing. The well is perforated in one
formation from 6,290 to 6,320 ft [1,918 to 1,926 m]
Oileld Review
Improved Corrosion Mitigation

Through Management
Downhole corrosion monitoring tools help engineers understand the physical condition of tubing and casing strings. Operators can then make
more-informed and cost-effective mitigation and
repair decisions. But as companies continue to
search for more streamlined and holistic methods for protecting their assets and extending the
producing life of their wells, service providers
have worked to improve monitoring capabilities.
For example, the advent of online, near realtime measurement capabilities has brought
about a natural progression to developing corrosion monitoring workows and software platforms that maximize the usefulness of recorded
data. These platforms use advances in information and communication technology to improve
oil and gas E&P efforts with the objectives of optimizing eld operations and avoiding nonproductive time.
Schlumberger engineers are working to integrate corrosion measurement data gathering into
overall eld operations. These efforts are focused
in three software-based management platforms.
The Petrel E&P software platform provides operators and service companies with a reservoirlevel view of eld optimization by allowing asset
teams to build collaborative workows based on
geomechanical, geochemical and reservoir uid
properties. Along with information such as the
reservoir temperature and pressure and the
expected corrosive characteristics of production
Autumn 2013
Caliper, in.
6.250 6.359 6.469 6.578 6.688
74
Metal Loss
78
Double Coil B
Long-Spacing Phase
20-in. casing
40
13 3/8-in. casing
degree
82
400
86
Double Coil B
Long-Spacing Amplitude
Depth, ft 60
dB
90
94
Depth, ft
9 5/8-in. casing
90
98
102
106
110
6.688
100
Caliper, in.
and in another from 6,523 to 7,030 ft [1,988 to

2,143 m]. Produced water from both formations
is injected into a formation from 7,492 to 7,690 ft
[2,284 to 2,344 m].
As part of regular operational monitoring and
assessment of the well, Qatar Petroleum engineers deployed the EM Pipe Scanner tool to evaluate the well for corrosion. The tools ndings
indicated signicant metal loss across the 7-in.
and the 9 5/8-in. sections. At approximately 6,250 ft
[1,900 m], the tool indicated a thickness of about
0.28 in. [0.71 cm], much less than the expected
nominal thickness of 0.797 in. [2.03 cm], which
implied a metal loss of approximately 65%. The
wells history and the operators local experience
in the eld suggested that the entire 9 5/8-in. casing was completely corroded and the 7-in. casing
was partially corroded with about 10% metal loss.
The EM Pipe Scanner tools high-frequency
image measurement conrmed that the 7-in.
inner casing was not fully penetrated by corrosion, which indicated that the inside wall of the
pipe was in good condition.
6.578
114
6.469
118
6.359
6.250
122
> Signicant metal loss. Even though the EM Pipe Scanner tool was run outside of its specied range
for amplitude and phase, it detected signicant metal loss across the three casing strings (dashed red
box, top left). The 3D (top center) and 2D (top right) visualizations produced from the PipeView
multinger caliper tool log run in the 13 3/8-in. casing indicate the casing had corroded to the point
that it had parted (bottom left and right) at the depth where the EM Pipe Scanner tool had detected
metal loss.
uids in the reservoir, the Petrel software helps

guide well planners in making well decisions to
ensure a high-integrity wellbore constructed of
appropriate alloys.
The Techlog wellbore software platform further advances this evaluation by providing wellbore-centered workows to identify corrosion
risks. These workows incorporate uid composition and ow rate data to ag any potential
corrosion-induced wellbore problems, allowing
the operator to make construction and completion decisions that minimize corrosions impact.
The Avocet production operations software platform combines well operations and production
data management systems to deliver a clear and
comprehensive picture of operations at the surface. The Avocet software accepts corrosion
data recorded from various monitoring techniques and analyzes such data for their impact
on production. The software ags those areas
with higher corrosion rates or a history of corrosion-related events, and as a result, the operator
can prioritize corrosion mitigation efforts and
implement suitable preventive measures.
As the industry moves into more-aggressive
corrosion environments and technically demanding production regions, corrosion monitoring
advances such as these must continue to expand
and evolve if operators are to remain both protable and environmentally responsible.
TM
31
Geomagnetic ReferencingThe Real-Time

Compass for Directional Drillers
Andrew Buchanan
Anchorage, Alaska, USA
Carol A. Finn
Jeffrey J. Love
E. William Worthington
US Geological Survey
Denver, Colorado, USA
Fraser Lawson
Tullow Ghana Ltd.
Accra, Ghana
Stefan Maus
Magnetic Variation Services LLC
Boulder, Colorado
Shola Okewunmi
Chevron Corporation
Houston, Texas, USA
Benny Poedjono
Sugar Land, Texas
For help in preparation of this article, thanks to Essam
Adly, Muscat, Oman; Goke Akinniranye, The Woodlands,
Texas; James Ashbaugh and Robert Kuntz, Pennsylvania
General Energy Company, LLC, Warren, Pennsylvania,
USA; Nathan Beck, Anchorage; Luca Borri, Jason Brink
and Joseph Longo, Eni US Operating Co. Inc., Anchorage;
Daniel Cardozo, St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada; Pete
Clark, Chevron Energy Technology Company, Houston;
Steve Crozier, Tullow Ghana Ltd., Accra, Ghana; Mike
Hollis, Chesapeake Energy, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma,
USA; Christopher Jamerson, Apache Corporation, Tulsa;
Xiong Li, CGG GravMag Solutions, Houston; Ross Lowdon,
Aberdeen; Diana Montenegro Cuellar, Bogot, Colombia;
Ismail Bolaji Olalere, Shell Nigeria, Port Harcourt, Nigeria;
Irina Shevchenko, Michael Terpening and John Zabaldano,
Houston; Tim White, US Geological Survey, Denver; and the
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Department of
Natural Resources, St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada.
PowerDrive is a mark of Schlumberger.
1. Borehole orientation may be described in terms of
inclination and azimuth. Inclination refers to the vertical
angle measured from the down directionthe down,
horizontal and up directions have inclinations of 0, 90
and 180, respectively. Azimuth refers to the horizontal
angle measured clockwise from true norththe north,
east, south and west directions have azimuths of 0, 90,
180 and 270, respectively. For more on borehole
orientation: Jamieson AL: Introduction to Wellbore
Positioning. Inverness, Scotland: University of the
Highlands and Islands, 2012, http://www.uhi.ac.uk/en/
research-enterprise/wellbore-positioning-download
(accessed June 18, 2013).
2. Griswold EH: Acid Bottle Method of Subsurface Well
Survey and Its Application, Transactions of the AIME 82,
no. 1 (December 1929): 4149.
32
To pinpoint the location and direction of a wellbore, directional drillers rely on

measurements from accelerometers, magnetometers and gyroscopes. In the past,
high-accuracy guidance methods required a halt in drilling to obtain directional
measurements. Advances in geomagnetic referencing now allow companies to use
real-time data acquired during drilling to accurately position horizontal wells,
decrease well spacing and drill multiple wells from limited surface locations.
For a variety of reasons, operating companies

need to know where their wells are as they are
being drilled. Many of todays deviated and horizontal wells no longer simply penetrate a reservoir zone but must navigate through it laterally to
contact as much of the reservoir as possible.
Precise positioning of well trajectories is required
to optimize hydrocarbon recovery, determine
where each well is relative to the reservoir and
avoid collisions with other wells.
To accomplish these objectives, drillers require
directional accuracy to within a fraction of a degree.
To achieve this level of accuracy, they use measurement-while-drilling (MWD) tools that include accelerometers and magnetometers that detect the
Earths gravitational and magnetic elds; they also
use sophisticated procedures to compensate for
measurement perturbation. As drillers have found
success with these tools and become more dependent on them for well guidance, the need for accurately quantied positional uncertainty that takes
into account all measurement error has also
increased. For some applications, the uncertainty is
as important as the position itself.
This article reviews aspects of wellbore surveying, focusing on modern techniques for magnetic surveying with MWD tools. To understand
the operation of and uncertainty associated with
magnetic tools, we examine important aspects of
the Earths magnetic eld and its measurement.
Examples from the USA, Canada, offshore Brazil
and offshore Ghana illustrate the application of
new techniques that improve measurement accuracy and thus effect considerable reduction in
magnetic tool survey error.
Plumb bob
Drift indicator disk

6
4
2
Disk
Punch marks show

3.5 inclination
Clock
> Mechanical drift indicator. This downhole

device measures drift, or deviation from vertical,
using a pendulum, or the plumb bob, principle.
The sharp-tipped pendulum is lowered onto a
disk into which it punches two holes that mark
an initial measurement then a verication
measurement. In this example, the inclination is
3.5. The technique gives no indication of azimuth
but may be reliable for surface hole intervals and
shallow vertical wells in which dogleg severity
and inclination are not signicant. [Adapted from
Gatlin C: Petroleum Engineering Drilling and Well
Completions. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, USA:
Prentice-Hall, Inc. (1960): 143.]
Oileld Review
Historical Perspective
Traditionally, wellbores were drilled vertically
and were widely spaced. Well spacing decreased
as elds matured, regulations tightened and reservoirs were targeted in remote areas. Over time,
drilling multiple horizontal wells from a single
pad became common practice. Today, more than
a dozen wells may fan out into the reservoir from
a single offshore platform or onshore drilling pad.
Pad drillinggrouping wellheads together at
one surface locationnecessitates fewer rig
moves, requires less surface area disturbance and
Autumn 2013
makes it easier and less expensive to complete

wells and produce hydrocarbons. However, the
introduction of horizontal drilling and closer wellbore spacing has intensied the need for accurate
wellbore positioning and for processes to prevent
collisions between the bit and nearby wellbores.
Before the introduction of modern steerable
downhole motors and advanced tools to measure
hole inclination and azimuth, directional or horizontal drilling was much slower than vertical
drilling because of the need to stop regularly and
take time-consuming downhole surveys. The
directional driller stopped drilling to measure

wellbore inclination and azimuth.1
The oldest survey method entailed lowering a
glass bottle of acid downhole and holding it stationary long enough for the acid to etch a horizontal ring
in the bottle. The rings position was interpreted for
inclination once the device was retrieved.2
Another simple survey tool is the single shot
mechanical drift indicator (previous page).
Magnetic single shot (MSS) and multishot (MMS)
surveys have also been used to record inclination
and magnetic azimuth. For those surveys, the tool
33
West
P
X
Geogra
north phic
D
I
Y
East
M
nor agneti
th
c
F
c fi
neti
Mag
or
vect
eld
Z
Down
> Magnetic eld orientation. At any point P, the magnetic eld vector (red) is
commonly described in terms of its direction, its total magnitude, F, in that
direction and H and Z, the local horizontal and vertical components of F. The
angles D and I describe the orientation of the magnetic eld vector. The
declination, D, is the angle in the horizontal plane between H and
geographic north. The inclination, I, is the angle between the magnetic eld
vector and the horizontal plane containing H. Of these measurements, D and
I are required to convert the compass orientation of a wellbore to its
geographic orientation. The absolute magnitudes of F, Z or H are used for
quality control and calibration.
took photographs, or shots, of compass cards

downhole while the pipe was stationary in the
slips. Photographs were taken every 27 m [90 ft]
during active changes of angle or direction and
every 60 to 90 m [200 to 300 ft] while drilling
straight ahead. The introduction of downhole mud
motors in the 1970s and the development of ruggedized sensors and mud pulse telemetry of MWD
data enabled the use of continuously updated digital measurements for near real-time trajectory
adjustments. Most wells are now drilled using survey measurements from modern MWD tools.
Well Survey Basics
Today, directional drillers rely primarily on realtime MWD measurements of gravitational and
magnetic elds using ruggedized triaxial accelerometers and magnetometers. Other categories of
survey tools include magnetic multishot tools,
inclination-only tools and a family of tools based
on the use of gyroscopes, or gyros.3 Unlike MWD
tools, many of these specialty tools are run as
wireline services, thus requiring cessation of the
drilling process. Increasingly, however, gyroscopic tools are also being incorporated into
downhole steering and surveying instruments for
use while drilling.
34
Triaxial accelerometers measure the local

gravity eld along three orthogonal axes. These
measurements provide the inclination of the tool
axis along the wellbore as well as the toolface
relative to the high side of the tool.4 Similarly, triaxial magnetometers measure the strength of the
Earths magnetic eld along three orthogonal
axes. From these measurements and the accelerometer measurements, the tool determines azimuthal orientation of the tool axis relative to
magnetic north. Conversion of magnetic measurements to geographic orientation is at the
heart of MWD wellbore surveying. The key measurements are magnetic dip (also called magnetic inclination), total magnetic eld and
magnetic declination (above).5
A variety of tools exploit gyroscopic principles. These systems are unaffected by ferromagnetic materials, giving them an advantage over
magnetic tools in some drilling scenarios. Some
tools take measurements at discrete intervals of
measured depth (MD) along the well path when
the survey tool is stationary; others operate in a
continuous measurement mode. North-seeking
gyrocompasses (NSGs) make use of gyroscopes
and the rotation of the Earth to automatically
nd geographic north. Rate gyros provide an output proportional to the turning rate of the instrument and may be used to determine orientation
as the survey tool continuously traverses the well

path. Surveying engineers also use them in gyrocompassing mode, in which the stationary tool
responds to the horizontal component of the
Earths rotation rate. The use of rate gyros has
reduced errorssuch as geographic reference
errors and unaccountable measurement drift
that are associated with conventional gyros.
Unfortunately, because they are taken while the
tool is stationary, gyro surveys carry operational
risk and rig time cost associated with wellbore
conditioning when drilling is stopped.6
In some intervals, signicant magnetic interference from offset wellbores makes accurate
magnetic surveying impossible. To address this
limitation, scientists developed gyro-whiledrilling methods. Tool design engineers are
extending the operational limits of some commercial gyro-while-drilling survey systems to the
full range of wellbore inclinations.
For some situations, surveying engineers
combine gyroscopic and magnetic surveying. One
of the combined techniquesinhole referencingmakes use of highly accurate gyroscope
measurements in shallow sections to align subsequent data obtained using magnetic surveys in
deeper sections.7 In highly deviated and
extended-reach wells, this approach delivers levels of accuracy comparable to those acquired
with wireline gyroscopic surveys without incurring the added time and costs. In these inhole
referencing systems, gyroscopic measurements
are used in shallow near-vertical wellbore sections in the vicinity of casing until MWD magnetic surveys can be obtained free of interference
and in longer-reach sections in which inclinations increase. An additional benet of using
both gyro and MWD surveys is the detection of
gross error sources in either tool.
Positional Uncertainty
Drillers use positional uncertainty estimates to
determine the probability of striking a geologic
target and of intersecting other wellbores.8 They
base the estimates on tool error model predictions, which themselves depend on quality control (QC) of survey data. Survey tool quality
checks help identify sources of error, often with
redundant surveys as independent cross-checks.
For most survey tools, the outputs are azimuth, inclination and measured depth. Errors in
each measurement may occur because of both
the tool and the environment. Accuracies available from stationary measurements made with
standard MWD tools are on the order of
0.1 for inclination, 0.5 for azimuth and
1.0 for toolface.
Oileld Review
A surveying engineers ability to determine

borehole trajectory depends on the accumulation
of errors from wellhead to total depth. Rather
than specifying a point in space, surveying engineers consider wellbore position to be within an
ellipsoid of uncertainty (EOU). Typically, the
uncertainty in the lateral direction is larger than
in the vertical or along-hole directions. When displayed continuously along the wellbore, the EOU
presents a volume shaped like a attened cone
surrounding the estimated borehole trajectory
(right). The combined effects of accumulated
error may reach values of 1% of measured well
depth, which could be unacceptably large for
long wellbores.9
The Industry Steering Committee for Wellbore
Survey Accuracy, ISCWSAnow the SPE
Wellbore Positioning Technical Section, WPTS
has promoted development of a rigorous mathematical procedure for combining various error
sources into one 3D uncertainty ellipse.10
External effects on accuracy include axial misalignment, BHA deection, unmodeled geomagnetic eld variations and drillstring-induced
interference. The latter two factors dominate the
performance of magnetic tools and their error
models; such models depend on the resolution of
the geomagnetic reference model in use.11
The Geomagnetic Field
To make use of magnetic measurements for nding direction, it is necessary to take into account
the complexity of the geomagnetic eld. The geomagnetic eld surrounds the Earth and extends
into nearby space.12 The total magnetic eld measured near the Earths surface is the superposition
of magnetic elds arising from a number of time-
3. This family includes conventional gyros, rate gyros,

north-seeking gyros, mechanical inertial gyros and ring
laser inertial gyros. For more on gyros: Jamieson AL:
Understanding Borehole Surveying Accuracy,
Expanded Abstracts, 75th SEG Annual International
Meeting and Exposition, Houston (November 611, 2005):
23392340.
Jamieson, reference 1.
4. Gravity, or high side, toolface is the orientation of the
survey instrument in the borehole relative to up.
Magnetic toolface is the orientation of the survey
instrument relative to magnetic north, corrected to a
chosen reference of either grid north or true north. Most
MWD systems switch from a magnetic toolface to a high
side toolface once the inclination exceeds a preset
threshold typically set between 3 and 8. For more on
instrument orientation: Jamieson, reference 1.
5. By international agreement, magnetic eld orientation
may be described in terms of dip (also referred to as
inclination) and declination. Dip is measured positively
downward from the horizontal directionthe down,
Autumn 2013
1,000 ft
1,000 ft
200 ft
X
Y
> Planned well trajectories showing slices of the ellipsoids of uncertainty

(EOUs) obtained from standard MWD (blue) and from higher accuracy MWD
(red) surveys. The azimuthal and inclination uncertainties are in the XY plane
perpendicular to the borehole. The depth uncertainty is along the Z-axis of
the borehole. When shown at a dense series of points along the well
trajectory, they form a cone of uncertainty. The high-accuracy method
delivers a wellbore with smaller positional uncertainty. (Adapted from
Poedjono et al, reference 32.)
horizontal and up directions have dips (inclinations) of

90, 0 and 90, respectively. Declination is dened
similarly to hole azimuth. For more on magnetic eld
orientation: Campbell WH: Introduction to Geomagnetic
Fields, 2nd ed. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University
Press, 2003.
6. Gyro surveys conducted on wireline in openhole sections
carry the risk of stuck survey tools. Surveys made
through drillpipe when the drilling is stopped carry the
risk of stuck drillpipe. Additionally, operators usually
perform a hole conditioning cleanup cycle after drilling is
stopped. These combined operations may require many
hours of rig time.
7. Thorogood JL and Knott DR: Surveying Techniques with
a Solid-State Magnetic Multishot Device, SPE Drilling
Engineering 5, no. 3 (September 1990): 209214.
8. Ekseth R, Torkildsen T, Brooks A, Weston J, Nyrnes E,
Wilson H and Kovalenko K: High-Integrity Wellbore
Surveying, SPE Drilling & Completion 25, no. 4
(December 2010): 438447.
9. For typical well depths and step-out, or horizontal reach,

the dimensions of the uncertainty envelope may be on
the order of 100 ft [30 m] or more unless action is taken
to correct error sources and run high-accuracy surveys.
This may exceed the size of the target and increase the
risk of unsuccessful wellbore steering. For more on the
calculation, extent and causes of positional uncertainty:
Jamieson, references 1 and 3.
10. For more on tool error model selection and the accepted
industry standard ISCWSA error models for magnetic
tools: Williamson HS: Accuracy Prediction for
Directional Measurement While Drilling, SPE Drilling &
Completion 15, no. 4 (December 2000): 221233.
For more on error models for gyroscopic tools:
Torkildsen T, Hvardstein ST, Weston JL and Ekseth R:
Prediction of Wellbore Position Accuracy When
Surveyed with Gyroscopic Tools, paper SPE 90408,
presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and
Exhibition, Houston, September 2629, 2004.
11. Williamson, reference 10.
12. Love JJ: Magnetic Monitoring of Earth and Space,
Physics Today 61, no. 2 (February 2008): 3137.
35
varying physical processes that are grouped into

four general components: the main magnetic eld,
the crustal eld, the external disturbance eld
and local magnetic interference.13 The signicance
of these contributions to direction, strength and
stability of the total magnetic eld varies with geographic region and with magnetic survey direction.
The importance of accounting for each component
in the measurement depends on the purpose and
required accuracy of the survey.
Physicists have determined that the Earths
main magnetic eld is generated in the Earths
uid outer core by a self-exciting dynamo process. Approximately 95% of the total magnetic
eld measured at Earths surface comes from this
main eld, a signicant portion of which may be
described as the eld of a dipole placed at the
Earths center and tilted approximately 11 from
the Earths rotational axis (left). The magnitude
of the main magnetic eld is nearly 60,000 nT
near the poles and about 30,000 nT near the
equator.14 However, there are signicant nondipole contributions to the main magnetic eld
that complicate its mathematical and graphical
representation (below left). As an additional
complication, the main eld varies slowly
Axis of Earths rotation

Axis of magnetic poles
Line in orbital plane
> Simplied geomagnetic eld. The Earths main geomagnetic eld is

portrayed as the ideal magnetic eld of a geocentric tilted dipole with poles
at the core of the Earth (brown shading). Lines of magnetic ux (red)
emanate outward through the surface of the Earth near the geographic
south pole and reenter near the geographic north pole. Those positions
along the axis of the dipole are the magnetic south and north poles, although
the polarity of the internal dipole is the opposite. The geographic north and
south poles lie on the Earths axis of rotation. Both axes are tilted relative to
the plane of the Earths rotational orbit.
10
10
10
10
20
10
10
20
30
40
20
20
30
> Values of declination along lines of equal declination (isogonic lines) of the Earths magnetic eld. In
the areas surrounded by red lines, or the lines of equal positive declination, a compass points to the
east of true north. Lines of equal negative declination, for which the compass points to the west of
true north, are blue. Along the green, agonic lines, for which declination equals zero, the directions to
magnetic north and true north are identical. The eld shown is the International Geomagnetic
Reference Field for the year 2010. [Adapted from Historical Main Field Change and Declination,
CIRES Geomagnetism, http://geomag.org/info/declination.html (accessed June 24, 2013).]
36
13. Akasofu S-I and Lanzerotti LJ: The Earths

Magnetosphere, Physics Today 28, no. 12 (December
1975): 2834.
Jacobs JA (ed): Geomagnetism, Volume 1. Orlando,
Florida, USA: Academic Press, 1987.
Jacobs JA (ed): Geomagnetism, Volume 3. San Diego,
California, USA: Academic Press, 1989.
Merrill RT, McElhinny MW and McFadden PL: The
Magnetic Field of the Earth: Paleomagnetism, the Core,
and the Deep Mantle. San Diego, California: Academic
Press, International Geophysics Series, Volume 63, 1996.
Campbell, reference 5.
Lanza R and Meloni A: The Earths Magnetism: An
Introduction for Geologists. Berlin: Springer, 2006.
Auster H-U: How to Measure Earths Magnetic Field,
Physics Today 61, no. 2 (February 2008): 7677.
Love, reference 12.
14. The symbol B is often used for magnetic induction,
the quantity that is sensed by magnetometers. The
SI unit for B is the Tesla (T), and the centimeter-gramsecond (cgs) unit is the Gauss (G); the common unit is
the gamma, which is 10 9 T = 1 nT.
15. Time variations, called secular variations, necessitate
periodic updating of magnetic eld maps and models.
These variations are caused by two types of processes
in the Earths core. The rst is related to the main dipole
eld and operates on time scales of hundreds or
thousands of years. The second is related to nondipole
eld variations at time scales on the order of tens of
years. For more on secular variations: Lanza and Meloni,
reference 13.
16. Remanent magnetism of rocks results from exposure of
magnetic materials in the rocks to the Earths magnetic
eld when the rocks were formed. Igneous rocks retain
thermoremanent magnetization as they cool. In some
rocks, remanent magnetization arises when magnetic
grains are formed during chemical reactions.
Sedimentary rocks retain remanent magnetization when
magnetic grains align with the magnetic eld during
sediment deposition. Remanent magnetism also occurs
in ferromagnetic materials, such as the steel in casing
or drillpipe, as a result of exposure to the Earths
magnetic eld or industrial magnetic eld sources.
Oileld Review
400
150
90
70
Alaska
50
P a c
i f i
c
Total intensity anomaly, nT
C A N A D A
30
20
10
0
10
20
30
40
60
80
Year 2010
125
> Variation of the position of the northern

magnetic pole between 1990 and 2010. Magnetic
declination (red and blue lines) from the
International Geomagnetic Reference Field
model is shown for 2010. The green dot
represents the position of the magnetic dip pole
in 2010; the yellow dot represents the position of
that pole in 1990. The agonic lines, for which
declination equals zero in 2010, are highlighted in
green. If a compass at any location points to the
right of true north, declination is positive, or east
(red contours), and if it points to the left of true
north, declination is negative, or west (blue
contours). [Adapted from Historical Magnetic
Declination, NOAA National Geophysical Data
Center, http://maps.ngdc.noaa.gov/viewers/
historical_declination/ (accessed June 24, 2013).]
175
300
> Geomagnetic crustal eld. Airborne measurements of the strength of the magnetic eld provide data
that are used to determine the anomalous contribution from earth crustal materials. The total intensity
anomaly (TIA) is the difference between the magnitude of the total eld and that of the main magnetic
eld. The TIA eld over western Canada; Alaska, USA; and the northwest continental US varies from
300 nT (blue) to +400 nT (pink). The mean total eld strength is about 55,000 nT in this region. The
crustal eld shows local intensity ridges, with variation on a much ner spatial scale than that of the
main magnetic eld. [Adapted from Magnetic Anomaly Map of North America, USGS, http://mrdata.
usgs.gov/geophysics/aeromag-na.html (accessed July 23, 2013).]
Magnetopause
Magnetosheath
Bow shock
Magnetic field lines
because of changes within the Earths core. The

relative strengths of nondipole components
change, and the magnetic dipole axis pole position itself wanders over time (above).15
The magnetic eld associated with the
Earths crust arises from induced and remanent
magnetism.16 The crustal eldalso referred to
as the anomaly eldvaries in direction and
strength when measured over the Earths surface (above right). It is relatively strong in the
vicinity of ferrous and magnetic materials, such
as in the oceanic crust and near concentrations
of metal ores, and is the focus of geophysical
mineral exploration.
The disturbance eld is an external magnetic
eld arising from electric currents owing in the
ionosphere and magnetosphere and mirror-currents induced in the Earth and oceans by the
external magnetic eld time variations. The disturbance eld is associated with diurnal eld
variations and magnetic storms (see Blowing in
the Solar Wind: Sun Spots, Solar Cycles and Life
on Earth, page 48). This eld is affected by solar
activity (solar wind), the interplanetary magnetic eld and the Earths magnetic eld (right).
Autumn 2013
Solar wind
Earth
Van Allen
radiation belts
Magnetotail
> Distortion of the Earths magnetosphere from the solar wind. The sun emits a ux of particles, called
the solar wind, which consists of electrons, protons, helium [He] nuclei and heavier elements. The
Earths magnetic eld is conned by the low-density plasma of the solar wind and the interplanetary
magnetic eld (IMF) that accompanies it. These distort the Earths magnetic eld away from its dipolar
shape in the magnetosphere, the extensive region of space bounding the Earth. The eld becomes
compacted on the sunward side and elongated on the opposite side. The solar wind produces a
variety of effects, including the magnetopause, radiation belts and the magnetotail. Time-varying
interactions of the magnetosphere with the solar wind produce magnetic storms and the external
disturbance eld.
37
Bm
Bc
Bobserved
B int
B int
> Contributions to the total observed magnetic eld. During periods of solar
quiet, the discrepancy between the observed eld, Bobserved (red), and the
main magnetic eld, Bm (green), is largely due to the local crustal eld Bc
(blue) and the drillstring interference, Bint (yellow). At other times, the
external disturbance eld also makes a contribution. (Adapted from
Poedjono et al, reference 30.)
The external magnetic eld exhibits variations on several time scales, which may affect the
applicability of magnetic reference models.17 Very
long-period variations are related to the solar
cycle of about 11 years. Short-term variations
arise from daily sunlight variation, atmospheric
tides and diurnal conductivity variations.
Irregular time variations are inuenced by the
solar wind. Perturbed magnetic states, called
magnetic storms, arise and show impulsive and

unpredictable rapid time variations.
On the local scale, nearby structures such as
rigs and wells may induce magnetic interference.
Drillstring remanent magnetization and magnetic permeability contribute to perturbations of
the measured magnetic eld (above). Operators
may use nonmagnetic drill collars to reduce
these effects along with software techniques to
compensate for them.
Model
Organization
Order
Resolution, km
Update Interval
WMM
NOAA, NGDC and BGS
12
3,334
5 years
IGRF
IAGA
13
3,077
5 years
BGGM
BGS
50
800
1 year
EMM and HDGM
NOAA and NGDC
720
56
5 years and 1 year
> Magnetic eld reference models. Several groups and organizations have
developed reference models of differing resolution; the models are updated
at various intervals. In the Order column, order increases with the
complexity of the model and in this case refers to spherical harmonic
models. These models construct the global magnetic eld as a sum of terms
of varying order and degree. Terms of order n have a total of n circular
nodal lines on the sphere at which the magnetic eld contribution is zero.
The orientation of the lines depends on the combination of order and
degree. Resolution corresponds to the wavelength of the highest order term.
38
Magnetic Field Measurements,

Instrumentation and Models
Physicists have developed a variety of sophisticated instruments for measuring magnetic
elds.18 Of particular interest for geomagnetic
referencing are the instruments that scientists
use within magnetic observatories on the Earths
surface and those that surveying engineers use in
the oil eld for downhole MWD surveying.
Proton precession and Overhauser magnetometers, which measure the Earths magnetic
eld, are based on the phenomenon of nuclear
paramagnetism and the tendency of atomic
nuclei with a magnetic spin to orient along the
dominant magnetic eld. During this process, a
current-induced magnetic eld is applied and
removed intermittently, and then the frequency
of precession is measured as protons in the sensor uid precess under the inuence of the
Earths magnetic eld. The Overhauser magnetometer makes use of additional free electrons in
the sensing uid and the application of a strong
radio frequency polarizing eld to enable continuous measurement of the precession frequency.
The 14 US-based US Geological Survey (USGS)
magnetic observatories use Overhauser magnetometers to provide absolute measurements of
magnetic eld intensity.19 These magnetometers
achieve absolute accuracy on the order of 0.1 nT.
Fluxgate magnetometers operate by driving
the cores of magnetic circuits into saturation and
measuring slight asymmetries that arise from the
additional contribution of the Earths magnetic
eld. These instruments give nonabsolute magnetic measurements along a particular direction,
with resolution as ne as 0.01 nT.20 The instruments are used in surface observatories and in
ruggedized downhole MWD equipment, although
some instruments are temperature sensitive and
require stabilization through mechanical design.
Magnetic eld models provide values for magnetic declination, magnetic inclination and total
magnetic eld at points on the surface of the
Earth; scientists use these models to transform
magnetic measurements to directions in the geographic coordinate system. Various organizations
have developed geomagnetic reference models
using global magnetic eld measurements taken
from satellite, aircraft and ships. These organizations include the US National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the NOAA
National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC), the
British Geological Survey (BGS) and the
International Association of Geomagnetism and
Aeronomy (IAGA). The models differ in their
resolution in space and time (left).
Oileld Review
The World Magnetic Model (WMM) characterizes the long-wavelength portion of the magnetic
eld that is generated in the Earths core; it does
not represent the portions that arise either in the
crust and upper mantle or from the disturbance
eld generated in the ionosphere and magnetosphere.21 Consequently, magnetic measurements
may show discrepancies when referenced to the
WMM alone. Local and regional magnetic declination anomalies occasionally exceed 10, and declination anomalies on the order of 4 are not
uncommon but are usually of small spatial extent.
To account for secular variation, the WMM is
updated every ve years. An international task force
formed by the IAGA has released International
Geomagnetic Reference Field IGRF-11, a series of
mathematical models of the Earths main magnetic
eld and its rate of change. These models have resolution that is comparable to that of the WMM.22
Directional drilling requires higher resolution models than WMM or IGRF alone. The BGS
Global Geomagnetic Model (BGGM), widely used
in the drilling industry, provides the main magnetic eld at 800-km [500-mi] resolution and is
updated annually.23 The Enhanced Magnetic
Model (EMM) improves greatly on this spatial
resolution. The EMM and a successor, the HighDenition Geomagnetic Model (HDGM), resolve
anomalies down to 56 km [35 mi], an order of
magnitude improvement over previous models.
By accounting for a larger waveband of the geomagnetic spectrum, the HDGM improves the
accuracy of the reference eld, which in turn
improves the reliability of wellbore azimuth
determination and enables high-accuracy drillstring interference correction.24
Improving Well Position Accuracy

To place wellbores accurately when using magnetic guidance, surveying engineers must account
for or eliminate two important sources of survey
error: interference caused by magnetized elements in the drillstring and local variations
between magnetic north and true, or geographic,
north. Analysis of data from multiple wellbore survey stations, or multistation analysis (MSA), has
become the key to addressing drillstring interference. Surveying engineers use geomagnetic referencing, which accounts for the inuence of the
crustal eld and the time-varying disturbance
eld as well as secular variations in the main magnetic eld.
Multistation analysisMSA is a technique
that helps compensate for drillstring magnetic
interference, which can affect downhole magnetic surveys.25 Drillstring components generate
local disturbances to the Earths magnetic eld
because of their magnetic permeability and
remanent magnetization. Using tools manufactured with nonmagnetic materials to isolate
directional sensors from magnetized drillstring
components is benecial, but the use of such
tools may be imperfect or impractical because
they may impact the cost or performance of the
BHA. An alternative is to characterize the magnitude of the disturbance associated with the BHA
so that its inuence is predictable.
The MSA technique assesses the magnetic
signature of the BHA by comparing the Earths
main magnetic eld with magnetic data acquired
at multiple survey stations. The magnitude of the
perturbation depends on the orientation of the
tool relative to the magnetic eld direction. With
sufcient data, the method determines a robust

correction of the BHA disturbance to be applied
for each particular well orientation.
Multistation analysis is an improvement over
the earlier technique of single station analysis in
which compensation is estimated and applied to
each survey station independently. Now commonly used in the industry, MSA generally
reduces directional uncertainty and aids in penetration of smaller reservoir targets than were
previously achievable. The technique can eliminate some gyrocompass runs, thus reducing operational costs. Service companies have developed
data requirements and acceptance criteria that
have to be fullled when applying MSA, and an
industry standard has been proposed.26
Geomagnetic referencingAnother technique for improving wellbore position accuracy,
geomagnetic referencing provides the mapping
between magnetic north and true north that is
necessary to convert magnetically determined
orientations to geographic ones on a local scale.
The mapping must account for secular variations
in the main magnetic eld model and include an
accurate crustal model. Furthermore, it must
incorporate the time-varying disturbance eld
when it is signicant. The Schlumberger geomagnetic referencing method builds a custom model
of the geomagnetic eld, with all its magnetic
eld components, to minimize the error in the
mapping between magnetic and true north.27
Annually updated magnetic eld models such
as the BGGM or HDGM accurately track secular
variations of the main magnetic eld. Surveying
engineers employ such models as the foundation
for a custom model. They use various techniques
17. During quiet periods of solar activity, daily eld

variations, called diurnal variations, can have
magnitudes of about 20 nT at midlatitudes and up to
about 200 nT in equatorial regions. During periods of
heightened solar activity, magnetic storms may persist
for several hours or several days with deviations in
magnetic intensity components on the order of several
tens to hundreds of nT at midlatitudes. In auroral
regions, the disturbances occasionally reach 1,000 nT,
and the declination angle can vary by several degrees
or more. For more on magnetic reference models: Lanza
and Meloni, reference 13 and Campbell, reference 5.
18. Campbell, reference 5.
Lanza and Meloni, reference 13.
Auster, reference 13.
19. Love JJ and Finn CA: The USGS Geomagnetism
Program and Its Role in Space Weather Monitoring,
Space Weather 9, no. 7 (July 2011): S07001-1S07001-5.
20. Auster, reference 13.
21. For more on the World Magnetic Model (WMM):
Maus S, Macmillan S, McLean S, Hamilton B,
Thomson A, Nair M and Rollins C: The US/UK World
Magnetic Model for 20102015, Boulder, Colorado,
USA: US NOAA technical report, National Environmental
Satellite, Data, and Information Service/National
Geophysical Data Center, 2010.
22. For more on the International Geomagnetic Reference

Field (IGRF) model: Glassmeier K-H, Soffel H and
Negendank JFW (eds): Geomagnetic Field Variations.
Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 2009, http://www.ngdc.noaa.
gov/IAGA/vmod/igrf.html (accessed July 21, 2013).
23. For more on the BGS Global Geomagnetic Model
(BGGM): BGS Global Geomagnetic Model, British
Geological Survey, http://www.geomag.bgs.ac.uk/
data_service/directionaldrilling/bggm.html (accessed
July 16, 2013).
Macmillan S, McKay A and Grindrod S: Condence
Limits Associated with Values of the Earths Magnetic
Field Used for Directional Drilling, paper SPE/IADC
119851, presented at the SPE/IADC Drilling Conference
and Exhibition, Amsterdam, March 1719, 2009.
24. For more on the Enhanced Magnetic Model (EMM):
Maus S: An Ellipsoidal Harmonic Representation of
Earths Lithospheric Magnetic Field to Degree and
Order 720, Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 11,
no. 6 (June 2010): Q06015-1Q06015-12.
For more on the High-Denition Geomagnetic Model
(HDGM): Maus S, Nair MC, Poedjono B, Okewunmi S,
Fairhead D, Barckhausen U, Milligan PR and Matzka J:
High Denition Geomagnetic Models: A New
Perspective for Improved Wellbore Positioning,
paper IADC/SPE 151436, presented at the IADC/SPE
Drilling Conference and Exhibition, San Diego, California,
March 68, 2012.
25. Brooks AG, Gurden PA and Noy KA: Practical

Application of a Multiple-Survey Magnetic Correction
Algorithm, paper SPE 49060, presented at the SPE
Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, New
Orleans, September 2730, 1998.
Lowdon RM and Chia CR: Multistation Analysis and
Geomagnetic Referencing Signicantly Improve
Magnetic Survey Results, paper SPE/IADC 79820,
presented at the SPE/IADC Drilling Conference,
Amsterdam, February 1921, 2003.
Chia CR and de Lima DC: MWD Survey Accuracy
Improvements Using Multistation Analysis, paper
IADC/SPE 87977, presented at the IADC/SPE Asia Pacic
Drilling Technology Conference and Exhibition, Kuala
Lumpur, September 1315, 2004.
26. Nyrnes E, Torkildsen T and Wilson H: Minimum
Requirements for Multi-Station Analysis of MWD
Magnetic Directional Surveys, paper SPE/IADC 125677,
presented at the SPE/IADC Middle East Drilling
Technology Conference and Exhibition, Manama,
Bahrain, October 2628, 2009.
27. For a detailed description of crustal magnetic modeling,
including construction of the vector crustal magnetic
eld using downward continuation and trilinear
interpolation: Poedjono B, Adly E, Terpening M and Li X:
Geomagnetic Referencing ServiceA Viable
Alternative for Accurate Wellbore Surveying,
Drilling Conference and Exhibition, New Orleans,
February 24, 2010.
Autumn 2013
39
> Plan view of wellbore trajectories, looking down. PGE used a multiwell
pad design for 14 wells drilled into the Marcellus Shale from a single pad.
The plan shows initial uncertainty disks at true vertical depths of 2,500 ft
(red) and 5,000 ft (yellow). As expected, uncertainty grows larger with
increasing distance from the surface location and can impact the drilling
program. None of the red disks intersect each other, nor do the yellow
disks, indicating that the wellbores (blue) are clear of each other at those
depths. (Copyright 2010, SPE Eastern Regional Meeting. Reproduced with
permission of SPE. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.)
for local crustal magnetic mapping, including

land, marine or aeromagnetic surveys. Fortunately, the crustal magnetic eld needs to be
characterized only once in the life of the reservoir. The disturbance eld, however, varies rapidly over time. Because data are available from
magnetic observatories, surveying engineers are
able to incorporate disturbances caused by diurnal solar activity and magnetic storms into survey
data processing.
The technique of ineld referencing (IFR)
makes use of data from local magnetic surveys
near a wellsite to characterize the crustal magnetic eld. Service companies have developed
> Pad design and well trajectories. PGE drilled 14 wells into two reservoirs during Phases 1 (magenta)
and 2 (blue) of the drilling campaign. The graphical size of each wellbore corresponds to the size of
the EOUs as dened in the survey program. The drilling team conrmed the anticollision condition. At
the reservoir entry point, each well needed to have a minimum 200-ft [60-m] separation from its
counterpart drilled in the opposite direction. (Copyright 2010, SPE Eastern Regional Meeting.
Reproduced with permission of SPE. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.)
40
extensions of this technique, incorporating

remote observatory data to account for time variations. Surveying engineers use these techniques
to extend the main magnetic eld model and provide the best estimate of the local magnetic eld,
which is critical for geomagnetic referencing and
multistation drillstring compensation. These
techniques allow magnetic surveying even at
high latitudes, where the local magnetic eld
exhibits extreme variations.
Schlumberger has introduced the geomagnetic
referencing service (GRS) as a cost-effective alternative to conducting gyroscopic surveys in realtime drilling applications.28 GRS provides accurate
data on wellbore position and enables timely corrections to wellbore trajectory. Surveying engineers use a proprietary algorithm, a 3D crustal
model and a time- and depth-varying geomagnetic
reference to correct MWD measurements for magnetic drillstring interference, calculate tool orientation from the corrected measurements and
advise the directional driller on course adjustments. Coordination between the operator, directional drilling contractor, MWD survey provider,
geomagnetic observatory and survey engineer is
essential for managing this survey technique.
Examples from the USA, Canada, offshore Brazil
and offshore Ghana illustrate a range of geomagnetic referencing applications.
Avoiding Collision in the Marcellus Shale
Pennsylvania General Energy (PGE) has undertaken eld development in the Marcellus Shale
that illustrates the benets of multiwell planning
and the need for quantifying positional uncertainty and assuring collision avoidance. PGE and
its service providers sought to optimize pad
design for multiwell drilling.29 Historically, operators have developed the Marcellus Shale and
other resources in the Appalachian basin using
inexpensive vertical wells with minimal quality
control on well surveys conducted by gyro and
steering tools. Currently, however, more operators are turning to multiwell pads and horizontal
drilling to improve logistics and economic and
environmental impact during the development of
shale gas reservoirs.
Operators now are drilling up to 14 wells per
pad on 7-ft [2-m] centers by constructing deviated wells. First, a 17 1/2 -in. surface hole is air
drilled to a depth of about 1,000 ft [300 m] and
then surveyed. A 12 1/4 -in. section for a water protection string is then air drilled to a true vertical depth (TVD) of 2,500 ft [760 m] using
gyro-while-drilling tools to guide the separation
of wells on the pad. The directional driller uses
Oileld Review
a north-seeking gyro until the well reaches a

depth that is free of external magnetic interference from nearby wellbores. The deeper, deviated 8 3/4 -in. section is simultaneously drilled
and surveyed to total depth (TD) with a rotary
steerable system (RSS) and MWD.
Because accurate surveying and anticollision
monitoring are imperative, PGE took a proactive
approach to the multiwell pad design and drilling
by using a recently proposed anticollision standard.30 Following this procedure, the operator
dened uncertainty areas at three TVDs: 1,000 ft,
2,500 ft and 5,000 ft [1,500 m]. Well planners performed anticollision analysis of trajectories to
ensure wellbores were properly separated at
these depths. Visualization of wellbore trajectories, with uncertainty areas plotted at intermediate and deeper depths, conrmed that the
drilling plan was unlikely to lead to wellbore collision (previous page, top).
The selection of slots in the multiwell pad was
an important aspect of the PGE pad design
because of the constraints on surface hole locations and target coordinates. PGE drilled seven
wells into each of two stacked reservoirs. The
drilling engineer completed the nal pad design
after surface holes were drilled and surveyed;
then they replanned all wells, recalculated
uncertainty areas and reassessed anticollision
conditions (previous page, bottom). As a result,
the plan reduced the risk of wellbore collision
and its associated costs.
Reaching Difcult Targets Offshore Canada
Geomagnetic referencing techniques have helped
an operator efciently and safely reach its objectives in the Jeanne dArc basin offshore eastern
Canada.31 Weather conditions are often severe in
this remote area of the North Atlantic, leading
operators to develop strategies for minimizing the
extent of their offshore installations. The construction of multiple extended-reach wells drilled
from slots on gravity-based platforms leverages the
use of infrastructure but creates a crowded subsurface, placing a premium on collision avoidance
and precise wellbore positioning.
As a further challenge, the geology of the area
is complex. The sedimentary basin consists of
thick, layered sandstones separated by shales and
subdivided by faults into large compartments or
blocks. The reservoir is in a fault-bounded sector
in which the target zones are smaller than the seismic resolution. The operator needed to employ
sophisticated drilling and surveying techniques to
hit these small targets while maintaining tight
restrictions on wellbore trajectory designs.
Autumn 2013
Y-axis
0m
0m
400 m
400 m
800 m
1,200 m
800 m
1,600 m
1,200 m
2,000 m
2,400 m
1,600 m
2,800 m
2,000 m
3,200 m
Z-axis
2,400 m
3,600 m
2,800 m
6,000 m
5,000 m
X-axis
3,200 m
4,000 m
3,600 m
3,000 m
6,000 m
5,000 m
4,000 m
3,000 m
2,000 m
Y-axis
1,000 m
0m
> Hitting distant targets with an extended-reach well in the Jeanne dArc basin, offshore Canada. This
well trajectory (center) extends approximately 7,000 m [23,000 ft] before dropping to hit two targets
(red) at about 4,000 m [13,000 ft]. Insets (top and bottom) show close-up views of the targets and the
ellipsoids of uncertainty (EOUs) for two survey methods. The positional uncertainty (green) of the
magnetic surveys without GRS (top) is so large that the well may be outside the targets. With GRS
(bottom), the positional uncertainty (blue) is well within the size of the targets. (Adapted from Poedjono
et al, reference 27. The images in this gure are copyright 2010, IADC/SPE Drilling Conference and
Exhibition. Reproduced with permission of SPE. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.)
For a successful drilling program, the operator required an accurate description of positional
uncertainty and a small error ellipsoid. The GRS
guided drilling program met these requirements
and provided extended drillability, reduced drilling time and improved chances of hitting the geologic target (above).
High Precision in High Latitudes
Geomagnetic referencing brings signicant
advantages but encounters its greatest challenge
when applied at high latitude, where the magnitude of geomagnetic disturbance eld variations
28. Lowdon and Chia, reference 25.

29. Poedjono B, Zabaldano J, Shevchenko I, Jamerson C,
Kuntz R and Ashbaugh J: Case Studies in the
Application of Pad Design Drilling in the Marcellus
Shale, paper SPE 139045, presented at the SPE Eastern
Regional Meeting, Morgantown, West Virginia, USA,
October 1214, 2010.
Kuntz R, Ashbaugh J, Poedjono B, Zabaldano J,
Shevchenko I and Jamerson C: Pad Design Key for
Marcellus Drilling, The American Oil & Gas Reporter,
54, no. 4 (April 2011): 111114.
30. Poedjono B, Lombardo GJ and Phillips W: Anti-Collision
Risk Management Standard for Well Placement, paper
SPE 121040, presented at the SPE Americas E&P
Environmental and Safety Conference, San Antonio,
Texas, USA, March 2325, 2009.
31. Poedjono et al, reference 27.
Kuntz et al, reference 29.
41
Start
Real-time raw MWD

survey data
QA/QC by Schlumberger
Crustal data
cube coordinates
Geomagnetic
referencing
processing
DED observatory
adjusted data
QA/QC by USGS
Pass
QA/QC?
Real-time GRS
azimuth correction
to drill ahead
QA/QC
remove data with
external interference
No
Nearby well?
End of
bit run?
Yes
No
Yes
No
QA/QC
calibration?
failed sensor?
Yes
Final GRS
definitive surveys
final GRS report
Total depth
reached?
Yes
No
Sectional GRS
definitive surveys
New bit run
Stop
> Geomagnetic referencing workow. The workow starts with raw MWD and magnetic observatory
data streams (shown here as from the DED observatory) and combines them with crustal magnetic eld
data then progresses through geomagnetic processing, data adjustment and quality control.
Processing continuously generates directional drilling corrections and provides denitive surveys at
the end of bit runs. (Adapted from Poedjono et al, reference 32.)
Data
Reference
58,239
58,039
nT
57,839
57,639
57,439
57,239
57,039
10,500
11,776
13,052
14,328
15,605
16,881
18,157
19,433
20,710
Depth, ft
Data
Reference
58,826
58,479
nT
58,132
57,785
57,438
57,091
56,744
10,500
11,776
13,052
14,328
15,605
16,881
18,157
19,433
20,710
Depth, ft
> Time-varying reference data. Raw magnetic MWD survey data (top, blue) initially exceeded the data
quality acceptance limits (red) at several depths, but the data passed when referenced to DED
observatory data (bottom). Initial acceptance limits were based on a static reference value (top, green)
for the local magnetic eld strength, whereas the DED data provided actual time-varying values
(bottom, green) to which the limits could be referenced. (Adapted from Poedjono et al, reference 32.)
42
is large. The Eni US Operating Co. Inc. Nikaitchuq

eld in the Beaufort Sea off the North Slope of
Alaska, USA, is one such location. Continuity of
the reservoir is broken by several faults, and drillers need to consider local reservoir compartmentalization in well planning.32 Wellbore positioning
must be precise and accurate.
At these high latitudes, the external disturbance eld varies dramatically over time.33 This
disturbance represents the major source of noise
in magnetic data used for well guidance.
Amplitude variations are as large as 1,000 nT, and
measured declination angles may vary by several
degrees during magnetic storms. To account for
these perturbations, GRS applies time-varying
reference data from a nearby observatory to
MWD measurements.
In 2009, the USGS launched a joint publicprivate partnership with Schlumberger to begin
planning for installation and maintenance of a
new observatory, called Deadhorse Geomagnetic
Observatory (DED), at the town of Deadhorse, on
the North Slope of Alaska. The newest of the 14
observatories, DED is now operated by
Schlumberger under USGS guidance and follows
Intermagnet standards.34
Instrumentation at the observatory includes a
triaxial uxgate magnetometer for vector eld
measurements, an Overhauser magnetometer
for total eld intensity measurements and a
single-axis uxgate declination-inclination magnetometer (DIM) on a nonmagnetic theodolite.
Specialists use DIM and Overhauser data to calibrate the uxgate variational data weekly. USGS
scientists have developed specialized data processing algorithms to produce adjusted and denitive versions of real-time data streams received
remotely at the USGS Geomagnetism Program
headquarters in Golden, Colorado, USA.35
The workow for geomagnetic referencing
includes simultaneous acquisition and quality
control of two data streamsMWD survey data
at the rig site and real-time magnetic data at the
observatory (above left).36 Schlumberger wellsite
engineers perform QC of the raw MWD data.
USGS experts execute automated QC and daily
inspection of data from the DED observatory and
apply sensor calibration factors to produce
adjusted observatory data representing the timevarying disturbance eld correction. GRS processing combines the time-stamped disturbance
eld data, crustal eld data and main magnetic
eld model data. The algorithm applies the combined magnetic eld data to the raw MWD sensor
data at each survey depth and performs multistation processing and geomagnetic referencing,
Oileld Review
High-Density Wells in the Williston Basin

ConocoPhillips Company has demonstrated that
improved wellbore survey accuracy contributes
to increased oil production. Better survey accuracy enables closer well separation and longer
horizontal wells essential for boosting the efciency of water injection programs designed to
enhance oil recovery. Operating in two elds near
the Cedar Creek anticline along the border
between Montana and North Dakota, USA, the
company has systematically studied the accuracy
of existing wellbore survey data and examined
the causes of MWD errors. By developing
improved methodologies for magnetic data collection and reducing those errors, the company
reduced positional uncertainty and contributed
to both the safety and viability of the horizontal
drilling program.37
Initially, the operators in these elds placed
horizontal wells on a 640-acre [2.6-km2] spacing. They subsequently reduced well spacing to
320 acres [1.3 km2] and recongured the well
pattern for a line-drive waterood, in which
rows of injection wells alternated with rows of
producers (above right). Reservoir modeling
suggested that reducing well spacing to
160 acres [0.65 km2] would be benecial.
However, before proceeding, the operator
needed to assess the accuracy of wellbore placement, because inadvertent convergence of boreholes could adversely affect waterood sweep
efciency, reducing hydrocarbon production
and increasing lifting and disposal costs.
Autumn 2013
Williston Basin
1 mi
1 mi
95
0f
yielding geographic hole orientation. During

additional processing stages, the algorithm
implements data acceptance logic and computes
a correction to drilling direction. The directional
driller applies the drill-ahead correction until a
new set of surveys is completed and a new drillahead correction is available. At the completion
of each BHA run, surveying engineers apply BHA
deection corrections and compile the nal
denitive survey for that run.
The use of time-varying reference data was
essential for drilling engineers to plan and execute drilling in the Nikaitchuq eld. Magnetic
MWD survey raw data initially failed the data
quality acceptance limits at several depths but
improved to an acceptable range when referenced to DED observatory data (previous page,
bottom). Because the company used GRS, drilling activities continued without the need for
dedicated and costly surveying operations beyond
the standard MWD survey stations.
Early producer well spacing:

one well per 640 acres
> Field development plan. In a eld in Montana and North Dakota, USA, operators started eld
development with one well per 1-mi2 [640-acre, 2.6-km2] parcel. Alternate rows of injector (blue) and
producer wells (gray) show planned down-spacing to an interwell spacing of 950 ft [290 m] (red box).
Positional uncertainty needs to be minimized to keep the well trajectories parallel and reduce the risk of
premature breakthrough of water from the injectors. (Adapted from Landry et al, reference 37.)
To assess the accuracy of MWD surveys, the

operator conducted several statistical surveys in
which the positions of wells drilled using MWD
were compared with positions determined from
postdrilling gyro surveys. Results showed that
while the average azimuth deviation between the
MWD and gyro data was about 1, the differences
were larger for a signicant number of wells.
After evaluating the data, surveying engineers
determined that the principal cause of azimuthal

error was BHA-induced magnetic interference.
Other factors included local magnetic eld variations and drillstring sag.
Understanding and minimizing BHA-induced
magnetic interference proved to be the key to
improving survey accuracy. Surveying engineers
used specialized software to estimate the contribution of drillstring interference to azimuth error
32. Poedjono B, Beck N, Buchanan A, Brink J, Longo J,

Finn CA and Worthington EW: Geomagnetic
Referencing in the Arctic Environment, paper SPE
149629, presented at the SPE Arctic and Extreme
Environments Conference and Exhibition, Moscow,
October 1820, 2011.
33. Merrill et al, reference 13.
34. For more on Intermagnet: International Real-time
Magnetic Observatory Network, INTERMAGNET,
http://www.intermagnet.org/index-eng.php (accessed
October 16, 2013).
35. Love and Finn, reference 19.

36. For more on the workow at the DED observatory and on
the geomagnetic referencing: Poedjono et al,
reference 32.
37. Landry B, Poedjono B, Akinniranye G and Hollis M:
Survey Accuracy Extends Well Displacement at
Minimum Cost, paper SPE 105669, presented at the
15th SPE Middle East Oil and Gas Show and Conference,
Bahrain, March 1114, 2007.
43
Plan View
and evaluate the benets and tradeoffs of placing

nonmagnetic material between the magnetometers and the rest of the BHA. Because separating
sensors from the bit can compromise real-time
steering, the operators minimized nonmagnetic
components and instead employed single station
and multistation processing techniques to correct
the surveys in real time. Postdrilling comparisons
of MWD drilled trajectories with gyro surveys conrmed that discrepancies had been reduced statistically, including for instances in which the
real-time magnetic interference corrections were
large. Taking the reduced EOUs into account,
drilling engineers were able to stagger wellhead
positions and optimize wellhead spacing to prevent water breakthrough (left).
Well-to-well separation
at surface location
Surface location
Well 3
Surface location
Well 1
Surface location
Well 2
Survey Program B
provides separation at TD.
Separation at
measured depth
Uncertainty of Survey Program A

Separation for Survey
Program A relative to the
offset at TD of Well 3
Survey Program A
does not provide
separation at TD.
Uncertainty of Survey Program B
> Strategies for ensuring optimal spacing to prevent water breakthrough. Survey Program B (pink)
delivers higher accuracy than Survey Program A (blue). Had Wells 1 and 2 been drilled from adjacent
surface locations using Survey Program A, the wells may have collided at TD. Survey Program B, with
compensation for magnetic interference, ensures noncollision and allows the wells to be extended to
planned total depth. By staggering one wellhead to the surface location of Well 3, the operator could
increase well separation at total depth, drill wells with the desired orientation and spacing and prevent
early water breakthrough. The operator chose to use both Survey Program B and wellhead staggering.
(Adapted from Landry et al, reference 37.)
23.8
23.4
2048
23.4
22
23.4
23.2
2136
22.2
Latitude
Field
23
2200
23.2
2224
23
23.2
23.6
Magnetic field declination, degree
2112
23
23.2
2248
24
4000
3936
4000
3936
4000
3936
Longitude
> Magnetic eld declination maps offshore Brazil. The standard model (left) shows smooth, largescale variations in magnetic eld declination in the vicinity of the hydrocarbon eld (red polygon). The
higher resolution HDGM (center) includes more detail. The combined HDGM and aeromagnetic survey
model (right) contains the highest resolution information of all three models. All maps show declination
at mean sea level. Differences of nearly 1 in declination are observed between the standard and
highest resolution models near the eld. (Adapted from Poedjono et al, reference 38.)
44
Crustal Variations
In some situations, the main concern is not the
time-varying eld but the crustal correction.
Such was the case for one operator in a deepwater heavy-oil eld offshore Brazil.38 The project
lies in 1,100 m [3,600 ft] of water in the northern
Campos basin. The operator had drilled several
wells using MWD and had observed discrepancies
between downhole tool readings and those
expected from the BGGM. To improve magnetic
surveying here, it was necessary to develop a better model of the local magnetic eld so that wellbore trajectories would attain their targets. The
company needed to employ a highly accurate geomagnetic model to avoid eld acceptance criteria
failures in real-time drilling. Such failures may
lead to unnecessary tool retrieval operations
because of suspected tool failure.
To resolve the survey discrepancies, a
research team composed of representatives from
the operator, Schlumberger, other contractors
and academia developed a method for mapping
the magnetic variations using the High-Denition
Geomagnetic Model (HDGM2011), which had
recently been developed at the US NGDC. The
team integrated this large-scale magnetic eld
model with data from a local aeromagnetic survey to extend the spatial spectrum of the magnetic eld from regional scales down to the
kilometer scale (left).
The team used two independent methods to
analyze the crustal magnetic model.39 Method 1
combined the BGGM with aeromagnetic survey
data and employed an equivalent source method
for downward continuation of the eld to reservoir depth. Method 2 combined the aeromagnetic
Oileld Review
38. Poedjono B, Montenegro D, Clark P, Okewunmi S,

Maus S and Li X: Successful Application of
Geomagnetic Referencing for Accurate Wellbore
Positioning in a Deepwater Project Offshore Brazil,
Drilling Conference and Exhibition, San Diego, California,
March 68, 2012.
39. Two proprietary processing methods developed for
analyzing the crustal eld are discussed in Poedjono et
al, reference 38. Method 1 was developed by Fugro
Gravity & Magnetic Services Inc, now part of CGG.
Method 2 was developed by Magnetic Variation
Services LLC.
Autumn 2013
Crustal Contribution at Sea Level
2.0
1.8
1.6
0.4
0.2
0.6
1.4
10,000 m
0.8
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
10,000 m
Crustal Contribution at 5,000 m
2.0
0.8
1.8
0.6
0.4
1.6
1.2
1.4
1.4
0.2
0.2
10,000 m
survey with a long-wavelength crustal eld model

provided by the German CHAMP satellite survey
and created a 3D magnetic model for the lease
area. The team established the validity of
Method 2 by comparing the results with marine
magnetic proles taken from the US NOAA/NGDC
archive. Magnetic eld model attributes computed with these two methods closely agreed
with each other when compared at mean sea
level and at the 5,000-m [16,400-ft] reservoir
depth (right).
The team discovered that intermediate-wavelength anomalies caused by large-scale magnetization of the oceanic crust had a signicant
impact on local magnetic declination. The
higher-resolution geomagnetic reference models
enabled more-rened multistation compensation
for drillstring interference. By comparing predictions of horizontal and vertical magnetic eld
components with those from MWD tool readings,
the team established validity of the broadband
models. Data points affected by drillstring interference were outside quality control acceptance
bands when processed with the BGGM but were
consistent with the other data when processed
with a high-resolution model.
The team evaluated the importance of the
time-varying disturbance eld using data from
the nearby Vassouras Magnetic Observatory in
Brazil. Results showed small variations in declination, dip and total eld intensity. Diurnal variations were insignicant at the wellbore positions
during times of low solar activity, and data from
the high-resolution static models were sufcient
for these times. Operator representatives concluded that multistation analysis improved when
they used the high-resolution geomagnetic models compared with the BGGM magnetic eld predictions. Signicant localization improvements
occurred when they used GRS to correct MWD
raw readings. Estimated wellbore bottomhole
locations shifted signicantly, and the sizes of
the ellipsoids of uncertainty and the TVD uncertainty consistently decreased.
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.6
10,000 m
> Crustal contribution to the magnetic eld declination at two depths in the vicinity of a eld
offshore Brazil. The crustal eld contribution to the magnetic declination is shown in plan
view at mean sea level (top) and at a depth of 5,000 m (bottom). Values were calculated using
a method that combined an aeromagnetic survey with a long-wavelength crustal eld model
provided by the German CHAMP satellite survey; the method then created a 3D magnetic
model for the lease area. The 3D magnetic eld changes with depth, in large part because of
the magnetic properties of the Earths crust underlying the sediments offshore Brazil.
(Adapted from Poedjono et al, reference 38.)
45
Schlumberger Drilling & Measurements Survey Tool Box

Main File Launch Help
EDI Calculator Reference Check Benchmark Rotation Shot BHA Survey Frequency
Units
Survey Data
Meters
Geomagnetic Reference
GeoMag Field
GridAzimuth 270.00 deg
Declination
4.5900 deg
90.00 deg
Grid Convergence
0.2100 deg
Total lBl
4.3800
Region
Geographic Region
Feet
Inclination
Azimuth Reference
Check Reference
True North
Grid North
DEM Total Correction
Minimum Number of Surveys Required for DMAG
BHA Collar Size
49895 nT Dip
61.75 deg
25
Nonmagnetic Spacing of BHA Elements
Small (4.75 OD or Less)
D2 100.51 ft
Medium (6.75 and all Medium sizes)
L2
Large (8 OD or More)
BHA Conguration
52.78
ft
D1
36.02 ft
ft
S2
ft
L1
ft
S1
ft
Type
PowerDrive Rotary Steerable
Steerable Motor Assembly
NonMag Steerable Motor
Drill Collars or Other BHA
Stabilizer + Bit Only Below MWD
D2
MP
D1
Steel
Results
Azimuth Error:
MP
NMR
4.22 deg
Interfering Field:
1746 nT
Calculate
Delta FAC dlBl
33 nT
Report
Delta FAC dDip
0.07 deg
NonMag
Add Nonmagnetic Spacing

Above MWD
0.0 ft
Add ..
Below MWD
0.0 ft
Undo Last
Open
Save
Save As ..
Clear
Exit
> Quantifying magnetic measurement sensitivity to toolstring interference. Modeling codes are used
to simulate the extent of magnetic interference for various survey orientations and BHA designs.
This simulation, taken from the Schlumberger Drilling & Measurements Survey Tool Box, shows the
large azimuthal error (red) that would occur at this particular wellbore grid azimuth of 270 and
inclination of 90 if the driller did not add nonmagnetic spacing material to the BHA in addition to
that included in the initial design (blue). Drilling engineers use these simulations to determine the
length of nonmagnetic material above or below the MWD measure point necessary to reduce the
error sufciently.
Deepwater Success
Accurate real-time magnetic surveys allow directional drillers to stay on path and to reduce the
number of required conrmatory gyro surveys.
Tullow Ghana Ltd. used geomagnetic referencing
to achieve its objectives to hit distant geologic
targets accurately and within budget while developing the Jubilee eld offshore Ghana.40
The operator wanted to drill all wells safely
and successfully in the shortest possible time
because rig spread costs are exceptionally high in
this area. To enable accurate GRS, Schlumberger
surveying experts conducted numerical
simulations, which quantied the sensitivity of
46
the magnetic measurement to wellbore trajectory

and to the inclusion of nonmagnetic collars for
BHA variations (above).
An aeromagnetic survey provided the basis for
the custom-built geomagnetic model. This 80-km
80-km [50-mi 50-mi] survey was centered at the
Jubilee eld at an altitude of 80 m [260 ft] and
included presurvey test ights for calibration and
use of a base station as reference for time-varying
changes in the magnetic eld. Analysts computed
a total magnetic intensity (TMI) anomaly grid
using the total magnetic eld measured in the
aeromagnetic survey combined with the 2010
BGGM main magnetic eld model.41 Crustal
magnetic eld processing yielded an updated

magnetic eld from sea level to a depth of 4,500 m
[14,800 ft] using downward continuation of the
scalar TMI anomaly. Subsequent processing
determined the east, north and vertical
components of the magnetic eld and transformed
them into declination and inclination
perturbations relative to the main magnetic eld.
40. Poedjono B, Olalere IB, Shevchenko I, Lawson F,
Crozier S and Li X: Improved Drilling Economics and
Enhanced Target Acquisition Through the Application
of Effective Geomagnetic Referencing, paper SPE
140436, presented at the SPE EUROPEC/EAGE Annual
Conference and Exhibition, Vienna, Austria,
May 2326, 2011.
41. For more on the processing workow: Poedjono et al,
reference 32.
Oileld Review
512,000 m
511,800 m
X-axis
X-axis
515,000 m
514,000 m
513,000
Y-axis
0m
512,000511,600 m
400 m
400
800 m
800
1,200 m
1,200
1,600 m
512,000 m
Z-axis
1,600
2,000 m
X-axis
511,800 m
2,000
511,600 m
2,400 m
2,400
2,800 m
2,800 m
3,200 m
3,200 m
515,000 m
514,000 m
Y-axis
513,000 m
512,000 m
X-axis
> An extended-reach well in the Jubilee eld offshore Ghana. The Tullow Ghana Ltd. Well 4 has a long step-out and tangent
prole to hit the target (red). The EOU from standard MWD (top left, green) is larger than the rectangular geologic target.
Because of the smaller EOU from GRS (center left, blue), the operator was able to drill the well with high condence that the
wellbore would penetrate the target. (Adapted from Poedjono et al, reference 40. The images in this gure are copyright
2011, SPE EUROPEC/EAGE Annual Conference and Exhibition. Reproduced with permission of SPE. Further reproduction
prohibited without permission.)
For the initial wells in the Jubilee eld, standard MWD surveys yielded small enough EOUs
to hit the geologic targets with condence.
These initial well paths had relatively shallow
inclination angles. For more-distant targets
with higher inclination angles and longer tangent sections, the uncertainty associated with
standard MWD surveys was unacceptably large.
However, uncertainty was considerably smaller
for GRS processed magnetic data, and drillers
reached their objectives with high condence.
Using GRS, the operator was able to drill the
well with guaranteed placement of the wellbore
inside the target (above).
Autumn 2013
Reaching the Target

These examples illustrate a range of new and
exacting requirements for wellbore guidance and
the geomagnetic measurement technology that
has been developed to satisfy those requirements. Challenges have included avoiding wellbore collision, reducing drillstring magnetic
interference and accounting for geomagnetic
eld variations associated with crustal magnetism and temporal magnetic eld variations.
Directional drillers now place wellbores
within increasingly demanding targets by relying
on real-time wellbore surveys and small EOUs.
High-resolution geomagnetic reference models
aid processing for drillstring interference compensation and enhance measurement quality
control by employing customized acceptance
criteria. Geomagnetic referencing improves
well placement accuracy, reduces positional
uncertainty and mitigates the danger of collision with existing wellbores. When used in realtime wellbore navigation, GRS saves rig time,
reduces drilling costs and helps drillers reach
their targets.
HDL
47
Blowing in the Solar Wind: Sun Spots,

Solar Cycles and Life on Earth
The Sun regularly experiences eruptions that shower space with energetic ions. In
1859, a massive solar event occurred with a magnitude that surpassed that of all other
recorded events, and the Earth was directly in the path of the storm. Hours after the
eruption, sparks began to y from telegraph wires, res were ignited by downed
wires, equipment operators felt electrical shocks from their telegraph keys and ticker
tapes burst into ames. A century and a half later, should a similar solar event occur,
more than wires and paper would be at risk.
Anatoly Arsentiev
Irkutsk, Russia
David H. Hathaway
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) Marshall Space Flight Center
Huntsville, Alabama, USA
Rodney W. Lessard
Houston, Texas, USA
For help in preparation of this article, thanks to
Don Williamson.
1. Cliver EW: The 1859 Space Weather Event: Then and
Now, Advances in Space Research 38, no. 2 (2006):
119129.
2. Boteler DH: The Super Storms of August/September
1859 and Their Effects on the Telegraph System,
Advances in Space Research 38, no. 2 (2006): 159172.
3. Stephens DL, Townsend LW and Hoff JL: Interplanetary
Crew Dose Estimates for Worst Case Solar Particle
Events Based on Historical Data for the Carrington Flare
of 1859, Acta Astronautica 56, no. 912 (MayJune 2005):
969974.
48
Those of us in the energy industry owe our livelihoods to the Sun. The hydrocarbons we search for
and produce were formed from organic matter
that stored ancient energy that originated within
the Sun. In the not too distant past, the Sun was
an object of reverence because of its control over
our lives. Today, familiarity with and understanding of the Sun has removed much of our sense of
veneration; however, we understand that our very
existence is based on a relationship to the seemingly unchanging presence of the solar systems
shining star.
On occasion, however, the Suns apparent stability is interrupted by powerful displays of its
dynamism. One such example occurred on the
morning of September 1, 1859. From his private
observatory, amateur astronomer Richard
Carrington observed a cluster of large spots on
the surface of the Sun. Suddenly, a brilliant ash
of white lighta solar areerupted from the
area of the spots.1 This particular are was the
harbinger of a gigantic coronal mass ejection
(CME), which spewed solar plasma into interplanetary space.
This massive cloud of charged particles
arrived at Earth in less than 18 hours. It proceeded to disrupt the most advanced technology
of the daythe telegraph.2 The interaction
between the CME and the Earths magnetic eld
induced electrical currents in exposed telegraph
wires. Current raced through the wires, causing
some of them to overheat, fall to the ground and
set off res. Telegraph machines were hit by pow-
erful surges of electricity, which administered

electrical shocks to the operators. Some reports
described telegraph paper bursting into ames
and machines that continued to receive information, even after the operators had disconnected
their battery power. Disturbances in the Earths
magnetic eld from the effects of the CME caused
compass needles to behave erratically. The
effects were seen not just on the Earths surface;
auroras, which are normally restricted to Earths
higher latitudes, lit the sky as far south as the
Caribbean region.
Most experts consider the superstorm of
1859, referred to as the Carrington event, to be
the largest recorded solar storm to directly
impact the Earth. Data from ice cores dating
back 500 years show evidence of geomagnetic
storms of varying intensity, but none reached the
magnitude of that singular episode.3
Modern infrastructure has become dependent
on a multitude of interconnected systems and
devices that are sensitive to electromagnetic and
geomagnetic forces. Scientists are concerned that
another Carrington-type CME directed toward
Earth would wreak havoc, overwhelming electrical power grids and control systems, destroying
telecommunications satellites, disrupting global
positioning systems (GPSs) and plunging whole
continents into darkness and disarray. In 1989, a
much smaller geomagnetic storm caused a blackout that pitched the province of Quebec, Canada,
into darkness and disrupted power in many locations in the Northeast US.
Oileld Review
Autumn 2013
49
250
Quebec blackout
Carrington event
Sunspot number
200
150
100
50
0
1750
2
1770
4
1790
6
1810
1830
9
1850
10
11
1870
12
13
1890
Date
14
15
1910
16
1930
17
18
1950
19
20
1970
21
22
1990
23
24
2010
> Sunspot cycles. Scientists have systematically recorded the number of sunspots and numbered the sunspot peaks dating from the 1700s. In several
recent cycles, sunspot counts approached or exceeded 200; the current cycle average count is less than 100.
According to solar scientists, predicting the

next Carrington-class event, or any solar storm, is
practically impossible. When solar ares and
CMEs occur, scientists have found it difcult to
determine whether the Earth lies directly in the
path of these streaming ions. In the past few
years, the ability to issue alerts about potential
damaging solar storms has been improved by the
deployment of satellites strategically positioned
to monitor the Suns activity.
Although scientists are not able to forecast
exactly when solar ares and CMEs will occur,
they have discovered a correlation between an
increase in the number of sunspots and the frequency and intensity of solar events. Sunspots
are dark regions on the Sun, and they follow an
11-year cycle. During sunspot cycle minima,
there may be no visible spots; during maxima the
number may be greater than 200. Each cycle is
numbered, dating to 1755, when observers began
to systematically record sunspot activity (above).
The Carrington event occurred at the peak of
Cycle 10. The US National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Space
Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) predicts that
Cycle 24 will peak in 2013.4 The Sun has been
relatively quiet during Cycle 24, but the potential
always exists for the Sun to unleash another
Carrington-like event.
This article discusses the concepts of solar
cycles, solar events, CMEs, space weather, solar
monitoring and the potential effects of solar
storms on modern infrastructure, and it reviews
current warning systems.
50
A Not So Benign Sun

About 5 billion years ago, a cloud of dust and gas
approximately 1.6 trillion km [1 trillion mi] in
diameter coalesced to form our solar system.5 The
source of that cloud is believed to be a mix of primordial gas and material from older stars that
exploded in massive supernovae.6 Gravity collapsed
the cloud in upon itself, and mutual attraction of
the particles accelerated the collapse to form a
dense central core. Rotation of the cloud accelerated with contraction, while centrifugal forces attened the cloud toward the edges, leaving a bulge
near the center from which the Sun evolved.
As the central core of the Sun continued to collapse, the compression generated heat, which
melted and vaporized the dust. About 10 million
years after the collapse began, the rate of collapse
slowed because the pull of gravity was balanced by
the pressure of hot gases. The rising core temperature initiated nuclear reactions, and the heat and
pressure stripped away electrons, leaving mostly
plasmaa mixture of protons and electrons. The
gravitational pull of the Sun continued to compress the plasma in its core to densities nearly ten
times that of lead and heated the plasma to nearly
16 million C [29 million F], at which point fusion
reactions can occur.
In the Suns fusion reaction, hydrogen atoms
fuse and form helium. During the reaction, some
of the original mass is converted into heat and
photons. The photons radiate outward, rst traveling through the radiative zone and then, after
millions of collisions, arrive at the region near
the surfacethe convection zone (next page, top

right). From the convection zone, the photons
eventually leave the Sun. Traveling at the speed
of light, photons cover the 150 million km [93 million mi] between the Earth and Sun in about
eight minutes.
The photons emitted by the Sun cover a broad
band of the electromagnetic spectrumfrom
high-energy X-rays to radio waves. The Earth is
constantly bombarded by this energy, but because
the atmosphere shields it from most of the emissions, only a few specic frequenciesmostly
those of ultraviolet light, visible light and radio
wavesreach Earths surface.
A self-generated magnetic eld is a by-product
of the Suns fusion reactor, rotation and constantly moving mass of plasma in the convection
zone. Magnetic eld lines are generally aligned
with the axis of rotation of the Sun. The eld
exhibits a dipolar nature analogous to that of the
Earth, with its north and south magnetic poles.
However, unlike Earths magnetic eld, the Suns
magnetic eld reverses polarity on a regular
basis, coinciding with the midpoint of the 11-year
sunspot cycle peak.
The Suns rotating magnetic eld also generates a current sheet that extends billions of kilometers from the Sun out into space. When the
magnetic polarity reversal occursa process
that started in the summer of 2013 for Cycle 24
the current sheet becomes highly contorted. The
Earth dips in and out of the current sheet while
orbiting the Sun, potentially creating stormy
space weather conditions.7
Oileld Review
On the surface of the Sun, magnetic eld lines

emerge to form sunspots. Magnetic eld lines
may encompass volumes that are quite large
the planet Jupiter, which is 150,000 km
[90,000 mi] in diameter, could easily t inside
some of them (below right). Coronal loops also
form at the surface, following the magnetic eld
lines. During solar sunspot peaks, the number of
coronal loops increases and magnetic eld lines
often become twisted. This twisting stores massive amounts of energy that is eventually released
in the form of solar ares, CMEs and other events.
Space weather is punctuated by bursts of energy
from these magnetic disturbances.
Space Weather
Space weather is dened as the physical conditions in the space environment that have the
potential to affect space-borne or ground-based
technology systems.8 Space weather is greatly
inuenced by the energy carried from the Sun
by the solar wind, and it can disturb conditions
immediately around the Earth. Charged particlesmainly protons and electronsmake up
the solar wind. These particles are emitted in all
directions from the Sun. Solar wind speed, density and composition determine associated
effects on the Earth.9 Geomagnetic storms, ionospheric disturbances and aurora emissions are
all manifestations of space weather. Coronal
mass ejections and associated shock waves are
the most violent components of space weather,
and they tend to compress the Earths magnetosphere and trigger geomagnetic storms.
Earths magnetosphere is a bullet-shaped
bubble that protects the planets surface from
harmful radiation. The magnetosphere shields
the Earth from fast-moving ions by deecting
and concentrating them at the Earths north
and south poles. The Van Allen radiation belts
trap charged particles that leak through the
magnetosphere, further protecting Earths surface from harmful electromagnetic radiation.
4. NOAA: Mild Solar Storm Season Predicted, National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (May 8, 2009),
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2009/20090508_
solarstorm.html (accessed September 4, 2013).
5. Friedman H: The Astronomers Universe: Stars, Galaxies
and Cosmos. New York City: Ballantine Books, 1991.
6. Naturally occurring heavy elements found on Earth, such
as uranium and plutonium, could have come only from an
extremely violent nuclear reaction such as a supernova.
7. Phillips T: The Suns Magnetic Field Is About to Flip,
NASA (August 5, 2013), http://www.nasa.gov/content/
goddard/the-suns-magnetic-eld-is-about-to-ip
(accessed August 28, 2013).
8. Hanslmeier A: The Sun and Space Weather, 2nd ed.
Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer, 2007.
9. Feldman U, Landi E and Schwadron NA: On the Sources
of Fast and Slow Solar Wind, Journal of Geophysical
Research 110, no. A7 (July 2005): A07109.1A07109.12.
Autumn 2013
Convection zone
Radiative zone
Core
Photosphere
Prominence
Sunspots
Flare
Coronal hole
Chromosphere
Corona
> The Suns structure. Fusion reactions take place in the Suns central core. The pull of gravity
accelerates hydrogen nuclei inward, toward the Suns center, where they fuse and form helium;
the reaction releases energy. The energyin the form of photons and other elementary particle
by-productsrises through the Suns radiative and convection zones and then exits from the photosphere.
The corona is the Suns outer atmosphere, a layer of plasma surrounding the chromosphere. Features
displayed on the Suns surface seen here include a prominence, solar ares, sunspots and a coronal
hole. [Illustration courtesy of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).]
> The Suns magnetic eld lines. Convoluted magnetic eld lines (green) may
extend thousands of kilometers out from the surface of the Sun. (Image
courtesy of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Scientic Visualization
Studio.)
51
Interplanetary magnetic field lines

Magnetosheath
Bow shock
Magnetopause
Magnetotail
Plasmasphere
Plasma sheet
Solar wind
Van Allen
radiation belts
> Earths magnetosphere. The magnetosphere, the area of space around the Earth created by Earths
magnetic eld, is a dynamic structure that responds to variations in solar activity and space weather.
Solar wind, which compresses the sunward side of the magnetosphere, determines its shape. A
supersonic shock wavethe bow shockforms on the sunward side of Earth. Most of the solar wind
particles are slowed at the bow shock and directed around the Earth in the magnetosheath. The solar
wind pulls at the magnetosphere on the Earths night side, extending the length of the magnetosphere
up to 1,000 Earth radii, creating what is known as the magnetotail. The outer boundary of Earths
conned geomagnetic eld is called the magnetopause. Trapped charged particlesthe Van Allen
radiation belts, the plasmasphere and the plasma sheetreside within the magnetosphere. (Adapted
from an image courtesy of Aaron Kaase, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.)
Penumbra
Penumbra
Umbra
Umbra
> Sunspots. Regions on the Sun that appear darker than the rest of the disk, sunspots are formed by
concentrated magnetic elds that project through the hot gases of the photosphere out to the Suns
surface. These magnetic elds create cooler, darker regions called sunspots. The dark center of a
sunspot is called the umbra; the light area around the umbra is the penumbra. Sunspots occur in
groups and frequently in pairs. The two spots in a pair have opposite magnetic polarities.
(Photographs courtesy of NASA.)
52
The region of the magnetosphere away from the

Sun is elongated by the pressure of the solar
wind, and the shape varies with space weather
conditions (left).
Space weather has the potential to catastrophically disrupt the near-Earth environment.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO),
an agency of the United Nations, established the
Interprogramme Coordination Team on Space
Weather (ICTSW) to address concerns of potential disruptions to life on Earth caused by space
weather.10 Experts from twenty countries and
seven international organizations participate in
the program. In the US, NOAA is responsible for
monitoring terrestrial as well as space weather.
The NOAA SWPC constantly monitors data about
the Sun and forecasts solar and geophysical
events that may impact satellites, navigation systems, power grids, communications networks
and other technology systems.11 Because of the
correlation of increases in sunspot numbers with
solar storms, scientists are on high alert during
solar maxima.
Sunspots
About 2,800 years ago, Chinese astronomers
made the rst recorded observation of sunspots.12
The invention of the telescope in the 1600s made
it possible to study and record the ever-changing
face of the Sun more closely. Reliable and systematic records of sunspots date back to the 1700s.
In the mid-1800s, German astronomer Samuel
Heinrich Schwabe rst identied a 10-year pattern of the rise and fall of sunspotsthe sunspot
cycle. Swiss astronomer Johann Rudolf Wolf later
characterized the 11-year period for the cycle
and developed a formula for quantifying sunspot
activity, the Wolf number, which is still in use
today.13 The cycle is not exactly 11 years but has
varied from 9 to 14 years.
Sunspots form where concentrated magnetic
eld lines project through the hot gases of the
photosphere and correspond to regions that are
cooler than the surrounding surface. Although
they appear darker than the rest of the solar disk,
removed from the Sun, they would be brighter
than anything else in the solar system (left). The
importance of the complex magnetic elds to the
activity of the Sun has been realized only within
the past 100 years. American astronomer George
Ellery Hale rst reported solar magnetism in
1908. He determined the presence of magnetic
elds by measuring changes to intensity and
polarization of light emitted from atoms in the
Suns atmosphere.14 Hale and his colleagues demonstrated that sunspots contain strong magnetic
Oileld Review
elds and that all the sunspot groups in a given

solar hemisphere have the same magnetic polarity signature. Furthermore, sunspot polarity correlates to the Suns magnetic eld orientation in
a specic solar cycle, which reverses with each
cycle. The hemisphere that has a north magnetic
polarity at one solar minimum has a south magnetic polarity at the next solar minimum.
Sunspots typically range in size from 2,500 to
50,000 km [1,500 to 30,000 mi] and cover less
than 4% of the Suns visible disk. In comparison,
the Earths diameter is about 12,700 km
[7,900 mi]. Sunspots typically have a lifetime of a
few days to a few weeks and tend to be concentrated in two midlatitude bands on either side of
the Suns equator. During the early part of the
solar cycle, sunspots are most commonly seen
around latitudes of 25 to 30 north and south of
the equator. Later in the cycle, they appear at
latitudes of 5 to 10. Sunspots rarely occur at
latitudes above 50.
The intense magnetic elds associated with
sunspots often create arching columns of plasma
called prominences that appear above sunspot
regions (right). Some prominences may hang suspended above the solar surface for several days.
When these massive loops of energy become
twisted, they store energy that can violently erupt
and blast coronal material outward from the Sun
as a solar are or a CME.
Prominence
> Solar prominence photographed on September 23, 1999. The space-based Solar and Heliospheric
Observatory (SOHO) captured this image of an eruptive prominence using extreme ultraviolet
frequencies. The release of energy from twisted magnetic eld lines ings plasma above the Suns
surface. [Photograph courtesy of the SOHO Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) consortium.]
Solar Flares and CMEs

The energy source for solar ares originates in
the tearing and reconnecting of magnetic eld
lines, and the strong magnetic elds in active
sunspot regions often give rise to solar ares
(right). These intense, short-lived releases of
energy are our solar systems most explosive
events. During a solar are, temperatures soar to
5 million K, and vast quantities of particles and
radiation can be blasted into space, but a are
usually ends within 20 minutes.
10. For more on WMO and ICTSW: WMO Scientic and
Technical Programs, World Meteorological
Organization, http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/
11. For more on the SWPC: NOAA National Weather Service
Space Weather Prediction Center, http://www.swpc.
noaa.gov/AboutUs/index.html (accessed August 13, 2013).
12. Clark DH and Stephenson FR: An Interpretation of the
Pre-Telescopic Sunspot Records from the Orient,
Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society 19,
no. 4 (December 1978): 387410.
13. Hathaway DH: The Solar Cycle, Living Reviews in
Solar Physics 7 (2010): 165.
14. Alexander D: The Sun. Santa Barbara, California, USA:
Greenwood Press, 2009.
> Solar are. The NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captured this image of a solar are on
May 22, 2013. The image captures light in the 13.1-nm wavelength, which highlights material heated to
intense temperatures during a are. The teal coloration is typical of images using this wavelength.
(Photograph courtesy of the NASA SDO.)
Autumn 2013
53
> Auroras at high latitudes. Charged particles from solar wind and geomagnetic storms follow the Earths magnetic eld lines and can ionize gases in Earths
upper atmosphere. Ionized oxygen molecules emit green to brownish-red light; ionized nitrogen emissions are blue or red. The aurora borealis (left) was
photographed from the International Space Station over the Midwest US on January 25, 2012. The photograph of the aurora australis (right) captured by the
NASA IMAGE satellite on September 11, 2005, was taken four days after a solar are. The aurora encircles the South Pole and would appear as a curtain of
light if observed from ground level. (Photographs courtesy of the NASA International Space Station and IMAGE Science Center.)
During the peak of the sunspot cycle, several

ares may occur daily. When a are erupts, ultraviolet and X-ray radiation from the are travel at
the speed of light, arriving at the Earth in about
8 minutes. A day or two later, high-energy particles may also arrive at the Earth, producing auroraslights in the polar night skiesand
affecting radio communications (above).15
Suns
diameter
> CME image captured from space on October 22, 2011. The Large Angle and Spectrometric
Coronagraph (LASCO), on board the NASA SOHO satellite, captured this image in which plasma was
hurled in the direction of Mars. The Sun is obscured by a disk that allows the instruments sensor to
focus on the emissions from the Suns surface, which enhances the observation of the corona by
blocking direct light from the Sun. The white circle on the disk represents the size and location of the
Suns surface. (Photograph courtesy of the SOHO EIT consortium.)
54
During some solar ares, a more violent reaction may occura coronal mass ejection (below
left). When the twisted magnetic eld lines cross,
their stored energy explodes outward with tremendous force. A CME occurs when the force of
the released energy ings a mass of superheated
plasma from the Suns surface into space.
CMEs vary in intensity and magnitude. A large
CME can contain 9 1012 kg [20 1012 lbm] of
matter that may be accelerated into space at several million kilometers per hour. The speed at
which the plasma travels depends on the original
energy release. A high-energy CME can arrive at
the Earth in as little as 16 hours, but lower-energy
releases may take days to make the journey.
Upon impact by a CME, the Earths magnetosphere temporarily deforms, and the Earths
magnetic eld is distorted. During these disruptions, Earth-orbiting satellites are exposed to
ionized particles, compass needles can behave
erratically and electrical currents may be
induced in the Earth itself. These eventsgeomagnetic stormscan disrupt technical infrastructure on a global scale. Because of the risks
associated with solar storms and CMEs, scientists constantly monitor space weather.
At a solar minimum, the estimated occurrence of a CME is about one event every ve days
compared with about 3.5 per day at a solar maximum. Although this may appear to put the planet
in frequent jeopardy, the probability that a CME
will be directed toward Earth is small. In comparison to the Sun and the expanse of the solar
Oileld Review
L4
Moon
Earth
L3
L1
L2
Sun
L5
> Lagrange points. Scientists have identied ve points (L1 through L5) associated with Earths orbit of
the Sun where satellites can maintain stable orbits. These locations, called Lagrange points (green),
are shown here with the gravitational potential lines (gray lines) established by the Sun-Earth system.
These positions in space correspond to regions where the gravitational forces of attraction (red
arrows) and repulsion (blue arrows) are in balance. The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe
(WMAP) is located around position L2, which is about 1.5 million km [930,000 mi] from the Earth.
The WMAP spacecraft aligns with the Sun-Earth axis, similar to a geostationary orbit, but course
corrections are required to maintain its relative position. The illustration is not to scale. (Illustration
courtesy of the NASA WMAP Science Team.)
system, the Earth is tiny; most solar storms re

harmlessly away from Earth or deliver only a
glancing blow.
But CMEs do strike the Earth. The Carrington
event is not the only CME that has directly
impacted Earth. In 1984, US President Ronald
Reagan was airborne in the presidential plane
Air Force One over the Pacic Ocean during a
solar storm. The storm disrupted high-frequency
radio communication for several hours and effectively isolated Air Force One from the rest of the
world. In July 1989, a portion of Quebec, Canada,
was blacked out for more than nine hours
because a solar storm overloaded circuit breakers on the power grid. More than 200 related
events were reported across North America. The
US National Academy of Sciences reported that
had the storm been a Carrington-class event, cost
could have ranged from US$ 1 to 2 trillion in damage to critical infrastructure, and recovery could
have taken 4 to 10 years.16
Autumn 2013
Forecasting Space Weather

Technologies that are sensitive to changes in the
near-Earth electromagnetic environment caused
by geomagnetic storms include satellite communication systems, global positioning systems
(GPSs), computer networks, electric grids and
cell phone networks. Civilization has become
increasingly dependent on these technologies,
and space weather has the potential to disrupt
them. Thus the need for accurate space weather
forecasts has become imperative. The NOAA
SWPC serves as the primary warning center for
the US and provides information to the
International Space Environment Service (ISES).
ISESa collaborative network of space weather
providersmonitors space weather, provides
forecasts and issues alerts from regional warning
centers. Using a wide array of terrestrial and
space-based sensors, scientists continually monitor the space environment for events that might
impact Earth.
About 1.6 million km [1 million mi] from the

Earth, in the general direction of the Sun, a group
of NASA satellites monitors the Sun and solar
wind at the L1 Lagrange point (above).17 In what
is analogous to a geostationary orbit, spacecraft
remain in xed positions with the Earths orbit
relative to the Sun. The Solar and Heliospheric
15. Comins NF and Kaufmann WJ: Discovering the Universe,
9th ed. New York City: W. H. Freeman and Company, 2012.
16. National Research Council of the National Academies:
Severe Space Weather EventsUnderstanding
Societal and Economic Impacts: A Workshop Report,
Washington, DC: National Academies Press, May 2008.
17. The Lagrange points, named for Italian-French
mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange, are the ve
positions where a small mass can maintain a constant
pattern while orbiting a larger mass. The L1 point lies in
a direct line between the Earth and Sun.
For more on the Lagrange points: The Lagrange
Points, National Aeronautics and Space Administration,
http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/mission/observatory_l2.html
55
> The NASA Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE). Launched on August 25, 1997, the ACE satellite, a
crucial component of the NASA space weather monitoring eet, is stationed at Lagrange point L1.
From this position, the satellite records radiation emitted from the Sun, the solar system and the
galaxy. When bursts of solar material stream toward Earth, instruments on board ACE record the
increase in the number of particles and transmit this information to scientists on Earth who use these
data to warn of impending space weather events. Alerts and warnings are issued to relevant
organizations and posted online by the NOAA SWPC. (Illustration courtesy of NASA.)
Relative size
of Earth
> Space weather monitoring by SOHO. The SOHO satellite (right) was launched in December 1995.
SOHO is a joint project between the European Space Administration (ESA) and NASA to study the Sun
from its deep core to the outer corona and the solar wind. The satellite weighs about 17.8 kN [2 tonUS],
and its solar panels extend about 7.6 m [25 ft]. This solar eruption (left), which lasted four hours, was
photographed on December 31, 2012, by the Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) in 30.4-nm
emission. Most of the plasma fell back to the Suns surface. The Earth is shown for scale. (Solar
photograph courtesy of the SOHO EIT consortium; satellite image courtesy of Alex Lutkus.)
56
Observatory (SOHO), the Advanced Composition

Explorer (ACE) and other space-bound assets
monitor the Suns surface and track CMEs from
this position.18 Hours before a CME impact, satellite sentinels at the L1 point can anticipate its
arrival at the Earths magnetosphere (left).
The SOHO satellite, launched in 1995, allows
scientists to constantly monitor the Sun (below
left). This satellite is one of the most reliable
NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) forecasting tools, providing scientists with data to
help them forecast space weather and estimate
potential consequences. The Large Angle and
Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO), one of 12
instruments on board SOHO, records images of
CMEs launched from the Sun. Using LASCO data,
the SWPC has two to three days of advanced
warning for the onset of geomagnetic storms.
The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), developed at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in
Greenbelt, Maryland, USA, and launched on
February 11, 2010, is part of a ve-year NASA mission to study the Sun and its inuence on space
weather (next page).19 Several devices are on
board the satellite, including the Extreme
Ultraviolet Variability Experiment and the
Atmospheric Imaging Assembly. The helioseismic
and magnetic imager provides real-time maps of
magnetic elds on the surface of the Sun and measures their strength and orientation. Changes and
realignment of the Suns magnetic elds are early
indications of potential eruptions and are crucial
for the prediction of space weather and geomagnetic storms. Instruments on board the satellite
can also characterize the interior of the Sun,
where the magnetic elds originate. From SDO
data, scientists are gaining a better understanding
of solar activity and space weather.
Geomagnetic Storms Brewing
Geomagnetic storms that disrupt activities on
Earth are infrequent, although their consequences are signicant; solar storms have the
potential to disturb the entire planet. The technologies that dene modern society are susceptible to the effects of space weather. Induced
currents can disrupt and damage modern electrical power grids and cripple satellites and
communication systems. For the oil and gas
industry, geomagnetic storms can adversely
affect pipelines and supervisory control systems
and disrupt surveying and geosteering operations while drilling.
Oileld Review
Filament
Magnetic field lines
> The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). The SDO satellite (left) was launched in February 2010 as part of the NASA Living with a Star Program, which
studies solar variability and potential impacts on Earth and space. By examining the solar atmosphere on small scales and capturing emissions at many
wavelengths simultaneously, the study hopes to determine how the Suns magnetic eld is generated and structured and how stored magnetic energy is
converted and released into the heliosphere and space. This image of the Suns magnetic eld lines (right), captured on June 4, 2013, was taken in extreme
ultraviolet light and highlights the bright coils of magnetic eld lines rising up in the background above an active region. A lament, which appears as a
darker region on the Suns surface, can also be seen. (Photograph and image courtesy of the NASA SDO.)
The most crippling effects of geomagnetic

storms come from geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) that ow through electrical power
grids. At the most benign level, GICs can trip circuit breakers, but stronger events can destroy
transformers and trigger component meltdown
throughout large geographic areas.
GICs damage transformers by driving them
into half-cycle saturationthe core of the transformer is magnetically saturated on alternate
half cycles. A GIC-induced voltage level of as
little as 1 to 2 volts per kilometer or current of
5 amperes is sufcient to drive transformers into
saturation in one second or less.20 Engineers have
measured GIC currents as high as 184 amperes
during geomagnetic storms; these levels are far
Autumn 2013
above that required to overload electrical grids.21

In the event of a severe GIC incident, the time
required to restore damaged equipment and
bring large populations back online might be
measured in weeks, months or even years.
When the charged plasma cloud of a CME collides with Earths atmosphere, transient magnetic waves alter Earths normally stable
magnetic eld; the effects can last for several
days. These magnetic disturbances may cause
voltage variations along the Earths surface,
inducing electrical currents between grounding
points because of the voltage potential differences. GICs in this form are particularly detrimental to transformers typically found in power
plants and electrical distribution substations.
Several factors dictate the susceptibility of a

given electrical power grid system to disruption
and damage from solar storms. A power grids
proximity to Earths polar latitudes generally
increases its risk for failure or malfunction. In
addition, sites located in regions of low ground
18. For more on SOHO: http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/
For more on ACE: http://www.srl.caltech.edu/ACE/
19. For more on SDO: http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/ (accessed
August 13, 2013).
20. For more on detrimental effects on power grids:
Barnes PR, Rizy DT, McConnell BW, Tesche FM and
Taylor ER Jr: Electric Utility Industry Experience with
Geomagnetic Disturbances, Oak Ridge, Tennessee,
USA: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL-6665,
September 1991.
21. Odenwald S: The 23rd Cycle: Learning to Live with a
Stormy Star. New York City: Columbia University
Press, 2001.
57
Typical auroral
zone location
Region
conductivity, S/m
CANADA
1 to 10
101 to 1
102 to 101
103 to 102
104 to 103
Auroral zone extreme

on March 13, 1989
UNITED STATES
CANADA
MEXICO
UNITED
STATES
Highest risk
Medium risk
Connected power grids
MEXICO
> Power system susceptibility. Power systems in areas with the lowest ground conductivity (left, red and darkest yellow) are the most vulnerable to the
effects of intense geomagnetic activity. The high ground resistance beneath these areas facilitates the ow of geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) in
power transmission lines. Auroral zones for North America are susceptible to GICs because of their proximity to polar regions. (Data from the American
Geophysical Union and the Geological Survey of Canada.) For the US, scientists produced a map based on scenarios for existing power systems to
determine their vulnerability to geomagnetic storms (right). Should a storm 10 times larger than the 1989 storm that disrupted power systems in Quebec
arrive at Earth, the systems most at risk have been identied (red). The blue lines encircle the largest population centers served by at-risk systems.
(Adapted from the National Research Council of the National Academies, reference 16.)
conductivity, such as igneous rock provinces, are

more susceptible to GIC effects (above).
The interconnectivity of power grids can
exacerbate the potential for large-scale problems. During the July 1989 solar storm, many
related events were reported. These events
included a transformer failure at the Salem
nuclear plant in New Jersey, USA; New York
Power losing 150 MW the moment the Quebec
power grid went down; and the New England
Power Pool, an association of power suppliers,
losing 1,410 MW. Service to 96 electrical utilities
58
in the New England region of the US was interrupted before power companies could bring other
reserves online.22
Damage caused by energized particles emitted from the Sun is not limited to terrestrial systems. Satellites, space exploration vehicles and
manned space missions can be affected by solar
emissions, some of which are too weak to enter
Earths magnetic eld. For instance, weak solar
ares and CMEs may produce solar proton events
(SPEs) that are mostly unnoticed on the surface
of the Earth. However, SPEs can cause signicant

damage to equipment located outside Earths
protective shield.
When high-energy charged particles collide
with satellites, electrons create a dielectric
charge within the spacecraft. This static charge
can destroy electronic circuit boards, alter and
scramble stored data and affect control instructions stored in computer memory. Although these
effects may result in a complete satellite failure,
damage may often be corrected by simply rebooting onboard computers.
Oileld Review
Autumn 2013
264
263
Azimuth, degree
If the solar arrays that provide power to satellites are struck by high-energy protons from SPEs
and CMEs, the silicon atoms in the solar cell
matrix may shift positions, which increases the
internal resistance of the solar cells and reduces
electrical output. A single solar storm event can
decrease panel life expectancy by years. If attitude control systems on satellites used to correct
their orientation and position are damaged by
high-energy particle events, a satellite can lose
its orbital control, which may result in an
unplanned and premature reentry into Earths
atmosphere.23 Satellites play such a crucial role
in communications that a loss could affect television, cable programming, radio service, weather
data, cell phone service, automated banking services, commercial airline systems and GPS and
navigation services. Routine losses as a result of
satellite malfunction and premature asset failure
caused by solar storms are estimated in the billions of US dollars.
Consequences of solar storms may not be
limited to electrical damage. The July 1989
solar storm caused compression of the Earths
magnetosphere, reducing its typical depth of
more than 54,000 km [33,500 mi] to less than
30,000 km [18,640 mi], well inside the Earths
geosynchronous region where satellites orbit.
As the Earths atmosphere was bombarded by
energetic particles and compressed by the solar
wind, the density of the upper atmosphere
increased by a factor of 5 to 10. The increased
drag on low-Earth orbit satellites caused orbital
decaythe U.S. Air Force Space Command
reported losing track of more than 1,300 orbiting objects that fell to lower altitudes.24 In a
separate event, on March 13, 1989, NOAA
reported the loss of the GOES-7 weather satellite. Circuit problems caused by a shower of
energized particles rendered most of its systems
useless. Critical solar power arrays on GOES-7
lost 50% of their efciency. Engineers with
NASA reported many other satellites experienced electrical failures that temporarily shut
down onboard computers.25 The storm disrupted
communications on the Earth and between
ground controllers and orbital satellites.
Oil and gas pipeline and distribution systems
are also vulnerable. In the event of a geomagnetic
storm, operators may immediately lose supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems. Operators must also consider the long-term
effects associated with increased pipeline corrosion rates. Cathodic protection systems used on
pipelines to minimize corrosion maintain a negative potential with respect to the ground. During
solar storms, GIC events in a pipeline reduce the
Magnetic
storm
262
261
Drilling azimuth
Corrected azimuth
260
259
3,600
3,700
3,800
3,900
4,000
4,100
4,200
Depth, ft
4,300
4,400
4,500
4,600
4,700
> Geomagnetic storms and directional drilling. Directional drillers use MWD tools to determine drillbit
orientation and position; these measurements depend on data derived from magnetometers and
accelerometers. During geomagnetic storms, magnetometers may provide erroneous readings. A solar
storm occurred while an operator drilled a North Sea well, and the MWD drilling azimuth measurement
(blue) was affected by the geomagnetic storm. Engineers corrected the data using a technique
developed by the British Geological Survey that adjusts for space weather. The results provided a more
accurate well location (green). (Adapted from Clark and Clarke, reference 28.)
effectiveness of the cathodic protection, which

may increase long-term corrosive effects.26 The
level of impact is affected by the specics of pipe
construction materials, pipeline diameter, bends,
branches, insulated anges and the integrity of
insulation materials.
Operators are also concerned about the large
percentage of modern oil and gas wells that are
drilled directionally. Drillers must use strict well
trajectory plans to control borehole position relative to the reservoir and to avoid collision with
nearby wellbores. Directional drilling relies on
instruments that make real-time measurements
to determine and track the subsurface location of
the drilling assembly. Triaxial magnetometers
measure the strength of the Earths magnetic
eld, and triaxial accelerometers are used to
correct magnetometer data for position, motion
and orientation. Gyrocompassesusing gyroscopes and the rotation of the Earth to nd
geographic northare also deployed on wireline to acquire precise directional surveys.27
Disturbances in the Earths magnetic eld arising from electric currents owing in the ionosphere and the magnetosphere can affect these
measurements (above). Mirror currents may also
be induced in the Earth and oceans by variations
in the Earths magnetic eld. These external
magnetic elds are affected by the solar wind,
the interplanetary magnetic eld and the Earths

magnetic core. Well placement engineers must
be acutely aware of geomagnetic disturbances
and variations in Earths magnetic eld to ensure
proper borehole placement.28 (See Geomagnetic
ReferencingThe Real-Time Compass for
Directional Drillers, page 32.)
The Earths climate is also susceptible to
space weather and to particle emissions from the
Sun. Although the Sun appears to be a constant
energy source, scientists have demonstrated
22. North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC):
Effects of Geomagnetic Disturbances on the Bulk
Power Systems, Atlanta, Georgia, USA: NERC
(February 2012).
23. Odenwald, reference 21.
24. Alexander, reference 14.
25. Odenwald, reference 21.
26. Zurich Financial Services Group: Solar Storms:
Potential Impact on Pipelines, http://www.zurich.com/
internet/main/SiteCollectionDocuments/insight/
solar-storms-impact-on-pipelines.pdf (accessed
September 5, 2013).
27. Ekseth R and Weston J: Wellbore Positions Obtained
While Drilling by the Most Advanced Magnetic
Surveying Methods May Be Less Accurate than
Predicted, paper IADC/SPE 128217, presented at the
IADC/SPE Drilling Conference and Exhibition,
New Orleans, February 24, 2010.
28. Clark TDG and Clarke E: 2001 Space Weather Services
for the Offshore Drilling Industry, poster presentation in
Proceedings from the ESA Space Weather Workshop:
Looking Towards a Future European Space Weather
Program. Noordwijk, The Netherlands, December
1719, 2001.
59
400 Years of Sunspot Observed Data
Sunspot numbers
250
Northern Hemisphere Temperatures over the Last 1,000 Years
Temperature
Medieval warm period
200
Dalton
Minimum
150
100
Modern
maximum
Less-reliable observation data

Reliable observation data
Maunder
Minimum
50
0
1600
1650
1700
1750
1800 1850
Date
1900
1800
1900
1950
2000
Mean temperature
Little Ice Age

900
1000
1100
1200
1300
1400
1500
1600
1700
2000
Date
> Sunspot cycles and terrestrial weather. Scientists have not reached consensus regarding the effects of solar activity on the Earths climate and weather.
Most, however, would agree that the Sun is the primary heat source for the Earth, thus the major driver of climate. Some scientists have tried to draw
a correlation between the absence of sunspots during the Maunder Minimum (top)a 70-year period in the 17th centuryand the Little Ice Age that
affected much of the Earth, especially Europe (bottom). The Dalton Minimum, another period of low sunspot occurrences around 1800, corresponded to
lower than average global temperatures, as well. The rise in total average number of sunspots (black) beginning in the 1900s appear to correspond to
increases in global temperatures. Although a close examination of the data points to other factors producing temperature variations, such as volcanic
eruptions and changes in CO2 levels, some observers propose solar activity as a major component in climate and temperature uctuations. The activity of
Solar Cycle 24 is comparable to that in the cycles around 1800 rather than those of the 20th century. A century from now, scientists may be able to look back
and debunk or validate the causal relationship of sunspots to climate change.
that the base energy output of the Sun varies up

to 0.5% on short timescales and 0.1% over the
11-year sunspot cycle. Considered signicant by
atmospheric scientists, these uctuations can
affect Earths climate. Variations in plant growth
have been correlated with the 11-year sunspot
cycle and 22-year magnetic period of the Sun, as
evidenced in tree ring records.29
Although the solar cycle has been relatively
steady during the last 300 years, during a 70-year
period in the 17th century, few sunspots were
observed. This period, referred to as the Maunder
Minimum, also coincided with the timing of the
Little Ice Age in Europe. Some scientists have
theorized that this is evidence of a Sun-Earth climate connection (above).30 Recently, scientists
have proposed a more direct link between the
Earths climate and solar variability. For instance,
the stratospheric winds near the Earths equator
29. For recent research on solar cycles effects on Earths
weather: Meehl GA, Arblaster JM, Matthes K, Sassi F
and van Loon H: Amplifying the Pacic Climate System
Response to a Small 11-Year Solar Cycle Forcing,
Science 325, no. 5944 (August 2009): 11141118.
30. Weng H: Impacts of Multi-Scale Solar Activity on
Climate. Part I: Atmospheric Circulation Patterns and
Climate Extremes, Advances in Atmospheric
Sciences 29, no. 4 (July 2012): 867886.
31. Weng H: Impacts of Multi-Scale Solar Activity on
Climate. Part II: Dominant Timescales in DecadalCentennial Climate Variability, Advances in
Atmospheric Sciences 29, no. 4 (July 2012): 887908.
32. Solar Storm Warning, NASA (March 15, 2006),
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/
10mar_stormwarning.html (accessed August 18, 2013).
33. Zurich Financial Services Group, reference 26.
60
change direction with each solar cycle. Studies

are underway to determine how this wind reversal affects global circulation patterns, weather
and climate.31
The Next Big Event
Geomagnetic storms, although infrequent, can
severely impair critical infrastructures of modern
society. Because we are increasingly dependent
on susceptible technologies in our interconnected global economy, solar storms have the
potential to create havoc on a worldwide scale.
The scientic community is working to improve
its understanding of the technical aspects of this
threat and the related vulnerabilities in various
industry segments to better manage risk.
The science of space weather forecasting is
still in its infancy. Scientists cannot accurately
forecast the number of sunspots before the start
of a solar cycle or predict geomagnetic storm
activity, although some organizations do make
attempts. A decade ago, before the start of
Cycle 24, some forecasters were predicting the
most intense solar maximum in 50 years and that
the cycle might result in devastating geomagnetic storms.32 But those forecasts were wrong.
The sunspot activity of Solar Cycle 24 has
been the lowest in more than 100 years, barely
half the activity level of Cycle 23. Some scientists
speculate that the Sun is entering another quiet
period similar to the Maunder Minimum and are
asking questions: Will global climate effects be

similar to those of the Little Ice Age during the
Maunder Minimum or is there no direct correlation between sunspots and terrestrial climate?
Or is this just the quiet before the storm? Even
during a relatively low-amplitude solar cycle, a
CME can be triggered that makes a direct hit on
planet Earth.
The recurrence probability of the 1859
Carrington event is estimated at 1 in 500 years,
and the recurrence probability of the 1989
Quebec storm is estimated at 1 in 150 years.33
Although scientists, engineers and risk managers
are concerned about the potential damage of
another Carrington-type event, they have many
more tools at their disposal to help them predict
and react when such an event occurs. These tools
allow the scientic community to remain vigilant
to the Suns activity and be prepared to act.
The list of solar storm consequences grows in
proportion to our dependence on electromagnetically sensitive technology systems. The SWPC
and ISES, working with many national and international partners, continue to develop improved
monitoring and space weather modeling capabilities. Advances in Earth-bound and satellite-based
data acquisition systems, along with modeling
and a better understating of our interlinked relationship with the Sun, hold promise of reducing
our exposure risk when the Earth is directly in
the path of the next great solar storm.
TS
Oileld Review
Contributors
Dalia Abdallah is a Senior Production Chemist for Abu
Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (ADCO)
in Abu Dhabi, UAE. She joined the company in 2008
and has focused on mitigation strategies for scales and
asphaltenes, corrosion issues, produced water treatment and effective stimulation strategies. Previously,
she worked as a Schlumberger uid analysis engineer
in Abu Dhabi. Dalia, who holds two patents and is the
author of several articles, has a PhD degree in chemistry
from Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Khaled Al-Hendi is a Drilling and Workover Supervisor
for Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) in Ahmadi, Kuwait.
He joined KOC in 2006 as a company representative
overseeing the drilling and workover of wells affected
by the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Khaled holds a degree
in petroleum engineering from Kuwait University,
Kuwait City.
Adel Abdulla Al-Khalaf is a Senior Petroleum
Engineer and Petrophysicist with Qatar Petroleum
in Doha, Qatar, working on well integrity in offshore
elds. He previously worked for the company as assistant petroleum engineer and then as reservoir engineer in the Dukhan onshore eld. Adel earned a BS
degree in petroleum and natural gas engineering from
West Virginia University, Morgantown, USA.
Zaid Al-Kindi, who is a Well Integrity Domain
Champion for Schlumberger in Abu Dhabi, UAE,
provides support and training for pipe integrity and
zonal isolation projects in Egypt, Oman, Pakistan and
the UAE. With the company since 1994, he has held
positions in service quality and account management.
Previously, he worked in technical sales for Galadari
Heavy Equipment Company and as a project engineer
in the UK. Zaid received a BS degree in mechanical
engineering from Kings College London.
Abdulmohsen S. Al-Kuait is a General Supervisor of
the Saudi Aramco Safaniya production engineering
division in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. During more than
25 years at Saudi Aramco, he has worked on numerous
projects with a focus on production engineering and
producing operations. Abdulmohsen obtained a BS
degree from King Fahd University of Petroleum and
Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
Mohannad Al-Muhailan is Team Leader Deep Drilling
Engineering for Kuwait Oil Company in Ahmadi,
Kuwait. He has 15 years of experience in conventional
drilling and high-pressure, high-temperature drilling,
workover operations and drilling management and
nances. Mohannad has also worked in underbalanced, managed pressure and cluster drilling operations. He has a degree in petroleum engineering from
Kuwait University in Kuwait City.
Hassan B. Al-Qahtani is a Supervisor of the Saudi
Aramco Safaniya production engineering division in
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. In more than 17 years as a
petroleum engineer for Saudi Aramco, he has worked
on reservoir management best practices, production
engineering and eld development. Hassan holds a
BS degree from King Fahd University of Petroleum
and Minerals, Dhahran, and an MS degree from The
University of Texas at Austin, USA. He is a graduate of the Saudi Aramco Petroleum Engineering
Technologist Development Program with a specialty
in improved oil recovery.
Autumn 2013
Karam S. Al-Yateem, a Group Leader for the Saudi

Aramco Transformative Technology Think Tank in
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, began with the company in
2005 as a reservoir, testing and production engineer in
onshore and offshore eld locations. He is a member of
the SPE International Production and Operation committee, has authored or coauthored several technical
papers and is an SPE Certied Petroleum Engineer.
Karam earned a BS degree in petroleum engineering
from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals,
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, and an MS degree with a specialty
in smart oileld technologies and management from
the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA.
Anatoly Arsentiev is the Schlumberger Drilling &
Measurements Electronic Team Leader and
GeoMarket* Direction and Inclination (D&I)
Calibration Champion in Irkutsk, Russia, responsible for preventive maintenance and repair of MWD
and LWD tools and addressing D&I surveying technicalities. He started his career with Schlumberger
in 2006 as an electronics technician. Prior to that,
he worked with Insight LLC, an engineering medical company in Irkutsk. Anatoly holds a degree in
terrestrial physics from Irkutsk State University and
did postgraduate research at the Institute of SolarTerrestrial Physics, Irkutsk.
Khalid S. Asiri is a Gas Production Engineering
Supervisor for Saudi Aramco in Udhailiyah, Saudi
Arabia; he is responsible for the unconventional gas
production engineering unit and all unconventional
stimulation activities in tight gas reservoirs. He has
also worked in several areas in the company, including gas production engineering, gas well completion
and services, reservoir engineering and gas drilling
engineering. Before joining Saudi Aramco in 2002, he
worked with the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Petroleum
and Mineral Resources. Khalid received a BS degree
in petroleum engineering from King Saud University,
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He is a member of the SPE,
the SPE Saudi Arabia Section and Saudi Council
of Engineers.
Nausha Asrar is a Senior Materials Scientist and
Manager of Materials Support and Failure Analysis
for Schlumberger in Sugar Land, Texas. He currently
specializes in failure analysis of downhole tools and
materials testing and evaluation. Before joining
Schlumberger in 2005, he was a materials and corrosion specialist with Shell Global Solutions. He also
worked for Saudi Basic Industries Corporation and
Saline Water Conversion Corporation in Saudi Arabia
and for the Steel Authority of India. Nausha obtained
an MS degree in chemistry from Aligarh Muslim
University, Uttar Pradesh, India, and a PhD degree
from Lomonosov Moscow State University.
Mohammed A. Atwi is General Supervisor for the
Saudi Aramco Engineering Division at South Ghawar
Production in Udhailiyah, Saudi Arabia. During his
10-year career with Saudi Aramco, he has worked in
gas production engineering, well completion operations, deep gas drilling engineering and reservoir management. Mohammed has a BS degree in petroleum
engineering from The University of Tulsa.
Syed Aamir Aziz is a Senior Production Engineer

with Schlumberger in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, where
he conducts the processing and interpretation of
production logs and well integrity monitoring. He
began his career in 2002 as a wireline eld engineer
with National Petroleum Services in Saudi Arabia,
where he later became a log analyst and geoscientist
responsible for log processing and interpretation.
He joined Schlumberger in 2008 in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Aamir received BS and MS degrees in geology from the
University of Karachi, Pakistan.
Abderrahmane Benslimani is the Associate Well
Integrity Domain Champion for Schlumberger Wireline
in Ahmadi, Kuwait. He began his career in 2004 in the
UAE as a logging eld engineer and held eld operations positions in Algeria, Libya and China before
moving to Kuwait in 2012. Abderrahmane holds a
diploma in electrical engineering from the National
Polytechnic School of Algiers, Algeria, MS degrees in
electrical sciences and electrical engineering, both
from Universit de Montpellier II, France, and an MS
degree in mathematics and computer science from
Universit Paris-Sud, France.
Andrew Buchanan is the Senior Operations
Geologist with Eni US Operating Company Inc. in
Anchorage, where he has been since 2009. He previously worked for ASRC Energy Services as a geology
consultant. Andrew earned a BS degree in geology from the University of Regina, Saskatchewan,
Canada. He currently serves as Past President of the
Petroleum Club of Anchorage.
Mohamed Fahim is a Petroleum Engineering Expert
for the Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations
Technical Services division in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Previously, Mohamed worked as a senior petroleum
engineer for the Gulf of Suez Petroleum Company in
Egypt. He holds a BS degree in petroleum engineering
and is an SPE Certied Petroleum Engineer.
Carol A. Finn is the Geomagnetism Group Leader for
the US Geological Survey (USGS) Geologic Hazards
Science Center in Denver, where she has worked since
2006. She is responsible for operations and maintenance of 13 USGS geomagnetic observatories in the US
and its territories. Before joining the USGS, she served
10 years with the US Air Force Technical Applications
Center as a research geophysicist and was a geodesist
with the US Defense Mapping Agency Hydrographic/
Topographic Center. Carol received an MS degree in
geophysics from St. Louis University, Missouri, USA,
and a BS degree in geology from Southwest Missouri
State University, Springeld.
M. Aiman Fituri is the Schlumberger Wireline Well
Integrity Domain Champion in Doha, Qatar. Before his
current position, he supported petrophysical openhole
logging and cementing evaluation. He joined the company in 2000 in Oman and held operations positions in
India, Sudan and Egypt before moving to Qatar. Aiman
obtained a BS degree in computer engineering from
Al-Fateh University, Tripoli, Libya.
David H. Hathaway is an Astrophysicist who served
as the head of the solar physics group at the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama,
USA, from 1996 to 2010. He was a postdoctoral fellow
at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in
61
Boulder, Colorado, USA, and a research associate

and an assistant astronomer at the National Solar
Observatory, Sunspot, New Mexico, USA, before coming
to Huntsville in 1984. He holds a BSc degree in astronomy from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst,
USA, and an MSc degree in physics and a PhD degree in
astrophysics from the University of Colorado, Boulder.
David has written more than 150 papers and has three
US patents, including two for the NASA Invention of
the Year in 2002.
Ram Jawale is a Drilling Engineer for Kuwait Oil
Company in Ahmadi, Kuwait. He began his career with
Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation in Gandhinagar,
Gujarat, India, as a drilling engineer for the Kingston
Group Offshore high-pressure, high-temperature project. In that capacity, he performed engineering planning and execution for exploratory drilling. Ram has
a degree in petroleum engineering from Maharashtra
Institute of Technology, Pune, India.
Oscar Jimnez Bueno, who is based in Villahermosa,
Mexico, joined Petrleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) in 1984 as
a reservoir engineer. Within the company, he has held
multiple engineering positions, working on asset development, reservoir stimulation and production optimization. He has been responsible for well completions with
production of more than 3,180 m3/d [20,000 bbl/d]. Oscar
obtained a BS degree in petroleum engineering and an
MSc degree in reservoir engineering from Universidad
Nacional Autnoma de Mxico in Mexico City.
J.J. Kohring has been the Well Integrity Domain
Champion for Schlumberger in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia,
since 2010. He began his career with Schlumberger
Wireline in 1979 and for the past 15 years has specialized in borehole production and well integrity. Jim is a
Principal Production Engineer with experience in the
Middle East, the US, Nigeria and Indonesia. He holds a
BS degree from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, USA.
Fraser Lawson is a Well Engineering Supervisor for
Tullow Ghana Ltd. in Accra, Ghana. He has 29 years of
well engineering experience, including extended-reach
drilling and deepwater projects. Fraser earned a BSc
degree (Hons) in civil engineering from Heriot-Watt
University, Edinburgh, Scotland, and an MSc degree in
petroleum engineering from the University of Strathclyde,
Glasgow, Scotland, and is a Chartered Engineer.
Bruno Lecerf, based in Sugar Land, Texas, is a
Product Engineering Manager with the Pressure
Pumping and Chemistry group within Schlumberger
Engineering, Manufacturing and Sustaining. Previously,
he was a project manager at the Novosibirsk
Technology Center, Russia, and prior to that, a
solutions engineer for acidizing at the Integrated
Productivity and Conveyance Center in Sugar Land.
Bruno obtained an MS degree in chemistry from Ecole
Suprieure de Chimie Physique Electronique de Lyon,
France, and an MS degree in chemical engineering
from the University of Houston.
Tim Lesko is a District Technical Engineer with the
Schlumberger Disruptive Advances for Sustainable
Unconventional Stimulation project in Conway,
Arkansas, USA. He began his Schlumberger career
in 2004 as a product development engineer with the
Pressure Pumping and Chemistry group in Sugar
Land, Texas. In 2006, he transferred to the Novosibirsk
Technology Center in Russia, where he worked with
the MaxCO3 Acid* team. He has worked on projects
such as ber diversion in shales, proppant conductivity
62
and fracture stimulation water quality. Tim received a

BS degree in chemical physics from the University of
California, Riverside, and a PhD degree in chemistry
from the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena.
Rodney W. Lessard, who joined Schlumberger in
2001 after completing postdoctoral work at Purdue
University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA, is Senior
Production Simulation and Optimization Scientist
in Houston. He has coauthored several papers on
very high-energy gamma rays, astronomy and oileld
portfolio management. Rod has BSc and MSc degrees
in physics from the University of Calgary and a PhD
degree in experimental physics from the National
University of Ireland, Dublin.
Jeffrey J. Love, who joined the USGS in 2001, is
a Research Geophysicist and USGS Advisor for
Geomagnetic Research in Denver. He also teaches
geophysics at the Colorado School of Mines, Golden.
He has held research positions at the University of
Leeds, England; Scripps Institution of Oceanography,
La Jolla, California; and Institut de Physique du Globe
de Paris. Jeffrey earned a BA degree in physics and
applied mathematics from the University of California,
Berkeley, and a PhD degree in geophysics from
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Stefan Maus is the Director of Magnetic Variation
Services LLC and is a Senior Scientist at the University
of Colorado, Boulder; he also maintains a laboratory at
the US National Geophysical Data Center in Boulder.
Previously, he was a scientist at GFZ Potsdam,
Germany, and a lecturer at the Free University, Berlin.
Stefan holds a BSc degree in mathematics and an MSc
degree in geophysics, both from Ludwig Maximilian
University of Munich, Germany, and a PhD degree
in geophysics from Osmania University, Hyderabad,
Andhra Pradesh, India.
Fred Mueller is the North America Engineering
Director for Network of Excellence in Training
(NExT, a Schlumberger company) in College Station,
Texas. In 1980, he joined Dowell, which is now part of
Schlumberger, as a eld engineer. He spent many years
with Schlumberger technical support systems for production enhancement and optimization and was a Well
Services technical manager in California and South
Texas. Fred has experience in the technical and operational aspects of cementing and hydraulic fracture
design for tight gas and shale formations. He received a
BS degree in engineering technology from Texas A&M
University, College Station.
Shola Okewunmi worked as a directional drilling
subject matter expert with Chevron Energy Technology
Company in Houston and now works in Jakarta as a
Senior Drilling and Completions Engineer for deepwater development projects. He has more than 20 years of
experience in drilling and measurements, geosteering
and formation evaluation. Shola obtained a BS degree
in mechanical engineering from Obafemi Awolowo
University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, an MBA degree from the
University of Houston-Victoria and a PhD degree in
engineering management from Kennedy Western
University, Wyoming, USA.
Alejandro Pea is a Global Chemistry and Materials
Portfolio Manager for Schlumberger in Sugar Land,
Texas. He oversees the corporate strategy for innovation in chemistry-enabled well stimulation technologies. He earned his BS degree in chemical engineering
and was an assistant professor at Universidad de Los
Andes in Mrida, Venezuela. After completing his PhD

degree in chemical engineering at Rice University in
Houston, he joined Schlumberger as a senior chemical
engineer. Since then, he has held several operational,
engineering and technology management positions
within Schlumberger in North and South America.
Alejandro holds several patents and has authored
various publications on interfacial phenomena and
reservoir stimulation technology.
Alexandre Z. I. Pereira is a Petrobras Advisor in
the Well Engineering Group in Rio de Janeiro and is
a Specialist in chemical treatments. He worked in
the Campos Basin Operational Unit when he joined
Petrobras in 1987 and then moved to the Rio de
Janeiro Operational Unit, where he develops projects
in completion, corrosion, scaling and stimulation at
the Petrobras Research and Development Center. A
member of the SPE, Alexandre holds a BS degree in
chemical engineering and an MA degree in chemistry
from the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro.
Benny Poedjono is the Schlumberger Surveying
and Risk Management Manager for North America
Offshore and a Petro-Technical Engineer Advisor
for Wellbore Positioning, in Sugar Land, Texas. He
started his career with the company in 1982 as a
Wireline eld engineer and has held operations,
management, technical support and business development positions in 22 countries. In the past 10
years, he has been concentrating on advanced well
surveying and collision avoidance management. He
holds several patents and trade secrets and has published more than 30 technical papers. Benny has a BS
degree in electronics engineering from the Bandung
Institute of Technology, Indonesia.
Mahmut Sengul is a Schlumberger Production
Technology Advisor in Houston. He joined the company
in 1997 as a reservoir solutions manager in the UAE,
where he was involved in enhanced oil recovery project
design. He then became vice president of Schlumberger
Carbon Services in the Middle East. Prior to his
Schlumberger career, Mahmut worked for the Turkish
Petroleum Corporation, Mobil and ADCO. Mahmut
received a BS degree in petroleum engineering and
an MS degree in reservoir engineering, both from the
Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey.
Fernanda Tellez Cisneros is a Schlumberger Senior
Design Engineer for matrix acidizing, acid fracturing
and hydraulic fracturing in Villahermosa, Mexico. She
began her career as a Well Services eld engineer
in 2007. Fernanda earned a BS degree in chemical
engineering from Instituto Tecnolgico y de Estudios
Superiores de Monterrey, Mexico.
E. William Worthington is a Geophysicist in
Geomagnetic Observatory Operations with the
USGS Geologic Hazards Science Center in Golden,
Colorado. He has worked for the USGS since 1988.
During his career, he has been a visiting scientist at
the Soviet Academy of Sciences, a researcher with
the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska,
Fairbanks, and chief of the USGS College Magnetic
Observatory in Fairbanks. Bill received his BS degree
in geosciences from the University of Arizona, Tucson,
USA, and MS and PhD degrees in geophysics from the
Colorado School of Mines, Golden.
An asterisk (*) is used to denote a mark of Schlumberger.
Oileld Review
DEFINING PRODUCTION LOGGING
Principles of Production Logging

Parijat Mukerji
Production Logging Advisor
The term production logging covers a wide array of sensors, measurements

and interpretation techniques. Operators use production logs to evaluate
uid movement in and out of wellbores, quantify ow rates and determine
uid properties at downhole conditions. Completion engineers can evaluate
production and perforation efciency and plan remediation or modify future
completion designs based on the interpretation of production logs. Reservoir
and production engineers can use these logs to help manage and optimize
well and reservoir performance.
Production logging traces its origin to the 1930s and the measurement of
wellbore temperature. Over the decades, other measurementsincluding
pressure, uid density, ow velocity and holdup (volume fraction of pipe
occupied by uid)have been added to the service. Although measurements of pressure, temperature and ow rate can be obtained at the surface, surface measurements do not necessarily reect what is happening in
the reservoir. Comprehensive production log evaluation requires that measurements be acquired downhole.
Production Logging Measurements
Production logging consists of several measurements, many of which are
used in a complementary capacity to determine uid and ow properties
(below). Fluid velocity is commonly measured with a spinner owmetera
rotating blade that turns when uid moves past it. In ideal conditions, the
rotational speed of the blade in revolutions per second (RPS) is proportional to the uid velocity. Friction in the spinner bearings and effects from
uid viscosity result in nonlinear velocity responses, requiring calibration of
the measurement. This calibration is accomplished by making upward and
downward passes at varying logging speeds. Before absolute uid velocity is
computed, spinner speed is corrected for relative tool speed. Because of
friction near the pipe wall, absolute uid velocity is not the same as the
average velocity of uid moving through the pipe. After applying correction
factors, engineers convert the spinner velocity to an average velocity using
Basic Measurement Sonde

Batteries, recorder, casing collar
locator and sensors to measure
gamma ray, temperature and pressure
Spinner Flowmeter
Caliper, water holdup,
bubble count,
relative bearing, centralizer
> Production logging toolstring. This production logging toolstring

consists of a fullbore spinner, fluid holdup and bubble count probes, a
pipe diameter caliper and centralizer, a relative bearing sensor,
pressure gauges, a temperature sensor, a gamma ray tool and a casing
collar locator. When engineers run the tool in memory mode, batteries
and a data recorder are used. Surface readout tools use a telemetry and
power section.
computer modeling techniques, which present the uid velocity prole

across the pipe diameter.
Pressure is a versatile measurement with several applications for reservoir and production engineers. Strain, sapphire and quartz gauges are the
main devices used to measure pressure. Engineers may also measure pressure using a manometera device that converts mechanical displacement
to pressure. From wellbore pressure data, engineers can determine well
stability at the time of logging, estimate reservoir pressure from multirate
logging surveys, calculate uid density and obtain key reservoir parameters
by performing transient rate analyses.
Temperature is an integral measurement for all production logging.
Engineers use temperature data to make qualitative conclusions about uid
entries, particularly in lowow rate scenarios in which a spinner may not
be sensitive enough to detect movement. Gas entries create cooling anomalies that are easily detected using temperature logs. Temperature measurements are also used in fracture treatment evaluation and to evaluate
injection well performance. Using temperature data, engineers may be able
to evaluate the integrity of well completions, detect casing leaks and identify ow through channels behind pipe. Resistance temperature detectors,
the most common type of sensor, usually consist of a platinum wire or lm
deposited on a nonconductive surface. Changes in temperature cause variations in resistance, which is calibrated and converted to temperature.
Fluid density measurements differentiate oil, gas and water. Service
companies have developed tools based on a variety of physical principles to
obtain uid density measurements:
differential pressure across two ports separated by a known distance
Compton scattering of gamma rays
pressure gradient relation to density
ow vibration relation to density and viscosity.
In the case of two-phase ow, engineers can use uid densityin conjunction with other measurements such as uid viscosityto compute
holdup. Where multiphase ow is present, they must employ tools with
probes distributed across a wellbore to directly measure the uid holdup.
One type of tool senses differences in optical reectance to obtain holdup,
which involves measuring the amount of light reected back from a uid.
Another type of tool differentiates water from oil and gas using probes that
measure electrical properties of the uids.
Auxiliary measurements commonly acquired by production logging
strings are casing collar logs, gamma ray logs, caliper and deviation. Casing
collar and gamma ray logs provide depth control and correlation with completion components. Caliper and deviation data are used in production modeling programs.
Production logs can be difficult to interpret because fluid flow may
not be uniform, and multiple passes result in large amounts of data,
some of which may produce conflicting answers. Computer programs
have been developed to assist engineers in understanding downhole
conditions; computer-generated interpretations remove some of the

Autumn 2013
63
DEFINING PRODUCTION LOGGING
ambiguities associated with the interpretation process (below). The

interpretation product can often help the engineer identify more-productive intervals, detect water entry and determine intervals that do not
contribute to production.
Flow Regimes
To analyze production logging data, production engineers must be aware of
downhole ow regimes. Knowledge of expected ow regimes allows operators to choose measurements suitable for the downhole conditions.
Single-phase owwhen only oil, gas or water is producedis the simplest ow to evaluate; however, it is uncommon in most wells. Two- and
three-phase owmixtures of two or three uid typescan exhibit a wide
variety of ow regimes and are complicated by deviated wellbores (right).
In such cases, gravity ensures that the lighter phase travels at a higher
velocity than the denser phases. The velocity difference between the different uids is the slip velocity.
As uids migrate uphole, the ow regime usually changes. For instance,
oil with dissolved gas can enter the wellbore as a single phase. The hydrostatic pressure decreases as the oil rises, and gas bubbles begin to form in
the oil. The ow regime is then bubble ow. Pressure is further reduced as
the mixture moves uphole; more bubbles form and smaller bubbles aggregate to create larger bubbles. Large bubbles, or gas slugs, travel faster than
both small bubbles and liquids. Gas slugs may initiate slug ow. Slugs tend
to unite and move to the center of the pipe, forcing most of the oil to ow
along the pipe walls. This ow regime is called froth ow. Eventually, a
mist ow regime may be reached, in which the gas is carrying droplets of
Perforations
Depth, ft
Cable
Speed
60 ft/min
Gamma
Ray
Spinner
Fluid
Fluid
Well
Density Temperature Pressure
Water
Holdup
Cumulative
Production Production
90 ft/min
Oil Water
1,200 ft/min
120
120 0
gAPI 250 15 RPS 350 0
g/cm3 1.1 194 F
196 3,600 psi 3,710 0.8
1.0 0
bbl/d 3,000 0
Oil
Water
bbl/d 5,000
X,900
Y,000
> Production log. This log shows data typically provided by downhole
sensors in a production logging survey. Two intervals have open
perforations (Track 1, red). Engineers make multiple passes at different
logging speeds (Track 2); negative cable speeds represent down passes
and positive logging speeds are up passes. Color-coding based on
logging speed helps differentiate datasets. Gamma ray data (Track 3)
provide correlation with openhole logs. From spinner data (Track 4),
engineers identify changes in fluid velocity associated with inflow from
production, outflow from thief zones or outflow from injection. The fluid
density data (Track 5) indicate water (1.0 g/cm3) below the perforations
(the sump), which then transitions to mainly oil (0.75 g/cm3). Temperature
data (Track 6) indicate heating or cooling effects caused by inflow of
fluids. Steady well pressure (Track 7) is a characteristic of stable flow
during acquisition. Holdup data (Track 8) indicate water and oil fraction
within the wellbore. The software computes incremental and cumulative
flow rates (Tracks 9 and 10). The two intervals are producing oil; the
lower interval is also producing a trace amount of water (Track 9).
64
Near-Vertical Well
Oil and water mixed

across the section of
the pipe
Deviated Well
Highly complex flow

structures
Water phase at the
bottom of the pipe
Dispersed oil phase in
the uppermost level of
the pipe
Near-Horizontal Well
Almost stratified flow

structures
Oil at the top, water
at the bottom and a
mixture of the two in
the middle of the pipe
> Fluid flow. Theoretical work and flow loop experiments have helped
engineers understand multiphase flow in vertical, deviated and
horizontal wellbores. The parameters of interest include pipe diameter
and inclination and fluid density, viscosity and flow rate. Each case
shows the variation in water and oil holdup based on well deviation.
oil, and both uids are traveling at essentially the same velocity. This simplied example becomes complex in deviated wellbores or when uids of various phases enter the wellbore from multiple zones. Modeling programs
attempt to resolve these complexities using production log data.
Reservoir Surveillance and Management
Production logs help engineers diagnose problems that occur during the life
of a single well and are also used for management and surveillance of multiple wells or of the entire reservoir. A common challenge faced by operators
in mature elds is identifying zones that produce excessive amounts of
water. Produced water impacts surface handling operations because water
must be separated from the ow stream for disposal. Produced water may
also affect well performance by limiting the volume of hydrocarbons being
produced. After identifying water-producing zones, production engineers
may perform remediation to reduce or eliminate water production.
Operators may also use production logs to calibrate reservoir simulation
models. During full-eld reservoir model history-matching, engineers can
use production log data to help identify or match zonal contributions, netune parameters and align the model with the empirical performance data.
Lifetime Logging
Production logs provide reservoir and production engineers with a diagnostic aid for understanding the downhole wellbore environment. These
in situ measurements acquired under dynamic conditions are a snapshot
of the existing situation. But that snapshot captures the situation only
for that moment in time. Whether by fluid extraction or injection, oil
and gas production changes reservoir conditions. Production logs help
operators understand well and reservoir dynamics over the life of a well
and create a roadmap for future remediation, production enhancements
and reservoir development programs.
Oileld Review
SCHLUMBERGER OILFIELD REVIEW
AUTUMN 2013
VOLUME 25 NUMBER 3

Avances en Acidificacion

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Avances en Acidificacion

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Oilfield Review

Oilfield Review App

Geomagnetic Referencing for Well Placement

the drilling process. By using geomagnetic referencing,

Geomagnetic Referencing for Well Placement

Editorial contributed by Andrew Buchanan, Senior Operations Geologist,

Stimulating Naturally Fractured

Stimulation of naturally fractured carbonate reservoirs has

18 Casing Corrosion Measurement to

About Oilfield Review

Oilfield Review is published quarterly and

2013 Schlumberger. All rights reserved.

32 Geomagnetic ReferencingThe Real-Time

In recent years, demand for accurate wellbore placement

48 Blowing in the Solar Wind: Sun Spots,

Space weather can affect terrestrial systems that are crucial

Stimulating Naturally Fractured

Naturally fractured carbonate reservoirs can be difcult to stimulate because

Oscar Jimnez Bueno

have developed an innovative acidizing uid that employs degradable bers to

> Acid-induced wormholes. An intricate network of wormholes formed during

Achieving stimulation uniformity can be particularly challenging when large permeability

the stimulation uid as it travels down the well.

CaCl2 + CO2 + H2O

Cased Hole Acidizing

This article describes the development of the

with both mineral- and polymer-base bers, they

Studying applications for bers in the context

Fissure or Fracture Geometry

Pressure evolution in the apparatus followed

concentration required to achieve bridging

Linear fluid velocity, ft/min

Degradable fiber concentration, lbm/1,000 galUS

> Pressure-versus-time plot from a slot-ow experiment. During this

> Effect of degradable ber concentration on

> Apparent permeability resulting from plugging a perforated zone with

Linear fluid velocity, m/min

7. It may appear counterintuitive to imagine that ber plugs

Apparent reservoir permeability, mD

Fiber plug permeability

Fiber degradation time, h

In addition, the model predicts uid diversion

Volume of acid spent at 100C, %

2% KCI (injection direction)

Verifying Wellsite Deliverability

Fluid volume, pore volumes

be an efcient system for preparing MaxCO3 Acid

9. For more on formation damage testing in the laboratory:

that includes a berm below the blender and a

10. Bullheading is the pumping of uids into a wellbore from

Optimizing Production in Southern Mexico

Mexico (previous page, bottom). The eld has

> Permeability prole. The permeability varies four orders of magnitude in a

Pump rate, bbl/min

stone and dolomite that have a permeability

HCIformic acid blend

MaxCO3 Acid fluid

HCIformic acid blend

MaxCO3 Acid fluid

HCIformic acid blend

and the reservoir temperature varies between

coverage during stimulation treatment presents

Oil production rate, bbl/d

Begin MaxCO3 Acid treatment