US 9,791,586 B2Granted

Processing and geosteering with a rotating tool

AssigneeHalliburton Energy Services, Inc.

InventorsMichael S. Bittar, Hsu-Hsiang Wu, Shanjun Li

Life of this patent

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Abstract

Various embodiments include apparatus and methods of processing and geosteering with respect to well logging. Apparatus and methods may include acquiring signals generated from operating a tool rotating in a borehole of a well, where the tool includes a receiver antenna tilted with respect to the longitudinal axis of the tool and two transmitter antennas. The acquired signals can be processed with respect to a direction in the rotation of the tool to determine properties associated with a formation and/or to determine a geosignal for geosteering a drilling operation.

Claims37

Dependent claims

A method of determining properties of a formation surrounding a borehole in which a tool coupled to a drilling tool is operating, the method comprising:

acquiring signals generated from operating the tool rotating in the borehole, the tool having a longitudinal axis, the tool including two transmitter antennas and a receiver antenna tilted with respect to the longitudinal axis, the two transmitter antennas being oriented within different adjacent quadrants with respect to the longitudinal axis, the acquired signals including signals received at the tilted receiver antenna in response to firing separately the two transmitter antennas associated with the tilted receiver antenna;
and
operating a processing unit to process the acquired signals with respect to a direction relative to the rotation of the tool to determine properties associated with the formation, including determining a coupling matrix by determining a plurality of coupling voltage components directly from the acquired signals, based on the two transmitter antennas being oriented in adjacent quadrants, by directly calculating each of the plurality of coupling voltage components from the acquired signals measured at rotated positions of the tool, and the position and orientation of the tool without solving a set of equations relating the acquired signals to the coupling voltage components;
determining a geosignal from the coupling matrix;
and
utilizing the geosignal to control a drilling direction of the drilling tool.

3 more elements

A method of determining properties of a formation surrounding a borehole in which a tool is operating, the method comprising:

acquiring signals generated from operating a tool rotating in the borehole, the tool having a longitudinal axis, the tool including a receiver antenna tilted with respect to the longitudinal axis and two transmitter antennas, the two transmitter antennas being oriented within different adjacent quadrants with respect to the longitudinal axis, the acquired signals including signals received at the tilted receiver antenna in response to firing separately the two transmitter antennas associated with the tilted receiver antenna;
and
operating a processing unit to process the acquired signals with respect to a direction in the rotation of the tool to determine properties associated with a formation, including determining a geosignal response, directly from the acquired signals based on the two transmitter antennas being oriented within different adjacent quadrants with respect to the longitudinal axis, by generating the geosignal response as a ratio of a received signal at an azimuthal angle to a received signal at the azimuthal angle plus 180°.

A method comprising:

acquiring signals generated from operating a tool rotating in a borehole, the tool having a longitudinal axis, the tool including a receiver antenna tilted with respect to the longitudinal axis and two transmitter antennas, the acquired signals including signals received at the tilted receiver antenna in response to firing separately the two transmitter antennas associated with the tilted receiver antenna;
and
operating a processing unit to process the acquired signals with respect to a direction in the rotation of the tool to determine properties associated with a formation, including determining a geosignal response directly from the acquired signals, wherein determining a geosignal response from the acquired signals includes generating the geosignal response as a geosignal phase and a geosignal attenuation, wherein the method includes:
partitioning the tool rotation into N bins in which completion of the N bins is one complete rotation of the tool, N≦2, each bin having an associated azimuthal angle β;
generating, for a bin at azimuthal angle β, one or both of two geosignals, the two geosignals being:
V
Geo
ZX
⁡
(
β
)
=
V
R
U
⁡
(
β
)
+
V
R
L
⁡
(
β
+
π
)
1
N
⁢
∑
i
=
1
N
⁢
⁢
[
V
R
U
⁡
(
β
m
2
+
(
i
-
1
)
×
β
i
)
+
V
R
L
⁡
(
β
m
2
+
(
i
-
1
)
×
β
i
)
]
and
V
Geo
XZ
⁡
(
β
)
=
V
R
U
⁡
(
β
+
π
)
+
V
R
L
⁡
(
β
+
π
)
1
N
⁢
∑
i
=
1
N
⁢
⁢
[
V
R
U
⁡
(
β
m
2
+
(
i
-
1
)
×
β
i
)
+
V
R
L
⁡
(
β
m
2
+
(
i
-
1
)
×
β
i
)
]
where VGeoZX (β) and VGeoXZ(β) are the two geosignals at the bin at azimuthal angle β, VRU(β) a voltage signal at the bin at azimuthal angle β received at the tilted receiver antenna in response to firing one of the transmitter antennas placed above the tilted receiver antenna, VRL(β) is a voltage signal received at the tilted receiver antenna in response to firing the other transmitter antenna placed below the tilted receiver antenna, VRU(β+π) is a voltage signal at another bin 180 degrees from the bin at azimuthal angle β received at the tilted receiver antenna in response to firing one of the transmitter antennas placed above the tilted receiver antenna, VRL(β+π) is a voltage signal at the other bin 180 degrees from the bin at azimuthal angle β received at the tilted receiver antenna in response to firing the other transmitter antenna placed below the tilted receiver antenna, and the summation includes a voltage signal, for each bin, received at the tilted receiver antenna in response to firing one of the transmitter antennas placed above the tilted receiver antenna and a voltage signal, for each bin, received at the tilted receiver antenna in response to firing the other transmitter antenna placed below the tilted receiver antenna.

154 more elements

A non-transitory machine-readable medium that stores instructions, which when performed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations, the operations comprising:

acquiring signals generated from operating a tool rotating in a borehole of a well, the tool coupled to a drilling tool, the tool having a longitudinal axis, the tool including a receiver antenna tilted with respect to the longitudinal axis and two transmitter antennas, the two transmitter antennas being oriented within different adjacent quadrants with respect to the longitudinal axis, the acquired signals including signals received at the tilted receiver antenna in response to firing separately the two transmitter antennas associated with the tilted receiver antenna;
and
processing the acquired signals with respect to a direction relative to the rotation of the tool to determine properties associated with a formation, including determining a geosignal response, directly from the acquired signals based on the two transmitter antennas being oriented within different adjacent quadrants with respect to the longitudinal axis, by generating the geosignal response as a ratio of a received signal at an azimuthal angle to a received signal at the azimuthal angle plus 180°;
and
utilizing the geosignal response to control a drilling direction of the drilling tool.

2 more elements

A non-transitory machine-readable medium that stores instructions, which when performed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations, the operations comprising:

acquiring signals generated from operating a tool rotating in a borehole of a well, the tool having a longitudinal axis, the tool including a receiver antenna tilted with respect to the longitudinal axis and two transmitter antennas, the acquired signals including signals received at the tilted receiver antenna in response to firing separately the two transmitter antennas associated with the tilted receiver antenna;
and
operating a processing unit to process the acquired signals with respect to a direction in the rotation of the tool to determine properties associated with a formation, including determining a coupling matrix from the acquired signals, wherein the instructions include:
partitioning the tool rotation into N bins in which completion of the N bins is one complete rotation of the tool, N≦2, each bin having an associated azimuthal angle β;
and
determining a geosignal response from the acquired signals for a bin, the geosignal response being generated as one or more of:
a geosignal phase and a geosignal attenuation, the geosignal phase as the difference between a phase of a voltage signal received at the tilted receiver antenna in response to firing one transmitter antenna for the bin and a phase of a voltage signal received at the tilted receiver antenna in response to firing the one transmitter antenna at another bin that is 180 degrees from the bin and the geosignal attenuation as the difference between the log of the voltage signal received at the tilted receiver antenna in response to firing the one transmitter antenna for the bin and the log of the voltage signal received at the tilted receiver antenna in response to firing the one transmitter antenna at another bin that is 180 degrees from the bin,
V
Geo
ZX
⁡
(
β
)
=
V
R
U
⁡
(
β
)
+
V
R
L
⁡
(
β
+
π
)
1
N
⁢
∑
i
=
1
N
⁢
⁢
[
V
R
U
⁡
(
β
m
2
+
(
i
-
1
)
×
β
i
)
+
V
R
L
⁡
(
β
m
2
+
(
i
-
1
)
×
β
i
)
]
,
⁢
or
V
Geo
XZ
⁡
(
β
)
=
V
R
U
⁡
(
β
+
π
)
+
V
R
L
⁡
(
β
+
π
)
1
N
⁢
∑
i
=
1
N
⁢
⁢
[
V
R
U
⁡
(
β
m
2
+
(
i
-
1
)
×
β
i
)
+
V
R
L
⁡
(
β
m
2
+
(
i
-
1
)
×
β
i
)
]
where VGeoZX(β) and VGeoXZ(β) are the two geosignals at the bin at azimuthal angle β, VRU(β) a voltage signal at the bin at azimuthal angle β received at the tilted receiver antenna in response to firing one of the transmitter antennas placed above the tilted receiver antenna, VRL(β) is a voltage signal received at the tilted receiver antenna in response to firing the other transmitter antenna placed below the tilted receiver antenna, VRL(β+π) is a voltage signal at another bin 180 degrees from the bin at azimuthal angle β received at the tilted receiver antenna in response to firing one of the transmitter antennas placed above the tilted receiver antenna, VRL(β+π) is a voltage signal at the other bin 180 degrees from the bin at azimuthal angle β received at the tilted receiver antenna in response to firing the other transmitter antenna placed below the tilted receiver antenna, and the summation includes a voltage signal, for each bin, received at the tilted receiver antenna in response to firing one of the transmitter antennas placed above the tilted receiver antenna and a voltage signal, for each bin, received at the tilted receiver antenna in response to firing the other transmitter antenna placed below the tilted receiver.

158 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

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Abstract