Halliburton announced during a news conference at OTC on 3 May the successful completion of field tests for the company’s GeoTap IDS fluid identification and sampling sensor for BG Norge.
The test was performed on the Bredford Dolphin drilling rig for the 34/5-1 S Blåbær exploration well offshore Norway.
With this new sensor for subsurface hydrocarbon fluid sampling, reservoir formation fluids can be sampled during short stops in the drilling process with a tool placed in the LWD assembly. Halliburton believes application of this technology can help operators save on rig costs and reduce requirements for post-well wireline sampling. Especially of high-cost environments such as deepwater exploration wells, conventional wireline-based sampling programs can cost million dollars more in rig time and increase well risk.
The new sensor also allows operators to acquire multiple fluid samples within hours of drilling the formation instead of days, reducing the likelihood of borehole damage and producing a less contaminated sample.
By allowing several samples to be collected through a productive hydrocarbon zone during pauses in the drilling operation, the tool improves operators’ ability to quickly characterize fluid variability.
Halliburton believes the tool also has the potential to optimize wellbore placement and achieve maximum production over the life of the reservoir.
Click here to view a video demonstrating the GeoTap product.
