Baker Hughes Launches Reservoir Navigation Services

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Combination of interpretation experts, reservoir modeling, drilling evaluation technology, and 3D/4D visualization software optimizes well placement

Baker Hughes announced today the launch of its Reservoir Navigation Services (RNS), which is intended to optimize wellbore placement through the combination of reservoir modeling, the industry’s most comprehensive real-time drilling evaluation toolkit and 3D/4D visualization software with interpretation experts. The service is designed to optimize production and increase overall asset recovery by reducing uncertainty during drilling and delivering maximum reservoir contact in the targeted zone.

RNS includes a pre-well planning process that integrates multiple offset-well and digital horizon data into a 3D geospatial model of the reservoir’s anticipated stratigraphy. Proposed well plans are verified against the model’s structural data, which is then used as input to Baker Hughes’ reservoir navigation software to create a predictive model that anticipates real-time tool responses to the expected stratigraphy. Additional forward models are built to test alternative geological interpretations, to qualify geological model reliability and to identify any potential weaknesses in the geological interpretation. Data from the various models are used to map the well in the zone of maximum interest.
During drilling operations, real-time, high-transfer rate survey and logging-while-drilling (LWD) data are captured and continuously entered into the reservoir navigation software. Customized plots present the data in its geological context on both measured and stratigraphic depth scales. Interactively linking pre-well models to a selection of geological properties allows real-time updates that accurately describe and predict the reservoir’s geology.

RNS uses a full suite of LWD tools with the industry’s widest size range—6 ¾ to 4 ¾ inches. The formation evaluation technology incorporates high-speed telemetry so data capture does not interfere with drilling time. Data interpretation and geosteering experts located at the wellsite, in the client’s office or in one of Baker Hughes’ BEACON collaboration centers use the constantly updated geologic model and geosteering capabilities to overcome real-time drilling challenges. The continuously updated reservoir models also allow operators to further refine reserve estimates.

“In field deployments around the world, we have seen how this integrated approach allows operators to improve recovery from existing fields and access challenging new fields,” says Scott Schmidt, president of the drilling, evaluation and drilling fluids business segment for Baker Hughes. “Combining cutting-edge modeling and LWD technology with data interpretation experts makes RNS valuable for all high-angle, horizontal well applications—from the simplest to the most complex well trajectories.”