American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2021 - 69

SpecialReport: Well Diagnostics
Downhole Tools
Collect Data Efficiently
To Drive Well Performance
By Colter Cookson
In the oil field, knowledge is power.
The more the industry learns about the
subsurface, the more it can optimize everything
from drill bits and completion designs
to enhanced oil recovery techniques, which
ultimately translates to higher returns and
smaller environmental footprints.
Understanding what is happening thousands
of feet beneath the surface must
always require inferences, but between
more robust and affordable downhole
tools and models that can turn data into
deeper insights, it is becoming easier to
picture downhole events at the surface.
Wired drill pipe can enable operators
to get more information from down hole.
" Wired pipe's general reliability has improved
enough that we believe the technology
will follow a similar adoption path
as rotary steerable systems, making another
step forward in the well construction
process, " says Ian Silvester, chief executive
officer for the U.S. subsidiary of Reelwell
AS. " It will not only improve drilling efficiencies,
but also help drillers put the
well in the optimum place and deliver
smooth, high-quality wellbores.
" These benefits come because wired
drill pipe can send data at rates above 56
kilobytes a second, 10,000-15,000 times
faster than existing mud pulse or electromagnetic
telemetry, " Silvester reports.
" At that speed, operators can be much
less selective about the essential data
they need to send to surface. "
According to Silvester, more detailed
and frequent data can unlock three benefits.
" First, it helps drillers put wells in the
right place, " he begins. " If they drill geometrically,
they can get much more frequent
updates on the bit's position, inclination
and azimuth and adjust as needed.
If they are geosteering, they can make
better decisions based on higher-resolution
gamma ray and resistivity logs. "
Drillers also will have the visibility to
be able to react faster to drilling dysfunctions
that can impact hole cleaning,
cause stuck pipe or damage the bit and
bottom-hole assembly, Silvester adds.
" For example, we can go from sending
data on shock and vibration or stick-slip
every minute or two to sending it multiple
times a second. This change lets drillers
see early signs of drilling dysfunctions
and change drilling parameters before
they cause major damage to the hole or
lost time, " he says.
" The third benefit of faster telemetry
is that it removes invisible lost time associated
with taking direction and inclination
surveys, downlinking to rotary
steerable systems or waiting for confirmation
measurements after adjusting a
mud motor's tool face. Industry studies
suggest wired pipe's telemetry rates can
reduce nonproductive and invisible lost
time accounting for 5%-15% of total
drilling time, " he reports.
Silvester predicts wired drill pipe will
make it possible to advance automated
drilling processes by using high-frequency
downhole measurements and closing the
loop between down hole and surface,
which should improve consistency from
well to well and crew to crew.
Powering Downhole Equipment
In addition to moving data, Reelwell's
wired drill pipe can send power from the
surface to downhole equipment, Silvester
reports. " Our wired braid delivers 500
watts down hole, " he details. " At first,
we expect this power to be used as a
backup in case downhole turbine generators
fail or lithium batteries run out of
life. It should enable longer runs in areas
where that is common. "
As operators and service companies
get comfortable with power by pipe, they
may remove the turbines and batteries
entirely to shorten their BHAs and increase
run length, Silvester says. " Shorter BHAs
would put measurements closer to the
bit, which can improve steering, and
reduce downhole tools' complexity, which
should save money and increase reliability, "
he says.
" In the long term, we believe service
Reelwell AS' wired drill pipe can improve drilling performance by sending high-speed
data and power to and from downhole tools. For reliability, transmission takes place
through a copper braid with 816 wires inside. The company explains that if one wire
short-circuits, others continue to carry the signal.
JULY 2021 69
American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2021

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