SPE-183678-MS

Geosteering Strategy for Enhancement Horizontal Well Placement in Tight

Carbonate Formations

Pablo Guizada, Kausik Saikia, Abdul Aziz Ahmad Azly, and Bela Eperjesi, Saudi Aramco

Copyright 2017, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Middle East Oil & Gas Show and Conference held in Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain, 6-9 March 2017.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents
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Abstract
Developing heterogeneous and tight carbonate formations in mature fields requires novel techniques for
drilling new wells to improve well productivity. A geosteering method has been implemented in drilling
long horizontal wells in the carbonate reservoir to overcome the heterogeneity challenges by targeting the
most productive layers or intervals. The key objective of geosteering is to place the well more accurately
to maximize the net reservoir contact to increase the well productivity.
Multidisciplinary inputs and techniques take key role in defining the pre-drill geosteering methodology.
These include seismic attributes which could be correlated with better spatial porosity distribution,
geo-mechanical study and understanding the area to drill the horizontal section in optimum direction,
understanding of depositional environment and facies distribution, and process of diagenesis and static as
well as dynamic models. Regarding execution, the main steps start with landing the well into the target layer
via real-time correlation with offset wells, ascertain the density-to-porosity relationship at target layer, and
then geosteer the hole-section along the desired reservoir interval to get optimum reservoir contact.
Summarized in this work is the different challenges that are faced when drilling laterals in a heterogeneous
and tight carbonate formation. Even with a pilot well, there still exist challenges in landing horizontal wells
due to lateral local variation in the structure, formation dip, and reservoir quality. These heterogeneities
and uncertainties can cause shorter horizontal section or less reservoir contact, dog leg problems, missing
production intervals thereby risking production target resulting in costly side track to recover the loss. With
the geosteering methods implemented, these issues have been significantly reduced.

Introduction
Geosteering strategy has been applied successfully in the last years to develop heterogeneous and tight
carbonate reservoirs.At the beginning these reservoirs were produced through vertical wells. Due to
reservoir heterogeneity, low net pay and low flow capacity in some areas, it was observed that vertical wells
were not the optimum completion to develop these layers and therefore, horizontal wellbores were drilled
to maximize the reservoir contact and ultimately to increase the well productivity. To maximize reservoir
contact in the thin layers, a proper well placement of the horizontal wells has to be planned and executed.
Geosteering strategy as presented in this paper was found to be effective to achieve these objectives.
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Basically the strategy consist of two different stages: first, well planning and second, well placement.
Well planning uses seismic data to choose a suitable well location and to land the well trajectory into the
target layer via correlation with offset wells.Well placement starts with the planned trajectory and density-to-
porosity relationship at target layer needs to be ascertained, then geosteer the hole-section along the desired
reservoir interval to get optimum reservoir contact.
A horizontal well can have maximum contact in good reservoir section if proper well placement with
azimuthal alignment has been performed into better development direction. Finding good porosity in tight
and thin reservoir layer is challenging while drilling which has huge impact on horizontal performance. The
success of the horizontal well depends on how accurately it has been placed or landed in the desired layer
with optimum hole inclination with respect to the formation dip.

Geological Setting and Reservoir Description

The carbonate gas reservoirs, under the scope of this study, are present in the Upper Permian-Late
Triassic Formation.A major transgression occurred throughout the area during Upper Permian in which
predominantly carbonates were deposited and coincided with Late Permian rifting and the opening of Neo-
Tethys ocean. The target formation is interpreted to be deposited in a "classic" carbonate ramp setting. The
formation consists predominantly of cyclic shallow water carbonates and evaporates (Fig.1).

Figure 1—Generalized Stratigraphy of the Field (Faqira et al, 2013)

This formation is divided into four depositional cycles, three reservoirs (1, 2 and 3) are gas bearing,
while Reservoir 4 is anhydrite. The Reservoir 2, object of this study, is highly heterogeneous and has
limited preserved primary porosity development. It is to be noted that in a carbonate set up, porosity and
permeability are broadly related to the effect of diagenesis, which is a key controlling factor. Diagenetic
processes mainly consist of dolomitization, selective dissolution of limestone and cementation (anhydrite).
From lithology standpoint, the formation is composed of dolomite intermingled with limestone and
intermittent anhydrite stringers. Three types of porosity are observed in the reservoir: inter-particle, inter-
crystalline and moldic (Fig.2). Deep, tight, thin carbonate reservoir are being targeted aggressively for
hydrocarbon potential.
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Figure 2—Effect of diagenesis: Reservoir Qualities and Controlling Factors

Methodology Description
Pre-drill feasibility study and horizontal well planning
The feasibility of a horizontal well is carried out by a multidisciplinary corroborative approach, which
includes the analysis of seismic data and dynamic information. The Integrated Geophysical technique has
been used to identify the better location and optimum place of the wells. Minimum Acoustic Impedance
maps have been used to identify the best porosity developed zones of the reservoir and Mono Frequency
Spectral Decomposition (FSD) ratio map to identify the gas saturated reservoir sections.
Typically, low acoustic impedance values reflect to the high porosity, which may correlate to higher net
thickness (Fig.3).Higher Mono FSD attenuation ratio can be associated with the gas bearing zones of the
reservoir (Fig.4). Due to the attenuation of the signal energy with depth usually the deeper reservoirs have
lower frequencies which cause higher wavelength and lower resolution.
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Figure 3—Mínimum Acoustic Impedance map around Well A – Low

impedance values along the well path provide high porosity development.

Figure 4—Mono FSD ratio map – High to moderate attenuation ratio provide high to fair chance of presence of gas.

Post-stack inversion transforms a single seismic data volume into acoustic impedance through integration
of the seismic data, well data and a basic stratigraphic interpretation. The resulting impedance volume can be
used to predict reservoir properties away from well control. The data input to a post-stack inversion project
typically consists of a set of wells containing sonic and density logs, optional check shots, formation markers
and deviation surveys, a series of interpreted horizons and a seismic data volume. Acoustic impedance is a
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physical rock property which can be directly compared to well log measurements and allows a physically
motivated link to reservoir properties, for example porosity.
Mono FSD technique is one of the recent seismic attribute evaluation methods that can be used as a
DHI (Direct Hydrocarbon Indicator) for gas detection (Zhang, et al., 2007 and Castagna, et al., 2003).
Generally, every single seismic trace in the surface seismic data volume consists of a wide range of
composed frequencies (Partyka, et al., 1999 and Chakraborty and Okaya, 1995). The FSD workflow
approach basically involves decomposing or separating the 3D seismic data volume into essentially several
frequency band wavelets and then sorting the frequency gathers to produce several specific frequency cube
volumes (Chakraborty and Okaya, 1995 and Castagna, et al., 2003), for example 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 Hz
volumes.Typically, the amplitude response in gas bearing reservoirs diminishes at high frequencies more
rapidly than wet reservoirs. Therefore Mono FSD volumes are generated to help identify gas saturated
reservoir locations, with bright spots in lower frequency volumes that are rapidly dimmedout in higher
frequency volumes.
At the initial stage of planning a horizontal well, it is important to evaluate the necessity of a pilot hole
depending upon the drilled well pattern of the field, structural uncertainty due to poor signal to noise ratio.In
some cases, drilling a pilot hole is necessary particularly due to lack of sufficient well penetration, well
location close to the reservoir boundary or close to the gas-water contact. The objective of the pilot hole is
to assess the porosity development and/or confirm the gas-water contact depth, to plan for a lateral across
the most developed layers and sufficiently away from the water zones by acquiring extensive formation
evaluation data. It is always prudent to avoid drilling a pilot hole to avoid the additional drilling cost. Either
from offset well data or from pilot hole, if available, a detail petrophysical evaluation is vital to optimally
design the placement of a horizontal section along the target tight, thin and heterogeneous interval.The
petrophysical evaluation from the pilot hole or offset wells help to characterize the presence of a reservoir
interval, its thickness, range of expected porosity development and then start to evaluate the feasibility for
the well placement in the thin heterogeneous carbonate layer (Fig.5)

Figure 5—Porosity logs shows the heterogeneity of the Carbonate layers.

The lateral continuity of the reservoir layer is one of the main challenges while drilling. Correlation
with offset wells, geophysical anomalies, 3D geological model, facies prediction based on depositional
environment helpto ascertain the successful placement of horizontal well.
Last but not least, the optimum design of the LWD (Logging while drilling) tool is another key factor to
successfully land and geosteer the targeted reservoir interval to achieve maximum reservoir contact, which
leads to deliver the optimum productivity of the well.
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Horizontal wells of 4,000 ft lateral length average have been planned in the tight, thin limestone reservoir
section particularly toward the minimum stress direction considering the regional stress direction of the
field. Drilling the lateral toward the minimum stress direction facilitates placingtransverse fractures during
the well stimulation treatment.

Well Placement and Real-Time Geosteering

Landing the casing/liner point optimally prior to drilling the reservoir section is equally important to ensure
successful geosteering with minimum drilling difficulties.
Prior to drilling the landing section and lateral section, the most common practice is to update the
geological framework based on the actual formation tops penetrated by the well along with offset wells
data. So that, if required, the fine tuning of the plan trajectory for the landing section and lateral section can
be well defined to land the well with optimum hole inclination with respect to the formation dip along the
lateral section. Once landed the well within the relatively thin porous layer, the next challenge is to continue
the lateral section in the targeted layers for the next 4,000 ft along the lateral section.
To achieve a successful horizontal well in the challenging reservoir, continuous monitoring and
petrophysical evaluation is critical to take a right decision while drilling. An optimum design of LWD
comprises of GR, porosity, resistivity, density image is critical for real-time formation evaluation and
interpretation which allow directional drillers to adjust well trajectories while drilling to keep wellbores
in the desired reservoir intervals. Real-time analysis of neutron-density is an important tool to steer the
reservoir interval by determining the real-time porosity and density readings.
Advances in LWD technology have improved the quality and quantity of the real-time data for the
evaluation of hydrocarbon bearing carbonate reservoir. Encountering features such as bed boundaries,
faults in deviated wells results in differing Top and base measurements. These data indicate, in real-time,
whether the bit is entering a formation from above or from below and allow the analysis to estimate the dip
values. The ADN (Azimuthal Density Neutron)tool acquires formation bulk density and photoelectric factor
(PEF) measurements at higher sampling rates around the borehole. The objective is to drill horizontally
approximately 4,000 ft in the reservoir in some cases following a step-down profile with about half of the
length of the borehole drilled upper porosity and remaining in the bottom of the gas-bearing limestone.
Similarly real-time density image help to estimate the apparent formation dip with respect to the hole
azimuth to ascertain the hole.
The LWD method was selected to provide geosteering and petrophysical evaluation. The usual practice
is to land the well horizontally and cased it with 7" liner in the dense limestone above the reservoir. A 5⅞"
hole is then drilled by following the plan. Real-time data are monitored at the Geosteering center and then
take the decision whether or not to revise the projected plan. The density and neutron measurement are the
most important for Geosteering in this type of reservoir. The GR curve are usually flat except in tight dense
limestone interval. The resistivity of the porous gas bearing section is in general low as compared to the
dense layers above and below. The separation between Neutron-Density measurements clearly indicates the
presence of a gas bearing and high porosity interval. It may be noted that the density detects the change first
with measured value increase indicates the dense layer is being penetrated.
It is very important to know whether a boundary is being entered from the top or from the bottom, to take
on-the-fly decisions to steer the bit up or down to keep the hole on the desired reservoir interval. Based on
density image, an apparent formation dip can be calculated taking into account the borehole inclination, the
borehole depth distance between the upper and bottom density reading and the borehole size.This approach
gives a quick estimate of apparent dip in real time. Dips are computed from the density image by identifying
the bed boundaries on the image,and picking the sinusoidal line on the density contrast.
Even though, the optimum landing in the desired section, after drilling few hundred feet, the horizontal
section might encounter tight non-reservoir section due to lateral facies variation. In that case, it would
be necessary to critically evaluate the next course of action plan as immediate decision needs to be taken
SPE-183678-MS 7

to steer the lateral section either continue chasing the good reservoir section along with formation or can
be go down to chase the next possible reservoir layer. It is important to geosteer the lateral section within
the permitted limit of DLS, if the well is planned to be completedwith the multi-stage-fracture open-hole
completion (MSF) to run the completion string successfully.

Case Study
Well-X was planned to be drilled as a horizontal lateral of 4,000 ft length towards the minimum stress
direction across reservoir 2. In terms of well planning, as mentioned before, it is beneficial to support the
planned trajectory based on seismic attributes and geomechanical model. Fig.6 shows the seismic attributes
for the reservoir area to be penetrated by this well. It can be seen the lateral is targeting a low acoustic
impedance zone (indicated by bright colors) that means good average porosity development and also high
mono FSD attenuation ratio (also indicated by bright colors) what is correlated with gas bearing areas. In
addition, the seismic well section, is showing a strong reflector in terms of reservoir development that is
planned to be targeted by the lateral.

Figure 6—Minimum Acoustic Impedance map, Mono FSD map and Impedance section

In terms of logging requirements for the lateral section, logging while drilling (LWD) is required for
geosteering the lateral across the reservoir section consisted of GR, resistivity, density, neutron, density
image and caliper. After drilling it is required to run sonic, mechanical caliper and GR on drill pipefor
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proper multi-stage packer placement and for mechanical properties assessment, since this well is going to
be completed with multi-stage frac completion and stimulated with acid fracturing.
Regarding the well placement, Fig. 7 shows the plan versus the actual trajectory. The plan trajectory
has been proposed based on the above mentioned criteria, such as,the best porosity development as per
offset wells and seismic attributes and also taking into account the predominant horizontal stress directions
from the geomechanical model of the field to get an effective stimulation treatment after completion. While
drilling the landing section, the actual tops came shallower than the estimated tops, and also it was observed
that the target reservoir was developed shallower than the inferred reservoir level. Hence, it was decided in
real-time to adjust the planned trajectory to land the well in the best reservoir interval, and chase it for the
4000ft for the lateral section. In this case, it may be noted that as the formation is gently dipping toward the
lateral section, real-time decision was made to follow the formation dip. Based on the density image,the dip
of the formation was estimated and the inclination angle of the lateral was adjusted, dropping the lateral 1
deg, to follow the layer dip to get maximum reservoir contact along the lateral section. (Fig. 7)

Figure 7—Planned trajectory vs. actual trajectory adjusted on real-time while Drilling

Fig. 8 showsthe logging while drilling display, with all the relevant parameters that are being measured
in real time and used to make decisions "on the fly" to correct the trajectory of the lateral. In this particular
case, as expected, there is a strong correlation between the deep resistivity and the density – porosity pair.
It can be seen that higher values of resistivity corresponds to a higher values of density that means lower
porosity or tighter formation. This response is also confirmed by density image log that shows dark colors
when harder formation is reached. In addition, ROP (rate of penetration) also accompanies this response,
observing lower ROPs for harder and tighter formations. In this case, the trajectory was corrected, dropping
the inclination angle by 0.5 to 1 deg to chase the formation dip, and the result was an increment on porosity.
SPE-183678-MS 9

Figure 8—Logging while drilling display

Summary and Conclusions

The main advantages from this methodology are as follows: cost-effective due to the elimination of pilot hole
for infill wells, better control of well trajectory (dogleg and inclination), and optimization of the horizontal
section resulting in increased net reservoir contact. The technique has been applied successfully to place
new wells and to enhance field productivity leading to optimized recoverable reserves.
Based on our experience in drilling horizontal wells by applying the geosteering strategy we can
summarize the following conclusions:

• Seismic attributes such as Minimum Acoustic Impedance and Mono Frequency Spectral
Decomposition in general present good correlations with porosity development and hydrocarbon
bearing zones respectively, and are useful tools for well trajectory planning purposes.
• Correlations of the real-time data based on offset wells is a required input to properly land the well
on the target layer.
• Establishing a robust resistivity-to-porosity relationship, is a key approach to guide the geosteering
while drilling, to chase the good porosity layers based on resistivity measurements.
• The borehole or density image is another indispensable logging tool in order to verify and correct
if needed the resistivity-to-porosity correlation if affected by a change in lithology or in the fluid
composition.
• This technology has proven to be successful for landing horizontal wells in thin reservoirs layers,
and has being effective to overcome reservoirs heterogeneities, granting for more reservoir contact.

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