Case Study: Maersk Oil identifies subtle mineralogical differences and top reservoir sand with SLB EcoFlex service

EcoFlex Service Identifies Subtle Mineralogical Differences in Clay-Rich Legacy Cuttings for Maersk

Maersk Oil Angola needed a more accurate way to identify formation tops and mineralogical changes at the wellsite, especially in clay-rich intervals where gamma ray and resistivity logs provided little insight. SLB addressed this challenge with the EcoFlex multifactor cuttings evaluation-while-drilling service, giving Maersk a more advanced surface logging technology for formation characterization and mineralogical mapping.

SLB’s EcoFlex service combined high-resolution digital microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray fluorescence to analyze cuttings at the rig site with near-real-time, laboratory-quality precision. The results closely matched core sample analysis, revealed decreases in illite and muscovite with increasing kaolinite that were not visible on LWD logs, and detected a quartz increase that identified the top reservoir sand, leading Maersk to view the service as superior to conventional mud logging.

Maersk Oil