Case Study: Italy Operating Company places a 550-m drain hole 100% in zone with SLB MicroScope HD imaging

LWD Imaging Guides Well Placement Through Productive Zones in Faulted Carbonate Reservoir

SLB worked with Italy Operating Company, an operator in Italy facing the challenge of drilling a horizontal well through a faulted carbonate reservoir with significant seismic uncertainty around faults, fractures, and other geological features. The customer needed to stay within the target zone and avoid exiting the sealing formation above while placing the well in the most productive part of the reservoir.

SLB deployed the MicroScope HD high-definition imaging-while-drilling service, along with PeriScope bed boundary mapping, to image the borehole in real time, characterize fractures and faults, compute structural dips, and guide geosteering. The solution helped place the 550-m drain hole 100% in zone, improved understanding of the fracture and fault network, allowed the customer to reassess fault locations versus seismic data, and enabled the well to remain in the target reservoir for the full drain length.