Case Study: a large drilling tight-gas production company maximizes reservoir exposure offshore Australia with SLB GeoSphere reservoir mapping-while-drilling service

Operator Maps Complex Gas Sands, Avoids Risky Sidetrack Offshore Australia

SLB worked with a large drilling tight-gas production company drilling offshore western Australia in the Otway basin, where complex stratigraphy, an anticline, discontinuous sand bodies, and ±33 ft (±10 m) seismic uncertainty made it difficult to place long horizontal wells and avoid a costly sidetrack. The company needed to map the reservoir accurately, position the drain trajectory, and make real-time steering decisions to connect the sand bodies.

SLB deployed the GeoSphere reservoir mapping-while-drilling service, using deep directional electromagnetic measurements to map layers more than 100 ft (30 m) from the wellbore and update seismic interpretation in real time. This allowed the operator to steer aggressively, keep the wellbore completely within the reservoir, and connect discontinuous sand bodies without drilling a sidetrack; the service also mapped remote sand bodies at more than 115 ft (35 m) TVD and maximized reservoir exposure.