Case Study: a leading operating company achieves high-resolution subsurface imaging while drilling with SLB TerraSphere

Operator Uses Dual-Physics Imaging to Identify Structural Detail While Drilling with OBM

SLB worked with a leading operating company in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, where Miocene reservoirs near salt domes can have steep dips, faults, fractures, and borehole degradation that make reservoir evaluation difficult. The company needed a high-quality while-drilling alternative to wireline imaging for sedimentological and structural interpretation in oil-based muds.

SLB recommended the TerraSphere high-definition dual-imaging-while-drilling service, the industry’s first logging-while-drilling dual-physics imager for all OBM. It combined electromagnetic and ultrasonic measurements to deliver real-time, high-resolution images comparable to wireline logs, helping identify thin laminated beds, bedding deformation, facies variations, and drilling-induced features, while also improving understanding of borehole condition.