Case Study: Offshore China Shallow-Water Well Operating Company drills complex over-pressured shale safely with SLB SonicScope 675

Operator Uses Multipole Sonic-While-Drilling Service to Drill Complex, Over-Pressured Shale Diapir

SLB worked with Offshore China Shallow-Water Well Operating Company, which needed to drill a shallow-water well through an abnormally over-pressured shale diapir while placing the well in the reservoir and avoiding drilling hazards. With limited offset-well data, the operator needed real-time pore pressure monitoring and seismic tie-in to safely drill the complex 8.5-in section with up to 31.8° deviation in a high stick/slip environment.

SLB deployed the SonicScope 675 multipole sonic-while-drilling service, run with EcoScope multifunction logging-while-drilling service and TeleScope high-speed telemetry-while-drilling service, to provide real-time and recorded monopole and quadrupole data for pore pressure monitoring, seismic correlation, and full petrophysical evaluation. The operation achieved high-quality measurements in real time, generated synthetics for accurate seismic tie-in, and helped the operator optimize well placement and drill the reservoir safely with reduced risk.