Case Study: Petroleum Development Oman steers 1,279 m of drain hole within target reservoir with SLB MicroScope HD imaging

Real-Time, High-Definition LWD Images Guide Placement of 1,279-m Drain Hole in Complex Sand Reservoir for PDO

Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) needed to drill a horizontal well through a complex siliciclastic reservoir in Oman, where the planned trajectory would cross multiple faults, dense fractures, and uncertain formation boundaries near the top of the Shuaiba formation. SLB provided its MicroScope HD high-definition imaging-while-drilling service to help guide the well and characterize the reservoir in real time.

Using SLB’s MicroScope HD images and other LWD data, the drilling team identified structural dips, faults, and fractures and adjusted the trajectory when the well briefly exited the reservoir into shale. The well was successfully steered back into the target sand and kept within 1 m of the top of the formation, delivering 1,279 m of drain hole in zone, including 515 m in one reservoir lobe and 764 m in another, and PDO later deployed the service on several more wells in the field.

Petroleum Development Oman