Case Study: API Oil achieves uncontaminated sampling of 7.5-API heavy oil with SLB's Saturn 3D Radial Probe

Saturn 3D Radial Probe Retrieves Uncontaminated 7.5-API Oil from Friable Sandstone

SLB helped API Oil address the challenge of obtaining representative samples and pressure data from poorly consolidated, high-viscosity heavy oil reservoirs in onshore Mexico. Conventional formation testing risked sanding, seal loss, and borehole damage in friable sandstone, making reliable sampling and pressure evaluation difficult.

SLB deployed the Saturn 3D radial probe, which uses large self-sealing probes to support the borehole wall and create circumferential flow from low-mobility reservoirs. The solution successfully captured an uncontaminated 7.5-API oil sample, measured pressure in holes with up to 12% ovality, and avoided sanding or seal failure, giving API Oil the data needed to guide completion design for steam injection.

API Oil