tohardwareandsoftwareover timeenable thenewer
EMMWDsystems to filteroutmuchof thenoisegeneratedby the
drillingprocess.
Casestudy-EMMWDinEagleFordformation,
SouthTexas,USA
Toshow thebenefitsofusingEMMWDonunconventional
wells thisarticle looksata recentexampleof theEagleFord.
Traditionally thesewellsweredrilledwithmudpulse
MWDgammasystems. Although the time todrill thesewells
continues to improve, asignificant improvement in time
savingswasachieved through theuseof theRyanAccuWave
EMMWDsystem,whichalso includedacontinuous inclination
measurement thereby further reducingsurvey times.
Thisexamplewellwasapproximately15000ft inoverall
lengthwithaTVDof close to10000ft. Ascompared toprevious
wells thiswellwasdrilledwitha10% reduction inNPT
related tosurveyingeachdaywhich relates toapproximately
US$5000 -US$6000/ddependingonactivityandspread rate.
The timesavingsattributed to theEM toolmaybebroken
downasshown inFigure2.
Anewsystem
TheAccuWavesystemaddressesmanyof theweak links in
existingEMMWDsystemsprimarily in theareaof reliabilityand
data transmission. Thesystem iscollar‑basedandextremely
short in length,which increases theabilityof thesystem to
withstandhighshockandvibrationdrillingenvironments. Aswith
all of theRyanMWDsystem’selectronics,PCBAsare limited to the
minimumnumber required. In thecaseof theAccuWavesystem
thismeans that there isasinglePCBA thatprovidesall of the
functions requiredof theMWDsystem thathistorically
have required3 - 4PCBAs. The reduction inoverallpart countand
overall complexity, results insuperior reliability inachallenging
drillingenvironment. Thepatenteddownhole transmitter
designhasexhibitedsuperiorperformance toexistingsystems
currently in themarketplace todayyielding improvedsignal
strengthatdepthand theability towithstand thehigherbuild
ratesassociatedwithdrilling theunconventionalwells. The
surfacesystem includesadvanceddataacquisitionandnoise
elimination technologyachievedbycombiningstateof theart
hardwarewithproprietaryalgorithmsembedded in thesurface
software.
Conclusion
EMMWDSystemsareseeing increasedusage inNorthAmerican
unconventionaldrillingapplications. This increase inusage
isdrivenbyseveral advantagesover conventionalmud
pulsesystems. Theadvantagescanbesummarisedas:
Ì
Ì
Increased reliabilitydue to removal ofmovingparts.
Ì
Ì
High tolerance toLCManddebris in themud system.
Ì
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Ability tooperate inairormist systems.
Ì
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Significant increase indata transmission speedswhile
drilling.
Ì
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Theability to transmit surveys to surfacewithoutwaiting for
mudpumpactivation.
A recent casestudy in theEagleFordhas identified that the
adaptationof thesesystemscan result insavingsof 10%perday
in rig timecostsasa resultof the improvements insurveying
proceduresalone. Long-termbenefits resulting from improved
reliabilityhavenotbeencalculatedalthoughmost likelywill have
abiggereffect indecreasingNPTon theseprojects.
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