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Active Magnetic Ranging in Geothermal Drilling: Identifying Ghost Targets

Abstract

To achieve proper efficiency, for some geothermal applications it is necessary to drill deep connected closed loop wells. These wells are connected by a series of parallel horizontal well sections pairs for heat transfer from the formations. The separation of these wells, and the distance between them, must be controlled in the drilling operation to ensure efficient heat transfer.

Active Magnetic Ranging (AMR) is an oilfield drilling measurement technique developed for efficient relief well drilling and to drill well sections within a conglomerate of old wells without hitting any existing wells. Different to traditional ranging systems where the ranging is performed using a wireline operation, an AMR system integrate the logging system onto the drill string bottom hole assembly. Such method would save several rig days as the trip-out operations can be skipped.

We have conducted test rig experiments using a full-size drilling rig. Several test wells are drilled on this location for testing different types of drilling equipment. At the depth used in the tests the formation consists of a gneiss. A gneiss would represent typical low porosity and low permeable formations with poor electrical conductivity that is a representative model formation for geothermal heat transfer formations. Possibly because of the low conductivity false measurements can be obtained — so-called Ghost Targets.

In this paper we present an analysis of how ghost targets can look like. Furthermore, it is outlined how to distinguish ghost targets from real targets and how to design systems to reduce the impact of such ghosts.

Category

Academic chapter

Language

English

Author(s)

Affiliation

  • SINTEF Industry / Applied Geoscience
  • SINTEF Digital / Sustainable Communication Technologies
  • Well intercept
  • University of Stavanger

Year

2024

Publisher

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)

Book

Proceedings of ASME 2024; 43rd International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering; Volume 8: Offshore Geotechnics; Petroleum Technology

ISBN

9780791887868

View this publication at Norwegian Research Information Repository