Real-time pressure data required to optimize high-profile offshore well test

Total planned an exploratory well test operation for a 45°-deviated exploration well offshore East Kalimantan, Indonesia. The target zone measured 10,500 ft [3,200 m] deep with 3,600 psi [24.9 MPa] and 245 degF [118 degC] bottomhole conditions. Pressure transient analysis, which is commonly used to estimate key reservoir properties, including reservoir pressure, skin, permeability thickness, and boundaries, requires bottomhole pressure data as an input. Total E & P Indonesie sought a testing solution that would optimize operations because reservoir uncertainties and rig rates were high; real-time surface readout of bottomhole pressure data was fundamental to meeting this goal.

Pressure measurement solution enabled by wireless transmission proposed

After consulting with Total about its operational objectives, Schlumberger proposed using Signature quartz gauges, which deliver high-resolution pressure data, further enhanced with Muzic wireless telemetry. This integrated approach provides bidirectional communication between the surface and downhole. Repeaters, installed at intervals in the test string, transmit wireless commands downhole and pressure and temperature data to the surface.

For this job, the Signature gauges were mounted in a gauge carrier and enabled by Muzic wireless telemetry to provide bidirectional communication. With this bidirectional wireless communication, each gauge can be queried independently for both real-time and historical data.

Test objectives successfully and efficiently achieved

The quartz gauges enabled by wireless telemetry successfully transmitted uninterrupted real-time bottomhole pressure and temperature data to the surface for 7 d. This data allowed performing pressure transient analysis in real time and facilitated the validation of the ongoing well test operations versus Total E&P Indonesie's test objectives. Providing such analytical results in real time helped ensure that test objectives were achieved successfully and efficiently.