Measurement While Drilling, 2nd Edition

Chapter 12Sensor Developments in China

Well logging involves multiple sensors, among them acoustic, resistivity, NMR, formation testing (for permeability and pore pressure), annular pressure, direction and inclination, and so on. A significant amount of information is available from oil service company websites, e.g., those of Schlumberger, Halliburton, BakerHughes and others. In this section, we describe recent CNPC engineering and research activities in logging and “geosteering” (that is, directional drilling guided using integrated real-time geological information) – data generating functions that drive the demand for high-data-rate telemetry.

These efforts mirror those of the West, and are becoming commercially important in many parts of the world – and especially so, given Chinese advantages in labor and manufacturing costs. Little information is available in the West about Chinese activities and here we provide insight into the company’s MWD activities. Photographs of tools, laboratory and field work are presented, courtesy of CNPC, but detailed hardware and software specifications are omitted because they are rapidly evolving, given the continual drive toward deeper HPHT offshore wells. This chapter does not address Chinese fluid sampling and pressure transient analysis, the subject of the author’s two prior books on formation testing (see Chin et al. (2014) and Chin et al. (2015)).

12.1 DRGDS Near-bit Geosteering Drilling System.

12.1.1 Overview.

CNPC’s Near-bit Geosteering ...