SUB-SURFACE IMAGING USING ANTENNA ARRAY FOR DETERMING OPTIMAL OIL DRILLING SITE
First Claim
1. A method for determining an optimal drilling site for recovery of crude oil contained in a fluid reservoir within a formation layer at a given subsurface depth of at least five hundred feet relative to a terrain surface, the method comprising:
- a) from multiple positions on or below the terrain surface, transmitting immediately in the far field pulsed electromagnetic energy beam signals focused at a select target depth to combine to cover a target area of the select target depth, defining a scan;
b) receiving reflections from the target area in response to the transmitted pulsed energy beam signals impinging thereon, the reflections being characteristic of particular media located within the target area being impinged upon by the transmitted far field pulsed electromagnetic energy beam signals;
c) correlating the received reflections from said target area over a given time interval for a given scan to determine relative changes in intensities of reflections over said target area;
d) storing the scan data for each scan in memory;
modifying transmit parameters in at least one of frequency, focus depth, and phase shift and repeating steps a)-d) for a plurality of selected target depths to thereby define a scanned volume;
identifying particular media and their location within the scanned volume according to the scan data, wherein the identifying includes identifying the location of crude oil within the scanned volume relative to other of the particular media; and
drilling a borehole from the terrain surface into a reservoir containing the crude oil along a path based on said identification of said particular media within the reservoir.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention provides for systems and methods of enhancing crude oil recovery providing an array of electromagnetic receiver antennae arranged and operated in conjunction with an array of far field electromagnetic transmitter antennae for mapping subsurface features of a reservoir. Mapping is performed according to the relative intensities, frequencies, phase shifts, and/or other reflected signal parameters of the reflections received by the receiver antennae (relative to the transmit signals) associated with a given location or target area within a reservoir. Such mapping aids in determining an optimal location of a production well or the location of an auxiliary well relative to the production well.
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Citations
11 Claims
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1. A method for determining an optimal drilling site for recovery of crude oil contained in a fluid reservoir within a formation layer at a given subsurface depth of at least five hundred feet relative to a terrain surface, the method comprising:
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a) from multiple positions on or below the terrain surface, transmitting immediately in the far field pulsed electromagnetic energy beam signals focused at a select target depth to combine to cover a target area of the select target depth, defining a scan; b) receiving reflections from the target area in response to the transmitted pulsed energy beam signals impinging thereon, the reflections being characteristic of particular media located within the target area being impinged upon by the transmitted far field pulsed electromagnetic energy beam signals; c) correlating the received reflections from said target area over a given time interval for a given scan to determine relative changes in intensities of reflections over said target area; d) storing the scan data for each scan in memory; modifying transmit parameters in at least one of frequency, focus depth, and phase shift and repeating steps a)-d) for a plurality of selected target depths to thereby define a scanned volume; identifying particular media and their location within the scanned volume according to the scan data, wherein the identifying includes identifying the location of crude oil within the scanned volume relative to other of the particular media; and drilling a borehole from the terrain surface into a reservoir containing the crude oil along a path based on said identification of said particular media within the reservoir. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A system for determining an optimal drilling site for recovery of crude oil contained in a fluid reservoir within a formation layer at a given subsurface depth of at least five hundred feet relative to a terrain surface, the method comprising:
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a) a plurality of transmit antennae located at multiple positions on or below the terrain surface, the antennae adapted to transmit immediately in the far field pulsed electromagnetic energy beam signals focused at a select target depth to combine to cover a target area of the select target depth, defining a scan; b) a plurality of receive antennae adapted to receive reflections from the target area in response to the transmitted pulsed energy beam signals impinging thereon, the reflections being characteristic of particular media located within the target area being impinged upon by the transmitted far field pulsed electromagnetic energy beam signals; c) a processor for correlating the received reflections from said target area over a given time interval for a given scan to determine relative changes in intensities of reflections over said target area; d) memory coupled to the processor for storing the scan data for each scan in memory; e) a controller for modifying transmit parameters in at least one of frequency, focus depth, and phase shift for each of a plurality of selected target depths to thereby define a scanned volume; wherein the processor is configured to identify particular media and their location within the scanned volume according to the scan data, including identifying the location of crude oil within the scanned volume relative to other of the particular media; and
provide a path for drilling of a borehole from the terrain surface into a reservoir containing the crude oil based on said identification of said particular media within the reservoir, the path adapted to avoid select ones of said particular media within the reservoir and encounter said crude oil media based on said identification. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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Specification