FORMATION EVALUATION INSTRUMENT AND METHOD

• US 20110198078A1
• Filed: 07/09/2009
• Published: 08/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation (SLB)
• Original Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation (SLB)
• Inventors: BarrioL, Yves, Collins, Anthony L., Fredette, Mark A., Vandermeer, William B., Hopper, Tim, Carnegie, Andrew J., Davydychev, Andrei I., Song, Yi-Qiao, Homan, Dean M., Bachman, Henry N., Karuppoor, Srinand, Harrigan, Edward
• Granted Patent: US 8,794,318 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 166/254.2
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 49/008 by injection test; by analysing pressure variations in an injection or production test, e.g. for estimating the skin factor measuring pressure E21B47/06
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 49/087 Well testing, e.g. testing for reservoir productivity or formation parameters
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 49/10 using side-wall fluid samplers or testers

Abstract

Subsurface formation evaluation comprising, for example, sealing a portion of a wall of a wellbore penetrating the formation, forming a hole through the sealed portion of the wellbore wall, injecting an injection fluid into the formation through the hole, and determining a saturation of the injection fluid in the formation by measuring a property of the formation proximate the hole while maintaining the sealed portion of the wellbore wall.

Claims

1. A method of subsurface formation evaluation, comprising:

sealing a portion of a wall of a wellbore penetrating the formation;

forming a hole through the sealed portion of the wellbore wall;

injecting an injection fluid into the formation through the hole; and

determining a saturation of the injection fluid in the formation by measuring a property of the formation proximate the hole while maintaining the sealed portion of the wellbore wall.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising measuring at least one of an injection pressure and an injected volume of the injection fluid.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining a relationship between the determined saturation and an electric resistivity of the formation.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising estimating a wettability parameter of the formation based on the determined relationship.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising withdrawing a fluid from the formation through the hole.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein withdrawing a fluid from the formation comprises:

withdrawing, via a first flow line, a first fluid from a zone contaminated by mud filtrate; and

withdrawing, via a second flow line, a second fluid from a connate zone.

7. The method of claim 5 further comprising measuring a property of the withdrawn fluid.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising determining a relative permeability of the formation based on the measured property of the withdrawn fluid.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the measured formation property is selected from the group consisting of electric resistivity, dielectric constant, magnetic resonance relaxation time, nuclear radiation, and combinations thereof.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein forming the hole comprises extending a bit into the formation.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising introducing an electrical current into the formation from the bit, and wherein measuring the property of the formation comprises measuring a return electrical current.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising measuring a plurality of property values associated with each of a plurality of sensing volumes of the formation proximate the hole.

13. A method of subsurface formation evaluation, comprising:

sealing a portion of a wall of a wellbore penetrating the formation;

forming a hole through the sealed portion of the wellbore wall by extending a bit into the formation through the sealed portion;

introducing an electrical current into the formation from at least a portion of the bit; and

measuring an electrical current of the formation while maintaining the sealed portion of the wellbore wall.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising determining a property of the formation, wherein the formation property is selected from the group consisting of electric resistivity, dielectric constant, magnetic resonance relaxation time, nuclear radiation, and combinations thereof.

15. The method of claim 13 further comprising extending the bit into the formation at a plurality of lateral depths and measuring the electrical current of the formation at the plurality of lateral depths.

16. A subsurface formation evaluation apparatus, comprising:

means for sealing a portion of a wall of a wellbore penetrating the formation;

means for forming a hole through the sealed portion of the wellbore wall;

means for injecting an injection fluid into the formation through the hole; and

means for determining a saturation of the injection fluid in the formation based on a property of the formation measured proximate the hole while maintaining the sealed portion of the wellbore wall.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the measured formation property is selected from the group consisting of electric resistivity, dielectric constant, magnetic resonance relaxation time, nuclear radiation, and combinations thereof.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the hole forming means comprises means for extending a bit into the formation.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 further comprising means for introducing an electrical current into the formation from the bit, and wherein the measured formation property comprises a return electrical current.

20. The apparatus of claim 16 further comprising means for measuring a plurality of property values associated with each of a plurality of sensing volumes of the formation proximate the hole.