Downhole triaxial electromagnetic ranging
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for downhole ranging, comprising:
- drilling a first wellbore, the first wellbore comprising an elongated conductive body;
deploying an electric field sensor in a second wellbore;
inducing a current along the first wellbore that results in an electromagnetic field being emitted from the first wellbore;
receiving the electromagnetic field utilizing the electric field sensor, wherein an electric field of the electromagnetic field is measured; and
utilizing the measured electric field to thereby calculate;
an orientation of the first wellbore; and
a distance between the first and second wellbores;
ora direction of the first wellbore in relation to the second wellbore.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A ranging system calculates the distance, direction and orientation of a target well through rotationally invariant analysis of triaxial electric and magnetic field measurements from a bottom hole assembly (“BHA”) having electromagnetic sensors. The triaxial electric and magnetic field sensors can be deployed in any downhole device without explicitly needing to process or retrieve rotational information about the downhole BHA or wireline device. Also, the distance, direction and orientation of the target well can be retrieved from a single measurement position.
-
Citations
30 Claims
-
1. A method for downhole ranging, comprising:
-
drilling a first wellbore, the first wellbore comprising an elongated conductive body; deploying an electric field sensor in a second wellbore; inducing a current along the first wellbore that results in an electromagnetic field being emitted from the first wellbore; receiving the electromagnetic field utilizing the electric field sensor, wherein an electric field of the electromagnetic field is measured; and utilizing the measured electric field to thereby calculate; an orientation of the first wellbore; and a distance between the first and second wellbores;
ora direction of the first wellbore in relation to the second wellbore. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 30)
-
-
26. A relative positioning system for downhole ranging, comprising:
-
a bottom hole assembly to be positioned along a monitoring well; one or more triaxial electric and magnetic field sensors positioned along the bottom hole assembly; and processing circuitry coupled to the sensors and configured to implement a method comprising; measuring an electric field emitted from a target well; and utilizing the measured electric field to thereby calculate; an orientation of the first wellbore; and a distance between the monitoring well and the target well;
ora direction of the target well in relation to the monitoring well. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29)
-
Specification