Step-Change Improvements with Wired-Pipe Telemetry

This paper describes the rationale, justification and benefits associated with the deployment of wired-pipe telemetry drillstrings at Occidental of Elk Hills, Inc. (OEHI) in Kern County, California. Recent technological advances in Measurement While Drilling (MWD) systems, Logging While Drilling (LWD) systems, and wired-pipe telemetry systems have overcome historical data bandwidth issues enabling real-time acquisition of critical data streams. These data sets include: continuous annular pressure for equivalent circulating density (ECD) management; vibration diagnostics for drilling optimization; instantaneous downlink commands to Rotary Steerable Systems (RSS) that aide in eliminating secondary non-productive time (NPT) and enhancing directional control; and memory quality formation evaluation measurements to improve reservoir navigation and wellbore placement. With this new wealth of data, onsite drilling personnel, geoscientists, and office engineering staff are able to make real-time decisions that serve to enhance wellbore quality and reduce overall costs. Utilizing wired-pipe to its full potential has helped to deliver an average drilling time savings of 10%. Introduction The benefits of drilling dynamics and formation evaluation from MWD and LWD tools are well known. However, these systems are impacted by bandwidth limitations which restrict the amount of data that can be transmitted to surface in real time. Recent advances in technology have addressed this issue. At the OEHI asset, Oxy and the service providers worked together to evaluate the application and benefits of deploying wired-pipe transmitted data in a land based environment. The technology was tested in combination with multiple downhole LWD and RSS tools. The system was tested in both a 5-in. tubular/mud-based and a 4-in. tubular/foam-based environment. Benefits in the Use of Wired-Pipe Telemetry One of the major challenges in a fast rate of penetration (ROP) drilling environment is transmitting all the required data to surface in a timely manner. When mud-pulse telemetry or electromagnetic data transmission is used, a large amount of this data is stored in memory and downloaded after the tool is tripped out of the hole. The drawback to this system is the lag time in receiving and processing the downhole measurements on the surface. As downhole acquisition technology continues to advance, these measurements are requiring additional bandwidth. This reduces the data density of mud-pulse telemetry points transmitted to surface while drilling, thus, making real-time interpretations and decisions challenging. In order to make an interpretation from a full data set, the operators must wait for the bottomhole assembly (BHA) to be tripped out of the hole and the memory data to be downloaded.