New Wireless Acoustic Depth Correlation System Improves Operational Efficiency in Suriname Deepwater Project

Abstract The oil industry is continuously searching for alternative testing tools that can improve efficiency and reduce rig time, while improving overall health, safety, and environmental (HSE) aspects during the execution of exploration projects globally. Real-time telemetry systems have been proving their capabilities to meet these requirements and, thus, have become fundamental in exploration drillstem testing (DST) today. Traditionally, when a DST string is deployed in the well with tubing-conveyed perforating (TCP) guns, wireline is used to correlate the actual depth of the TCP. This is done with a gamma correlation tool that searches for a known radioactive (RA) source placed both on the well casing and on a sub installed at a specific location on the DST string. This method demands rig time for the rigging up and rigging down of wireline pressure control equipment, as well as for the correlation run itself. In deepwater wells, this can represent more than a day of rig time. Other methods of wireless depth correlation require the manipulation of the DST string – a method that is prone to measurement uncertainty and that can also expose personnel to safety risks, as they are on the rig floor while the correlation process is taking place. In this case study, a disruptive wireless correlation system was deployed in a deepwater exploration well in Suriname, as part of the DST string. This system was used to acoustically determine the actual depth of the packer – and, subsequently, the TCP guns – with the string in static conditions and without having to perform any well intervention or string manipulation. This represented an estimated rig-time reduction of 12 hours when compared to a wireline correlation process.