EP0037821A1 - Monitoring equipment for drilling operations - Google Patents

Monitoring equipment for drilling operations

Info

Publication number
EP0037821A1
EP0037821A1 EP80901950A EP80901950A EP0037821A1 EP 0037821 A1 EP0037821 A1 EP 0037821A1 EP 80901950 A EP80901950 A EP 80901950A EP 80901950 A EP80901950 A EP 80901950A EP 0037821 A1 EP0037821 A1 EP 0037821A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
well
attenuation
wells
drill
equipment according
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP80901950A
Other languages
German (de)
French (fr)
Inventor
Anthony Peter Miles
John David James
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS Ltd
Original Assignee
STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS Ltd filed Critical STRUCTURAL DYNAMICS Ltd
Publication of EP0037821A1 publication Critical patent/EP0037821A1/en
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • EFIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E21EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; MINING
    • E21BEARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; OBTAINING OIL, GAS, WATER, SOLUBLE OR MELTABLE MATERIALS OR A SLURRY OF MINERALS FROM WELLS
    • E21B7/00Special methods or apparatus for drilling
    • E21B7/04Directional drilling
    • EFIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E21EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; MINING
    • E21BEARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; OBTAINING OIL, GAS, WATER, SOLUBLE OR MELTABLE MATERIALS OR A SLURRY OF MINERALS FROM WELLS
    • E21B47/00Survey of boreholes or wells
    • E21B47/02Determining slope or direction
    • E21B47/022Determining slope or direction of the borehole, e.g. using geomagnetism
    • E21B47/0224Determining slope or direction of the borehole, e.g. using geomagnetism using seismic or acoustic means
    • GPHYSICS
    • G01MEASURING; TESTING
    • G01HMEASUREMENT OF MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS OR ULTRASONIC, SONIC OR INFRASONIC WAVES
    • G01H1/00Measuring characteristics of vibrations in solids by using direct conduction to the detector

Definitions

  • a means is provided to monitor the position of the drill string in relation to existing wells whereby the frequency at which interruptions in the drilling operations are necessary in order to chart the position of the drill path is reduced.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Mining & Mineral Resources (AREA)
  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Geology (AREA)
  • Geochemistry & Mineralogy (AREA)
  • General Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Environmental & Geological Engineering (AREA)
  • Fluid Mechanics (AREA)
  • Geophysics (AREA)
  • Remote Sensing (AREA)
  • Acoustics & Sound (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Earth Drilling (AREA)
  • Geophysics And Detection Of Objects (AREA)
  • Perforating, Stamping-Out Or Severing By Means Other Than Cutting (AREA)

Abstract

Un materiel de controle permettant de s'assurer qu'un puits en cours de forage (18) ne se rapproche pas de puits en production existants (12) comprend des transducteurs couples au puits en cours de forage et aux puits en production, et des moyens de traitement pour determiner l'attenuation ou la fonction de transfert entre les vibrations controlees provenant des transducteurs. Un reseau de circuits de traitement analogues est prevu ou l'attenuation est a determiner. Un reseau de circuits de traitement digital est prevu ou la fonction de transfert est a determiner.Control equipment for ensuring that a well being drilled (18) does not approach an existing production well (12) includes transducers coupled to the well being drilled and the wells being produced, and processing means for determining the attenuation or the transfer function between the controlled vibrations coming from the transducers. A network of analogous processing circuits is planned where attenuation is to be determined. A network of digital processing circuits is provided where the transfer function is to be determined.

Description

MONITORING EQUIPMENT FOR DRILLING OPERATIONS
Technical Field
This invention relates to monitoring equipment for drilling operations, particularly though not exclusively for oil and natural gas in offshore installations.
Background Art In offshore operations, a number of wells are usually drilled from the same rig, the wells extending underground in directions having horizontal and vertical components Ln order to locate pockets of oil and gas in the vicinity of the drilling rig. In such circumstances it is necessary when drilling a well that the drill should not puncture nor go close to an existing production well in order to avoid the risk of blow out of the well. Government regulations specify that in the event of a drill string coming within 20 feet of a production well, the production well should be closed until the path of the drill string is established in a direction away from the production well or wells. Remedial action, where a puncture does occur can be extremely expensive in terms of lost production during rework.
For this reason alone, it is necessary when drilling wells to monitor the position of the well. This is normally done by stopping the drilling process at intervals and lowering into the drill string gyroscopic, inertial or magnetic platforms, by which means it is possible to chart the position of the drill. The accuracy of this method is not good, depending on the skill of the operator and the types of rock formations through which the borehole is made and other local anomalies, and this necessarily increases the frequency with which drilling is stopped and chartering measurements are made. The accuracy of such measurements is sometimes not more then the required Government limits on spacing between wells. .
Disclosure of Invention
With this in mind, the present invention was devised and provides in one aspect a first transducer means for monitoring vibrations for coupling to a well being drilled, a second or plurality of transducer means coupled to an existing production well or wells in the vicinity of the well to be drilled in order to monitor vibration in the production wells arising from the operation of said drill, and processing means for coupling to said first and second transducer means for determining a function dependent on the values of the signals from said first and second transducer means and being related to or representative of the attenuation or transfer function between the monitored vibrations from said wells.
In a further aspect, the invention provides a method of monitoring drilling operations characterised by the steps of monitoring vibration from a well being drilled, monitoring vibration from one or more production wells arising from the operation of said drill, and determining a function dependent on the values of the monitored vibrations and related to or representative of the attenuation or transfer function between the monitored vibrations. Said transducer means may conveniently be located on the casings or coupled to the casings of the existing wells and of the well being drilled, approp riate comppensation being made, if necessary for the transfer coefficient of the coupled installation comprising drill floor and well conductors and the medium being drilled. Said transducer means may conveniently comprise an accelerometer which is suitable for rugged environments, or alternatively if conditions are suitable, a laser doppler device.
It has been found that the attenuation between the signals from the first and second transducer means can provide a realistic assessment of the distance between the wells, where attenuation is defined as the ratio of the averaged band limited power provided by the signals from the transducers. The attenuation represents the attenuation properties of the coupled structure and medium with increasing distance between well and drill string.
The transfer function is defined as the ratio of the magnitudes of the signals and takes account of the relative phase components of the signals, and is also a suitable measurement, but since the transfer function is more difficult to determine, and requires more complex processing the measurement of the attenuation of the signals may be preferred.
Any function representative of or related to attenuation or transfer function may be determined, for example it appears the antilog of the attenuation is a convenient measure since it appears empirically that such antilog is representative of the distance between the boreholes. The RMS acceleration of the drill string is given by the expression: a = 10 log 1 T (vd)2 dt - dBATTN dB re Ig RMS
T being the measurement period in seconds. Similarly at the well b = 10 10g 1 0 T O (VW)2 dt - dBATTN dB re lS RMS
Where dB ATTN is the setting of the respective input attenuators, and v d is the signal at the drill string transducer and vw the respective signal at the well transducer or transducers.
Let x be the transfer attenuation between drill and well and x = (a - b) dB. Therefore the relative distance = 10 where k is a scale factor related to transfer attenuation in the medium and structure and '1 unit' refers to the initial starting distance of the drill from the production well.
Where attenuation is selected as an appropriate function for determination, analogue signal processing circuitry is conveniently employed, as for example band -pass filters followed by root mean square detection circuits. If it is desired to determine the transfer function in order to take account of the relative phase components of the signals, it is preferred to employ digital signal processing techniques. Thus samples of the incoming signals from an A/D converter may be stored in a memory under microprocessor control. The microprocessor control. The microprocessor is arranged to control the input gain of the processing circuitry in dependence on the magnitude of the input samples to provide an autoraning facility. Subsequently the samples may be subject to fast fourier transform or discrete fourier transform analysis techniques by the microprocessor in order to compute the transfer function. In addition the coherence of the signal may be computed and cross -correlation techniques employed in order to remove signal components arising from echoes in order to increase accuracy.
The circuitry is preferably housed in a portable housing which can be located close to the drill operators console and connected to permanently fixed accelerometers. Where there are a large number of wells or drilling rigs it may in some circumstances be preferable to provide local signal processing circuitry close to the accelerometers communicating with a host computer system where the function and other required parameters may be determined.
Although specifically developed for offshore installations, the present invention may be practiced in land -based operations.
Brief Description of Drawings
A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:-
Figure 1 is a schematic view of boreholes extending from a drilling rig of an offshore installation; Figure 2 is a perspective view of a vibration transducer coupled to a casing of a borehole being drilled from an offshore installation;
Figure 3 is a perspective view of a housing and control console for signal processing circuitry;
Figure 4 is a block schematic view of the signal processing circuitry; and
Figures.5 to 8 are circuit diagrams of elements of the processing circuitry.
Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention
Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a schematic view of an offshore installation comprising an oil drilling rig or platform 2 mounted by means of a structure 4 to the seabed 6. The structure may be rigid and fixed to the seabed or semi -submersible and tethered to the sea floor, or stationed by navigational control. The drill 10 is such that it may be deviated at angles inclined to the vertical in order to reach pockets of oil or natural gas such as 14. The drill may either be rotary, in which case the whole string is turned, or turbine operated with the turbine located 'dowrihole', and driven hydraulically by mud which is also used to cool the drill and irrigate the hole. Existing wells such as 12 which may be in production may exist in the vicinity of the well being drilled. In order to maintain an adequate distance between well 12 and well 18 it has hitherto been necessary to stop the drilling operation at frequent intervals and to lower the gyroscopic, magnetic or inertia! platforms into the hole, so that the position of the wells can be charted and its position relative to existing well of known position can be calculated.
In accordance with the present invention, a means is provided to monitor the position of the drill string in relation to existing wells whereby the frequency at which interruptions in the drilling operations are necessary in order to chart the position of the drill path is reduced.
Referring to Figure 2, there is shown a drill string 20 of a well being drilled disposed on the deck of a drilling rig. A surrounding conductor 22 carries a vertically mounted accelerometer 24 for monitoring vibrations transmitted to the structure from the motions of the drill in the hole. The accelerometer is coupled to signal processing circuitry, the housing and control console of which is shown in Figure 3.
The circuitry is formed as three separate modules, an input conditioning module 30, a processor module 32, and a display module 34. Input conditioning module 30 includes a control switch 40 for determining which of three input channels for exuting wells will be operative. Controls 42, 44 provide a control for attenuating levels for the production well channel and the channel for the drill string conductor. Tape input sockets 46 are provided to enable the well channel and drill channel signals to be recorded. Control switch 40 may be replaced by a multiplexer means for sequentially offering a plurality of well channels to the input of the processor module.
Processor module 32 provides outputs 50 to a tape recorder for processed signals for the drill and well channels. A control switch 52 provides control over the output gain for the processor. A control switch 54 provides control of the input signal frequency band to be processed, 80 - 100 Hz, 100 - 125 Hz, 125 - 160 Hz and an overall frequency band 80 - 160 Hz, other frequencies being specified as dictated by special circumstances. The implementation of the processor module 32 may include a micro -computing device to control internal functions and extend the calculation ability to the measurement of transfer function or other such parameters. Where such computing means is implemented this would control the display device 34.
Display module 34 includes a digital display 60 providing a display of one or four functions, namely drill channel RMS level, well channel RMS level, attenuation and the antilog of attenuation, (providing an estimate of the distance between the drill head and the existing well). A control switch 62 determines which of these four functions appears on the digital display.
Referring now to Figure 4, there is shown a block diagram of the analogue processing circuitry. It will be understood that a plurality of similar channels may be provided for accelerometers connected to existing wells and the hole being drilled. The circuitry of the channel shown is coupled to an accelerometer on an existing well through a zener barrier which prevents ignition of any potentially explosive atmosphere which may be present. A preamplifier 84 feeds the vibration signals from the accelerometer to a filter 86 which rejects high slew rate signals. The purpose of filter 86 is to prevent the processing of signals arising from collision of the drill string with the well conductor when the drill is not centrally aligned within the casing or rotates accentrϊcally. A band-pass filter 88 separates the incoming signal into three third octave frequency bands over 60 - 400 Hz, this being the range at which the greater part of the incoming signal will be present. An output 50 to a tape recorder provides an historical record of the incoming signal. The frequency bands are separately rectified and averaged in unit 90, which also contains a log circuit and provides a signal representative of the logarithm of the averaged and rectified signal. These signals are represented as (a) and (b) in the accompanying diagrams and are referred to in equations (1), (2) and (3) previously. The log signal is fed at 92 to a chart recorder. The signals from each channel are compared in a differencing amplifier 94, the output from amplifier 94 being indicative of the attenuation of the signal from the drilling process relative to the signal received on the existing well. The attenuation signal may be processed as an antilog 95 and displayed on scale 60 (Figure 3) to provide an indication of the distance of the well being drilled from the existing borehole. Tape input sockets 46 are provided coupled to preamplifiers 84. A power supply unit 82 is provided. A lamp 83 is provided to indicate operation of the circuitry.
Referring to Figures 5 to 8, Figures 5 to 7 are diagrams of circuits located in the processor module, and Figure 8 is a diagram of a circuit in the display module.
Referring to Figure 5, there is shown a circuit diagram for the high slew rate filter 86 of Figure 4 which acts to reject high slew rate signals. Two separate filters 86a and 86b are shown, filter 86a acting on the drill channel, and filter 86b acting on the well channel. These non -linear filters may be implemented in a variety of ways including by digital processing means. Outputs A are provided for recording of the input signals in the well and drill channels. Aliasing and PSU filters 98a and 98b condition the input signals in the well and drill channels. Referring to Figure 6 the outputs from the filters of Figure 5 are fed to one third octave filters 102a, 102b, which each comprise charge coupled devices. These provide outputs 103 for frequency bands for the incoming signals of 80 - 100 Hz, 125 - 160 Hz and a summed output 105 of 10 - 160 Hz, although these may be changed by selection of other clocking frequencies, one of these outputs being selected by means of ganged switches 104a, 104b. The outputs of switches 'o4a, 104b are fed through gajn switches 52A, 52B to buffer amplifiers 106a, 106b. The outputs of amplifiers 106a, 106b are coupled to, as shown in Figure 7, rectifying and averaging circuits 90a and 90b (which contain log circuits). Switch 52 controls the output gain through buffers 92a and 92b to provide signals (a), (b). In Figure 8, there is shown an arrangement for summing the signals (a) and (b) in the drill and well channels in a differencing amplifier 110. The output x(a-b) of amplifier 110 provides a signal representative of the attenuation between the two signals. Circuit 112 coupled to the output of amplifier 110 provides an output representative of the antilog 10(X/K) of the attenuation. Such antilog signal, the attenuation signal, the well and drill signals are selected for display by control switch 62.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:
1. Monitoring equipment for drilling operations, characterized by a first transducer means (24) for monitoring vibration for coupling to a well (14) being drilled, a second or plurality of transducer means for coupling to an existing production well or wells (12) in order to monitor vibration in the pro duction wells arising from the operation of said drill, and processing means (84-95) for coupling to said first and second transducer means for determining a function dependent on the values of said signals from said first and second transducer means and being related to or representative of the attenuation or transfer function between the monitored vibrations from said wells.
2. Equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that each of said transducers comprises an accelerometer.
3. Equipment according to claim 1, characterized by means (95) for determining the antilog of said attenuation.
4. Equipment according to claim 1, characterized by filter means (88) for providing a plurality of frequency bands and means (90) for determining the root mean square value of the signal in each frequency band.
5. Equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that said processing means comprises a gain control means, an analogue to digital converter, a processor for storing samples from said converter in a memory, said processor being arranged to control the attenuation of said gain control means in dependence on the magnitudes of said samples.
6. Equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that said processing means comprises an analogue to digital converter, a processor for storing samples from said converter in a memory and being arranged to compute said transfer function from said samples.
7. A method of monitoring drilling operations charaterized by the steps of monitoring vibration from a well being drilled, monitoring vibration from one or more production wells arising from the operation of said drill, and determining a function dependent on the values of the monitored vibrations and related to or representative of the attenuation or transfer function between the monitored vibrations.
EP80901950A 1979-10-17 1981-05-04 Monitoring equipment for drilling operations Withdrawn EP0037821A1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB7935980 1979-10-17
GB7935980 1979-10-17

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0037821A1 true EP0037821A1 (en) 1981-10-21

Family

ID=10508561

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP80901950A Withdrawn EP0037821A1 (en) 1979-10-17 1981-05-04 Monitoring equipment for drilling operations

Country Status (6)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0037821A1 (en)
JP (1) JPS56501410A (en)
DK (1) DK261481A (en)
GB (1) GB2075093A (en)
NO (1) NO812005L (en)
WO (1) WO1981001168A1 (en)

Families Citing this family (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
JP3276176B2 (en) * 1992-10-08 2002-04-22 三菱重工業株式会社 Deep sea suspension pipe position control device
US6787758B2 (en) 2001-02-06 2004-09-07 Baker Hughes Incorporated Wellbores utilizing fiber optic-based sensors and operating devices
EP1357403A3 (en) * 1997-05-02 2004-01-02 Sensor Highway Limited A method of generating electric power in a wellbore
US9127530B2 (en) * 2009-08-07 2015-09-08 Schlumberger Technology Corporation Collision avoidance system with offset wellbore vibration analysis
US20110080807A1 (en) * 2009-10-02 2011-04-07 Clampon, Inc. Method for collision risk mitigation using intelligent non-invasive ultrasonic sensors for directional drilling
CN104007331B (en) * 2013-02-21 2016-09-21 中国石油化工股份有限公司 Device and method for collection analysis well site noise

Family Cites Families (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3617998A (en) * 1969-06-30 1971-11-02 Raytheon Co Noise signal detector
US3722605A (en) * 1971-02-03 1973-03-27 Scient Drilling Controls Apparatus and method for determining relative orientation of two wells
US4003017A (en) * 1973-06-18 1977-01-11 Senturion Sciences, Inc. Continuous bit positioning system
US3853185A (en) * 1973-11-30 1974-12-10 Continental Oil Co Guidance system for a horizontal drilling apparatus
US3980986A (en) * 1974-06-13 1976-09-14 Charles Baird Oil well survey tool

Non-Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
See references of WO8101168A1 *

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
JPS56501410A (en) 1981-10-01
NO812005L (en) 1981-06-12
GB2075093A (en) 1981-11-11
WO1981001168A1 (en) 1981-04-30
DK261481A (en) 1981-06-15

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Effective date: 19810616

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Inventor name: JAMES, JOHN DAVID

Inventor name: MILES, ANTHONY PETER