MXPA99010583A - Earth formation surveying device - Google Patents

Abstract

A survey device for use in a borehole formed in an earth formation is disclosed. The device comprises a carrier body (1) carrying earth formation survey means (28, 30) and drilling means (9) arranged at the front end of the device for drilling of the borehole, means for progressing the carrier body through the borehole in correspondence with progress of drilling by the drilling means, and means (22, 24) for removing the rock particles resulting from the drilling process. The means for removing the rock particles comprises means for transporting the rock particles to the rear end (16) of the device and depositing the rock particles into the borehole behind the rear end of the device.

Description

STUDY DEVICE D? SOIL FORMATIONS FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an apparatus for studying a soil formation. Non-intrusive methods, such as seismic surveys, are generally applied to identify potential hydrocarbon zones in soil formation. When applying said seismic methods, the shock waves are generated on the surface of the ground and the reflections of the various layers of soil are detected to give data on the structure of the various layers. However, seismic technology is limited with respect to the resolution of space and contrast and, often, the seismic study will be complemented by exploration drilling, while the subsequent assessment drilling will give the verification to improve the defined estimates of volumes of hydrocarbon fluid on site and recoverable reserves.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the exploration drilling, we proceed to REC. 31882 download one or more study tools to a hole made in the soil formation to provide data on the characteristics of the formation. During drilling, drilling cuts (ie rock particles that separate during drilling) are transported upward to the surface in a drilling fluid stream that flows in the annular space between the drill string and the wall of the well. To prevent the well from disintegrating, a casing tubing is supplied. Said conventional study methods are expensive, in view of the requirement of a casing tubing that must be placed in the well to stabilize the perforation, whereby the sections of the casing are installed in a nest arrangement, with an upper section of relatively large diameter and sections that decrease stepwise in diameter in the downward direction.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the invention to provide an improved apparatus for studying a soil formation through a perforation formed in the formation, whose apparatus obviates the need to place casing tubing sections inside the well. According to the invention, a study apparatus is provided for use in a well formed in a ground formation, the apparatus comprises a vehicle body carrying the means of studying the formation of the soil and the drilling means arranged at the end front of the apparatus for drilling the well, means for advancing the body of the vehicle through the perforation correspondingly with the advance of the perforation by the drilling means, and means for removing the stone particles resulting from the drilling process, wherein the means for removing the rock particles comprises means for transporting the rock particles to the rear end of the apparatus and depositing the rock particles in the perforation behind the rear end of the apparatus. By depositing the perforation cuts in the well behind the apparatus, it is no longer required to transport the cuts to the surface in a drilling fluid stream. Therefore, there is no need to maintain the drilling fluid passage in the pore, and as a consequence, there is no need to place the liner in the well. In addition, the huge amount of drilling cuts in the well reduces the perforation permeability to a sufficiently low level to prevent uncontrolled leakage of hydrocarbon fluid to the surface (explosion). The apparatus according to the invention is created to direct the oil or gas in an intelligent manner, to give evidence about the occurrence of oil and gas in the eventual formations and to carry out sophisticated measurements in soil formation. To further reduce the pressure communication between the different soil forming strains, and from said layer to the surface, the apparatus comprises suitable means for injecting a seal compound from the borehole in the well behind the apparatus. Said seal compound may be, for example, plastic foam or cement. To obtain information on the position of the device in the formation and to drive the device along a selected path, the apparatus is supplied with a gyroscope. To complement, reference will be made to the U.S. Patent specification. No. 3,857,289. This publication discloses a telescopic soil sampling apparatus, supplied at its front end with a drill bit, whose soil sampling apparatus is connected with its trailing end to a drill string to rotate the drill string. The invention will be described, hereinafter, in greater detail and by way of example with reference to the accompanying Figure, which schematically shows a longitudinal side view of the apparatus according to the invention. The apparatus shown in the Figure has a vehicle body 1 of essentially cylindrical shape. The body of the vehicle 1 includes the first and second members 3, 5, interconnected by a telescopic joint 7 which is adapted to move between a contracted position and an extended position, and which is capable of supplying a pushing force between the two members 3. , 5 when moving from the contracted position to the extended position. The first member 3 is supplied with a drill bit 9, located at the front end of the body 1 for drilling a well in a soil formation. The drill bit 9 is driven by an electric motor which in turn receives energy from a rechargeable energy supply / storage system (not shown) within the body of the vehicle 1. Suitably, the energy supply / storage system rechargeable includes a steering wheel driven by an electric motor (not shown) to store energy, whose steering wheel can drive an electric generator to supply electric power. The rechargeable energy supply / storage system receives electrical energy by a cable incorporated in a multi-line cable 15, which is stored on a reel (not shown) within the second member 5 and which extends through an opening 15a , at the rear end 16 of the second member 5, and that is connected to a power supply station (not shown) at a suitable site. The first member 3 is supplied with the vanes 17, 18 to selectively fix the position of the first member 3 in the well, and the second member 5 is supplied from the vanes 19, 20 to selectively fix the position of the second member 5 in the water well. Each vane 17, 18, 19, 20 is selectively movable between a radially contracted position and a radially extended position, and is provided with a clamping profile (not shown) on its external surface facing the wall of the well. The blades 17, 18, 19, 20 are driven by electric power supplied by means of a rechargeable energy supply / storage system. The body of the vehicle 1 is further provided with a spiral screw conveyor in the shape of the drill screws 22, 24, 26 which extend from the front end of the vehicle body 1 to the rear end thereof. The drill screws 22, 24, 26 are driven in rotation with respect to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle body 1 by the electric power supplied by the rechargeable energy supply / storage system. The study of soil formation is carried out by recovering sample plugs from the formation by means of a hollow core perforator 28 supplied in the first member 3. The core perforator 28 is radially extensible towards the formation of stones in which The well is drilled to recover the core plugs of the rock formation. A fluid sample 30 is arranged in the first member 3 to return samples of fluid flowing from the soil formation to the borehole. At selected drilling depths, the effective flow properties at the local scale of the formation around the apparatus are measured by determining the pressure response in the wall of the perforation at the time of fluid recovery from the formation and subsequent reinjection of the fluid towards the formation. further, the apparatus is supplied with analyzer means (not shown) for analyzing the core plugs and the fluid samples under the conditions prevailing in the formation, and with the data transfer means for transferring the data resulting from the analysis and pressure measurements towards the surface by means of a fiber optic line for data transfer incorporated in a multiline cable 15. During the normal operation of the apparatus shown in the figure, the apparatus is induced to drill a well in the ground formation by rotation of the drill 9. The normal operation of the apparatus is explained from the starting point in which the apparatus is present in a portion of the well already drilled, either using the apparatus or using another suitable drilling device. The telescopic joint 7 is in its contracted position. The rechargeable energy supply / storage system is supplied with sufficient energy by means of an electric cable in a multi-line cable 15, in order to rotate the flywheel at high speed. The blades 17, 18 are moved to their contracted position, and the blades 19, 20 are moved to their extended position, so that their clamping profiles push firmly against the wall of the perforation to fix the position of the second member 5 in the water well. Then, drilling of another portion of the well proceeds simultaneously transferring the power of the rotary wheel to the drill bit motor to rotate the bit 9, and gradually extending the telescopic joint 7 to its extended position. Extending the telescopic joint, the member 3 moves forward, and supplies a pushing force to the drill bit 9, which is thus pushed against the bottom of the hole and cuts the rock formation to pierce the other portion of the hole. water well. The reaction force resulting from the pushing force delivered by the telescopic joint is transferred by the blades 19, 20 towards the wall of the well. During the drilling of the other portion of the well, the auger bolts 22, 24, 26 are rotated to convey the drilling cuts to the rear end 16 of the vehicle body 1 and to deposit the cuts in the bore, behind the body of the vehicle 1. The multi-line cable 15 remains static between the cuts and, therefore, will not suffer from frictional wear. To start drilling another well portion, the rechargeable energy supply / storage system is supplied again with sufficient energy by means of an electric cable in a multi-line wire 15, for the purpose of rotating the flywheel at high speed. The vanes 17, 16 are extended against the wall of the well to determine the position of the first member 3 in the well. Then, the vanes 19, 20 are contracted and the telescopic joint 7 is contracted so that the second member 5 moves forward. Subsequently, the vanes 17, 18 are contracted and the vanes 19, 20 are extended against the wall of the perforation, in order to fix the position of the second member 5 inside the perforation. Then, another well portion is drilled in order to determine the position of the second member 5 in the well. The drilling of another well portion proceeds in a manner similar to that previously described in relation to the previous well portion. As the perforation becomes deeper and the apparatus moves forward in the perforation, the multi-line wire 15 is gradually released from the reel, which is located in the second member 5, so that the multiline cable is extended in the perforation without requiring axial movement of the wire in the perforation. In this way, the perforation is extended in stages of increase by the self-propelled apparatus. The perforation cuts are deposited in the back of the apparatus, so that there is no need for the perforation cuts to be transported to the surface. The multi-line cable 15 is located static between the perforation cuts. An implication of this procedure is that there is no need to keep the drilling open, and therefore there is no need to place a casing tubing in the well. The perforation cuts in the well reduce the permeability of the well enough to prevent leakage to the surface of the high pressure fluids that are found when drilling the well. The samples of the formation fluid are taken at selected depths, using the fluid sampler 30, and the core plugs are taken using the core driller 28. The fluid samples and the core plugs are analyzed by a The analyzer and the resulting data are transferred to the surface by means of the data transfer medium via the data transfer line in a multi-line wire 15. Said data include, for example, porosity, absolute permeability, relative permeability, pressure capillary and the storage rapacity of the hydrocarbon fluid, for example, the initial and residual oil saturation levels. The apparatus 1 can be launched to the surface of the soil to perforate the entire pore to a desired depth or, alternatively, the apparatus can be linked from a station located in a pre-drilled well head. The latter option may be preferred in view of the limited extension of the wire 15, which may be stored within the body of the vehicle 1, and in view of the power consumption of the apparatus and the slow speed of drilling. The wire 15 should be used as efficiently as possible to deploy the apparatus in a possible formation that is considered to be of interest. In addition, the apparatus 1 can be supplied with various means for the study of the soil would form. For example, the apparatus can be supplied with a strong acoustic source to generate acoustic signals in the formation of the floor, and one or more acoustic receivers (for example, located at the rear end of the apparatus) can be supplied in the apparatus to receive the acoustic reflections From the different layers of soil formation irregularities, high speed areas, fluid trawls etc. In addition, the apparatus can be supplied with a temperature sensor and a pressure-fluid formation sensor. By simultaneously operating two or more devices in the manner described above, acoustic interference measurements can be made between the devices that are located in the same well at different wells or well branches. In this way a detailed image of the sonic distribution of the velocity of the formation between the apparatuses can be created (transverse well tomography). The flow interference test can also be carried out between two (or more) devices or branches-perforation, simultaneously injecting fluid from one device into the formation and withdrawing the fluid from the formation of the other apparatus. The pressure response on the well wall measured by the two apparatuses is a measure of the effective flow properties at a selected site in the formation.

It is noted that in relation to this date, the best method known to the applicant, to implement said invention is that which is clear from the manufacture of the objects to which it refers. Having described the invention as above, property is claimed as contained in the following:

Claims (11)

1. A floor survey apparatus for use in a perforation formed in a soil formation, the apparatus comprises a vehicle body that carries the means of studying the formation of soil and drilling means arranged at the front end of the apparatus to perforate the soil. well, means for advancing the body of the vehicle through the perforation in correspondence with the advance of the perforation by the perforation means, and means for removing the rock particles resulting from the perforation process, characterized in that the msdio to remove the particle? of rock comprises means for transporting rock particles towards the rear end of the apparatus and depositing the rock particles in the perforation behind the rear end of the apparatus.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, characterized in that the means for removing the particles of. The rock comprises a spiral screw conveyor extending essentially from the drilling means to the rear end of the apparatus.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, characterized in that the spiral screw conveyor extends around the body of the vehicle.

4. The apparatus of any of claims 1-3, characterized in that it further comprises means for injecting a piercing seal compound into the well behind the apparatus.

5. The apparatus of any of claims 1-4, characterized Doraue comprises energy transfer means including an energy transfer conduit that is progressively released from the vehicle body to the bore as the vehicle body advances through the vehicle. drilling.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, characterized in that it also comprises rechargeable energy storage means connected to the energy transfer means.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, characterized in that the rechargeable energy storage means includes a flywheel capable of delivering power to at least one piercing means and a means for advancing the body of the vehicle through the piercing.

8. The apparatus of any of claims 1-7, characterized in that the means for advancing the body of the vehicle through the bore comprises the first and second telescopic members in the longitudinal direction, means for selectively fixing the position of each of the members first. and second in drilling and means for selectively inducing a telescopic movement inward or outward of the first and second members.

9. The apparatus of claim 9, characterized in that the means selectively oar the position of the first and second members in the perforation comprises a plurality of vanes, each vane extensible essentially radially against the wall of the well, each member provided with the minus one of the palettes.

10. The apparatus of any of claims 1-9, characterized in that the soil formation study means comprises a core sampling system for taking core samples from the rock formation surrounding the well, means for analyzing samples from core to obtain the data of the rock formation and means to transmit the data towards the surface.

11. The apparatus of any of claims 1-10, characterized in that the means for studying the formation of the ground comprise means for analyzing the rock particles from an excavation process.