Well Logging Patents (Class 166/254.2)
  • Patent number: 6770603
    Abstract: A wellbore fluid having a non-aqueous continuous liquid phase that exhibits an electrical conductivity increased by a factor in order of 104 to 107 compared to conventional invert emulsion comprises from about 0.2% to about 10% by volume of carbon black particles and one or more emulsifying surfactant(s) selected from the class including nonionic emulsifiers of Hydrophilic-Lipophilic Balance (HLB) less than about 12, and anionic surfactants wherein the counter-ion (cation) is any of alkali metal, ammonium, or hydrogen ions. This wellbore fluid can be used for drilling or completing a well and can be used for providing enhanced information from electrical logging tools, measurement while drilling, logging while drilling, geosteering and the like.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2002
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2004
    Assignee: M-I L.L.C.
    Inventors: Christopher Sawdon, Mostafa Tehrani, Paul Craddock, Anthony Lawson
  • Patent number: 6755257
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for deploying a so-called compact battery/memory logging tool, for acquiring data in deviated or horizontal wells in the oil and gas well data logging industry. A drillpipe assembly (10) includes a drillpipe (11) having secured at a downhole end thereof a delatching latching sub (12) containing an extendable running sub (13) supporting a battery/memory logging tool (14). The running sub (13) occupies an initial, retracted position during deployment of the drillpipe (11), whereby the logging tool (14) is protected within one or more drillpipe stands. The running sub is movable by a messenger (26) to a second, extended position in which its logging tool (14) protruding from the drillpipe (11). The drillpipe assembly may therefore be used to protect the logging tool (14) during running in operations; and then to extend the logging tool permit commencement of logging operations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 29, 2004
    Assignee: Reeves Wireline Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Michael Charles Spencer, Simon Christopher Ash, Michael John Chaplain
  • Patent number: 6747914
    Abstract: An acoustic system and method for monitoring a hydrocarbon reservoir. Wellbore tube wave energy may be created by natural or ambient sources or tube waves may be excited intentionally. Wellbore tube wave energy is converted to seismic body wave energy at minor borehole obstructions or irregularities. Each obstruction or discontinuity position along the borehole has an associated unique waveform source coda that may be measured for processing the body waves radiated into the earth formation surrounding the well bore. A plurality of sensors detects the radiated seismic energy after the seismic body wave energy has transited intervening earth formations. The system may be employed for permanent monitoring of mineral resources and resource management. Measurements of reservoir characteristics may be acquired at many different times over the productive life of a reservoir.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2002
    Date of Patent: June 8, 2004
    Assignee: Baker Hughes Incorporated
    Inventor: Peter S. Aronstam
  • Patent number: 6739409
    Abstract: An NMR device is presented that includes a drill collar having non-rotating sleeve containing permanent magnets. The non-rotating sleeve is clamped against a borehole wall and decoupled from drilling vibrations during NMR measurements. The transmitter and receiver are located on the rotating part of the drill collar. Alternatively the permanent magnets and the RF receiver antenna and/or receiver electronics are placed on the non-rotating sleeve which is clamped against the borehole wall and decoupled from drilling vibrations, with the transmitting antenna located on the rotating drill collar. Alternatively a non-rotating stabilizer is provided above or below an NMR sensor. A stabilizer is activated to stabilize the rotating NMR sensor located on the drilling collar in the bore hole.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2004
    Assignee: Baker Hughes Incorporated
    Inventors: Thomas Kruspe, Robert A. Slade, Martin Blanz, Peter Rottengatter, Hartmut Schrader, Rob Hawkes
  • Patent number: 6736210
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided that permit downhole tools to be run into a well along with logging tools that can log the downhole tools into place by real time transmission of the data to a surface location. In one aspect, an apparatus includes a telemetry tool, a logging tool in communication with the telemetry tool and a downhole tool.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2001
    Date of Patent: May 18, 2004
    Assignee: Weatherford/Lamb, Inc.
    Inventors: David Hosie, Thomas Roesnor
  • Publication number: 20040074639
    Abstract: A logging system for use in a wellbore formed in an earth formation is disclosed. The system comprises a tubular conduit (9) extending from surface into the wellbore and containing a body of wellbore fluid, a logging tool string (12) capable of passing from a position within the conduit to a position outside the conduit at a lower end part thereof and capable of being suspended by the conduit in said position outside the conduit, and a pressure pulse device (18) arranged within the conduit in a manner that the pressure pulse device is in data communication with the logging tool. The pressure pulse device is capable of generating pressure pulses in the body of wellbore fluid, said pressure pulses representing data communicated by the logging tool string to the pressure pulse device during logging of earth formation by the logging tool string.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 29, 2003
    Publication date: April 22, 2004
    Inventor: Douwe Johannes Runia
  • Publication number: 20040069488
    Abstract: In the field of tools for use in boreholes, an apparatus (10) includes a pump (11) for circulating fluid under pressure in a wellbore (12).
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 12, 2003
    Publication date: April 15, 2004
    Inventors: Michael John Chaplin, Charles Richard Easter, Michael Charles Spencer
  • Patent number: 6712140
    Abstract: The invention relates to a borehole radar tool comprising, in a housing (2) a transmitting antenna and a receiving antenna both of which comprise, near the housing wall (2), a dipole antenna (8) and a reflector (10) opposite thereto. Also provided are an algorithm, method and apparatus for determining electromagnetic contrast information of a site into which electromagnetic fields (27) are emitted. Signals (29) generated by induction are intercepted and, using a back-projection algorithm including a suitable weighting factor, are converted into contrast information. The algorithm and/or method can be recorded in a computer program or on a data carrier. Also disclosed is a method of determining said weighting factor. The invention further provides a method and apparatus for subsurface surveys in which electromagnetic pulse signals are emitted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2002
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2004
    Assignee: T & A Survey B.V.
    Inventors: Michiel Sebastiaan van Oers, Koen Willem Anton van Dongen, Petrus Maria van den Berg, Jacob Tjeerd Fokkema, Robert van Ingen, Neil Vladimirovich Budko, Robert Frans Remis
  • Publication number: 20040055746
    Abstract: A subterranean well completion has a tubular structure in which a remote controlled robot is permanently disposed. The robot is self-propelled, programmable, receives instructions from and communicates data to the surface, and is adapted to receive power from a downhole source and perform a variety of well tasks such as, for example, positioning valves and other well tools and sensing the values of predetermined downhole parameters and relaying the sensed information to the surface. The robot, which is operable without physical intervention through the tubular structure to the robot, propels itself to a location in the tubular structure at which a desired well task is to be performed, performs the task and then parks itself in the tubular structure until another well task is to be performed by the robot.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 24, 2002
    Publication date: March 25, 2004
    Inventors: Colby Munro Ross, Robert Lester Thurman, Syed Hamid, Clifford David Wohleb
  • Publication number: 20040035608
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for creating a telemetry signal in a drillstring is disclosed. Opposite torsional forces are imparted on the drillstring at two or more different locations. A steel shaft inside the drillstring is coupled to the drillstring via electromagnetic actuators at end and rigidly attached to the drillstring at the other end. A similar method and apparatus for generating axial telemetry signal in the drillstring is also disclosed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 21, 2002
    Publication date: February 26, 2004
    Inventors: Richard John Meehan, Charles Roderick Jenkins, Benjamin Peter Jeffryes, John Mervyn Cook
  • Patent number: 6691779
    Abstract: An apparatus and a method for controlling oilfield production to improve efficiency includes a remote sensing unit that is placed within a subsurface formation, an antenna structure for communicating with the remote sensing unit, a casing joint having nonconductive “windows” for allowing a internally located antenna to communicate with the remote sensing unit, and a system for obtaining subsurface formation data and for producing the formation data to a central location for subsequent analysis. The remote sensing unit is placed sufficiently far from the wellbore to reduce or eliminate effects that the wellbore might have on formation data samples taken by the remote sensing unit. The remote sensing unit is an active device with the capability of responding to control commands by determining certain subsurface formation characteristics such as pressure or temperature, and transmitting corresponding data values to a wellbore tool.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 1999
    Date of Patent: February 17, 2004
    Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation
    Inventors: Abdurrahman Sezginer, Jacques Tabanou, Reinhart Ciglenec
  • Patent number: 6691805
    Abstract: An electrically conductive oil mud meeting the fluid requirements for resistive logging tools and a method for preparing such mud is disclosed. The fluid has been optimized to deliver performance in a manner as similar to that of a traditional invert emulsion drilling fluid as is practical while still maintaining the required electrical conductivity for resistivity-based logging tools. This electrically conductive oil-based mud comprises a polar synthetic ester base and complimentary ester surfactants, one being more oil soluble, the other being more water soluble. The surfactants interact synergistically to provide dense packing of micelles at the palisade layer. This fluid is oil-wetting to solids, and in general behaves like a traditional oil mud.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2001
    Date of Patent: February 17, 2004
    Assignee: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.
    Inventor: Carl Joseph Thaemlitz
  • Publication number: 20040020653
    Abstract: A method for logging, controlling, or monitoring a subsea well or group of wells through a path not within production tubing is disclosed. Preferred embodiments of the present invention allow logging tools, wire rope, optic fibers, electrical cables, monitoring and measuring instruments and other items known to those skilled in the art of oil and gas production to be disposed into the well without interfering with the flow path through the production string. In another aspect of the invention, a preferred embodiment includes the mooring or tethering of an instrument pod over the sub-sea well. The instrument pod is designed provide on-board data storage, data processing, data receiving, and data transmission equipment, such that data from the well can be transmitted back to a receiving network where said data may be stored and processed into useful information for reservoir operators.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 1, 2003
    Publication date: February 5, 2004
    Inventor: David Randolph Smith
  • Publication number: 20040020647
    Abstract: A well logging system that has, as its goal, the collection of information normally acquired by a dip log tool based on conductivity or resistivity measurements, but with the advantages of radiation based well logging systems. Unlike conductivity based dip log systems, the radiation-based system can be implemented in cased or uncased boreholes. The combination system incorporates a number of radially arrayed devices that, though structurally distinct, function much like the arms associated with conductivity dip log devices. The system incorporates radiation detectors positioned in a radial array rather than electrodes. The combination system measures radiation in each of the multiple radial orientations and responds to generated radiation in the respective directions. The sensitivity of the radiation measuring devices is set so as to localize the region of the borehole being measured.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 31, 2002
    Publication date: February 5, 2004
    Inventor: Ivan Snoga
  • Publication number: 20040020646
    Abstract: The present invention provides apparatus and method for varying an operating parameter for a nuclear gamma ray tool for evaluating the integrity of gravel packing. The gamma ray output intensity and area of investigation are altered by changing a source housing geometry and the material from which the source housing is made. An actuator is provided to slide a variable electron density sleeve over the source and to vary the area of investigation by changing the distance between the source and a detector.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 28, 2003
    Publication date: February 5, 2004
    Applicant: Core Laboratories Inc.
    Inventors: Michael J. Flecker, Larry Stephenson, J. Thomas Hampton
  • Publication number: 20040016542
    Abstract: A method for conveying a tool into a borehole with the use of a tool conveying apparatus includes deploying the tool conveying apparatus into the borehole, transmitting fluid through the tool conveying apparatus, the tool conveying apparatus generating power from the flow of fluid therethrough, discharging fluid from the tool conveying apparatus and providing power to at least one tool carried thereby. The tool conveying apparatus also includes a communication system for transmitting data bi-directionally between the tool and the surface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 26, 2002
    Publication date: January 29, 2004
    Inventor: Jean-Michel Hache
  • Publication number: 20040000401
    Abstract: A tool is presented for making density measurements of a formation surrounding a wellbore, comprising a collar housing in a drill string. The housing has at least one first section with a first outer diameter, and at least one sensing section with a second outer diameter located proximate the at least one first section. The second outer diameter is smaller than the first outer diameter. A radioactive source is disposed in the sensing section of the housing. At least two detectors are disposed in the sensing section and spaced from the radioactive source and are positioned to detect radiation resulting from gamma rays emitted by the source.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 19, 2003
    Publication date: January 1, 2004
    Applicant: Baker Hughes Incorporated
    Inventors: Matthew John Sale, Cornelis Huiszoon, Phillip Lawrence Kurkoski, Volker Krueger, Harald Grimmer
  • Patent number: 6671224
    Abstract: A sonic logging tool that can be positioned within a fluid-filled borehole includes an axially distributed active vibration control system to reduce tool borne noise. The tool includes an acoustic transmitter, an axial array of acoustic receivers, and actuator assemblies that are coupled to cancel tool mode vibrations at stations along the receiver section of the tool. In a preferred embodiment, force is applied in feedback mode based on tool mode vibrations sensed at each station. The force at each station is applied by a real-time computational algorithm using feedback. The feedback includes weighting to accommodate monopole or dipole tool mode vibration. The computational algorithm includes FIR processing of signals received from a vibration sensor assembly. The force applied at a given station is a function of tool mode vibration measured at that station and the predetermined values of a set of FIR filter coefficients associated with the given station.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2002
    Date of Patent: December 30, 2003
    Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation
    Inventor: Jahir Pabon
  • Patent number: 6666285
    Abstract: Logging-while-drilling gamma ray back scatter density system with elements configured to minimize material between sensor and the borehole environs, maximize shielding and collimation efficiency, and increase operational reliability and ruggedness. The system comprises a drill collar with a cavity in the outer wall, and an instrument package containing a sensor. The instrument package is disposed in the cavity and protrudes from the outer wall of the collar. Embodied as a density LWD system, the sensor consists of a gamma ray source and two detectors mounted within an instrument package framework made of high Z shielding material. A stabilized containing an alignment channel in the inner surface is disposed around the collar and receives the protrusion. The source and detectors are preferably positioned within the instrument package so that they fall within a radius defined by the outer surface of the collar. The source is threaded directly into the high Z material framework of the instrument package.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2002
    Date of Patent: December 23, 2003
    Assignee: Precision Drilling Technology Services Group Inc.
    Inventors: Dale A. Jones, Medhat W. Mickael
  • Patent number: 6655458
    Abstract: A well logging instrument is disclosed which includes a housing operatively coupled to a well logging conveyance and movable within the wellbore. The housing has therein a formation testing system and an axial extension mechanism. The axial extension mechanism controllably extends and retracts to allow the formation testing system to perform tests and take samples in an axially fixed position in the wellbore while the housing moves through the wellbore.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 2001
    Date of Patent: December 2, 2003
    Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation
    Inventors: Andrew L. Kurkjian, John B. Elmer, William B. Underhill
  • Patent number: 6651739
    Abstract: System and methods are disclosed for transmitting and receiving electromagnetic pulses through a geological formation. A preferably programmable transmitter having an all-digital portion in a preferred embodiment may be operated at frequencies below 1 MHz without loss of target resolution by transmitting and over sampling received long PN codes. A gated and stored portion of the received signal may be correlated with the PN code to determine distances of interfaces within the geological formation, such as the distance of a water interfaces from a wellbore. The received signal is oversampled preferably at rates such as five to fifty times as high as a carrier frequency. In one method of the invention, an oil well with multiple production zones may be kept in production by detecting an approaching water front in one of the production zones and shutting down that particular production zone thereby permitting the remaining production zones to continue operating.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 25, 2003
    Assignee: The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
    Inventors: G. Dickey Arndt, James R. Carl, Kent A. Byerly, B. Jon Amini
  • Publication number: 20030205376
    Abstract: The present invention relates to methods of fracturing a subterranean formation including the step of pumping at least one device actively transmitting data that provide information on the device position, and further comprising the step of assessing the fracture geometry based on the positions of said at least one device or pumping metallic elements, preferably as proppant agents, and further locating the position of said metallic elements with a tool selected from the group consisting of magnetometers, resistivity tools, electromagnetic devices and ultra-long arrays of electrodes. The invention allows monitoring of the fracture geometry and proppant placement.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 16, 2003
    Publication date: November 6, 2003
    Applicant: SCHLUMBERGER TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Joseph Ayoub, Stuart Jardine, Peter Fitzgerald
  • Publication number: 20030179651
    Abstract: The present invention provides an apparatus and method for sensing subsurface data. One embodiment of the invention comprises a shuttle attached to a conveyance where the conveyance and shuttle are adapted to be spooled downhole into a borehole for sensing seismic data. The shuttle contains a sensor package that is preferably acoustically isolated in the shuttle. The sensor package includes a sensor array and a magnet clamp. A sensor section can contain several shuttles, each shuttle containing at least one sensor. In one embodiment, the sensor can be a fiber optic sensor. The magnet clamp is operable to controllably clamp and acoustically couple together the sensor package, the shuttle, and the adjacent structure which is typically the borehole casing. The magnet clamp is likewise operable to unclamp and uncouple the shuttle from the adjacent structure so as to be retracted uphole for subsequent use.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 22, 2002
    Publication date: September 25, 2003
    Inventors: Les Nutt, Tsutomu Yamate, Masahiro Kamata
  • Patent number: 6619395
    Abstract: A method for measuring one or more characteristics of an earth formation whereby energy is emitted circumferentially about a borehole into the formation, and the amount reflected back is detected during a plurality of sample periods. The samples are grouped into two or more groups by the azimuthal sector in which the sample was collected. Within a group, each sample is mathematically weighted according to the standoff of the detector from the borehole wall when the sample was taken. Within a group, the weighted samples are summed to produce a weighted total amount of energy detected within a sector. The weighted total is then transformed into the one or more characteristics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 2, 2001
    Date of Patent: September 16, 2003
    Assignee: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.
    Inventor: Ronald L. Spross
  • Publication number: 20030155121
    Abstract: Logging-while-drilling gamma ray back scatter density system with elements configured to minimize material between sensor and the borehole environs, maximize shielding and collimation efficiency, and increase operational reliability and ruggedness. The system comprises a drill collar with a cavity in the outer wall, and an instrument package containing a sensor. The instrument package is disposed in the cavity and protrudes from the outer wall of the collar. Embodied as a density LWD system, the sensor consists of a gamma ray source and two detectors mounted within an instrument package framework made of high Z shielding material. A stabilized containing an alignment channel in the inner surface is disposed around the collar and receives the protrusion. The source and detectors are preferably positioned within the instrument package so that they fall within a radius defined by the outer surface of the collar. The source is threaded directly into the high Z material framework of the instrument package.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 15, 2002
    Publication date: August 21, 2003
    Inventors: Dale A. Jones, Medhat W. Mickael
  • Publication number: 20030141055
    Abstract: Integrated drilling and evaluation systems and methods for drilling, logging and testing wells are provided. The drilling and evaluation systems are basically comprised of a drill string, a drill bit carried on a lower end of the drill string for drilling a well bore, logging while drilling means included in the drill string for identifying subsurface zones or formations of interest, packer means carried on the drill string above the drill bit for sealing a zone or formation of interest below the packer means, a fluid testing means included in the drill string for controlling the flow of well fluid from the zone or formation of interest into the drill string, a function status monitor included in the drill string to evaluate the capacity of the various test instruments to function, and a function timer included in the drill string to automatically sequence the steps of various test procedures.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 4, 2002
    Publication date: July 31, 2003
    Inventors: William C. Paluch, Alois Jerabek, Paul D. Ringgenberg, Michael Hooper
  • Patent number: 6591673
    Abstract: A method of identifying the fluid type of subterranean formations according to the correlation between the variation trend of electrical resistivity with depth downhole in a borehole and the variation trend of porosity with depth downhole in the same borehole. The method includes the steps of: a) determining the rate of change with depth of a resistivity parameter (such as deep resistivity) of the formation surrounding the borehole; b) determining the rate of change with depth of a porosity parameter (such as total porosity and/or free fluid porosity measured by a nuclear magnetic resonance technique) of the formation surrounding the borehole; c) determining a comparison of the rate of change with depth of such resistivity parameter and the rate of change with depth of such porosity parameter for a given depth in the borehole; and d) using the comparison to determine the nature of the fluid in the formation surrounding the borehole at that depth downhole or in a given depth window downhole.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2001
    Date of Patent: July 15, 2003
    Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation
    Inventor: Cheng Bing Liu
  • Patent number: 6581686
    Abstract: Tracing hydraulic fractures, stimulations, selective cement jobs, etc. in oil and gas wells includes introducing into a well in a zone of interest a plurality of radio frequency transmitting elements each having an identification, moving in the well a reader tool operative for transmitting radio waves so as to generate and send a radio frequency signal for activating the radio frequency transmitting elements and thereafter to receive a signal returned from the corresponding radio frequency transmitting elements together with the identification of each radio frequency transmitting element, and analyzing data related to the sending of the radio frequency signal from the reader tool to the radio frequency transmitting element and the receiving of the radio frequency signal from the radio frequency transmitting elements with the identification of the radio frequency transmitting elements, so as to trace a corresponding hydraulic fracture, stimulation, selective cement job, etc., in the zone of interest.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2001
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2003
    Assignee: Digital Tracing Systems Ltd
    Inventor: Russell J. Armatage
  • Publication number: 20030085035
    Abstract: A well logging instrument is disclosed which includes a housing operatively coupled to a well logging conveyance and movable within the wellbore. The housing has therein a formation testing system and an axial extension mechanism. The axial extension mechanism controllably extends and retracts to allow the formation testing system to perform tests and take samples in an axially fixed position in the wellbore while the housing moves through the wellbore.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 6, 2001
    Publication date: May 8, 2003
    Inventors: Andrew L. Kurkjian, John B. Elmer, William B. Underhill
  • Patent number: 6554065
    Abstract: The present invention provides apparatus and method for evaluating the integrity of gravel packing. A screen is disposed in an annulus between the wellbore and a production tubing. A tubing, such as a wash pipe, is placed inside the production tubing to provide a fluid path for the gravel slurry for gravel packing the screen. A self-contained memory logging nuclear tool is located in the tubing below (downhole) the screen. After gravel packing, the tubing with the tool is retrieved from the well at a selected speed. The tool is activated to record data in the memory carried by the tool as it passes across the screen. The data stored in the memory is downloaded at the surface to produce a log which provides a measure of the integrity of gravel packing of the screen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 1999
    Date of Patent: April 29, 2003
    Assignee: Core Laboratories, Inc.
    Inventors: Kevin Fisher, David Berneking, J. Thomas Hampton, III
  • Publication number: 20030075360
    Abstract: A method of electrically logging subterranean wells using a conductive double emulsion fluid includes a miscible combination of an oleaginous fluid, an emulsifier capable of forming a microemulsion, an emulsifier capable of forming an invert emulsion, and an electrolytic salt. A microemulsion is the continuous phase of an invert emulsion. The electrolytic salt or brine of the salt is present in a concentration sufficient to permit the electrical logging of the subterranean well. The fluid may additionally contain a polar organic solvent and a carbon dioxide buffer. The polar organic solvent may be an oil soluble glycol or glycol ether such as ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, propylene glycol, polypropylene glycol, and the like.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 17, 2002
    Publication date: April 24, 2003
    Inventors: Arvind D. Patel, Reginald J. Bell, Steve Young, Ahmadi Tehrani
  • Patent number: 6550322
    Abstract: A hydraulic strain sensor for use with a downhole tool includes a housing having two chambers with a pressure differential between the two chambers. A mandrel is disposed in the housing. The mandrel is adapted to be coupled to the tool such that the weight of the tool is supported by the pressure differential between the two chambers. A pressure-responsive sensor in communication with the one of the chambers is provided to sense pressure changes in the chamber as the tool is accelerated or decelerated and to generate signals representative of the pressure changes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2002
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2003
    Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation
    Inventors: Matthew Sweetland, Merlin D. Hansen
  • Publication number: 20030062158
    Abstract: A method for measuring one or more characteristics of an earth formation whereby energy is emitted circumferentially about a borehole into the formation, and the amount reflected back is detected during a plurality of sample periods. The samples are grouped into two or more groups by the azimuthal sector in which the sample was collected. Within a group, each sample is mathematically weighted according to the standoff of the detector from the borehole wall when the sample was taken. Within a group, the weighted samples are summed to produce a weighted total amount of energy detected within a sector. The weighted total is then transformed into the one or more characteristics.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 2, 2001
    Publication date: April 3, 2003
    Applicant: Halliburton Energy Services, Inc.
    Inventor: Ronald L. Spross
  • Publication number: 20030056957
    Abstract: A method of improving the quality of liquid coming from a well that has a pump and pipe assembly. The method includes identifying a region of the well that is low in contamination and a region of the well that is high in contamination, and modifying the pump and pipe assembly so that suction of the assembly is enhanced in the region that is low in contamination and inhibited in the region that is high in contamination. The method also includes cleaning the well in the region of low contamination. Modifying the pump and pipe assembly includes coupling a suction control device to the pump and pipe assembly, and positioning the suction control device in the region of low contamination, and forming a barrier between the region of low contamination and the region of high contamination by attaching a flow control disk to the pump and pipe assembly.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 25, 2002
    Publication date: March 27, 2003
    Inventors: Richard C Jackson, Michael E. Judkins
  • Patent number: 6531694
    Abstract: This invention provides a method for controlling production operations using fiber optic devices. An optical fiber carrying fiber-optic sensors is deployed downhole to provide information about downhole conditions. Parameters related to the chemicals being used for surface treatments are measured in real time and on-line, and these measured parameters are used to control the dosage of chemicals into the surface treatment system. The information is also used to control downhole devices that may be a packer, choke, sliding sleeve, perforating device, flow control valve, completion device, an anchor or any other device. Provision is also made for control of secondary recovery operations online using the downhole sensors to monitor the reservoir conditions. The present invention also provides a method of generating motive power in a wellbore utilizing optical energy. This can be done directly or indirectly, e.g., by first producing electrical energy that is then converted to another form of energy.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2001
    Date of Patent: March 11, 2003
    Assignee: Sensor Highway Limited
    Inventors: Paulo S. Tubel, Glynn Williams, Michael H. Johnson, John W. Harrell, Jeffrey J. Lembcke, Kurt A. Hickey, Nigel Leggett
  • Patent number: 6525003
    Abstract: A well logging fluid is provided having a relatively non-conductive fluid and an effective amount of a salt sufficient to modify the electrical characteristics the relatively non-conductive fluid resulting in a modified fluid or well logging fluid such that an electrical well-logging tool when disposed in the modified fluid can perform an electrical well-logging survey of a borehole containing the modified fluid. The non-conductive fluid is selected from the group consisting of a non-aqueous fluid and an invert emulsion of an aqueous phase in a non-conductive liquid. In an invert emulsion, the aqueous portion thereof ranges up to about 70 percent by volume. The salt has a cation and an anion, wherein the cation is selected from the group consisting of divalent and trivalent metal cations capable of forming a complex, and the anion is one that disassociates from the cation in an aqueous medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 1998
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2003
    Inventors: Robert P. Schlemmer, Edward Keith Morton
  • Patent number: 6516663
    Abstract: Apparatus and method for accurately logging a drill-stem test tool into place as the DST tool is conveyed by drill pipe or tubing to the desired location are provided. One aspect of the invention provides an apparatus for logging into place a drill stem test tool, comprising: a drill string comprising drill pipes or tubings; a drill stem test tool disposed on the drill string; an electromagnetic telemetry tool disposed on the drill string; and a gamma ray tool connected to the electromagnetic telemetry tool.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2001
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2003
    Assignee: Weatherford/Lamb, Inc.
    Inventor: Arnold J. Wong
  • Publication number: 20030010494
    Abstract: A method for determining alteration of a region of an earth formation surrounding an earth borehole, comprising the steps of providing a logging device that is moveable through the borehole; transmitting sonic energy into the formation and receiving, at a plurality of transmitter-to-receiver spacings, sonic energy that has traveled through the formation, and producing signals representative of the received sonic energy for the plurality of transmitter-to-receiver spacings; determining sonic transit times and differential transit times for the respective transmitter-to-receiver spacings; deriving a test statistic from the differential transit times; and determining the presence of alteration of a region of the formations from the test statistic. An associated apparatus for carrying out the method is also described.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 1, 2001
    Publication date: January 16, 2003
    Inventors: Sandip Bose, Ramachandra Ganesh Shenoy
  • Publication number: 20030010500
    Abstract: A method for logging, controlling, or monitoring a subsea well or group of wells through a path not within production tubing is disclosed. Preferred embodiments of the present invention allow logging tools, wire rope, optic fibers, electrical cables, monitoring and measuring instruments and other items known to those skilled in the art of oil and gas production to be disposed into the well without interfering with the flow path through the production string. In another aspect of the invention, a preferred embodiment includes the mooring or tethering of an instrument pod over the subsea well. The instrument pod is designed provide on-board data storage, data processing, data receiving, and data transmission equipment, such that data from the well can be transmitted back to a receiving network where said data may be stored and processed into useful information for reservoir operators.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 10, 2002
    Publication date: January 16, 2003
    Inventor: David Randolph Smith
  • Patent number: 6488085
    Abstract: A well logging method and apparatus is described, which enables well logging to be conducted while still allowing passage of fluid mud within the well to maintain well control.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 24, 1999
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2002
    Assignee: Reeves Wireline Technology LTD
    Inventors: Alex Watson Milne, Michael Charles Spencer
  • Publication number: 20020170712
    Abstract: A method of well logging in which the logging tool is delivered to the bottom of the well within a drill pipe and then the well is logged by withdrawing the drill pipe with the sensor portion of the logging tool protruding from the drill pipe. Following the logging operation the logging tool is returned to the surface by reverse circulation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 15, 2002
    Publication date: November 21, 2002
    Inventors: Alex Watson Milne, Michael Charles Spencer
  • Publication number: 20020170711
    Abstract: The present invention provides an apparatus and method for conveying downhole tools within a borehole using a continuous rod. The apparatus may include a continuous rod, a downhole tool attached to one end of the continuous rod, and a delivery rig for lowering the continuous rod and downhole tool into the wellbore.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 19, 2002
    Publication date: November 21, 2002
    Inventor: David Nuth
  • Patent number: 6467341
    Abstract: An accelerometer caliper while drilling arrangement comprising a drill bit having an axis of rotation and a gauge region, a caliper tool body, a first accelerometer mounted upon the caliper tool body and arranged to measure acceleration in a first direction, and a second accelerometer mounted upon the caliper tool body and arranged to measure acceleration in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction, wherein the caliper tool body and the drill bit are coupled to one another in such a manner that the first and second accelerometers are mounted in a known relationship to the drill bit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2001
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2002
    Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation
    Inventors: Marcel Boucher, Brian Peter Jarvis, Tim McCarthy
  • Patent number: 6464021
    Abstract: A method for determining a desirable depth for drilling a horizontal well within an oil reservoir includes the steps of deploying a plurality of data sensors at discrete depths in a subsurface formation penetrated by a wellbore, gathering formation pressure data for the discrete depths using the data sensors, and determining the depth of a reservoir using the gathered formation pressure data. The depth within the reservoir may be determined by identifying from the gathered formation pressure data at least one depth whose corresponding formation pressure is suggestive of a reservoir. Once such a depth is identified, the wellbore itself or a lateral drainhole depending from the wellbore may be steered into the reservoir by maintaining the trajectory of the wellbore or drainhole at a substantially constant distance from a fluid contact within the reservoir.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 1999
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2002
    Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation
    Inventor: John E. Edwards
  • Publication number: 20020144816
    Abstract: Apparatus and system control for the removal of fluids and gas from a well comprising winch means for removing the oil, a temporary storage tank, a bailer tube, first, second and third bailer tube guide pipes axially aligned to each other, means for exhausting and recovering a natural gas, the bailer tube being capable of being lowered into and elevated from the well casing through the temporary storage tank such that captured oil can be discharged into the temporary storage tank, sensors for monitoring operational parameters including the depth of oil and depth of a top level of water in the well casing, and a programmable logic controller means for providing system control so that only oil is removed from the well casing by using a logging sequence and a balanced oil production operational sequence.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 6, 2001
    Publication date: October 10, 2002
    Inventor: Timothy F. Rice
  • Patent number: 6446718
    Abstract: A down hole tool and apparatus is described for logging and/or remedial operations in a wellbore in a hydrocarbon reservoir. The tool comprises an autonomous unit for measuring down hole conditions, preferably flow conditions. The autonomous unit comprises locomotion means for providing a motion along the wellbore; means for detecting the down hole conditions; and logic means for controlling the unit, the logic means being capable of making decisions based on at least two input parameters. It can be separably attached to a wireline unit connected to the surface or launched from the surface. The connection system between both units can be repeatedly operated under down hole conditions and preferably includes an active component for closing and/or breaking the connection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 1999
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2002
    Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation
    Inventors: Michael P. Barrett, Stuart I. Jardine, Michael C. Sheppard
  • Publication number: 20020117299
    Abstract: A method of compensating for tool motion is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes passing a logging tool through a borehole, obtaining a series of tool response measurements, and obtaining a series of tool position measurements associated with the tool response measurements. The tool position measurements preferably indicate the distance between the tool axis and the borehole axis. The tool position measurements are preferably examined to determine if the tool was moving while the tool was making measurements. For measurements made while the tool was moving, the measurement time interval is preferably divided into subintervals each having a corresponding tool position. A formation property (such as resistivity) is estimated, and the expected tool response for each tool position is calculated. The expected tool responses are combined to form a model tool response, that is, the tool response that might be expected for a tool in motion.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 10, 2001
    Publication date: August 29, 2002
    Inventors: Samuel M. Haugland, Teruhiko Hagiwara, Martin Paulk
  • Publication number: 20020117300
    Abstract: In the oil and gas well data logging industry there is a need for an improved apparatus and method for deploying a so-called compact battery/memory logging tool, for acquiring data in deviated or horizontal wells.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 8, 2002
    Publication date: August 29, 2002
    Inventors: Michael Charles Spencer, Simon Christopher Ash, Michael John Chaplin
  • Publication number: 20020104653
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided that permit downhole tools to be run into a well along with logging tools that can log the downhole tools into place by real time transmission of the data to a surface location. In one aspect, an apparatus includes a telemetry tool, a logging tool in communication with the telemetry tool and a downhole tool.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 6, 2001
    Publication date: August 8, 2002
    Inventors: David Hosie, Thomas Roesner
  • Patent number: 6427530
    Abstract: The present invention provides a tool and method for obtaining at least one parameter of interest such as pressure of a subterranean formation in-situ. The tool comprises a carrier member for conveying the tool into a borehole, at least one selectively extendable member mounted on the carrier member for separating the annulus into a first portion and a second portion, a first port exposable to formation fluid in the first portion, a second port exposable to a fluid containing drilling fluid in the second portion, a first sensor for determining a first value indicative of a first portion characteristic, a second sensor for determining a second value indicative of a second portion characteristic referenced to the first value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2000
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2002
    Assignee: Baker Hughes Incorporated
    Inventors: Volker Krueger, Matthias Meister, Per-Erik Berger