Discussion and prospects of the development on measurement while drilling technology in oil and gas wells
SU Yinao, DOU Xiurong, GAO Wenkai, LIU Ke.
1 CNPC Engineering Technology R&D Company Limited, Beijing 102206, China 2 National Engineering Research Center of Oil & Drilling and Completion Technology, Beijing 102206, China
MWD and LWD technologies have been widely used in onshore and offshore oil and gas wells, especially in geosteerable and rotary steerable operations, supporting “safe, efficient and productive” drilling. By reviewing the history of MWD technology development of Schlumberger, Baker Hughes and Halliburton, analyzing and studying current technologies and products, the development of MWD/LWD technology is divided into three stages: the stage of technological origin and primary development from 1930s to 1970s, the stage of rapid development of technology from 1980s to 1990s, and the stage of deep integration and development of technology from 2000s to the present. And now, they have basically met the conditions for the development of digital and intelligence. At the same time, MWD/LWD technology research started relatively late in our country. After nearly 40 years of development, these technologies have made great progress. But compared with the international advanced level, there is still a big gap. The paper points out that the current MWD/LWD instruments itself has four basic problems: measurement (engineering parameters and geological parameters, etc.), power supply (downhole high-power supply), transmission (high-speed real-time upload) and temperature (resistance to downhole high temperature, ultra-high temperature and extremely high temperature). It is clear that no matter how complete the current instrument measurement function and how complete the tool size is, it needs to be constantly improved and developed in the future. However, for the increasing production needs in the oilfield, if the key technologies involved in the above basic problems cannot be broken through and solved, it will become a bottleneck problem, and ultimately prevent the progress of MWD/LWD instruments. Based on the understanding of the development and current status about MWD/LWD technology, combined with the experience of many years of research on the theory and technology of underground control engineering, focusing on the high-speed transmission and high-temperature resistance technical problems, the paper proposed several solutions and methods and made a brief description. It is hoped that these ideas can inspire scientific research personnels who engaged in research and development of MWD technology independent. Here are the conclusions: ①A basic truth in innovation and development: demand promotes innovation, innovation leads development, and unsatisfaction is demand. ② Closely around the inherent basic problems of technology and for demand-oriented, there are still opportunities to catch up with the international advanced level. ③The intersection and integration of technologies will inevitably give birth to new downhole instruments and tools.
Key words:
measurement while drilling; logging while drilling; high-speed transmission; high temperature and ultra-high temperature; active cooling; full wellbore temperature control; deep drilling
苏义脑, 窦修荣, 高文凯, 刘珂. 油气井随钻测量技术发展思考与展望. 石油科学通报, 2023, 05: 535-554 SU Yinao, DOU Xiurong, GAO Wenkai, LIU Ke. Discussion and prospects of the development on measurement while drilling technology in oil and gas wells. Petroleum Science Bulletin, 2023, 05: 535-554. doi: 10.3969/j.issn.2096-1693.2023.05.053