DEVELOPMENT OF A SLIM-HOLE TOOL FOR COMPREHENSIVE FORMATION EVALUATION

TRILLIONS OF CUBIC FEET OF NATURAL GAS ARE ESTIMATED TO BE RECOVERABLE FROM LOW PERMEABILITY FORMATIONS IN THE U.S. HOWEVER, THE COMMERCIAL EXPLOITATION OF SUCH TIGHT GAS RESOURCES HAS BEEN HAMPERED BY UNCERTAINTY IN GEOLOGIC AND RESERVOIR PROPERTIES AND LACK OF PROPER RESERVOIR STIMULATION RESULTS. THE SUCCESSFUL DEVELOPMENT OF THE DEVICE PLANNED DIRECTLY ADDRESSES THIS RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT CONSTRAINT. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP A CONTINOUS CORING/DRILL STEM TESTING (DST) DEVICE THAT CAN BE USED WITH AVAILABLE SLIM-HOLE, HIGH SPEED DRILLING TECHNOLOGY. THE CORING/DST DEVICE IS CONCEIVED TO BE A SINGLE DOWNHOLE TOOL THAT WOULD BETTER IDENTIFY AND CHARACTERIZE MULTIPLE, LOW PERMEABILITY RESERVOIRS COST EFFECTIVELY USING A SMALL DIAMETER WELLBORE. THESE IMPROVEMENTS WOULD BE ACHIEVED THROUGH (1) AVAILABILITY OF AN ABUNDANCE OF CORE FROM POTENTIAL RESERVOIRS AND SURROUNDING LITHOLOGIES FOR ANALYSIS, GEOPHYSICAL LOG CALIBRATION, AND DESCRIPTION AND (2) ANALYZING DST DATA TO ESTIMATE RESERVOIR PERMEABILITY, PRESSURE, AND SKIN FACTOR. THE TOOL MAY ALSO BE DESIGNED TO PERFORM SMALL INTERVAL, IN-SITU STRESS MEASUREMENTS FOR FRACTURE DESIGN PURPOSES. THIS APPROACH WOULD SUBSTANTIALLY IMPROVE FORMATION EVALUATION CAPABILITIES BY REDUCING COSTS, FACILITATING MORE FREQUENT RESERVOIR TESTING, MAKING AVAILABLE AN EXTENSIVE AMOUNT OF GEOLOGIC AND RESERVOIR INFORMATION, AND CONDUCTING EXPLORATION EVALUATION IN A MORE ENVIRONMENTALLY BENIGN MANNER. THIS WOULD ULTIMATELY RESULT IN THE ADDITION OF SIGNIFICANT NEW GAS RESERVES FROM LOW PERMEABILITY RESERVOIRS. PHASE I INCLUDES AN ENGINEERING DESIGN STUDY TO EXAMINE THE DESIGN, FABRICATION, AND USE OF THIS DEVICE, AND A COST ANALYSIS. THE DEVICE WILL BE BUILT AND EVALUATED IN PHASE II.