Schlumberger’s Orion II measurement while drilling system uses new downhole compression algorithms, enhanced signal detection and noise cancellation methods to detect weak signals at higher telemetry rates than before. Downlink commands can be sent in real time while drilling without affecting delivery of measurement data to surface.
Orion II was used last year on Maersk Oil Qatar’s Al-Shaheen extended reach well (over 12 km) to provide mud pulse bitrates of 3 bps at 10km and 1.5 bps from 10km to final depth. This translates into a possible recording bandwidth of 60 curves at around 8 data points per meter while drilling at 100m/hour.
Schlumberger’s Ian Falconer said, ‘With Orion II more quality data and higher resolution images can be transmitted from greater depths, enabling better drilling decisions to be made in real time. Both drilling efficiency and geosteering accuracy are enhanced by the system, which holds the records for the world’s deepest downlink, deepest logging and measuring while drilling transmission and deepest directional control.’
This article originally appeared in Oil IT Journal 2009 Issue # 3.
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