Evaluation of Navigation Quality of Non-Survey Logging or MWD Tools and Methods of Navigation Sensor Correction and Reconstruction

Abstract

Abstract The techniques used to process open- and cased-hole image logging and other oriented tools that are run in offshore exploration and development wells require highly accurate navigation logs. Navigation packages usually consist of triaxial accelerometers and magnetometers that require calibration of the offset (bias), gain, and tool axis alignment for each sensor. Despite pre- or post-acquisition surface calibrations, the downhole environment will alter calibrations of offset and gain as a result of many factors, such as temperature and electrical noise. These factors are impractical to characterize or predict, and it is impossible to completely isolate the navigation package from these factors. Experience shows that the offsets and gains of the sensors may change appreciably over time scales much shorter than the total logging time. This paper provides four detailed examples of possible navigation logs with various problems to develop a methodology for evaluating their quality and proposing corrective action. The goals of this study are to determine which navigation sensors to adjust or which sensors are not responding to the appropriate Earth field and need reconstruction. The paper proposes several quality measures for identifying, from the navigation log, drift in sensor response, including measured total field variations and correlations of tool deviation to tool rotation. When the methods described in this paper are used to align images with respect to a geographical reference (in cases where the navigation was affected by sensor failure or external factors, e.g., permanently magnetized formation layers, that alter the sensor calibrations), they significantly enhance the navigation quality. For example, image logs that originally wobbled erratically in ferrous formations can be oriented to the north allowing dipping-bed orientation to be measured. In addition, magnetometer reconstruction and accelerometer correction can easily manage oriented navigation in metal casing. In general, the algorithms developed in this study assume that a rough surface calibration is available to obtain an initial solution, but time is no longer required for meticulous wellsite surface calibration.