The Future Called; It Wants to Know Where Its’ Data is?

Abstract

Abstract This paper will review the current state of downhole wireless completion technologies. It sets out an optimized strategy for the selection of commercially viable systems and provides a discussion of the technical hurdles that that are still to be overcome Technologies for real-time wireless downhole data acquisition exist but their widespread adoption has been limited. By relying on theoretical calculations and limited reservoir coverage, some operators are basing critical decisions on a limited picture. This could be during the deployment of completions, leading to a failure to reach total depth (TD) or recognize and deal in a timely way with well control incidents or during the production, where quantification of the reservoir parameters is beyond the reach of a single pressure/temperature gauge. This is typically due to a lack of a value calculation for these technologies, and this paper will set out the information needed to improve the decision process. There are a number of key wireless communication technologies that exist commercially for downhole deployment. These are: acoustic, electromagnetic, radio frequency identification (RFID), pressure modulation, and timers. The strengths and weaknesses of each technology will be presented, and it will also be shown how they can be used to complement each other. A number of global case studies will be presented; these will show the successful deployment of these technologies and the benefits that were brought. This information will then be built on to show how a wireless system should be implemented to satisfy the operators requirements within the technical and financial constraints of today's landscape. Finally, it will highlight the technology gaps that exist that hold the industry back from a "perfect" solution.