OTC 20067

Intelligent Wired Drill Pipe System Provides Significant Improvements in

Drilling Performance on Offshore Australia Development
Luke Lawrence, Apache Energy Australia; Bruce Redmond and Rick Russell, Halliburton; and Dave McNeill,
Mike Reeves, and Maximo Hernandez, NOV Downhole Telemetry
Copyright 2009, Offshore Technology Conference

This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2009 Offshore Technology Conference held in Houston, Texas, USA, 47May2009.

This paper was selected for presentation by an OTC program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been
reviewed by the Offshore Technology Conference and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Offshore Technology Conference, its
officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written consent of the Offshore Technology Conference is prohibited. Permission to
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Abstract

An Intelligent wired drill-pipe system has recently been used on a large offshore development in North West Australia for
Apache Energy Limited. The IntelliServ

network is designed to overcome the shortcomings of mud pulse telemetry in terms

of real-time data transmission speeds and pulser reliability. By utilising this unique system of Intellipipe wired drill pipe
and associated drilling tools connecting the Rotary Steerable System and LWD string to the surface, transmission speeds of
up to 57,000 BPS theoretically can be achieved.

For the development of the Van Gogh Field, Apache Energy Ltd decided to utilise the IntelliServ system along with
Halliburtons rotary steerable system and LWD tools.

This paper will describe the wired drill pipe network and its integration with a drilling assembly containing a rotary steerable
system, multiple formation evaluation and drilling dynamics sensors. The objectives for running the wired drill pipe system
on this project will be discussed and the actual operational experience reviewed. Topics to be covered will include the
improvements in drilling optimisation and drilling performance, the increased accuracy in wellbore placement, and the
improved quantity and quality of the formation evaluation data received in real-time. The future uses and benefits of this
technology also will be reviewed.

Introduction

Modern MWD and LWD sensors now generate so much data that it is not possible to take full advantage of this data due to
the limitations imposed by conventional mud pulse telemetry systems. Although advances have been made in the form of
data compression and batch transmission modes, mud pulse transmission is still the limiting factor in many potential
applications.

Typical LWD assemblies may now consist of tool combinations including gamma-ray, multiple resistivity, density and
neutron petrophysical measurements. The latest LWD sensors can provide formation images, sonic waveforms, and multiple
geosteering signals, all of which require large bandwidths in order to take full advantage of them. In addition, directional
survey data, downhole drilling optimisation measurements also may be transmitted. This amount of data can place a great
strain on conventional mud pulse telemetry systems. As drilling rates increase the data density of the real-time measurments
becomes increasingly sparse until at some point, drilling rates must be held back to ensure that a useable log is received in
real-time.

Telemetry Drill String Technology Overview
The wired drill pipe system offers an ultra high-speed alternative to current mud pulse telemetry methods. The network
utilizes individually wired drill string components that can deliver bi-directional telemetry at speeds of 57,000 bits per
second. Existing MWD telemetry has shown data rates of up to 24 bits per second, but this data rate is usually only
achievable under ideal conditions, and is lagging behind advancement in downhole MWD/LWD tools that are becoming
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more and more complex. The ability to transmit at 57,000 bits per second connects the downhole tools (and other
measurement nodes along the drill string) instantaneously, greatly expanding the quantity and quality of information
available while drilling.

To convey information, the network utilizes a high strength coaxial cable and low-loss inductive coils embedded within
double-shouldered connections in each tubular joint. Signal repeaters are placed periodically along the drill string to ensure
an acceptable signal-to-noise ratio is maintained. These repeaters serve as individually addressable nodes within the
telemetry network and, therefore, also provide a location at which potentially valuable measurement data can be acquired.
Currently available telemetry tubulars include various sizes of drill pipe (in both range 2 and range 3 lengths), heavy weight
drill pipe, drill collars, drilling jars and a wide array of other bottomhole assembly components.

The key physical components of this telemetry network are illustrated in Fig. 1 below. Additional details of the underlying
network technology may be found in Reference (Jellison).











Fig. 1: Section View of Double-Shouldered Pin Tool Joint, Armored Coaxial Cable and Inductive Coil Used in Drill String Telemetry
Network. Graphic courtesy IntelliServ.

The networks ability to receive data from, and send commands to downhole tools such as rotary steerable tools and
formation pressure testers, can enhance overall drilling efficiency and deliver recorded mode-quality LWD logs
simultaneously.

The downhole tools are connected to the wired drill pipe via an interface sub. Each company that connects to the network has
slight differences in how they transmit data between tools. The interface or connection between the wired pipe and the
bottomhole assembly must be configured to receive data from the tools and transmit that data into the wired drill pipe. The
data is converted in a modem board within the interface so that it can be transmitted to surface. This connection effectively
gives the MWD/LWD/DD engineers both control and access functionality as if the tools were connected to their systems at
surface.






Fig. 2: Halliburtons IXOtool shows an example of the interface between the LWD tools and the IntelliServ Network

Case History

Apache Energy Ltd utilised the wired drill pipe system with Halliburtons Sperry Drilling Services IXO interface tool
during the drilling of the Van Gogh field off North West Australia. This project was challenged with uconsolidated thin
reservoir sands requiring tight directional tolerances (+/- 1m TVD). The main drivers for the use of the wired drill pipe
system were to evaluate this new technology, increase overall drilling rates, and help maintain that tight TVD tolerance in the
thin reservoir sands.

Armored
Coaxial Cable
Inductive Coil
OTC 20067 3
The wired drill pipe system was used on four multi-lateral wells with a total of seven horizontal sections in the reservoir.
More than 10,000m of 8 -in. lateral was drilled utilising a 6 3/4-in assembly consisting of a Geo-Pilot XL 7600 rotary
steerable system with an MWD/LWD string consisting of the following sensors:

ABG - Aziumthal At-Bit Gamma sensor
ABI At-Bit Inclination Sensor
DGR - Dual Gamma Ray Sensor
EWR Phase 4 resistivity sensor
CTN compensated thermal neutron sensor
ALD Aziumthal litho-density sensor
Directional sensor
DDS shock sensors x 2

The assembly also contained a conventional mud pulser which provides a back-up transmission system should the wired drill
pipe fail for any reason, even if just for short periods of time. The assembly was connected to the drill string by the short 10ft
interface sub which takes the data stream from the MWD/LWD/RSS and connects it to the wired drill string. The wired drill
string itself consisted of the wired pipe as well as specially wired components such as HWDP, drilling jars, and subs.



Fig. 3: BHA used for the drilling of the 8 -in. hole section.

One of the most critical aspects of drilling the Van Gogh wells was ensuring that the reservoir sections maintained a TVD
tolerance of +/- 1m. This was made especially difficult due to the highly permeable, unconsolidated reservoir sands.
Intermittent baffles of coarser sandstones caused the BHA to build or drop unexpectedly. Bit hydraulics, BHA design and
drilling parameters were therefore crtical to maintaining a gauge borehole that would allow the rotary steerable system to
steer effectively in this formation.

Geo-Pilot
RSS
Directional
Resistvity/
Gamma
PWD
Density
Porosity
Pulser
IXO sub
Wired
HWDP
Wired
Jars
Intellipipe
tool to
surface
Inclination &
Azimuthal
Gamma
Wired
HWDP
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The instantaneous two-way communication through the wired drill pipe meant the behaviour of the drilling assembly
downhole was continuously monitored, and adjustments made as required. Thus, instead of reacting to the BHA downhole,
the availability of high density inclinations-at-bit and toolface data meant any incipient BHA tendencies could be detected
quickly and corrected.



Figure 4. Well path through reservoir section.


Comparing actual cumulative dogleg versus planned cumulative dogleg does show a better response and smoother path when
the wired drill pipe was operational. This can be seen in Fig. 3 when comparing cumulative dogleg and turn, but is
inconclusive when analysing the build data.

Well Cumulative Dogleg v MD Cumulative Build Rate v MD Cumulative Turn Rate v MD
Wired Pipe Mud Pulse Wired Pipe Mud Pulse Wired Pipe Mud Pulse
A 0.012 0.044 0.017 0.013 0.0061 0.039
B 0.0093 0.0324 0.0111 0.0121 0.0105 0.0282
C 0.0635 0.0538 0.0171 0.0165 0.0059 0.0468
D 0.0034 0.0625 0.0181 0.0392 0.0084 0.0416

Fig. 4: Comparison of wellbore trajectories when wired drill pipe system was fully functioning versus periods when system was
down and conventional mud pulse telemetry was being used.

Increases in drilling rates were evident; however, drilling rates were limited due to the tight TVD tolerance and local
geological features impacting the BHA tendency.

The resolution of log data received, even at high drilling rates, allows more detailed formation information to be received.
For example, in Fig. 5, even at drilling rates up to 200m/hr, high quality log data is obtained and a good quality azimuthal
density image seen. Note also that four resistivity curves are also being transmitted in real-time. An at-bit gamma image was
also transmitted at the same time as the other formation evaluation data and images.

OTC 20067 5


















Fig. 5: High quality triple-combo and density-image log LWD data even at drilling speeds of up to 200m/hr.

As stated, the wired drill pipe system is still in its early stages of deployment and as such, there were a number of lessons-
learned throughout the course of the project:

The most frequent problem encountered with the wired drill pipe was the damage to the induction coil at the pipe
connections. Efforts to minimise this issue included the use of pipe protectors when racking the pipe back; keeping
the set-back area clean; extra attention to connection cleaning procedures; and ensuring pipe was aligned correctly
during connections. This problem was never fully rectified and is currenty under review.
The top-drive required modifications to the swivel to allow the signal to be fed from the drill string to the surface
data acquisition system. Sufficient lead-time must be provided prior to a project start-up to allow any modifications
to be designed, installed and tested with the specific rig equipment.
Detalied records of the wired drill pipe must be kept at the rig site to improve overall performance and allow
accurate, quick, trouble shooting and quality control. This tracking of the pipe and its status lead to improving the
efficiency of the whole system.
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Additional Applications for Wired Drill Pipe

High-speed telemetry is not just a benefit to the acquisition of high quality formation evaluation data, but also can be of great
benefit for the collection of data from downhole drilling dynamics sensors. It is increasingly common now to run some sort
of vibration/shock monitoring sensor as part of an MWD assembly. Typically these sensors will transmit only a warning
should shock levels exceed a pre-determined limit. The transmission of only a warning may reduce the ability to detect
underlying vibrational issues that do not exceed the pre-determined limit. It is also common for pulse telemetry to be
adversely affected by downhole noise at times of high vibration, which can make the detection of the mud pulse signal
difficult. The resulting interruption of real-time data can mask the actual warnings from the downhole sensors, which may
therefore result in extended periods of high vibration and/or even higher levels of vibration leading to serious tool damage
and ultimately downhole tool failures. With no restriction of the type of data that can be sent through a wired drill pipe
system, full shock and vibration data including magnitude and frequency can be transmitted, resulting in a much clearer
understanding of downhole drilling dynamics. Multiple shock sensors can be installed in the LWD string, and there is also
the potential to have sensors mounted in the wired drill pipe repeaters to gain dynamic information on the whole drill string.

Another application of wired drill pipe has been the ability to request directional checkshot surveys and receive them
instantaneously at any stage of the well bore. Increased frequency of directional surveys significantly reduces the ellipse of
uncertainty of the well path

and allows survey methods such as rotational checkshots to become the norm. Taking multiple
rotational checkshots with coventional mud pulse telemetry systems is time-consuming and can be problematic. The
Intellipipe system removes the necessity to take and transmit a survey to surface through cycling mud pumps and prolonged
pumping, alleviating the potential for downhole problems.

Pressure While Drilling (PWD) tools are of great value in determining actual ECDs during the drilling process. However,
with a mud pulse telemetry system, no data is transmitted when the mud pumps are off. With wired drill pipe, data is
transmitted continuously so even during connections and tripping, accurate real-time information on swab and surge
pressures can be received, and potential lost-circulation or influx situations avoided. Additional pressure sensors can also be
run in the wired pipe repeaters.

The ability to control downhole tools with wired drill pipe is another important feature. Although exisiting downlinking
systems can be very reliable, with minimal impact on drilling, using the wired drill pipe system, control of tools such as
rotary steerable systems, LWD formation testers and geosteering sesnors will allow instant control and confirmation of
commands, allowing extremely precise control of the system.


Applications for Latest Sensor Developments

Geosteering - Recent advances in geosteering technology have seen the introduction of deep reading azimuthal resistivity
devices with specialized sensor arrays that can acquire data in 32 discrete directions around the tool and with multiple
different depths of investigation, up to 18 feet into the formation. This can result in over 2000 discrete measurements being
made by the tool. Although it is unlikely that there will be a requirement for all this data to be transmitted, in typical
geosteering applications, deep azimuthal readings with images from various depths of investigation, plus fully compensated
petrophysical measurements would be required. This amount of data would place a huge strain on a conventional mud pulse
telemetry system, whereas with the wired drill pipe system, all this data would be available with high resolution for improved
geosteering decisions.

LWD formation testers also have potential in geosteering, whereby the tool can be used to measure absolute pressure
gradients to determine the wellbores position relatve to fluid contacts in the reservoir. This can be especially applicable
when the wellbore positional uncertainties are greater than the actual geometrical dimensions of the reservoir. Wired drill
pipe will greatly enhance the positioning, control and data acquisition from the LWD formation tester.

Imaging - Imaging technology has been available from LWD tools for some time, initially from density imaging tools. Full
resolution 16-bin real-time images use a considerable amount of the band-width available from mud pulse telemetry, and the
operator may have to discard other measurements to receive useful images in real-time. Even higher-resolution images are
now available from new resistivity imaging tools which can acquire data in 64 discrete azimuthal bins around the borehole.
Images of this quality can now detect not only the gross formation features previously seen with density imaging devices, but
also fine formation features such as natural formation fractures, fine scale sedimentological features, and drilling-induced
borehole breakout. The ability to acquire these high resolution images in real-time through the wired drill pipe greatly
enhances their effectiveness.

OTC 20067 7
Acoustic Measurements - Typically, sonic LWD tools only transmit a delta-T compressional measurement in real-time but
they generate large amounts of data in the form of sonic waveforms from multiple receiver arrays. This data is normally only
recoverable from the tools downhole memory after every trip. With sonic LWD tools becoming more sophisticated, the
recovery of these waveforms in real-time becomes more critical to take full advantage of the measurements now available,
such as fracture detection from full waveform analysis. Wired drill pipe also will be an enabling technology for such systems
as Seismic While Drilling, which to date have been severely limited by the inability to transmit multiple full waveforms with
mud pulse telemetry.


Drilling Comment
Improve well control and safety More and better pressure, borehole and drilling
dynamics information
Acquire data throughout drilling process:
making connections, tripping, well kill, leak-off
tests and drilling
Improve theory and knowledge about best
drilling practices
Continuous survey acquisition More accurate well placement and rig time
savings
Use under-balanced or controlled pressure
techniques while getting MWD data
Achieve a new understanding of drilling
dynamics, wellbore integrity and hydraulics for
improved drilling performance and more
accurate modelling
Logging and Evaluating Reservoir Comment
High resolution data while drilling for advanced
formation evaluation
Detailed analysis for real-time reservoir
description and characterization.
High resolution images from Density, Gamma
Ray, Resistivity
Drilling speed can increase significantly and
still acquire high resolution images. In addition
to quality images while drilling, there is the
opportunity to analyse drilling-induced
fractures and breakouts for maximum and
minimum stress analysis in real-time.
Complete acquisition from data-intensive
sensors
Full data-sets from sensors such as sonic and
MRIL formation testers, etc.
Increased ROP There is no need to reduce ROP to ensure
high data quality in real-time anymore. All data
will be available anytime, all the time
Allows more lead-time to plan ahead Instead of waiting for the memory data or data
from a wireline run, all the information needed
is available in real-time.
Time-lapse logging Without spending too much timing wiping a
section, you can now perform a time-lapse
logging pass while tripping. Detailed data will
be transmitted real-time for analysis and
comparison


Fig. 6: Technical advantages of wired drill pipe.

Conclusion

In the correct application, use of wired drill pipe opens up many new opportunities to increase the value of a project, such as:

Smoother wellbore profiles
Increased drilling rates
Reduced wireline requirements
Reductions in downhole tool failures due to better real-time drill string management
Increased reservoir exposure due to more precise geosteering
Enabling of new technology such as seismic-while-drilling

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Wired drill pipe allows full value to be extracted from the increasing amounts of real-time downhole data that can be
generated from the latest rotary steerable systems, MWD and LWD technology, not only for pure formation evaluation, but
also for precise geosteering, drilling dynamics analysis, and control of downhole tools.

The use of wired drill pipe on Apaches Van Gogh project provided valuable insight into the application and potential for this
new technology. Although there were certain initial teething problems, typical in the deployment of any new technology,
the system provided many benefits, such as increased drilling rates, precise TVD control, and high-resultion real-time logs.

The potential benfits of this system in conjunction with the latest downhole sensor developments and the increasing
complexity of wells that are being drilled suggest that this technology could be a true industry game-changer.

References

American Petroleum Institute (API) Spec 5D Specification for Drill Pipe, 5
th
Edition, 2001.
Bittar, M., Chemali, R., Morys, M., Wilson, J., Hveding, F., Li, S., Knizhnik, S., Halverson, D.M. 2008. The Depth-of Electrical Image a
Key Parameter in Accurate Dip Computation and Geosteering, presented at the SPWLA Annual Symposium, Edinburgh, Scotland,
25-28 May..
Bittar, M., Klein, J., Beste, R., Hu, G., Wu, M., Pitcher, J., Golla, C., Althoff, G., Sitka, M., Minosyam, V., Paulk, M. 2007. A New
Resistivity Tool for Geosteering and Advanced Formation Evaluation, Paper SPE 109971 presented at the SPE Annual Technical
Conference and Exhibition, Anaheim, California, 11-14 Nov.
Cornish, B., Deady, R. 2006. Multi-Sensor Seismic-While-Drilling, presented at the SPWLA Annual Symposium, Veracruz, Mexico, 4-7
Jun.
Jellison, M.J., Urbanowski, R., Sporker, H., Reeves, M.E. 2004. Intelligent Drill Pipe Improves Drilling Efficiency, Enhances Well Safety
and Provides Added Value, paper presented at the IADC World Drilling Conference, Dubrovnik, Croatia, 1-2 Jul.
Market, J., Deady, R. 2008. Azimuthal Sonic Measurements: New Methods in Theory and Practice, presented at the SPWLA Annual
Symposium, Edinburgh, Scotland, 25-28 May.
Stockhausen E.J., Lesso W.G. 2003. Continuous Direction and Inclination Measurements Lead to an Improvement in Wellbore Positioning,
Paper SPE 79917 presented at the SPE/IADC Drilling Conference, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 19-21 Feb.

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