Seismic While Drilling

Oil & Gas Science and Technology – Rev. IFP, Vol. 59 (2004), No. 4, pp.
371-403
Copyright © 2004, Institut français du pétrole
Dossier
Interactive Drilling / Forage interactif
Seismic While Drilling (SWD) Techniques

with Downhole Measurements,
Introduced by IFP and its Partners in 1990-2000
Ch. Naville1, S. Serbutoviez1, A. Throo1, O. Vincké1 and F. Cecconi2
1 Institut français du pétrole, 1 et 4, avenue de Bois-Préau, 92852 Rueil-Malmaison Cedex - France
2 Geoservices, BP 20, 93151 Le Blanc-Mesnil Cedex - France
e-mail: charles.naville@ifp.fr - sylvain.serbutoviez@ifp.fr - alexandre.throo@ifp.fr - olivier.vincke@ifp.fr - cecconi@geosrv.com
Résumé — Techniques de sismique pendant forage avec mesures de fond, inaugurées par l’IFP et
ses partenaires en 1990-2000 — La sismique pendant forage (SWD), comprend toute technique opérée
pendant que le train de tige est dans le puits, pendant le forage effectif ou pendant les manœuvres d’ajout
de tige ou de nettoyage. Deux techniques utilisées par l’industrie sont développées ici :
– l’écoute sismique du trépan pendant forage (drillbit–SWD), usitée depuis 1986, qui consiste à
enregistrer le signal avec un nombre indéfini de capteurs de surface, ainsi qu’un signal de référence
représentatif des vibrations du trépan ;
– le profil sismique vertical pendant forage (VSP-WD), qui consiste à enregistrer le signal émis par une
source de surface avec un capteur sismique et un enregistreur intégrés à la garniture de forage (BHA).
Cette technique émergente est opérée depuis l’année 2000 principalement par la société Schlumberger.
Les deux techniques efficaces suivantes, assimilables à la sismique pendant le forage, ne seront pas dis-
cutées ici :
– la technique de VSP dans le tubage (TLC), en particulier le VSP au câble avec outil descendu au câble
dans un tubing de production ou un train de tiges de forage ;
– le « VSP intermédiaire », qui consiste à acquérir un VSP conventionnel au câble avant la pose et la
cimentation d’un cuvelage (casing), afin d’affiner le calage du puits à la sismique de surface et de
prédire les zones en surpression au-dessous du trépan.
Les développements récents effectués par l’IFP et ses partenaires en sismique pendant forage ont bénéfi-
cié de la technologie de transmission temps réel à haut débit par fils et tiges câblés du système TRAFOR,
qui a permis d’exécuter rapidement des tests terrains cruciaux.
Pendant la période 1986-2003, la pratique d’écoute sismique du trépan visait une utilisation continue sur
la profondeur totale du forage, avec peu de capteurs de surface, et sans adjonction d’enregistreur de puits
pendant le forage : cette technique a donné des résultats mitigés, quasi nuls avec les trépans de type PDC
(Polycrystalline Diamond Cutter). Les meilleurs résultats ont été obtenus avec l’usage de trépan de type
tricône, lors du forage de formations plutôt dures, en évitant des valeurs faibles pour les paramètres de
poids sur outil (WOB) et vitesse de rotation (RPM).
L’IFP a introduit dans la technique d’écoute sismique du trépan les innovations suivantes :
– les mesures de fond pendant forage, afin de mieux comprendre le processus d’émission sismique du
trépan ;
– l’amélioration de l’architecture mécanique de la garniture (BHA) en intégrant un élément amortisseur
permettant d’optimiser la qualité du signal source émis et de diminuer les émissions secondaires
indésirables ;
372 Oil & Gas Science and Technology – Rev. IFP, Vol. 59 (2004), No. 4
– conception et fabrication d’une technologie sismique d’écoute du trépan avec mesure de fond pendant
forage, validée par une succession de tests terrain sévères : cette phase de développement a été effec-
tuée en partenariat avec l’industrie et avec le soutien de la Commission européenne et du
ministère français de l’Industrie ;
– restriction de la technique sismique d’écoute du trépan à la configuration du walkaway inverse,
assurant les meilleures chances d’application industrielle ;
– intégration des connaissances et du savoir-faire de disciplines multiples : forage, mesures de fond
MWD et sismique, acquisition et traitement des données.
De façon similaire, la technique de PSV pendant forage (VSP-while drilling) a fait l’objet d’une investi-
gation, donnant les résultats suivants :
– définition et validation de capteurs sismiques résistant aux conditions sévères de vibration de fond
pendant le forage ;
– test terrain de la méthode de VSP-WD, afin d’évaluer la qualité du signal obtenu par VSP-WD
relativement au signal obtenu par VSP conventionnel au câble. Les résultats obtenus permettent de
définir les applications industrielles de la méthode ;
– amélioration de la précision d’horloge embarquée dans l’enregistreur sismique de fond pendant forage
pour les systèmes sans fil.
Enfin, le présent article relate la chronologie de l’émergence des techniques de sismique pendant forage,
et esquisse quelques perspectives prévisibles compte tenu des développements parallèles accomplis par
les principales sociétés industrielles de diagraphie pendant forage.
Abstract — Seismic While Drilling (SWD) Techniques with Downhole Measurements, Introduced by
IFP and its Partners in 1990-2000 — Seismic While Drilling (SWD), specifically encompasses the seis-
mic techniques operated while the drillstring is lowered in the borehole, during effective drilling, during
manœuvres or while connecting drill pipes. Two SWD techniques have been used by the industry:
– drillbit-SWD, which consists in recording the seismic noise generated by a rock bit under effective
drilling on any number of surface seismic sensors. This technique have been used steadily since 1986;
– Vertical Seismic Profile While Drilling (VSP-WD), which consists in recording the seismic signal gen-
erated by a surface seismic source on seismic sensors integrated inside the downhole Borehole
Assembly (BHA). This emerging technique have been operated since year 2000 about, mainly by
Schlumberger.
Two efficient wireline VSP techniques aimed at gathering geological information potentially useful to the
drilling decision making process, and which could rightfully be assimilated to SWD techniques, will not
be considered here:
– the technique of Tube Logging Conveying (TLC), in particular the TLC-VSP, where a wireline VSP
tool is lowered inside the drillstring through a side entry sub at the top of the drillstring;
– the standard wireline logging technique of “intermediate VSP”, which consists in recording a VSP
with a set of wireline logs right before setting an intermediate casing, is used to predict geological fea-
tures and possible overpressures in depth intervals located hundreds of meters below the intermediate
drilled depth, with good success in some geographical regions.
The recent developments achieved by IFP and its partners in SWD greatly benefited from the availability
of a high rate and real time wireline transmission system while drilling called TRAFOR, allowing for fast
field testing of the SWD methods.
In the past 18 years (1986-2003), the drillbit–SWD technique practiced by the industry, aimed at a con-
tinuous application over the whole drilling depth span, with only a few surface sensors, and without any
downhole measurement technology (MWD), reached a very mitigated success rate: although the geo-
physicists have been intrigued by the large amount of seismic energy imparted to the ground by some
types of drillbits, the drillbit-SWD technique fails to yield any substantial results in many circumstances:
in the early 1990’s, the industry had already gathered an extensive enough experience so as to define the
necessary conditions for obtaining any useful drillbit signal: drilling formations sufficiently hard, with a
C Naville et al. / Seismic While Drilling (SWD) Techniques with Downhole Measurements 373
roller cone bit type equipped with milled teeth or inserts, and avoiding the lower range values for the
Weight On Bit (WOB) and Round Per Minute (RPM) drilling parameters. The innovative drillbit-SWD
technique input from IFP in the past decade is described in the present paper and consists in:
– introducing downhole measurements while drilling, in order to understand the downhole process of
seismic emission by roller cone rock bits mostly;
– improving the mechanical design of the BHA, by integrating a shock absorber element in order to
optimize the quality of the seismic signals imparted into the ground and to reduce the amplitudes of
undesirable secondary seismic emissions, which considerably complicate the subsequent seismic pro-
cessing and blur the final seismic image;
– designing, manufacturing and validating an operational MWD assisted drillbit-SWD technique
through a set of successive, complete and severe field tests achieved through several R&D projects in
partnership with the industry;
– restricting the application of drillbit-SWD technique to the reverse seismic walkaway configuration to
be applied in geological-geographic areas ensuring the best chances of operational and economic
success;
– integrating the knowledge and know-how of multiple categories of specialists in the various domains
of drilling, MWD and seismic, involved in the multidisciplinary applied SWD field operations.
In a similar approach successfully applied to the drillbit SWD developments, the technique of VSP-while
drilling has been investigated, resulting in several advanced achievements, namely:
– definition of downhole seismic sensors able to withstand severe drilling conditions;
– field testing the feasibility of the VSP-WD method as a whole, in order to evaluate the quality of the
recorded seismic signal in comparison with the equivalent signals from the conventional wireline
technique. Depending on the level of seismic signal quality obtained, the domain of application of the
VSP-WD technique and the priorities in the successive technological developments to be implemented
have been defined;
– improving the precision of downhole clock to be embarked in an industrial wireless downhole
recorder able to sustain the rough downhole drilling conditions of shock and temperature variations.
Last, the present paper overviews the emergence of SWD technique in a brief preliminary history, and is
ended with the expression of a few prospective views taking in account the developments achieved by
other prominent industrial organizations active in the difficult and promising domains of seismic while
drilling technique and field practice.
NOMENCLATURE WA WAlkaway (seismic survey)

S/N Signal-to-Noise ratio
SWD Seismic While Drilling NMO Normal Move Out
Drillbit-SWD Method of recording the Drillbit Seismic noise twt two way time
While Drilling ENEL Italian National Electricity company
MWD Measurement While Drilling GDF Gaz de France
TRAFOR high rate/real time TRAnsmission system dur- EC European Community.
ing FORation
SACZ Surface Accelerometer in Z-vertical axis
DACZ Downhole Accelerometer in Z-vertical axis INTRODUCTION
EMWD Electro-Magnetic While Drilling
EM-SWD Electro-Magnetic Seismic While Drilling We present here a history of the SWD techniques. The first
POOH Pull Out Of Hole known attempt to exploit the vibration signal emitted by the
drillbit was made around 1968 by an IFP geologist,
BHA BoreHole Assembly
M. Chapuis (from personal communication of L. Chaize,
DP Drill Pipe
geophysicist now retired from IFP). M. Chapuis having
DRU Downhole Recorder Unit observed that in vicinity of the drilling apparatus, “the harder
SCU Surface Command Unit the formation under drilling, the stronger the noise”, he then
TB Time Break decided to record the noise level from drilling with a geo-
WSP Well Seismic Profile phone planted into the ground in the vicinity of the rig, in
VSP-WD Vertical Seismic Profile While Drilling order to obtain a formation “stiffness” indicator versus
depth. Later, Elf-Aquitaine geoscientists and drillers

improved the technique by fixing an accelerometer at the top Slip ring
of the drillstring, attached to the nonrotating part of the injec- sion pply collector
mis u
t r ans ower s
a
tion head: monitoring of the vibratory energy level versus Dat hole p
n Wired kelly
dow
depth was displayed continuously and in real time while ++
D/A converter,
drilling, constituting the Snaplog [1]. In 1983, Elf was eager Receiver
de-spiking edition
to develop the horizontal drilling technique, and invited CGG Survigile

to record some seismic noise while drilling a horizontal
drain, using vertical geophones on surface and an accelerom-
Downhole reference signal DACZ

eter on top of the drillstring, which from now on we will refer Surface
computer
to as SACZ (Surface Accelerometer along Z-axis). Wired drill pipes
Correlating the geophone signals by the SACZ pilot random
Suspension sub
signal came naturally to the mind of the geophysicists well
versed in the art of vibroseis. Interesting and positive results Cable
came with a second drillbit SWD test at shallow vertical
well, using air drilling. The first SWD attempt in the horizon-
Magneto optic Real time
tal drain did not yield any encouraging results as the drill bit recorder visualization Drill pipes
in a horizontal well generates S-wave propagating vertically
and very little P-waves, which could not be recorded prop-
Wet connector
erly with vertical geophones, but this detail had been over- Standard seismic
correlator/recorder
looked at the time and understood later. A few years passed 100 to 1000 seismic channels
until Elf filed for a patent in 1985, [2], then Western-Atlas Onshore: geophones Televigile
Offshore: sea bottom sensor
published interesting results obtained onshore in North cables
Bit
America in wells drilled by Amoco, in 1986 (TomexTM-type
SWD survey, [3]). Unfortunately, the geophysical experience
Figure 1
accumulated by numerous seismic contractors with various
operating companies soon showed that the TomexTM tech- TRAFOR: a real time transmission system while drilling, at
nique would not yield systematic good results: the results are high rate: 30 kbit/s, coupled with a real time seismic
correlator.
quite insufficient when a PDC bit (Polycrystalline Diamond
Cutter) is used, and good results were not regularly obtained
even with roller cone bits in favorable conditions: i.e. while
drilling hard/medium hard formations, with roller cone teeth
downhole vibrations while drilling, in order to improve the
long enough, with appropriate drilling parameters and with
safety of drilling operations. At the time, the French geo-
simple geometry of the well trajectory. Before 1990, very
physicists naturally expressed their desire to conduct a fuller
limited technical exchanges occurred between geophysicists
investigation of the drillbit seismic technique by evaluating
and drillers, and seismic measurements were not authorized
the downhole vibrations generated by the drilling process and
to interfere in any way with the drilling process, thus the
quality of drillbit reflection results could not be guaranteed. propagated through the drillstring wave guide, especially as
several R&D projects of powerful post-drilling or while
drilling downhole seismic sources during the 1980’s had not
1 DRILLBIT SWD AND VSP-WD been successful. The large apparent amount of seismic
energy emitted by a roller cone under drilling kept the geo-
This section describes the feasibility of drillbit SWD and physicists motivated in pursuing their investigations, despite
VSP-WD experiments with downhole measurements of the the development cost of any piece of downhole technology.
reference signal and emergence of a new drillbit technique In 1991, a drillbit seismic field test was carried out in piggy-
using a shock absorber, 1991-1998, by IFP and Gaz de back fashion with an MWD TRAFOR field test in an eastern
France (GDF). France GDF well, already planned by the drillers in order to
In the early 1990’s, IFP developed a prototype of a high collect downhole drilling parameter data. The field installa-
rate transmission system in real time instrumented with a tion was quite straightforward and efficient, as a real time
16 channel downhole digitizer called TRAFOR (système de Sercel SN348 recorder-correlator was used so as to immedi-
TRAnsmission de données pendant FORage, [4]), using a ately evaluate the seismic quality of the drillbit seismic data
wire link to the surface through wired drill pipes: this system (Fig. 1) in the field. As a result, the first minutes of drillbit
was designed by the mechanical and electronic engineers of seismic data correlated either by the downhole accelerometer
IFP Drilling Department with the aim of analyzing the (labeled DACZ) or by the top of drillstring accelerometer
SACZ, did not show very significant differences, as both cor- 1.1 Drillbit SWD with TRAFOR and One Shock
related records were altered by a very high level of drillstring Absorber in the BHA
multiples: the main improvement obtained by correlation with
the downhole DACZ was a higher frequency content. IFP After filing for a patent on the drillbit SWD method using a
field geophysicists (J.C. Dubois, C. Naville, Ph. Staron), shock absorber in the BHA and downhole measurements [6],
acquainted with vibroseismic technology immediately felt that a prospective R&D campaign of drill tests was launched by
it would be desirable to introduce a mechanical decoupling IFP in 1992 in order to:
device above the drillbit and downhole sensor, in order to – gain more knowledge on the downhole mechanical
drastically reduce the generation of drillstring multiples and characteristics of the shock absorber in field conditions;
all sorts of associated secondary seismic source effects related – execute new SWD tests with a shock absorber in the BHA
to the presence of the drillstring. This kind of damping ele- and analyse the effects; all tests would occur in shallow
ment is well known by the drillers as a “shock absorber”, and vertical wells (TD around 1000 m) drilled by GDF for the
had been extensively developed by the drilling equipment exploration or development of gas storage, in the frame-
manufacturers during the period 1950-1985. work of a long term mutual agreement between GDF and
In reference to the widely accepted vibrator model IFP ensuring access to the GDF wells under drilling, and
described in [5], the shock absorber would play the role of with partial funding of the CEPM (Comité d’Exploitation
both the airbags, decoupling the hold-down force from the Pétrolière et Marine), an extension of the French Ministry
vibrator base plate, and the dashpot of the vibrator actuator, of Industry supporting R&D initiatives.
since the hold-down force is directly applied on the vibrating Most of the drillbit SWD field tests were carried out with
reaction mass located below the absorber in the case of the roller cone bits, preferred to PDC bits by GDF drillers as the
drillbit-BHA (sketch on Fig. 2a). borehole walls drilled with roller cones are more rugged and
Intermediate period multiple (3) between top-BHA Intermediate period multiple (3) between top-BHA and top-drill
and top-drill stem, divided by 2.5, recorded by the stem, preferably recorded by the SACZ surface sensor and
SACZ surface sensor and reemited by the rig reemited by the rig: therefore, the shape of this reemission is
different from the downhole drill bit seismic emission
SACZ sensor
SACZ sensor
Long period
Long period
drill stem
Direct arrival (1), drill stem
multiple (2), Direct arrival (1)
divided by 2.5 multiple (2)
divided by 6
Drill pipes Drill pipes
XCOR, by downhole DACZ

100ms
100 ms
Multiple arrival,
Multiple arrival
divided by 15
(3)
XCOR, by downhole DACZ
(3)
(2)
(2)
BHA BHA
drill collar
(1)
drill collar
(1)
(4)
Zero time
Shock absorber
DACZ sensor
DACZ sensor
Zero time
Vibrating part
Seismic emission, Seismic emission

Short period
unattenuated Very short period BHA multiple (4)
DACZ
SACZ
drill bit to shock sub

DACZ
SACZ
multiple unattenuated
Figure 2a Figure 2b
Pressure guided wave mode propagation in the drillstring, Pressure guided wave mode propagation in the drillstring,
with shock absorber. without shock absorber.
favor the quality of the cement job around the casing. the downhole pilot accelerometer DACZ is obvious when
Moreover, as drilling with roller cone bits favor the quality of comparing the field correlated monitor exhibited on Figure 4a
the SWD results, the GDF wells appeared as excellent drill- (correlation by DACZ obtained at the end of a drilling phase
bit SWD test well candidates. with shock absorber in the BHA) versus Figure 4b (correla-
The presence of a shock absorber in the BHA induces the tion by SACZ obtained immediately after removing the
total extinction of the long top to bottom drillstring multiples absorber). Figure 4b clearly shows the presence of undesired
otherwise reemitted into the formation through the rock bit coherent forerunner line-ups parallel to the direct arrival and
(compare Fig. 2a with Fig. 2b, and Fig. 3a with Fig. 3b). generated by the drillstring multiples (from top drillstring to
The first experiment related in [7] allowed the geophysicists top BHA and top of shock absorber) propagated above the
to verify that the BHA architecture including a shock shock absorber and still present in the SACZ-correlated sig-
absorber, constitutes a clean and efficient random vibrator nal. As a result, the introduction of a shock absorber located
source, as the drillstring mechanical ensemble above the
above the roller cone bit and the downhole reference
shock absorber is sufficiently decoupled from the vibrating
accelerometer reduces drastically, although not totally, the
element below it (Fig. 2a). The fundamental proof of the pre-
undesirable emissions of seismic energy radiated from the
vious statement is supported by the spiked character of the
drillstring into the formation, identified by [8, 9], and illus-
autocorrelation of the downhole accelerometer DACZ signal,
when placed below the shock sub (see the DACZ autocorre- trated in Figure 5. Additionally, the shock absorber insures
lation, right side of Fig. 2a, versus Fig. 2b). Although the that the rock bit keeps in contact with the formation, so that
presence of a shock absorber reduced peak amplitudes of the the reference signal measured above the bit represents more
rock bit to about 80% of the peak amplitudes observed with- realistically the seismic signal imparted into the formation.
out shock sub, the signal-to-noise ratio and the readability of The first example of drillbit SWD image in a gentle geo-
the field correlated seismic records are drastically improved logical context obtained using one shock absorber in the
(see Fig. 3a versus Fig. 3b). The improvement brought by BHA are shown on Figure 6, where three independent results
Rig-offset
120 m
Offset from the rig
X, Z, Y
Field XCOR,
Z geophones
by DACZ
(downhole sensor)
Zero time
X, Z, Y
1000 m DACZ
a) DACZ SACZ
SACZ
a)
Field XCOR,
by SACZ
Zero time
(surface sensor)
DACZ
SACZ DACZ
b) b) SACZ
Figure 3a and 3b Figure 4a and 4b

a) field XCOR, by DACZ with shock absorber. Comparison of field XCOR, by DACZ versus SACZ both
b) field XCOR, by DACZ without shock absorber. with shock absorber in the BHA.
Synthetic PSV SWD binstack

0 Distance from well (m) 370
Geophone 400
Time twt (ms)

Depth (m)
600
Drill pipes 2 800
Accident 150 m Drilling
interval
950
800
1
Predited
reflectors
BHA 1 ahead of
the bit
Waves 1: DESIRED seismic
waves through the formation
Shock
absorber Wave 2: UNDESIRED seismic
wave propagated along the
drillstring, then refracted into
the formation, attenuated by 1700
the shock absorber
Drillbit
Reflector
Figure 6
Figure 5 Reflectivity along the well from three independent methods:
Mechanical principle of decoupled drillbit to enhance the synthetic seismogram, VSP, and drillbit SWD with one shock
seismic S/N quality. absorber in the BHA (courtesy of Gaz de France).
of the Earth seismic reflection response at the well are repre-

sented, from left to right:
N – synthetic seismogram computed from wireline calibrated
om well)
sonic log and density log, zero phase display;

read
– VSP corridor stack, zero phase deconvolved;

Drilling sp
000 m fr
eA
ce lin
– drillbit SWD reflection results ahead of the bit. The short

(170 - 1
150 m logged depth interval is indicated, as well as the

Surfa
Line illuminated
by 1000m
below objective offset from the well (10 m trace interval, zero phase).
depth (1.5 s)
Although the seismic drillbit image shows a few accidents,
there is an excellent resemblance between the three indepen-
Line illuminated dent earth responses in the immediate well proximity, within
by drillbit survey
at objective 5 traces/50 m from the well: this fact indicates the reliability of
depth (0.9 s)
the new drillbit technique using an appropriate BHA. In spite
of the short drilling interval from 800 to 950 m, one can
Dirt road used by all
vehicles servicing the
observe the basement reflection around depth 1700 m
Well
rig, generating strong (1.2 s twt, two way time), about 700 m ahead of the bit.
traffic noise on
seismic receivers
Well projection
Comparison of Drillbit Seismic Image with Nearby Seismic
Lines
Surface
line B The drillbit SWD image was compared with the surface seis-
mic section line A: Figure 7, sketch of surface location;
Figure 8, zone illuminated by the drillbit SWD walkaway,
Figure 7 projected on the seismic section (shot about 1978); Figure 9,
Sketch of location (courtesy of Gaz de France). SWD walkaway image superimposed on seismic section.
The frequency content of the SWD image, up to 75 Hz

Well projection Accident (Fig. 10) is higher than the frequency content of the old seis-
mic line A. The flexural accident on the seismic section (Fig.
8) is well marked by the lateral reflectivity variations on the
.30
SWD walkaway VSP-CDP binstack image (Fig. 9,
Fig. 6), although the two imaged lines are parallel and about
.40
300 m apart (Fig. 7). At processing, it had been necessary to
.50
apply velocity filters, or preferably wave filters rejecting seis-
mic events “parallel” (in the convolution sense) to the unde-
Top of.60
sired conical waves plus multiples illustrated as arrivals (2)
illuminated zone on Figure 5, which could still damage the final SWD image.
.70 The result of this rejection filtering applied in receiver collec-
tion is displayed on Figure 11a, and in bit depth collection on
.80 Figure 11b. Interestingly, the near offset receiver collections
Objective
depth (0.9 s) (ex. Fig. 11a) express a high level of low frequency guided
.90 tube wave most probably propagated in the mud column at
about 1500 m/s and seismically reemitted by the drilling
1.00
Illuminated apparatus and mud pipes/pump at surface.
zone Additionally, an equivalent of the SNAP Log [1], obtained
1.10
from the downhole measurements and compensated by the
drilling parameters, was labeled pseudo-impedance log while
drilling, and matches quite well with the post drill impedance
Figure 8 log built from the wireline sonic and density logs (Fig. 12).
Surface line-A (1978), marked with drillbit image projected Technical details on building the pseudo-impedance log
domain (courtesy of Gaz de France). while drilling can be found in [10] and [11].
Offset from well (m)
Well projection 15-90 Hz 15-30 Hz 30-45 Hz 45-60 Hz 60-90 Hz

Accident
40
80
120
160
200
240
280
320
360
40
80
120
160
200
240
280
320
360
40
80
120
160
200
240
280
320
360
40
80
120
160
200
240
280
320
360
40
80
120
160
200
240
280
320
360
.50
.30
.60
.40
.70
.50
.80
Top of.60
illuminated zone .90
.70
1.00
.80
Objective
depth (0.9 s)
.90 1.10
1.00 1.20
Illuminated
zone
1.10
1.30
1.40
Figure 10
Figure 9 Frequency analysis on drillbit Binstack. Correlation by
Surface line-A (1978), superimposed with projected drillbit downhole acceleration below shock sub. The frequency
image (courtesy of Gaz de France). content extends up to 70 Hz.
Drillstring reemission Drillstring reemission

Raw stacks Raw stacks
rejected rejected
300 m 340 m 520 m 300 m 340 m 520 m
0.0 Zero time
Geophone offset fro m rig DACZ DACZ
0.1
SACZ SACZ
Geophone offset
0.2 from rig
d
sire s
De ction
f l e 120 m 1100 m
Re Undesired
Und
e
drillstring
dril sired reemissions
Ree lstring
miss
ions 0.4
0.5
Time (s)
m
ud
-tu 0.6
be
w
av
e
re
si
0.7
du
al
s
t
0.8
0.9
a) b) 1.0
Figure 11a Figure 11b

Geophone collections of drillbit vertical stacks over each drill Common depth collections of drillbit vertical stacks over
pipe. each drill pipe.
4 top of drillstring
Impedance from sonic Pseudo-impedance LWD,
channels 3C geophone
and density wireline compensated for RPM,
group
logs, obtained post drill. smoothed over 1/2 ft (15 cm) 72 1
Unit: 0.01 m/s . g/cm3 adjusted to wireline depths
800
Zero time
825 100 ms
DACZ downhole accelerometer autocorrelation peak
850
875
900
925
950
50 100 50 100 150 200
Figure 13
Field drillbit SWD monitor display BHA with two shocks
subs. Real time field correlation over 40 s. The DACZ
Figure 12
downhole acceleration reference signal measured in real time
Formation parameter LWD (courtesy of Gaz de France). with TRAFOR feeds the surface seismic recorder-correlator.
1.2 Drillbit SWD with TRAFOR and Two Shock Synthetic seismogram
Absorbers in the BHA
In order to further improve the drillbit seismic emission qual- Drillbit

SWD
ity, the geophysicists carried out an additional SWD experi- interval
ment with two shock absorbers of different mechanical char-
Predicted reflectors
acteristics mounted in the BHA. This resulted in a total
attenuation of audible vibrations on the drill floor when
.70
drilling the very hard Dogger limestone formation encoun-
tered in the Paris Basin, which positively surprised the field
.80
drillers. This observation is confirmed by the exceptionally
twt (s)
low level of seismic noise on the near rig geophone signals .90
on the raw field correlated record: the field monitor on
Figure 13 was obtained by correlation over 40 s of raw drill- 1.00
Basement
bit data only. The residual field statics are adjusted from the level
deeper DP trace collection (Figs. 14a and 14b). Interestingly, 1.10
the lateral coherence from one seismic trace to the other

looks excellent on the first arrivals of the raw data (Fig. 14b),
before any deconvolution. The final SWD walkaway image,
displayed in both polarities on Figures 15a and 15b, matches
reliably with the synthetic seismogram from sonic and
density logs at well location, and shows reflected events a)
down to the top basement reflector, about 800 m ahead of Figure 15a
the drillbit and laterally to the well. A nearby well located at Field drillbit walkaway binstack BHA with two shock subs.
offset 400 m on the right branch of the walkaway, shows a White through = increase of impedance (courtesy of Gaz de
France).
well, 400 m offset
from sonic only

Neighbouring
seismogram
Frequency content: 15-80 Hz
Impedance
Rig to geophone offset distance (m)
Synthetic
1349
1311
1272
1235
1197
1159
1121
1085
1047
1009
967
923
880
837
794
757
720
684
649
613
578
539
502
464
429
390
352
314
277
241
205
172
131
73
126
155
190
225
263
301
339
379
418
458
497
537
548
563
581
604
628
664
700
737
779
821
863
904
947
989
1031
1072
1115
.00
VSP
Raw vertical stacks, vertical geophone Synthetic seismogram
sno deconvolution applied
.10
West Offset distance (m) from the well North
370 300 230 160 90 40 10 60 120 190 260
.40
.20
.50 SWD
.30 interval
.60
Predicted reflectors
.40
a) .70
.50
Residual statics applied .80
.60
.90 .90
Basement
.70
level
1.00 1.00
twt (s)
.80
1.10 1.10
.90
1.20 1.20
b)
b)
1.00
Figure 15b
Figure 14a and 14b
Bit source collection of correlated data, vertical stacks over Field drillbit SWD walkaway binstack. Black peak = increase
the deep drill pipe. of impedance (courtesy of Gaz de France).
fair resemblance with the walkaway image (right side of Reflections of drillstring guided wave on every the BHA diameter changes
Fig. 15b). Remarkably, this reverse walkaway SWD image (to be eliminated when computing the shock sub transfer function).
Correlation by DACZ
was obtained with no more processing effort as for a conven- DACZ
tional direct walkaway recorded post drilling with a surface DEBF
source and a multilevel string of downhole seismic receivers

Shaping decon. by DACZ
clamped on the borehole wall. Financially, the rental cost of a DACZ
shock absorber is lower than the processing cost of heavy DEBF
filtering the raw data, and the final walkaway SWD reflection
Shaping decon. by the truncated head of DEBF signal
image is cleaner and more reliable. DEBF
1.3 Transfer Function of a Shock Absorber

44 ms
We describe here the measurement of the transfer function of 15 ms
a shock absorber with TRAFOR in drilling conditions.

The mechanical engineers in IFP desired to conduct a field 110 m 36 m DP 5’’
Rock bit DC 6’’
experiment in order to improve the general knowledge of the + DACZ sensor 1
DC 8’’
shock absorber characteristics and behavior in true downhole Absorber Instrumented BHA scaled to the
DEBF seismic propagation two way
drilling conditions. Therefore, a Drilco-Smith rubber spring sensor 2 time of drillstring guided waves.
absorber was chosen, with the 9 inch outer diameter (9" OD)
recommended by the manufacturer for making up a BHA with
a 12"1/4 diameter rock bit. This type of shock absorber damp- Figure 17
ens both the axial and rotational vibrations (simplified sketch Sketch of the BHA instrumented for measuring the transfer
on Fig. 16). Full mechanical and technical characteristics can function of a shock sub.
be found in [12]. It is interesting to observe that this kind of DACZ and DEBF are identical accelerometers, located below
rustic and efficient shock sub has been commercialized since and above the shock sub, recorded with same gain, same
about 1955, and did not evolve much over the years. As a mat- digitization parameters.
ter of fact, the stiffness and damping characteristics of shock
absorbers are commonly measured in the surface workshop by
the manufacturers, often in a static manner, but no dynamic – DACZ accelerometer is located on the rock bit below the
measurements are available in drilling downhole conditions of shock absorber, with the downhole Televigile digitizer.
pressure and temperature. – DEBF accelerometer is located above the shock absorber,
A sketch of a BHA with shock sub instrumented with connected to the digitizer through a pigtail insulated wire
two downhole accelerometers is shown in the bottom part of running inside the shock sub element.
Fig. 17: The top part of Figure 17 shows signals obtained by pro-
– DACZ and DEBF axial accelerometers are placed on each cessing the downhole measurements, with, from top to bot-
side of the shock sub to be tested, DACZ and DEBF are tom (five signal traces):
strictly identical, and their analog circuits are the same – Autocorrelation of DACZ random reference bit signal.
before input into the multichannel downhole digitizer. – Cross correlation of DEBF by DACZ reference bit signal.
– Shaping deconvolution (also called signature deconvolu-
tion) of the DACZ random reference bit signal: this signal
is a Dirac delta function band limited to 6-116 Hz, with
Vulcanized rubber (dampening element) flat amplitude spectrum (also represented as trace T1 on
top part of Fig. 18).
– Shaping deconvolution of the DEBF signal by DACZ
reference signal, also represented as trace T2 on Figure 18:
this signal restitutes the shock absorber transfer function,
in the first 30 ms following the DACZ autocorrelation
Mandrel Outer barrel Top sub peak time, followed by the reflections of the BHA guided
wave on every diameter change, plus multiple reflections
Figure 16 at a later time. Note on Figure 18 the amplitude drop of
Simplified sketch of the Drilco/Smith rubber spring shock trace T2 (in true amplitude) relatively to trace T1, due to
sub vibration dampener. the attenuation of the vibrations transmitted through the
[Ref: The Composite Catalog 1986-87, pp 1751-1753]. shock absorber. Trace T3 on Figure 18 and the 4th trace
from the top on Figure 17, both represent the same signal The linear attenuation (displayed in percent) is larger at
as trace T2, but with normalized amplitude (peak ampli- high frequencies (a dividing factor 5 for frequencies above
tude equals unit amplitude). 40 Hz) than for low frequencies (dividing factor 2 at 5 Hz,
– Shaping deconvolution of the previous DEBF signal by 3 at 25 Hz, 4 at 35 Hz). Interestingly, when the bit bouncing
the shock absorber transfer function signal (same signal resonating regime is not active (i.e. when the rock bit remains
restricted to its head wavelet by truncation of the signal in permanent contact with the formation), there is no reso-
nance peak in the transfer function amplitude spectrum
tail). This operation enhances the readability of the BHA
around 3 × rpm, a result potentially very different from the
multiples: the sketch of the BHA on the bottom is trans-
transfer function inferred from the mechanical parameters of
formed into seismic time scale by division of the BHA
shock absorbers measured in the workshop and a simplified
length by the 5000 m/s velocity factor corresponding
bit-formation interaction model [13] .
to the acoustic velocity of BHA guided waves in the
The phase shift of the shock absorber considered is found
borehole.
almost constant at about 35° (linear regression of the phase
The transmission transfer function and spectra of the spectrum between 5 Hz and 110 Hz).
9"OD. Drilco-Smith rubber spring shock absorber are shown The transit time through the shock absorber (propagation
on Figure 18. from input DACZ to output DEBF accelerometers) is about
Trace T4 on top part of Figure 18 is obtained by trunca- 1.3 ms, compatible with the 5 km/s velocity through a 6 m
tion and tapering of the tail signal of the above deconvolved long shock sub element (+ 2 m for half the digitizer length).
BHA response on trace T3, therefore trace T4 truly repre-
sents the transfer function or impulse response of the shock 1.4 Feasibility of VSP While Drilling
absorber element, about 30 ms long: the amplitude and phase
spectra computed from impulse response T4 are displayed on 1.4.1 Shock Tests
Figure 18 (middle and bottom parts).
Shock tests of downhole geophone sensors and electronic
equipment were carried out from 1996 to 1999. The down-
hole conditions of vibrations and shocks impose that all sen-
sors, every electronic element, and subassemblies be drasti-
T1: constant gain DACZ*DACZ-1 T1
cally shock tested in order to insure that any downhole
T2: constant gain DEBF*DACZ-1 T2 electronic ensemble can yield reliable measurements while
T3: normalized DEBF*DACZ-1 T3
T4: normalized, truncated T3, T4
drilling and withstand tough downhole drilling conditions for
= absorber pulse response long periods of time. The validation shock test criterion
defined by Guy Pignard in IFP consists in imparting
F (Hz)
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
10 shocks of 1600 g’s as a half millisecond sine wave, on any
piece of downhole equipment, preferably in several shock
67
directions.
100%
51 The shock test table sketched on Figure 19 was used to

35
28 25 test several kinds of standard SM-15 rotating coil geophones
21 15 22 16
19 17 18
from input/output I/O Sensor manufacturer in Holland, who
Linear attenuation spectrum (%) participated in the sensor validation program with IFP, by
testing the characteristics of the geophones after each shock.
Shock sub response in attenuation (DB scale ) and phase (deg.) Several types of geophones (SM7-10 Hz natural frequency,
0 360
vertical and horizontal axis) as well as omnitilt SM7-30 Hz
Amplitude (db)
Amplitude
geophones have been positively submitted to in axis and off
Phase (deg.)
-10 240
axis shocks.
-20 120
After the tests, the design engineers from I/O Sensor went
Phase back to their workshop, tested again the electric response of
35.4
0 all geophones, then cut open the case of the defective geo-
-5
0 5 40 80 110 120 phones in order to analyse the reason for failure, so as to sub-
F (Hz)
sequently determine how to further improve the reliability of
their products. As a matter of fact, many I/O Sensor geo-
Figure 18 phones were shock tested positively up to 5000 g’s (as a
Transfer function of the Drilco/Smith 9”OD shock sub in 0.5 ms sine wave) without damage or any significant change
downhole drilling conditions. in their response or sensitivity.
Sensor to be tested
in bridle block
Reference
accelerometer Emptiness?
Wires to
geophone tester "HAMMER" (moving part)
Sheet of cushioning
material
"ANVIL" (fix part)

Drilling fluid
Pneumatic jack Pump
Air bag
Ground
Figure 19 Figure 20
Sketch of a shock test table used to validate sensors and VSP-WD: rig configuration for recording limited WOB
electronic parts for operations in downhole drilling conditions. (5 t) applied so as to insure geophone coupling to the
formation; kelly connected.
Wired DP added Annulus electric

before VSP-WD connector
measurement
DGEO: near bit downhole geophone
1
Record number
Electric wires
2
to TRAFOR
3
Kelly in 4
rat hole
Drilling fluid 0 50 100 150 200 250 300
SGEO: near source surface monitor geophone

Pump
1
Record number
0 50 100 150 200 Sample number
0 139 278 417 556 Time (ms)

Time scale: time sampling: 2.78 ms
Figure 22
Figure 21
VSP-WD: series of unit records at same level. Simultaneous
VSP-WD: rig configuration for recording limited WOB recording of downhole geophone (DGEO) and monitor
(5 t) applied; kelly disconnected. This recording configuration surface geophone near the air-gun source (SGEO).The
is preferred. displayed data are filtered HC 45 Hz.
Given the proven sturdiness of the geophone receivers, a direct arrival is quite clean, the signal-to-noise ratio is vari-
VSP test program could be pursued by IFP on one hand, and able; on the upper levels (1137-1152 m), strong tube wave
the miniaturisation of the geophones could be envisaged by arrivals are visible, in correspondence with the rig configura-
I/O Sensor on the other hand. tion of Figure 20, in which the drillstring is connected to the
kelly during the VSP measurements. In contrast, below
1.4.2 First Field Test 1211 m, the Kelly was disconnected during the VSP mea-
surements (as on Fig. 21): as a result, the tube wave van-
The first field test of VSP-WD using the TRAFOR system
ished, and the general noise level was significantly decreased
was in 1997. The TRAFOR system was equipped with a
on the downhole signal. The first VSP level, at 1137 m, was
SM15-14 Hz axial vertical downhole geophone (DGEO), and
recorded with and without application of any weight on the
the signal of a surface geophone (SGEO) recorded simultane- bit: signal distortion occurs when the BHA is suspended as
ously for the time reference, so as to execute a VSP test in the rock bit is off contact with the well bottom.
the vertical portion of a GDF well. The drilling apparatus
After processing the above VSP-WD test data, a few
configurations for VSP-WD recording in vertical well are
reflections appeared in the lower part of the conventional fre-
illustrated on Figure 20 (kelly pipe connected), and on Figure quency spectrum, and with less coherency of signal shape
21 (kelly disconnected), for which the GDF drillers agreed to (i.e. lower quality coupling conditions to the formation) in
rest the drillstring on the slips for a few minutes while apply- comparison with the standard wireline VSP data recorded
ing a limited Weight On Bit (WOB) of about 5 t, in order to later in the same well.
insure a good mechanical coupling between the formation In addition, another high quality pseudo-impedance log
and the downhole geophone located 7 m above the drillbit. was recorded and produced from the TRAFOR measurements
The seismic source was a 120 cubic inch airgun in a shal- of the above VSP-WD test: Figure 25 shows the comparison
low water pit, which was rapidly activated several times in of the velocity derived from the wireline sonic log, after appli-
succession as the TRAFOR system was recording continu- cation of a 3 m shift between the wireline depth scale and the
ously. Figure 22 shows a few unit VSP shot traces, in down- driller depth: the upper section with alternate shale and
hole and surface receiver collection, time shifted and syn- sandstone beds shows an excellent correlation between the
chronized with a field computer before vertical stack two logs; near 1330 m the 6 km/s hard shaley dolomite bed is
(Fig. 23), built with the Matlab software. not marked by the pseudo-impedance log derived from drillbit
A final display of the all the vertically stacked downhole vibration level, probably due to the microfracturation of this
signals versus depth was produced on the field (Fig. 24): the formation which makes it easy to drill.
DGEO: near bit downhole geophone All measurements are done with 5 t WOB (Weight On Bit), except first 1137 m record.
2000 1137-1152 m: kelly connected during seismic recording: undesirable tube wave present.
1211-1285 m: kelly disconnected during seismic recording: tube waves are eliminated.
The displayed data are filtered HC 45Hz
1000
Direct seismic arrival Tube wave arrivals
0
1285
Kelly disconnected
-1000 1265
1245
-2000
Drilling depth (m)
0 50 100 150 200 250 300

1225
SGEO: near source surface monitor geophone 1211
400
1152
Kelly connected
200
1148
0 1137
-200 1137*
* suspended drillstring (WOB = 0)
-400 0 100 200 300 400 Sample number

0 50 100 150 200 Sample number
0 139 278 417 556 Time (ms)
0 139 278 417 556 Time (ms)
Time scale: time sampling: 2.78 ms Time scale: time sampling: 2.78 ms
Figure 23 Figure 24
VSP-WD preprocessing. Vertical stack at a given depth level. VSP-WD: DGEO field vertical stacks at every depth level,
Downhole geophone (DGEO) and surface geophone (SGEO). synchronized with the surface signal (SGEO) direct arrival
The displayed data are filtered HC 45 Hz. for time origin (October 1997).
1.5 Industrialization including downhole measurements. With this in mind, IFP

geophysicists investigated the technical capabilities of the
We describe here an industrialization approach of the drillbit- electromagnetic (EM) transmission system developed by
SWD and VSP-WD techniques using wireless downhole Geoservices, in terms of transmission performance versus
measurement technology. terrain resistivity, and in terms of synchronization precision
The experimental drillbit SWD tests run by IFP in the of the downhole recorder clock with a surface clock.
Paris Basin with the TRAFOR wireline transmission system The absolute precision of the EM synchronization
allowed two conclusions to be drawn. Firstly, reliable drillbit seemed to be compatible with seismic requirements; in addi-
seismic reflection results can be obtained up to 70 Hz using a tion, for drillbit SWD applications, some drift of the down-
roller cone bit (with teeth/insert length not too small) with one hole clock with temperature, relatively to a highly stable
or two shock absorbers in the BHA and a downhole reference surface clock, could be tolerated as the guided wave propaga-
sensor in between, provided that the formation under drilling tion in the drill string would allow the appropriate corrections
is not too tender. Secondly, in practice, the P-wave velocity to be made. Therefore, the EMWD technique commercially
Vp should, in practice, exceed 2500 m/s in order to have operated by Geoservices, [14], presented a good perspective
enough drillbit seismic energy. Reliable seismic reflections for the SWD applications, starting with the drillbit–SWD
have been recovered up to 1000 m or more ahead of the bit. reverse walkaway method to be applied while drilling a lim-
Moreover, as the TRAFOR system is more intrusive and ited depth interval, as it had been previously done with
heavy-to-operate for the drilling teams in comparison with TRAFOR.
existing wireless MWD systems, other transmission and data For VSP-WD, the TRAFOR system was adequate to
transmission avenues needed to be explored in order to carry out a feasibility test as only a limited amount of wired
approach the industrial drilling sites with SWD applications drill pipe is available. For a wireless downhole recorder, the
Pseudo-impedance LWD
Geoservices Commercial
Impedance from wireline compensated for RPM, Surface control unit seismic
sonic log (km/s) adjusted to wireline depth recorder
Sandstone TB
SCU
1290 Shale
Hettangien
Sandstone Geophones
Shale
Electromagnetic transmission
Sandstone Drill pipes while drilling through
1300
the formation for command
Shale and synchronization
Rhetien
Sandstone
1310 Geoservices DRU
Vertical depth (m)
BHA
Downhole recorder unit
Shock
absorber
1320 Preprocessing can be done on rig
site by a commercial field seismic
Keuper
computer in order to obtain results

DACZ quickly: the downhole data from
DRU memory is converted into
1330 SEG-Y format after the drillstring is
Hard shaly dolomite
pulled out. The commercial recorder
generates seismic data in standard
Shaly dolomite Illuminated format.
1340 Zone
1.5 3.0 4.5 6.0 7.5

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Figure 25 Figure 26
Formation parameter LWD. Sketch of the drillbit EM-SWD recording chain.
tolerance on the downhole clock drift would be much more the mud pulse transmission technique in Italian geothermal
severe than for the drillbit-SWD method, of the order of 1 ms wells for instance.
over 5 or 10 days, and this point would have required an
additional technological improvement of its own. 2.2 On surface
Another economical argument was in favor of develop-
ing a drillbit-SWD prototype first, rather than an VSP-WD On surface, a commercial seismic recorder can acquire as
prototype: a commercial drillbit-SWD downhole recorder- many channels as desired, and store the uncorrelated data on
WD can be built as a central tool to be used only over a depth magnetic cartridges. Laying out the receivers in radial lines
interval of 200 to 400 m in a vertical to low deviated well, extending away from the wellhead is a practical pattern.
around mid target depth. In contrast, a VSP-WD downhole Most of the commercial surface seismic recorders can be eas-
recorder would have to work in the deep section of all kinds ily interfaced with the SCU. The SCU generates periodic
of borehole, vertical to horizontal, therefore it must be built time pulses (time break, “TB” on Fig. 26) in order to auto-
in the steel crown of a drill collar, resulting in higher costs. matically start the seismic recorder, accompanied by a coded
The above reasons lead IFP and Geoservices to develop TB number on a separate serial line.
a wireless SWD prototype for the drillbit-SWD method in
the first instance. Depending on the success of this first co- 2.3 Downhole Data Recovery
operation project, the more challenging VSP-WD method
Downhole data recovery is illustrated in Figure 28. After the
would be engaged in a second stage.
drillstring is pulled out of the well, the downhole signal is
transferred from the DRU memory to the SCU, then QC’ed
2 WIRELESS DRILLBIT EM-SWD (Quality Controlled) and segmented according to the instants
of the TB orders sent periodically by the SCU to the seismic
This method was implemented by a demonstrator downhole recorder during the effective drilling periods. After recovery,
MWD recorder prototype in the framework of an ENEL- the segmented downhole reference data are output in stan-
Geoservices-IFP project carried out in 1997-2000 with par- dard SEG-Y seismic format. The segmented and reformatted
tial funding of the EC (project GE 019/96). downhole data and surface data are then sent to a processing
The Bottom Hole Assembly (BHA) includes a roller cone center in order to be merged and correlated using a commer-
bit, preferably a shock absorber and a downhole reference cial seismic processing software.
accelerometer axial to the well (sketch of the field set-up in As the drillers would not accept to drill with a roller cone
Fig. 26). The downhole source signal from the accelerometer bit and a shock absorber all along the borehole, the EM-
is recorded and stored downhole. SWD method is well suited to reverse walkaway SWD field
Geoservices built a new Downhole Recorder Unit (DRU) operations, for which the recorded depth interval is limited
to be integrated in the BHA in order to record the random (for instance: 300-500 m), around mid target depth, prefer-
axial drillbit vibrations in synchronization with the surface ably in vertical or low deviation wells: thus a typical drillbit
and controlled by a Surface Command Unit (SCU). The SCU SWD survey would last for one or two drilling runs only.
transmits “start recording” orders to the DRU through a one
way EMWD wireless transmission surface to downhole only. 3 PREOPERATIONAL EM-SWD FIELD TEST
In order to simplify the equipment and remain within reason-
able budget limits, no data transmission downhole to surface In October 1998, a preoperational SWD field test was carried
was implemented. out (in the framework of EC project GE 019/96) in a low
temperature Gaz de France well near Paris with the objective
2.1 Downhole to validate the new wireless downhole equipement developed
by Geoservices and the whole EM-SWD acquisition chain
Downhole, the DRU (Fig. 26) records and stores the drillbit including a Sercel SN388 surface seismic recorder interfaced
pilot accelerometer signal in synchronization with and under with the SCU (Fig. 26).
command of the SCU. While drilling, only a limited time Full technical details on this field test can be found in [15].
window per drill pipe is recorded downhole on order from
the surface operator. The preamplification gain was pre- 3.1 Field Operation
adjusted so as to optimize the dynamic range of the data to be
retained and stored, requiring a memory capacity of 48 A short single surface line of 12 geophone groups, 50 m
Mbytes only, which proved to be operationally sufficient. apart, was recorded on surface. The SCU (Fig. 26) generated
The DRU prototype is outlined on Figure 27, showing the a time break (TB) every 54 s to start automatically the SN388
general design, the central electronics and its main character- seismic recorder. The SN388 recorder stores the first 50 s on
istics. The EMWD transmission can be operated even in case magnetic cartridge, then stops and resets itself waiting for the
of total fluid loss while drilling, which is an advantage over next TB order from the SCU.
Geoservices surface unit:

Carrier • Reads the DRU downhole memory after POOH
• Adjusts the clock drift of the (DRU) downhole recorder time to the surface
Accelerometer recorder clock with the synchro codes emitted by the SCU during
acquisition
• Writes the downhole reference data into SEG-Y formatted traces
segmented according to the TB pulses generated by the SCU
Seismic recorder
DRU
Electronic housing SCU
Characteristics:
OD diameter: 8’’ Geophones
ID diameter: 3’’1/4
Length: 5.5m
Bottom sub
Threading: 6’’5/8 reg At rig site or office site, the processing computer:
Bit diameter: 12’’1/4 • Reads the SEG-Y reference data from SCU
• Reads the SEG-D receiver data from the
seismic recorder
• Merges downhole and surface data according to
Tolerances, up to
common TB pulse number
Flow: 3500 l/mn • Correlates the surface data with reference signal
Pressure: 10 000 psi for QC control and further processing
Tension: 400 t • Labels the surface data with the geometry of the
Torque: 13 000 mDaN geophone lay-out and tricone depth
• Processes the correlated data with conventional
Temperature: 125°C seismic routines to produce the final seismic
image
• Writes correlated data and final processed data
into SEG-Y format
Figure 27 Figure 28
Drillbit EM-SWD recording sub manufactured and operated Data recovery procedure applied when the BHA is pulled out
by Geoservices. of the hole.
After Pull Out Of the Hole (POOH), all the downhole data tion manoeuvre while the drill string is seated on the slips.
were correctly recovered: 1000 time segments of 54 s were Thus, the EM signal is optimal and no rig downtime is neces-
extracted with 8 bits sample, per 4 ms sample rate, and sary for the surface to downhole transmission of EM
1300 time segments in sign bit (1 bit per sample), all con- start orders.
verted into SEG-Y format. On surface, 2400 seismic records
of 50 s with 16 channels were stored by the SN388 on 3.2 In House Preprocessing
IBM 3490 cartridges in SEG-D format. Downhole and surface
channels were almost continuously recorded during the effec- The preprocessing phase addresses the questions of merging
tive drilling periods. control of the downhole and surface data, synchronization
Two vertical accelerometers SACZ were placed at the top control and correction of the clock drift between the down-
of the drill string and connected to the seismic recorder. The hole and surface recorders. The TB pulse number labelling of
seismic acquisition occurred during the drilling of the devi- surface and downhole records facilitates the merging of sur-
ated part of a Gaz de France well, up to 25° incidence, in the face records and corresponding downhole reference time seg-
12" 1/4 diameter, from 620 to 880 m depth, as illustrated by ments. First, the top drill string accelerometer SACZ signal is
the well trajectory Figure 29. The downhole EM-SWD correlated by the downhole reference accelerometer DACZ
recording sub (Fig. 27) was placed above the directional mud corresponding to the same time segment and TB number, in
pulse MWD system in the BHA sketched on Figure 30, about order to insure the following quality control actions:
25 m above the rock bit. The mud pulse transmission was not – Check of the exactitude of the downhole and surface TB
altered by the presence of the EM-SWD sub. pulse number correspondence, from correlated records.
Although the presence of a shock absorber in the BHA is – Edition of the single surface (resp. downhole) seismic
recommended to attenuate undesired drill string head waves records without correspondence with downhole (resp. sur-
[2-4], GDF drilling operators did not wish to have any shock face) record, and during the drilling interruptions.
absorber in the deviated well part. During the operation, the – Evaluate and compensate the downhole clock drift relative
EM orders were sent downhole during the drill pipe connec- to the surface clock: as the propagation time from DACZ
NORTH
Well trajectory Target

100 Planned
l
Real va
er
80 int
D
200 SW
60
61
0
40
300
20
True vertical depth (m)
EAST
400
20 40 60 80 100
500
G All angles relative

600 M T to local North
Grid North: 0.00
True North: 0.87 GEOSERVICES
Depth interval Magnetic North: -1.55
700 logged with
EM-SWD
Reference information
800 Co-ordinate (N/E) Reference:
Vertical (VTD) reference:
Site grid North
RKB 142.6 above Mean sea level
Section (VS) reference: Slot - (0.00,0.00)
Measured deptn reference: RKB 142.6 above Mean sea level
Calcuulation method: Minimum curvature
900 Target details

No. TVD N/S E/W Target
1 862.60 82.00 102.00 cible
1000
-100 0 100 200
Horizontal distance (m)
Figure 29 Figure 30
Well trajectory and interval logged by SWD. BHA used for drillbit EM-SWD field test EM-SWD sub
located about 25 m above the rock bit.
Signal is summed over 20 mn drilling time, and deconvolved. Near well geophone collection (VSP). Equalized display in raw time
Spread of 12 geophones, 50 m apart, 100 to 650 m from the 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80 0.90 1.00
well. Bottom channel corresponds to top of drill string
accelerometers, SACZ.
882
874
864
855
845
882
835
826
816
Measurement depth (m)
808
797
788
779
ID (m)
770
760
760
751
742
733
724
714
704
695
685
625
675
667
658
649
0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 640
625
Raw time (s)
Figure 31 Figure 32
EM-SWD: source collections. EM-SWD: geophone collection.
Reflected wavefield deconvolved on near well geophone collection.

310 VSP-type processing applied. Equalized display in two way times (twt)
0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80 0.90 1.00
300
882
874
7000 864
290 855
Measurement depth (m)

845
835
Velocities (m/s)
Time (ms)
826
280 6000 816
808
797
788
270 5000 779
770
760
751
260 4000 742
733
724
714
250 3000 704
695
685
675
240 667
2000 658
620 640 660 680 700 720 740 760 780 800 820 840 860 880 649
640
Depth (m) 625
Figure 33 Figure 34
EM-SWD: time-depth and velocity curves. EM-SWD: geophone collection.
NW Well SE
SWD reflection images, (10-65 Hz), compared with Binstack
of standard vibrator walkaway (10-100 Hz)on nearby well
CDP 550 530 510 470 450 430 410 390 370 350
equiped with permanent downhole geophone on tubing. SE21
Courtesy of Gaz de France Stations 420 400 360 350 330 320 300 290
-0.40
Offse from
wellhead (m) -0.30
280
260
240
220
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
-0.20
0
0.40
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
65
70
75
80
0
5
-0.10
EM-SWD Vibrator walkaway 0.00
0.50 0.10
Interval of 0.20
EM-SWD
0.30
measurement
0.60 0.40
0.50
0.60
0.70 0.70
0.80
Reflectors
ahead of the bit 0.90
0.80 1.00
1.10
300m
1.20
0.90 1.30
1.40
450m
1.50
1.00 1.60 Zone
1.70 illuminated
1.80 by drillbit
1.10 SWD
1.90
Figure 35 Figure 36
EM-SWD survey: Binstack image (courtesy of Gaz de Surface seismic section across the geothermal well: image
France). totally blurred.
to SACZ accelerometers must remain constant during the Figure 35. It was obtained using a permanent downhole geo-
drilling of each DP interval, the clock drift can be phone array located in a nearby well. The maximum fre-
estimated: it remains linear with time since the downhole quency reaches around 65 Hz on the drillbit reverse walka-
temperature does not vary significantly over a 10 m drill way versus 85 Hz for the vibrator direct walkaway image.
pipe interval (unless fresh mud is circulated).
After application of all compensations and corrections, the 3.5 First Preoperational EM-SWD Field Test
preprocessing output is a vertical stack after shaping decon-
volution of the surface records by the downhole pilot signal, The successful first EM-SWD field test confirmed the
illustrated by the displays in source collection (Fig. 31), and choices made for the technological design and the field
in geophone collection (Fig. 32), on which the signal is acquisition procedures. Surprisingly, the absence of shock
stacked over 20 min of drilling time for each drill pipe. absorber in the BHA did not have severe consequences on
The final correlated data is excellent (low noise level the processing efficiency and output data quality, as the well
before direct arrival, compressed wavelet with short peglegs), deviation resulted in a substantial attenuation of the unde-
even in the absence of shock absorber in the BHA, due to the sired waves guided then radiated by the drillstring. During
partial attenuation of drill string guided waves provoked by the operation, the EM orders were sent downhole during the
the drillstring drag against the walls of the deviated borehole. drill pipe connection manoeuvre when the drillstring was on
In contrast, experience shows that in vertical wells in the slips. Therefore, no rig downtime was necessary for the EM
same area, SWD surveys run without shock absorber in the transmission associated to the SWD operation. The seismic
BHA yield stacked records blurred by undesired drill string frequencies observed on the final reverse walkaway drillbit
head waves or rig noises (see above Paragraphs 1.1 and 1.2). seismic image reach 65 Hz, higher than the SWD results
obtained without downhole measurements, although lower
than the frequencies observed on a nearby conventional
3.3 VSP Processing direct vibrator walkaway (Fig. 35). The new downhole
VSP processing was carried out on a near offset geophone equipment, synchronized and interfaced with a commercial
collection, 150 m away from the well. The direct arrivals surface seismic recorder, behaved successfully on the field.
show a high apparent frequency content (> 70 Hz) in The field procedure for data recovery after POOH was easy,
Figure 32. Figure 33 shows the time-depth curve obtained fast and successful.
by SWD, yielding good precision on interval velocities. The encouraging processing results allowed us to proceed
Figure 34 shows the reflected VSP wavefield results from the to larger scale SWD operations, after correcting for the tech-
geophone collection. Refining the alignment of the two way nological glitches revealed by this first EM-SWD field test.
time reflections by a standard trim static routine allows one
to compensate for potential remaining residual EM synchro-
nization errors (up to +/–1 ms). 4 LARGE SCALE EM-SWD DRILLBIT
A large scale EM-SWD drillbit demonstration test for seis-

3.4 2D Walkaway Processing mic imaging on a geothermal site was carried out within the
EC project GE 019/96. In 1999, a full scale SWD reverse
A conventional processing procedure was applied to the walkaway was recorded around an ENEL well in a “no seis-
SWD walkaway data, including: mic result” area, near Larderello, Italy, using a surface seis-
– wave separation and shaping deconvolution by downgo- mic recorder rented from OGS-Trieste, Italy, with
ing wavelet, on each geophone collection; 170 channels deployed over 6 radial lines of geophones on
– normal move-out corrections, trim statics, eventual filter- surface, 75 m intertrace, each line extending from 350 m to
ing in source collection, Binstack and migration imaging. 2 km from the well. A near well 2D time migrated surface
In order to process the set of 12 geophones, residual geo- seismic section is shown Figure 36, with well projection and
phone statics have been computed from a hyperbolic regres- indication of the domain illuminated by the drillbit SWD sur-
sion on the deepest source collection, then applied. vey. In the well vicinity, the surface seismic image is totally
NMO velocities are estimated from the VSP interval blurred. Full technical details on this experiment can be
velocities, then adjusted so as to have a good direct arrival found in [16].
horizontalization of the reflections after NMO correction. The Italian geothermal fields of Larderello and Monte
Figure 35 (left side) shows a final time image within and Amiata are characterized by a complex geological structure.
below the depth interval logged by EM-SWD, far ahead of The downhole temperature can reach and exceed 350°C in
the bit. Reflections are visible down to 1450 m, far below the metamorphic rocks, around 3500-4000 m. The use of con-
deepest SWD measurement level (880 m). ventional wireline well seismic technique is restrained by the
For comparison with conventional direct well seismic, a temperature and by the high seismic noise present in Italian
vibrator walkaway image is displayed on the right side of geothermal wells. Therefore, the reverse seismic walkaway
150
100
50
0
Elevation (m)
-50
20
15
10
5
0
-5
Residual
-10 statics (ms) Geophone
-15
-20
-25
-30
-35
-40
P
138 133 128 123 118 113 27 32 37 42 47 52 Geophone
2198 1822 1448 1073 698 323 325 700 1075 1450 1825 2200
300
Offset from
Direct P wave
the well
400
Transmitted
Converted
500
S-P arrival
600
Raw
700
P
800
900
1000 P
Converted
138
2198
133
1822
128
1448
123
1073
118
698
113
323
27
325
32
700
37
1075
42
1450
47
1825
52
2200 S-P reflection
300
400
Drillbit
500 source P
Converted S-P wave
600
Residual S
700
statics
applied
800
900
1000 Figure 38
Sketch of propagation.
*Direct P and transmitted-converted S-P arrivals are clear on
Figure 37 the raw data (Fig. 37).
Line 3: application of residual statics on a deep (1758 m) **P-P reflected and S-P converted-reflected arrivals can be
source depth collection. The statics do not correlate with the separated from their differing apparent velocities in receiver
elevation. collections, and on the binstack Figure 39a.
technique using the drillbit noise as seismic source looks channel. The whole chain of field equipment behaved suc-
attractive; additionally, the temperature in the well while cessfully and a shock absorber was integrated into the BHA.
drilling is substantially lowered by the drilling fluid circula-
tion. As the formations to be drilled are hard, only roller cone
4.2 Processing and Results
bits can be used, which is most favorable to the generation of
drillbit seismic vibrations. Moreover, the unfavorable condi- An example of the preprocessed surface data in source
tions of surface accessibility such as rugged relief, forest collection is shown in Figure 37 after correlation with the
cover, sensitive permit and environmental constraints make it downhole reference signal and vertical stacking over each
difficult to operate surface seismic sources. Actually, similar drill pipe interval. The surface data are displayed in
exploration difficulties are encountered in many oil and gas preserved amplitude before and after application of static
field areas worldwide, locally or regionally. corrections. Strong S-P converted transmitted arrivals are
present (see the propagation sketch Fig. 38), which need to
4.1 Acquisition and Preprocessing be removed by careful processing in order to extract the
desired P-P reflections.
170 surface channels were recorded over two drilling runs, Additionally, strong interfering S-P converted reflected
about 35 Gbytes of raw uncorrelated surface data was col- waves (downgoing S-wave generated by the rock bit, fol-
lected and stored on IBM 3490 magnetic cartridges. The sur- lowed by upgoing P-wave reflection) were observed during
face data were acquired in 2 ms sampling/4 bytes per sample, the processing stage, as illustrated by the propagation sketch
then the data volume was reduced by a factor of 1500 after Figure 38, and required appropriate velocity filter rejection
correlation by the downhole reference data and stacking over (details in [16]). The efficiency of the S-P reflected wave
the top 5 m interval of each DP: the raw data recorded con- cancellation can be appreciated on the final binstack images
tinuously while drilling (about 1h/DP) is compressed into 3 s Figures 39a and 39b: the S-P reflected events appear on the
of correlated/stacked seismic data for each surface receiver top binstack Figure 39a as line-ups showing arrival time
increasing with distance from the well, and abrupt apparent 4.3 Influence of BHA Abnormal Vibrations
dip variation directly below the well location. The bottom
Binstack on Figure 39b shows an enhanced P-P reflection Interestingly, the BHA abnormal vibrations regimes such as
wavefield and a more reliable subsurface image, as desired stick-slip or bit bouncing are perfectly obvious on the down-
by the interpreter. hole DACZ accelerometer: on Figure 40 (left to right), the
Interestingly, as the bulk of signal processing and filtering displayed traces represent successive 54 s long time seg-
is achieved independently on each geophone collection, the ments of DACZ signal, illustrating that the BHA vibrations
deep reflection line-ups observed on the stacks in geophone can naturally change quite fast from a regime of normal
collections and the final VSP-CDP binstack insure that these drilling (random signal) to a vibration regime of stick-slip,
line-ups represent real primary reflections. Deep P-P reflec- followed a few minutes later by a vibration regime of bit
tions appear on Figure 39b at 1.4 to 1.5 s twt on the right side bouncing. There were no shock absorbers in the BHA corre-
of the well, corresponding to events located 1.8 km ahead of sponding to the data on Figure 40.
the bit, around 3.6 km deep. On the left side, deep reflected The stick-slip pattern is characterized by a cycle including
events at 1.3 and 1.75 s are observed in spite of the high a temporary stop of the downhole rotation, followed by a
energy direct S-P waves present on this line on the raw data, very fast rotation of the BHA and intense vibrations; the
which is quite encouraging for the future applications of the period of this cycle depends on the length of the drillstring,
drillbit SWD surveying. which oscillates as a torsion pendulum (Fig. 40, central
NW SE
900 700 500 300 100 100 300 500 700 900
700
P-P image
Display of 12 Hz low cut filter applied to raw DACZ signal
interfered
800
• Normal drilling = random vibration
by S-P events
900 • Stick-slip regime = long period bursts separated by null signal.
• Bit bouncing = dominant frequency around 3 times the rpm
1000
1100
Normal drilling Stick slip Bit bouncing
360042
360045
360047
360048
360049
360050
360051
360052
1200
TB number
0.00
1300
1400 1.00
1500 Distance from 2.00

1600
the well
(20 m trace 3.00
1700 interval)
a) 4.00
840 640 440 240 40 160 360 560 760
5.00
700 1559 m
Time (s)
Pure P-P Drilling interval 6.00

800 1776 m
image
900 7.00
FINAL 1000 8.00

SWD 1100
Events
IMAGE predicted 9.00
1200 ahead of
the bit 10.00
1300
11.00
1400 3600 m
1500 12.00
1600
1700
b) 4650 m
Figure 39a and 39b Figure 40

Binstack seismic images of P-P reflections on line 3. Examples of downhole BHA vibration patterns.
traces). The BHA stick-slip resonance pattern can often be 5.1 Synchronization Using Guided Waves
seen on the correlated drillbit records by an apparent repeti-
tion of the low frequencies, such as the ground roll events Details of this method can be found in IFP patent in [17].
(Fig. 41), with a period equal to the stick slip period. This The guided waves in the drillstring are of three types:
phenomenon does not alter the quality of the seismic walka- – P-waves in the guide constituted by the drillstring, the
way drillbit image as the prediction seismic time of interest earth formation and the drilling fluid inside the drill pipes
ahead of the drillbit is generally shorter than the stick-slip and in the annulus between drillstring and borehole wall.
cycle duration. Typical velocities fall in the range 4800-5200 m/s, and
The bit bouncing pattern is characterized on the seismic sometimes vary with depth within the same drillstring
records by a powerful dominant frequency close to three (Fig. 42 and Fig. 43 right side).
times the RPM frequency, due to the tri-lobed pattern of the – Torsional waves in the drillstring, which propagate only in
formation surface right under the roller cone bit. The fre- the metallic drillstring: they can be recorded by torque
quency content is very low and barely extends over 30 Hz. sensors, by tangential accelerometers on the drillstring, or
The bit bouncing pattern is generally mitigated when a shock by a shunt current on the power line of the rotating table
absorber is present in the BHA.
electric motor. The propagation velocity of torsional
waves in the drillstring is slightly higher than half the P-
5 TIME SYNCHRONIZATION wave velocity, around 2800 m/s (Fig. 42 and Fig. 43 mid-
dle display, Stor sensor).
This section describes time synchronization of the downhole – Tube waves propagated in the drilling fluid inside the
seismic measurements, at seismic precision. drillpipes, which can be recorded by a pressure sensor
The long 1.5 s periodicity of apparent multiple observed on The direct and multiple arrivals of the drillstring guided
the low frequency ground roll is due to a stick-slip regime of waves can help controlling the exactitude of the downhole
the borehole assembly downhole, while drilling. clock. With a shock absorber in the BHA, the DACZ
autocorrelation is spiked, which insures that the seismic
Time (s) emission into the ground is a simple spike as well.
0.0
DACZ STOR SACZ
Depth (m)
564
573
588
596
602
613
623
630
639
648
657
665
676
685
694
703
709
720
794
799
809
816
823
564
573
588
596
602
613
623
630
639
648
657
665
676
685
694
703
709
720
794
799
809
816
823
564
573
588
596
602
613
623
630
639
648
657
665
676
685
694
703
709
720
794
799
809
816
823
Downhole Surface Surface
accelerometer Z torque accelerometer Z
Direct arrival
1.0 Time (s) Zero time = DACZ

autocorrelation peak
0.0
Drills
t
Pres ring gu
sure ide
Ground roll 0.1 wav d
e
Dri
lls
Tor tring
sio g
nal uided
wa
2.0 0.2 ve
M
ul
tip
le
s
0.3
Repeated
ground roll
0.4
3.0
Figure 42
Figure 41
Vertical stack over each drill pipe after correlation with
Correlated drillbit record. DACZ, from TRAFOR measurements.
This example confirms the existence of drillstring guided The correlation of a random signal, i.e. drillbit signal,
waves in pressure mode, torsional mode, tube wave mode recorded by two independent recorders, can be used at
inside the drillstring, the three modes being prone to processing to compensate for an eventual drift between
generate undesired seismic reemission along the drillstring master clocks. Below, at 20°C, the downhole clock drift was
or at surface through the drilling apparatus and equipments. about 77 ppm, and was compensated at processing stage.
As a result, for real field drillbit operations, the correlation of
STOR
DACZ
SACZ
SACZ by DACZ is an excellent clock and timing control.
SPIN
Zero time = DACZ .00 Record nb. or Raw correlation Drift compensated
autocorrelation peak drill pipe nb. SACZ * DACZt correlation
87
-10 86
85
Zero time = DACZ 84
83
autocorrelation peak 82
81
-20
1 80
79
78
Zero time = DACZ 77
76
-30 74
73
72
71
70
-40 69
68
67
66
65
2 64
63
-50 62
61
60
59
58
57
Zero time = DACZ -60 56
55
53
52
51
3 49
48
47
46
45
44
43
42
41
40
Time segment number
Figure 43
Figure 44
Vertical stack over each drill pipe after correlation with
DACZ from TRAFOR measurements. Example of clock drift compensation.
located in the fluid column internal to the drillstring. The ner of correcting the drift is presented on Figure 44: the
propagation velocity of tube waves is close to the sonic cross-correlation of the same random signal recorded by two
velocity in water, i.e. 1350-1500 m/s, and can vary with the recorders with drifting master clocks has been represented
drilling fluid composition (see Fig. 43, Spin sensor). before and after linear corrections easily estimated and
Actually, the pressure signal of tube waves guided inside applied using simple seismic processing operations available
the drillstring mud column had been successfully used as a in all the commercial processing software packages. The drift
pilot signal for correlation in a few SWD experiments con- correction applied is linear with time, and it is technically
ducted in the mid 1980’s by ENI, Italy. sound to assume that the velocity of the drillstring guided
The propagation properties of guided waves in the drill- wave is constant over the drilling duration of a given
string can be used in several ways. drillpipe (about 30 min to 3h) and quite insensitive to the
Firstly, for determination of the clock drift between the drilling fluid temperature variations. Although the value of
clock of the surface recorder which handles the guided wave the clock drift may change with the downhole clock tempera-
sensor located at the top of the drillstring or on surface ture, the geophysicist can easily compensate for this effect
around the drilling apparatus, and the clock of the downhole using the consistency of the drillstring travel time picked up
recorder which handles the downhole guided wave sensors: on the successive correlations of the SACZ signal by the
while drilling the depth interval corresponding to the same DACZ signal at processing stage: this technique is practical
drill pipe, the propagation time between the two above men- mainly for drillbit SWD with roller cone bit, but becomes
tioned sensors must be constant, as the distance between the useless for the VSP-WD technique.
sensors is constant, as long as the wave guide keeps its char- A second use is for determination of the absolute one way
acteristics while drilling. A laboratory example of this man- propagation time between the two wave guide sensors
The drillstring multiple time could be used to control the

absolute downhole clock time and drift, with a precision
compatible with seismic requirements
230
230
250
250
265
265
285
285
305
305
460
460
570
570
596
596
Depth (m)
0.00
0.10
0.20
Drill string
multiple
0.30
Time (s)
0.40
0.50
0.60
0.70
0.80
Figure 45 Sketch 1
VSP-WD: autocorrelation of downhole geophone signal while The 3C-VSP-WD. Downhole Recorder Unit (DRU).
drilling. Manufactured and operated by GEOSERVICES.
located on top and bottom of the drillstring, as the half time conditions and variable temperature conditions. An innova-
of the first drillstring multiple: the time of the first drillstring tive development has been achieved and tested by F. Cecconi
multiple can be picked on the autocorrelation of the and L. Soulier of Geoservices, as described in the patent in
downhole or top of drillstring reference signal, as is usually [18], in order to reach a higher precision of 1 to 10 ppb (part
practiced in the drillbit SWD method without downhole per billion) in a wide range of downhole drilling conditions
reference measurements [3]. (temperature and shocks), which is absolutely necessary to
Lastly, during a VSP-WD field experiment in a vertical meet the technical requirement for the VSP-WD method.
well of the Paris Basin, good autocorrelation functions and
drillstring multiples have been obtained from the saturated
signal recorded while drilling by a standard 14 Hz vertical 6 WIRELESS EM-VSP-WD EXPERIMENTS
geophone mounted inside an EM-VSP-WD prototype (see
Fig. 45). This sort of drillstring guided wave signal might In 1999, after the successful technical achievements obtained
help calibrate and correct an eventual downhole clock drift of with the downhole recorder built by Geoservices to imple-
a wireless VSP-WD downhole tool at processing stage, or in ment and improve the technique of drillbit EM-SWD reverse
implementing some independent controls on the time preci- walkaway, a joint project was launched with Total,
sion of the downhole clock. Geoservices and IFP, in order to develop the VSP-WD
technique with partial funding of CEPM (Comité Exploitation
5.2 Synchronization by a New Electronic Clock Pétrolière et Marine, R&D extension of French Ministry of
industry). CGG joined the project in 2000, after the first
In order to simplify all types of additional measurements downhole prototype was built. IFP encouraged the geophone
while drilling and subsequent processing, it is desirable to manufacturer Sensor-I/O in Holland to build the SM-45 high
have a downhole clock stabilized relatively to the shock temperature miniaturized geophones, with natural frequency
around 15 Hz in order to insure a good omnitilt response.

These geophones offer good perspectives for VSP-WD appli-
cation in small diameter wells, and will successfully endure SCU TB
the rough shock tests described in Paragraph 1.4.1.
Surface control unit

6.1 Geoservices EM-VSP-WD Equipment Drill pipes
As shown in Sketch 1 in page 395, the 3C-VSP-WD tool, is

built as a central electronic shuttle (dark gray) inside the tool Electromagnetic transmission
carrier (light gray), and comprises a 3C orthogonal set of while drilling through
geophones, with no hydrophone, and sufficient memory the formation for command
BHA and synchronization
capacity. The shuttle appears can be easily removed from the
carrier on the drill floor.
Geophone DRU downhole
The main specifications of the 3C-VSP-WD tool (DRU on
Fig. 46) are listed below in Tables 1 to 3. Drillbit recorder unit
Figure 46
TABLE 1
The EM-VSP-WS recording chain.
Mechanical specifications of the 3C-VSP-WD tool
6"3/4 4"3/4
Tool carrier OD 6"3/4 4"3/4 The Surface Command Unit (SCU on Fig. 46) insures the
Typical hole size 8"1/2 6" EM transmission of start orders from surface to downhole, so
Tool carrier ID 100 mm 83 mm that the synchronization between independent downhole and
Shuttle OD 60 mm 60 mm surface clocks falls into a precision range inferior to 1 ms, in
Tool carrier length 3.5 m 3.5 m order to meet standard requirements.
Tool carrier weight 400 kg 175 kg Simultaneously to the order sent to the DRU, the SCU
Upper connection 4"1/2 IF box 3"1/2 IF box generates a time break (TB) to the surface seismic recorder
Lower connection 4"1/2 IF box 3"1/2 IF box and firing box manager which in turn actuates the seismic
Make-up torque 3840 mdaN 1200 mdaN source(s) (airgun and/or vibroseis, etc.). The DRU records
Max. torque 6960 mdaN 3100 mdaN
and stores the downhole signals over a period of time preset
Pulling load 260 t 140 t
on surface before making up the BHA. After the drilling run
Max. working pressure 15 000 psi 15 000 psi
and the VSP-WD recording, the drill string is pulled out of
Maximum temperature 100°C 100°C
the hole, and the downhole data are transferred from DRU
Dog leg sliding 18°/100 ft 25°/100 ft
Dog leg rotating 13°/100 ft 16°/100 ft
memory to the SCU, then QC’ed and output in standard
Maximum flow rate 3000 l/min 1450 l/min SEG-Y seismic format in a manner identical to the one
described on Figure 28. The surface and downhole data
are then merged, edited and vertically stacked at each depth
TABLE 2 level on the field VSP processing computer provided by
Seismic specifications of the 3C-VSP-WD tool CGG-BSD.
Geophones 30 Hz omni-tilt X,Y and Z-axis

6.2 Preliminary Field Test
Digital conversion 16 bit
Bandwith 7-150 Hz
The shallow experimental well of Downhole Technology
Sampling rate 500 Hz
Limited (DTL, Aberdeen, United Kingdom), in the deviated
Data format SEG-Y
and horizontal part (Fig. 47) was selected to qualify and vali-
date the downhole VSP-WD tool and check the vector
TABLE 3 fidelity of the tool coupling. This test well is drilled entirely
Other features of the 3C-VSP-WD tool
in massive granite altered with a few permeable fractures:
therefore, the seismic propagation in this medium should be
Tool autonomy 10 days
quite isotropic and the VSP test can be focused on the study
of direct arrivals in order to optimize the vector fidelity and
DC steel Non magnetic DC
the mechanical coupling of the WSP-WD downhole DRU
Temperature measurement Yes recorder. Advanced applications of isotropic mechanical
Bit
Horizontal distance (ft)
8’’1/2
-100 100 300 500 700 900 3 DC VSP
0 3 DC DPs
6”1/2 6”3/4 6”1/2 5”
Zero offset Offset VSP
200 Source source
400 0 93.7 106.5 197.52

(ft)
Vertical depth (ft)
600 Figure 48
800 Sketch of BHA1.
1000 Bit
1200
8’’1/2
1 DC 1 stand VSP DPs
1400 6”1/2 5” 6”3/4 5”
Logged zone
1600
0 34.22 128.4 141.2
(ft)
Figure 47 Figure 49
Well trajectory projection in azimuth N222°E. Sketch of BHA2.
response of the 3C VSP tools include the possibility to deter- – orientation of (X- and Y-axes) by maximization of the
mine the dip and azimuth of seismic reflectors under the well direct P-wave.
trajectory, as explained in [19] for instance. On operational drilling sites, an easy and accurate way to
Two architectures of Bore Hole Assembly (BHA) were orient the 3C signals in a geographical system of coordinates
tested, as the mechanical coupling of the sensors to the for- consists in using the directional MWD measurements (tool
mation is insured by gravity only: face and well deviation and azimuth angles) made when the
– For the first test run (BHA1 sketch on Fig. 48), the BHA rests in a still position at each VSP level, a procedure
coupling was mainly insured by the heavy 6"1/2 diameter successfully applied previously. On Figure 50, the tool face
drill collars (DC) located below and above the 6"3/4 angle is labeled “Relative bearing” (Rb) in reference to the
diameter VSP-WD tool: the DC weight of the adjacent same angle denomination used in wireline logging.
DC was expected to provide a firm contact with the
formation.
– For the second test run (BHA2 sketch on Fig. 49), the
6" 3/4 diameter VSP tool is quite larger than the
5" diameter adjacent drill pipes (DP): the net extra 12 0000
diameter of the VSP tool was expected to provide an

improved local contact with the formation and constitute a 115 000
vibration node right at the level of the geophone sensors.
Two sources were actuated for both runs: a zero offset air-
gun in a shallow water pit and a truck mounted land air gun 11 0000
P time (µs)
in an offset position above the horizontal drain (Fig. 47).

Once the bit reached the total depth (TD 2370 ft), the drill
105 000
string was moved up every 15 m (half a 3 DP stand) for the
VSP acquisition: 5 shots per level for each source, resulting
TLC
in less than 5 min recording duration per level. 1 00000 VSP-WD
6.3 Processing 95 000

1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000 2100 2200 2300
A standard VSP preprocessing was applied on the recorded MD (ft)
data, including: Figure 50

– edition of the few noisy traces; Time picks of 3C VSP-WD versus TLC-VSP on direct P-wave
– vertical stack at each level for each source; arrivals. Same zero-offset/rig source for both VSP runs.
6.4 Results Depth (m)

689 648 621 593 566 538 511 483 456
0
6.4.1 Time Pick Comparison
The time picks of the direct P-wave of the VSP-WD proto-

type versus a TLC tool used in the same drillstring with the
same source, but not at the same measured depth (MD) lev-
els, are compared on Figure 50. The two curves are similar 100
within less than 1 ms between MD 2000 and 2230 ft. These

results show the good accuracy of the seismic times, which
validates the EM synchronization technique versus the con-
ventional wireline reference.
200
6.4.2 Reorientation Angle Comparison
If the DRU coupling to the formation is isotropic for the two

runs, the difference between relative bearing angles (RB)
computed by maximization of the off-axis X and Y compo- 300
nents of direct arrival signals on the offset source and rig

source should be equal for both runs at the same depth level.
The difference of angle is limited to within about 5°, which
means that the two BHA architectures tested yield fair cou-
400
pling conditions. Above MD 450 m, where the well is almost
vertical, the dispersed values obtained on the BHA1 curve Figure 52
(Fig. 51) are due to the loose mechanical coupling in this part BHA1. Zwell component. Rig source collection.
of the well. Figs 52, 53 and 54: isotropic 3C displays, filtered (2, 65 Hz).
Constant gain.
6.4.3 3C Data Quality and Trace to Trace Coherency Observation: components XV and YH do not show a good
trace to trace coherency.
Figures 52 to 54 show the oriented 3C data for BHA1,
Figures 55 to 57 for BHA2 The oriented VSP-WD data show Depth (m)
an excellent S/N ratio for both BHA architectures as the 689 648 621 593 566 538 511 483 456
0
noise before the first direct P-wave arrival is minimal.
100
50
40 BHA1 Rb (offset source)-Rb (rig source)
30 BHA2 Rb (offset source)-Rb (rig source)
20
200
Delta Rb (°)
10
0
-10
-20
Y Xv Rb 300
-30
X
-40 Zwell Yh
-50
400 450 500 550 600 650 700
MD (m)
400
Figure 51 Figure 53
Reorientation of (X, Y) by maximization of the direct arrival. BHA1. XV component.
Depth (m) Depth (m)

689 648 621 593 566 538 511 483 456 680 652 625 598 570 543 515 488 460 433
0 0
100 100
200 200
300 300
400 400
Figure 54 Figure 55
BHA1. YH component. BHA2. Rig source - Zwell component-filtered (2, 65 Hz).
Constant gain.
Figs 55, 56, 57: isotropic 3C displays, filtered (2, 65 Hz).
Constant gain.
Observation: components XV and YH show an execellent
trace to trace coherency, on P-wave peglegs (XV component)
and on downgoing S-wave residuals (YH component).
Depth (m)
Depth (m)
680 652 625 598 570 543 515 488 460 433
680 652 625 598 570 543 515 488 460 433
0
0
100
100
200
200
300
300
400
400
Figure 57 Figure 56
BHA2. YH component. BHA2. XV component.
However, after orientation of the off-well axis compo- zone, etc., which increases both the source cost and the rig
nents X and Y, the 3 component wavefields are much more immobilization time necessary for the seismic acquisition. In
consistent trace to trace on BHA2 than on BHA1: contrast, the drillbit EM-SWD technique of 3D reverse walk-
– on component XV, the direct P-wave arrival and its away presents a definite advantage over the conventional
peglegs are more coherent on Figure 56 than on Figure 53; direct wireline WSP technique in areas of difficult terrain
– on the transverse component YH, the weak downgoing conditions where only 2D surface seismic profiling is eco-
S-wavetrain is much more coherent on Figure 57 than on nomically reasonable. The drillbit EM-SWD technique can
Figure 54. The P-wave direct arrival energy have been be more efficient than the conventional walkaway when deep
nicely minimized on component YH for both BHA’s, indi- reflections are sought for, with a large 3D surface seismic
cating a fair vector fidelity; spread of geophones deployed around the well up to large
– on well axis component Zwell, the downgoing P-wavetrain distances from the rig. The drillbit source can be listened to
is very consistent for both BHAs, which means that the for the whole drilling time in the depth interval of the survey,
mechanical coupling to the formation is quite good in the which generates large amounts of seismic energy and
well axis for both BHA configurations, this result being improves the S/N quality, the image clarity and the penetra-
similar with wireline VSP tools. tion ahead of the bit.
Therefore, the above tests show that a VSP-WD tool inte- The EM-SWD reverse walkaway technique does not dis-
grated in a BHA has an improved vector fidelity of the over- turb the drilling process significantly. The main constraint on
all seismic response, thus isotropy of mechanical coupling, drilling is to use a roller cone bit for one or two drilling runs
when the diameter of the VSP-WD tool is larger than the around mid depth objective and over a limited depth interval
diameter of the adjacent BHA elements. where the rock formations are rather hard. The time delay for
In conclusion, the 3C EM-VSP-WD prototype meets the processing needs to be reduced in order to render the method
requirements of the seismic measurement in terms of reliabil- even more attractive.
ity, S/N ratio, 3C isotropy, and operational efficiency. The The real time availability of the downhole data obtained
acquisition is not limited only to a check-shot. The present by means of wired drill pipe technology is ideal for drillbit
test validates the EM-VSP-WD technique at least for the well SWD since the surface data can be correlated by a real time
sites where the EM transmission works properly. commercial correlator/stacker connected with the seismic
The next generation of EM-VSP-WD tool might need to recorder. In practice, when the wireless EM-SWD technol-
be built in the crown of the BHA, in order to clear the pas- ogy is used, storing large amounts of data downhole and on
sage inside the drill collars, in which case it will be easier to surface does not pose any technical problems nowadays, and
add a hydrophone sensor. this recording procedure should not delay the data processing
significantly if a modest seismic processing machine and
crew are brought in the immediate rig site proximity. In any
7 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION case, drillbit recording over a 100 to 300 m depth interval is
necessary to perform the full walkaway processing using
7.1 Drillbit-SWD Reverse Walkaway velocity filters over all the recorded drillbit source interval.
While acquiring the first drillbit run, many seismic prepro-
The objective of the walkaway SWD method is to produce cessing tasks and controls can be done, such as geometry
a seismic image of the geological structure around the first acquisition, surface data reading and correlation by the sec-
well in order to confirm the target structure, or to indicate the ondary reference accelerometer on top of the drillstring,
drilling targets of the following directional wells. Exploration labeling the geometry, labeling with the drilling parameters,
and development drilling occurs sometimes in areas where etc. The complete QC control and processing can start only
the surface seismic quality is poor, or where the subsurface when the first batch of downhole data is available, after the
objectives are very deep and difficult to illuminate with sur- first EM-SWD drilling run.
face seismic: the drillbit SWD technique is expected to com- Offshore, drillbit reverse SWD walkaways could be
plement the surface exploration in the well vicinity in such acquired using OBC receiver cables located on sea bottom,
circumstances. but this poses three problems:
In onshore areas where rough field conditions make it – roller cone bits are seldom used in offshore drilling as
difficult to operate seismic sources, a reverse walkaway formations are tender to medium hard;
SWD survey might prove to be more economical than a – the well seismic data are not available right away and
direct walkaway survey recorded with surface source and cannot be controlled in real time, in contrast with the
downhole string of receivers. conventional direct walkaway recorded with a long array
Onshore, conventional walkaway surveys can be difficult of receivers in the well and an efficient seismic source
to acquire depending on the access conditions for the seismic mounted on a boat quickly accessing any desired shooting
source: rugged terrain, forest and mountain areas, transition location;
– deep offshore installation of OBC’s might become diffi- 7.2 Application Domain of VSP-SWD
cult in deep waters. For these reasons, the conventional
wireline technique remains very efficient for offshore The first objective of the VSP-WD method is to use the
walkaway surveys. direct arrivals only in order to locate the drill bit and well tra-
In conclusion (Fig. 58), the use of the drillbit SWD walka- jectory on the surface seismic section, as long as this latter is
way method offers good perspectives for onshore areas with readable, so as to help the drillers in making appropriate deci-
difficult access conditions: this is an exploration-WD tech- sions mainly about the drilling program: overpressure detec-
nique particularly interesting in areas where the surface seis- tion often lead the drillers to set the casings at sensitive and
mic illumination is poor. The method is not well suited for appropriate depths. Visualizing the well trajectory on the
continuous monitoring of the drillbit: as a matter of fact, the seismic section (in time) is essential to help the drilling team
emitted energy generated by the roller cone bit decreases management, in vertical, deviated or horizontal wells.
with depth, diameter, and weight on bit, while it would be Preferably, drillers like to visualize the well trajectory in the
desirable to have a more powerful source as the depth domain, which necessitates updating the conversion of the
increases. seismic image into depth several times during drilling, ref.:
MWDC® method (Migration While Drilling Continuously)
The downhole technology to be developed for drillbit
and Dream Software (Drilling and REAl time Migration)
walkaway SWD can be restrained to an electronic equipment
introduced by ENI-Agip and Western-Atlas in 2000, and the
in central position inside the drill collars, the precision and
DBSEIS® method of Schlumberger. In spite of considerable
drift constrains on the downhole clock do not need to be very
efforts engaged by major organizations such as
high, which lead to reasonable equipment cost.
Schlumberger, [20, 21], or OGS, Trieste, and ENI, Milan,
Italy, [22-24], devoted to developing the drillbit SWD tech-
nique applied continuously while drilling, and without down-
hole reference measurement, the seismic signal-to-noise ratio
MAIN CONCLUSIONS of the drillbit signal is often too weak, thus impractical for
sustained industrial use in all geographical areas worldwide.
On the drillbit-SWD technique of reverse walkaway
In contrast, the examples of VSP-WD given in [25-27] illus-
using downhole reference measurements
trate how the recorded 3C geophone data can be promising,
and now yield systematic excellent direct arrivals; however,
Technical conditions preferred for application
the coupling quality and the vector fidelity of the 3C
of the drillbit-SWD technique
response of VSP-WD tools still need to be improved in com-
(in bold, specific innovative input brought by IFP)
parison with the wireline VSP tools.
The second objective of the VSP-WD is to use the reflec-
• Roller cone drilling, bit with milled teeth or inserts
tion response and look ahead of the bit: in vertical wells,
• Weight on bit > 10 t, rpm > 90 tr/min
early detection of overpressure is always desirable; in devi-
• Shock ABSORBER in the BHA (near bit or above)
ated wells, the VSP is able to produce an image below the
• Bit diameter preferred: 17 1/2", 12 1/4", 8 1/2"
well deviation, provided the mechanical coupling of the VSP
• Formation under drilling medium to hard, to the borehole wall is excellent (this point needs to be inves-
preferably with P-wave velocity Vp > 2700m/s
tigated and improved in the VSP-WD tools, which further
• Downhole technology-MWD: memory recorder
adds to the technological challenge of VSP-WD tools). In
synchronized with surface clock or wired drill pipes
horizontal wells, the direct arrival surface to downhole
should provide at least the well trajectory in seismic time, to
Where does thedrillbit-SWD technique
be drawn on the seismic section, so as to guide the drilling
apply with best chances of success?
navigation (see [26] for example).
The VSP-WD method looks quite appropriate to operate a
• Vertical to low deviated wells, around mid-target depth
basic well-tie operation while drilling. In the horizontal part
• Onshore areas with rugged surface conditions, in which
activating a surface seismic source is costly
of the wells, it looks like the only method to record VSP-type
data, since the drillers are extremely reluctant to reenter the
• Deep objectives in areas where surface layers are
complex (foothills zones), or where shallow layers are borehole with the drillstring pushing a wireline VSP tool, for
very attenuating for seismic waves (ex.: Middle-East). reasons of borehole wall instability and security.
In vertical wells, the coupling of the 3C geophones to the
formation would be improved by adding to the VSP-WD tool
an anchoring pad similar to the ones used on the fluid sam-
Figure 58 pler tools-WD, which would further increase the complexity
Conclusion. and rental price of the VSP-WD tool.
A practical and economical way to record VSP-WD is to essary for the well tie and the evaluation of the new SWD
record while tripping out (POOH), as in this manner, the seis- results and reliability. In IFP, Guy Pignard and his electron-
mic source mobilization is minimized. ics and mechanical engineering colleagues designed, oper-
Presently, the only alternative way to operate VSP mea- ated and improved the Trafor system, in order to achieved all
surements in a horizontal drain remains the slim wireline the mechanical and seismic tests desired by Jean-Baptiste
VSP tools pumped inside the drillstring (for instance the Faÿ, Jean Guesnon and Claude Mabile, mechanical engineers
PIPESEIS® method of CGG-Baker). and project leaders in the Drilling Department.
In conclusion, the SWD technology and reliability still For the drillbit SWD EC project GE 019/96, Fausto Batini
need to be improved to fully reach the industrial stage. The and the personnel of the Mining Department of ENEL, as
drillbit SWD method using a downhole reference signal has well as ENEL drilling supervisors and many staff of the
not yet been fully industrialized by any major MWD contrac- Larderello Laboratory have greatly contributed to the prepa-
tor, and VSP-WD represents a very challenging technique. ration and operational success of the large SWD field opera-
The economical impact of the VSP-WD method is tions on the Tuscany geothermal drill sites.
expected to be important in deep offshore wells, for the well During the VSP-WD French CEPM projects, the active
tie of horizontal drains to the surface seismic images and for participation of the following people has been quite helpful:
real-time model updating.
Stéphan Crépin and Michel Erbetta of TFE (now Total), Nick
The preferable downhole technology to develop for VSP- Randall and Steve Wellens of CGG-BSD (now Baker-Atlas),
WD is with an electronic equipment built in the crown of a
Namic Klioua of Geoservices, Renate Bary and Gérard
drill collar, for all possible drill collar diameters, since the
Thierry of the IFP Seismic Instrumentation Department.
VSP-WD measurements are needed continuously in the deep
The prompt cooperation of I/O Sensor engineers, namely
half of vertical, deviated and horizontal wells. The precision
required on the downhole clock, the autonomy of the down- Kees Faber, Peter Maxwell, Steve Burden facilitated the pre-
hole VSP-WD recorder in terms of real time software, the liminary phase of validation of sensors for the VSP-WD
difficulty to insure a good mechanical coupling of the VSP application.
seismic sensor to the formation, lead to highly sophisticated Last, the partial funding brought by the French CEPM
technological developments due to the high level of reliabil- and by EC have been helpful in the decisions to engage the
ity required, and high equipment costs. above described development projects.
A difficulty inherent to all the SWD techniques is that a
high level of dialog and confidence need to be established REFERENCES
between the specialists of different disciplines working
around the drilling process itself, the exploration in general, 1 Lutz, J., Raynaud, M., Gstalder, S., Quichaud, C., Raynal, J.
and Muckelroy, J.A. (1972) Instantaneous logging based on a
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3 Rector, J.W. III and Marion, B.P. (1991) The use of drillbit
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Oil & Gas Science and Technology – Rev. IFP, Vol. 59 (2004), No. 4, pp.

Seismic While Drilling (SWD) Techniques

NOMENCLATURE WA WAlkaway (seismic survey)

depth. Later, Elf-Aquitaine geoscientists and drillers

to develop the horizontal drilling technique, and invited CGG Survigile

Downhole reference signal DACZ

Drill pipes Drill pipes

XCOR, by downhole DACZ

Seismic emission, Seismic emission

drill bit to shock sub

Figure 3a and 3b Figure 4a and 4b

Synthetic PSV SWD binstack

Time twt (ms)

of the Earth seismic reflection response at the well are repre-

sonic log and density log, zero phase display;

– VSP corridor stack, zero phase deconvolved;

– drillbit SWD reflection results ahead of the bit. The short

150 m logged depth interval is indicated, as well as the

The frequency content of the SWD image, up to 75 Hz

Offset from well (m)

Well projection 15-90 Hz 15-30 Hz 30-45 Hz 45-60 Hz 60-90 Hz

Drillstring reemission Drillstring reemission

Figure 11a Figure 11b

Absorbers in the BHA

In order to further improve the drillbit seismic emission qual- Drillbit

the lateral coherence from one seismic trace to the other

well, 400 m offset

from sonic only

source and a multilevel string of downhole seismic receivers

shock absorber is lower than the processing cost of heavy DEBF

1.3 Transfer Function of a Shock Absorber

a shock absorber with TRAFOR in drilling conditions.

51 The shock test table sketched on Figure 19 was used to

"ANVIL" (fix part)

Pneumatic jack Pump

Wired DP added Annulus electric

Drilling fluid 0 50 100 150 200 250 300

SGEO: near source surface monitor geophone

0 50 100 150 200 Sample number

0 139 278 417 556 Time (ms)

0 50 100 150 200 250 300

-400 0 100 200 300 400 Sample number

1.5 Industrialization including downhole measurements. With this in mind, IFP

computer in order to obtain results

1.5 3.0 4.5 6.0 7.5

Geoservices surface unit:

Well trajectory Target

G All angles relative

900 Target details

Reflected wavefield deconvolved on near well geophone collection.

Measurement depth (m)

A large scale EM-SWD drillbit demonstration test for seis-

1500 Distance from 2.00

Pure P-P Drilling interval 6.00

FINAL 1000 8.00

Figure 39a and 39b Figure 40

1.0 Time (s) Zero time = DACZ

Time segment number

The drillstring multiple time could be used to control the

around 15 Hz in order to insure a good omnitilt response.