ACQUIRING AND PROCESSING SEISMIC WITH THE DRILL-BIT SOURCE AND WIRELESS GEOPHONES IN A DESERT ENVIRONMENT

Recordings of seismic waves generated by a drill bit while drilling can give information about drilling conditions and current formation properties, and can provide lookahead prediction. As a part of the recently introduced DrillCAM system, aiming to become an integrated solution for imaging and predicting ahead of the drill bit and geosteering, seismic-while-drilling data is acquired by a 3D full-azimuth spread of geophones. We present data acquisition and processing results from the first pilot test in a desert environment, where, for the first time, wireless geophones installed around a rig were used to acquire the drill-bit seismic while drilling. We demonstrate the feasibility of such a system to provide flexible and depth adaptable acquisition geometries without impacting drilling operations. Using special processing steps, we successfully transform the drill-bit noise into meaningful and reliable seismic signals. The real-time capabilities of the system make the data available for continuous data processing and interpretation that will facilitate drilling automation and improve real-time decision-making in future applications.