Awaiting Public Project Summary

This Silixa-led collaboration with Statoil and Weatherford will develop a downhole fibre optic –based seismic sensor array based on Silixa’s Intelligent Distributed Acoustic Sensor (iDASTM) technology. iDAS makes it possible to observe the acoustic field at every meter along a fibre optic cable, and so enables geophysical acquisition via only fibre optic cable without requiring any additional hardware such as spliced sensing stations. This project has already resulted in one successful offshore trial in the Gullfaks field, which was conducted without interruption of hydrocarbon production [Madsen et al., A VSP Field Trial using Distributed Acoustic Sensing in a Producing Well in the North Sea, 74th EAGE Conference & Exhibition incorporating SPE EUROPEC 2012, Copenhagen, Denmark, 4-7 June 2012, Y006]. A second offshore field trial will be conducted during Summer 2012, and will lead the project towards itsconclusion; a robust commercially-available downhole seismic sensing system requiring only fibre optic cable for sensing.

This Silixa-led collaboration with Chevron, Statoil, Saudi Aramco and UCL will develop a downhole fibre optic–based distributed sensor array for acoustic flow metering based on Silixa’s Intelligent Distributed Acoustic Sensor (iDASTM) technology. iDAS measures the acoustic field at every metre along a fibre optic cable, and so enables distributed flow measurement without requiring any complicated additional hardware. The project has already resulted in successful trials in a number of Statoil North Sea wells and Chevron offshore wells in the Gulf of Thailand. The project is due for completion in January 2013 with the aim to provide a non-intrusive downhole distributed acoustic monitoring system that, in addition to flow profiling, can provide valuable information for downhole diagnostics.