Azimuth Reference in Deviation Surveys

Objective: To see how azimuth reference effects the well position

Method
1. Created three wells (well_grid, well_mag and well_true) and gave them the same
locations, bottom depth and KB
2. Loaded the same deviation survey 3 times varying the Azimuth Reference from
True, Grid, and Magnetic with a declination of 5 degrees to match the wells.
3. Converted the deviation survey to grid for well_mag and well_true
4. Set the converted ‘grid’ deviation survey to preferred for each well
5. Display the 3 wells in basemap to see the difference (Figure 1)
6. Transferred the well into Petrel using OpenSpirit to view them in 3D (Figure 2)

Results
There is a difference between all three deviation surveys, clearly seen in Figure 1 and
Figure 2. However the greatest difference is between grid and magnetic deviation
surveys. There is a 125m difference between the deviation loaded as grid north verses the
deviation loaded as magnetic north and converted to grid north
GeoFrame computes the bottom hole location from the loaded values (MD, AZIM and
DEVI), for deviated well this can be a problem because if the Azimuth Reference (AR) is
wrong then the bottom hole position will also be wrong. This means the AR needs to be
known to load the WDS accurately. If the AR is set wrongly, the XY displacement from
the correct location will increase with the distance from the equator. The error also
increases with MD.

Figure 1: Basemap view of the three well trajectories showing the difference between the
AR.
Figure 2: Well paths in 3D window, the error compounds at the end of the well

Lesson Learnt about loading wells into Petrel

If the well’s deviation survey was not recorded in grid north then the well will have to be
converted. The conversion can be performed in GeoFrame. Then the well path can be
manually exported or transferred into Petrel using OpenSpirit.

To export the well path using OpenSpirit after conversion

1. Make sure that correct deviation survey is set as preferred for the well in
GeoFrame
2. Create a new borehole set with the new well
3. Now to Windows, connect to OpenSpirit and open Petrel
4. Within Petrel, connect to GeoFrame project from (Project -> OpenSpirit setting)
5. Launch the OpenSpirit Data Selector (File-> Launch Data Selector)
6. Select the Project from the project tab
7. Select the borehole set created above in the Well bore list
8. From the Well Bore tab select the well to transfer
9. Select broadcast to transfer the wells into Petrel.