A feasibility study of borehole radar as a permanent downhole sensor

Abstract

Permanent downhole sensors provide the eyes and ears to the reservoir and enable monitoring the reservoir conditions on a real-time basis. In particular, the use of sensors and remotely controlled valves in wells and on the surface, in combination with reservoir flow models provide enormous benefits to reservoir management and oil production. We suggest borehole radar measurements as a promising technique capable to monitor the arrival of undesired fluids in the proximity of production wells. We use 1D modelling to investigate the expected signal magnitude and depth of investigation of a borehole radar sensor operating in an oilfield environment. We restrict the radar applicability to environments where the radar investigation depth can fit the reservoir size necessary to be monitored. Potential applications are steam chamber monitoring in steam assisted gravity drainage processes and water front monitoring in thin oil rim environments. A more sophisticated analysis of the limits of a radar system is carried out through 2D finite-difference time-domain simulations. The metal components of the wellbore casing can cause destructive interference with the emitted signal. A high dielectricmedium surrounding the production well increases the amplitude of the signal and so the radar performance. Other reservoir constraints are given by the complexity of the reservoir and the dynamic of the fluids. Time-lapse changes in the heterogeneity of the background formation strongly affect the retrieval of the target reflections and gradual fluid saturation changes reduce the amplitudes of the reflections.