Breaking New Ground: Exploring the Connection Between Drilling Parameters and Formation Properties through Advanced Multi-Source Data Pattern Analysis

Abstract

Abstract In the oil and gas industry, an extensive volume of logging data is routinely generated and acquired during operations. This data is accumulated across various phases of exploration, production, and subsequent operations. The challenge lies in extracting meaningful insights from this high-dimensional dataset. Constraints in data visualization (such as the three spatial axes, x, y, and z) and manipulation further complicate the process of drawing valuable conclusions. As a method to tackle this challenge, a technique has been devised to streamline data visualization by reducing high-dimensional data to a lower dimensionality, while retaining vital features crucial for big data analysis. Principal component analysis (PCA) emerges as a prominent approach employed for data dimensionality reduction. PCA simplifies multivariate datasets encompassing well-logging tools (e.g., gamma ray, density, neutron porosity, and resistivity) and drilling parameters such as rate of penetration, weight on bit, and vibration data, condensing them into a reduced number of factors known as principal components (PCs). The results of the dimensionality reduction technique show that various logging data and drilling parameters were condensed into a set of principal components (PC1, PC2…PCx), where x corresponds to the number of utilized variables. The analysis indicates that the first two components (PC1, PC2) capture most of data patterns. The graphical representation of these components (PCA biplot) reveals distinct clusters with clear patterns, facilitating the identification of separate electro-facies. Moreover, PC1 exhibits a strong correlation with lithology variations, enabling its utilization in well-to-well correlation. Additionally, regression analysis demonstrates a significant predictive relationship between PCA components and well logging variables, allowing the use of the R-squared regression technique to forecast a result curve based on PCA input. Higher principal components are found to be more associated with formation fluid, thus complementing the standard petrophysical analysis. The industry's current shift is from data collection to practical applications. By employing diverse dimensionality reduction techniques, the workflow enables the analysis of big data in a more comprehensive manner, unveiling concealed trends and insights. This approach not only facilitates machine-learning and artificial-intelligence applications but also enables a deeper understanding of the data through descriptive forms, thereby supporting industry advancements.