Magnetic ranging refers to the determination of the relative position of one well with respect to another using magnetic measurements. Magnetic ranging is used for several oil field applications including positioning blow-out relief wells, steam- assisted gravity drainage and heavy oil applications, and planned intersection of one well with another. The procedure is also applicable to horizontal distance measurement and TVD correlation between observation wells and nearby horizontal wells. This paper is a discussion of the theories, methodologies, and pro’s and con’s of both "active" and "passive" magnetic ranging.

A comparison of a number of specific technologies currently available in the marketplace will be presented. The paper will discuss the following trademarked and proprietary items: Magnetic Guidance Tool™, Single Wire Guidance™, Rotating Magnet Ranging Service™, MagTraC , and Parallel Well Tracker™. The paper also includes a discussion of potential future directions in magnetic ranging.

Field experience and history will be presented as well as methodology for each technology. The paper will focus mainly on technologies that are currently available with discussions of the theory of operation of each technology, operation parameters, specifications, experience with drilling different types of wells with the various technologies, and finally, the advantages and disadvantages of each technology will also be discussed.

Keywords:
single wire guidance, well pair, intersection, producer, target well, sensor, upstream oil & gas, injector, horizontal well, determination
Subjects:
Well Planning, Drilling Operations, Casing and Cementing, Improved and Enhanced Recovery, Unconventional and Complex Reservoirs, Trajectory design, Directional drilling, Casing design
Copyright 2002, SPE/PS-CIM/CHOA International Thermal Operations and Heavy Oil Symposium and International Horizontal Well Technology Conference
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