Combination of a surface well testing facility and a cable formation tester with an active circulation system for obtaining inflow and measuring formation fluid parameters on the surface
Methods and systems for conveying a WFT via drill pipe within a wellbore penetrating a subterranean formation and setting two packers of the WFT on opposite sides of a zone of interest of the formation, thereby isolating an interval of an annulus between the WFT and a wall of the wellbore. DTT of the formation is then performed by operating two WFT pumps of the WFT to pump fluid from the formation via the isolated interval, through the WFT, and out of the WFT to the wellbore, while operating mud pumps to pump drilling mud into the wellbore and thereby convey a mixture of the drilling mud and the pumped formation fluid through the annulus to a mud gas separator. Gas from the mud gas separator is used to measure a surface production rate of the formation fluid.
1. A method comprising:
conveying a wireline formation tester (WFT) via drill pipe within a wellbore penetrating a subterranean formation;
setting two packers of the WFT on opposite sides of a zone of interest of the formation, thereby isolating an interval of an annulus between the WFT and a wall of the wellbore;
performing a pretest by operating two WFT pumps of the WFT to pump fluid from the formation while sensing parameters of the pumped formation fluid to measure pressure of the formation and estimate mobility of the formation;
after performing the pretest, activating a slip joint operable to compensate for temperature-dependent expansion and contraction of the drill pipe during at least deep transient testing;
after activating the slip joint, isolating the wellbore via operation of a blowout preventer (BOP);
after isolating the wellbore via the BOP, operating the two WFT pumps to pump a volume of fluid from the formation sufficient to reduce contamination of the pumped fluid to a predetermined level;
after sufficiently reducing contamination, operating the two WFT pumps to perform a pressure buildup transient sufficiently long to identify radial flow of fluid from the formation and a wellbore skin; and
after performing the pressure buildup transient, performing the deep transient testing of the formation by:
operating the two WFT pumps of the WFT to pump fluid from the formation via the isolated interval, through the WFT, and out of the WFT to the wellbore; and
operating mud pumps to pump drilling mud into the wellbore and thereby convey a mixture of the drilling mud and the pumped formation fluid through the annulus to a mud gas separator located at a wellsite surface from which the wellbore extends; and
using gas separated by the mud gas separator to measure a surface production rate of the formation fluid.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising collecting samples of the formation fluid at or after an end of the deep transient testing.
3. The method of claim 1 further comprising performing downhole fluid analysis of the pumped formation fluid during the deep transient testing.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein the downhole fluid analysis comprises measuring, estimating, or determining one or more of pressure, contamination, gas-to-oil ratio, mass density, optical density, formation volume factor, viscosity, resistivity, fluorescence, American Petroleum Institute (API) gravity, and composition of the pumped formation fluid.
5. The method of claim 1 further comprising opening the BOP, then moving the WFT to another zone of interest, then repeating the deep transient testing and the surface production rate measurement.