Consultant Geologist: the advantages of hiring one
Consultant geologists, in the oil and gas industry, provide contract services to clients bringing outside experience and a different perspective which allows us to help companies identify and solve several different problems.
Geological consulting services include expert and experienced advice regarding all aspects of geology at the wellsite. While always promoting a safe working environment, we give the employer peace of mind through the supervision of personnel and operations, keeping the client always represented and updated regarding all aspects of the daily activity, auditing third party services, among other duties.
The presence of a consulting geologist at the wellsite ensures that the operator can properly contact and communicate with the service companies working at the rig, being able to transmit their intent and concerns, knowing said services are constantly supervised and that their quality is controlled and assured.
Through our specialized and specific skill sets, contract geologists bring a whole new value to drilling operations, especially when operators are understaffed, as we are versatile and can work on temporary or permanent projects weather they are close or far away in remote locations.
Case studies
Offshore Denmark, 2013-2016
The client’s staff may sometimes not be as experienced as desired, especially during an industry upturn. That is one of the areas where a consulting geologist can contribute, as we can train and mentor company staff right where the operations take place, the rigsite.
This was the case in Denmark where I contributed to the training of junior geologists and geophysicists who came on board the drilling platform.
This provided junior personnel the chance to quickly grasp more easily certain aspects of on site drilling and geological operations, which may not be fully observed from an office.
Offshore Tunisia, 2013
Tunisia was a good example of how important the contribution from a geological consultancy expert can be for the oil and gas company.
Due to careful vigilance, constant LWD log analysis, and cuttings observation, an unexpected 200m (MDRT) early entry into the reservoir was detected, which could have had severe consequences for the safety of the personnel and the entire operation.
Another example would be that of wireline logging operations supervision in which the wireline team was successfully led to quickly discover a faulty component in their cabin. This situation could have compromised the following morning operation, regarding operational timings and helicopter flight costs, as an extra helicopter would have been flown out just to replace this part and the rig would have had to be put on standby waiting for it’s arrival. As the team discovered the damaged component at night, we were able to order a new replacement to arrive in the usual morning helicopter flight.
Typically provided geological consulting services
Representation:
- Direct representation of the G&G department of the oil and gas company at the wellsite
Reporting:
- Creation of Composite logs
- Provision of Daily Geology Reports (DGR)
- Production of End of well reports (EOWR) / Final well reports (FWR)
- Weekly QC summary of third party services
- Write and update all documents and reports regarding well monitoring and geological operations
- Provision of digital data such as mudlogging and wireline data, as well as wireline logging operations reports and logging failure summaries
- Guarantee and validate flow of wellsite data to the base
Operations:
- On site decision to initiate coring, intermediate logging, to continue or halt drilling at casing points and core points, etc., after the approval of the G&G department
- Selection of provisional formation tops, coring and casing points
Evaluation and prediction:
- Evaluation and description of drill cuttings, sidewall cores and conventional cores, including porosity analysis
- Pore pressure evaluation and estimation using wireline/LWD logs, drilling exponent, borehole behaviour, etc.
- Hydrocarbon detection, quality analysis and fluid identification
- Gas ratios (Wh, Bh Ch), pixler plots, gas quality
- Correlation with offset wells and regional geology
- Interpretation of all data, including petrophysics through well log analysis
- Identification, prediction and evaluation of the geological hazards / drilling hazards such as formation overpressure, gains, losses, caving, differential sticking, H2S, swelling clays, shallow gas, etc.
Wellbore Monitoring:
- Wellbore stability analysis through cavings, wellbore conditions, pore pressure, etc.
- Gas levels such as H2S, CO2 and hydrocarbon gas components
Communication:
- Liaise with oil company representatives, including daily reporting to operations geologist
- Daily conference calls with client and third party service representatives
- Ensure the proper communication between the mudlogging personnel and the drilling crews, particularly regarding mud pit level monitoring
- Assurance of geological operations follow-up offshore
- Assuring correct data communication at the well site by reporting in due times any event with potential consequence on the project achievement
- Working closely with other supervisors, such as drilling and mud supervisors, appointed by the company in order to form a cohesive and efficient team
HSE:
- Knowledge and observance of company HSE policies, rules and procedures and pro-activity on this matter by participating actively to the client’s safety card system and by reporting all incident or potentially dangerous situation observed
- Promote HSE standards in all wellsite formation evaluation acquisition activities
- Organization and active participation in pre-job meetings before each operation such as coring, wireline logging, open hole tests, etc.
- Report anomalies, defects, bad practices, lack of equipment, lack of competence that could result in a major HSE incident or loss of production
Third party service supervision (QA/QC):
- Core handling services regarding core marking, cutting, general processing, and chip taking
- Supervision of all well data acquisition such as mudlogging, MWD/LWD, wireline logging, coring, solid and fluid sampling (cuttings, cores, side wall cores, gas, oil, formation water, mud, etc), pressure measurements, VSP, etc in accordance with the well data acquisition program
- Supervise the conditioning, labelling and shipment of all rocks and fluid samples collected during the course of drilling and respective issued documentation
- Supervision of third party service companies performance for all the services associated to geological operations i.e. mudlogging, MWD/LWD, wireline/pipe conveyed logging, coring, micro and nano paleontology, including quality checks and reliability of equipment, necessary spare parts, consumables and the performance of the crew
- Realization of technical audits, periodically or at reception of a new mudlogging/wireline unit, to verify the compliance of contractor equipment and personnel to the contractual terms and conditions, such as regular testing and sensors calibration of mudlogging equipment
Mentoring:
- Mudlogging personnel
- Junior company personnel
