ITERATIVE CLUSTERING FOR GEOSTEERING INVERSION

• Main Authors: Yan, Ting, Wu, Hsu-Hsiang, Pan, Li
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 13.07.2023
• Subjects: DETECTING MASSES OR OBJECTS; EARTH DRILLING; EARTH DRILLING, e.g. DEEP DRILLING; FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS; GEOPHYSICS; GRAVITATIONAL MEASUREMENTS; MEASURING; MINING; OBTAINING OIL, GAS, WATER, SOLUBLE OR MELTABLE MATERIALS OR ASLURRY OF MINERALS FROM WELLS; PHYSICS; TESTING

System and methods for geosteering inversion are provided. Downhole tool responses are predicted for different points along a planned path of a wellbore during a downhole operation, based on each of a plurality of inversion models. Measurements of the downhole tool's actual responses are obtained as the wellbore is drilled over the different points during a current stage of the operation. The inversion models are clustered based on a comparison between the actual and predicted tool responses and a randomly selected centroid for each cluster. The inversion models are re-clustered using an average inversion model determined for each cluster as the centroid for that cluster. At least one of the re-m clustered inversion models is used to perform inversion for one or more subsequent stages of the downhole operation along the planned wellbore path. The planned wellbore path is adjusted for the subsequent stage(s) of the downhole operation.