Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies, P.O. Box 1625, Idaho Falls, ID 83415-3805

A -- LARGE DOWNHOLE SEISMIC SENSOR ARRAY (LDSSA) Contact Mr. Paul Grahovac. Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies (LMIT), P.O. Box 1625, Idaho Falls, ID 83415-3805; a management and operating contractor for the Department of Energy (DOE) at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) is developing technology to reduce the costs of oil and gas seismic surveys performed in wells. The project is creating a new downhole data acquisition and processing system that operates faster, deploys more easily, and results in less expensive surveys than existing systems. LMIT is seeking industrial partners to provide technical input and resources to support the final-stage development, fabrication, and testing of the electronic and mechanical systems to build a prototype LDSSA. LMIT expects that two different companies will become the partners for the two different subsystems involved, but LMIT seeks expressions of interest from any company or teaming group of companies that would like to be considered. LMIT and the selected industrial partner(s) would enter into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA), and LMIT expects there will be licensing opportunities for the industrial partners as well. The work will be guided by LMIT, based in part on input from technical representatives of six major oil companies. LMIT expects there will be intellectual property identified in the course of the project relating to the communications package, the clamping systems, and the modularity of the overall design. There is a growing market for new technology in petroleum exploration for new reserves and identification of bypassed oil in existing fields. The project is actively supported by major oil companies that seek to have the technology become available on the market so that they can pay their service providers to use it in their exploration and production efforts. The selected CRADA and licensing partners will be positioned to manufacture the new exploration system for the oil industry's service sector worldwide-- based on the experience gained in building the project prototype, access to the prototype, and the intellectual property either licensed from LMIT or developed by the partner or both. Detailed Technical Description. Project Purpose and Goal. This enabling-technology project is intended to help the oil and gas industry more economically acquire high quality, three-component subsurface seismic data in wellbores. Evolving computational techniques will then be able to process such data in ways that will greatly enhance our ability to find and extract oil and gas. The goal is to greatly reduce the costs of seismic surveys performed in wells, by creating a new downhole data acquisition and processing system that operates faster, deploys more easily, and results in less expensive surveys than existing systems. Statement of Problem and Assessment of Current Technology. Background: ``Seismic imaging in wells'' is generic terminology covering four concepts for using downhole seismic sources or sensors in special surveys. Cross-well imaging is performed using a downhole source in one well shooting into a sensor array in a second well. Vertical Seismic Profiles (VSPs) use one or more sources on the surface in combination with a downhole sensor array. Reverse VSP's place the source downhole and sensors on the surface surrounding the wellhead. Single-well imaging is done with both source and sensors in the same well. High-resolution seismic imaging in wells can greatly increase the ability to find, develop, and produce hydrocarbons. Integration of data from crosswell imaging with other field data can dramatically reduce uncertainties in reservoir structure, reserve estimates, and maps of permeability and porosity. Crosswell imaging is also useful in determining bed continuity between wells and can help find undiscovered compartments of oil and gas in established fields. Possibly the most important applications of borehole seismic techniques will be in single-well imaging, with emphasis on more accurately locating the boundaries of salt dome flanks in the Gulf of Mexico. Although seismic imaging in wells is highly promising, before it can bed economically justified on a wide basis, its costs must be close to that of common well logging, and the quality of downhole seismic measurements must be improved to fully extract valuable information from multi-component data. Industry experts agree that only the development of advanced-technology downhole sensing systems can meet these goals. A state-of-the-art, five-level sensing system costs at least $250,00. Larger arrays, using current technology, are feasible. However, they would cost about $25,000 more per added level and have lower system reliability. Also, existing systems are difficult to deploy and lack the data acquisition speed that is needed to make in-well seismic surveys economical on a wider basis. To overcome these concerns, the user industry recommends the development of a 300-channel data system that will allow a 100-level user array of three-component, wall coupling seismic sensors to be readily deployed into vertical and deviated wells. Technical Approach and Tasks. LMIT's approach is to develop a 15-level engineering prototype that can be scaled up to a 300-channel downhole passive seismic sensing network that can be deployed into both vertical and deviated wellbores. The network will contain three-component sensor modules that can quickly couple to the sidewall of the wellbore and have that coupling action detected. Fiber optics and other newer technologies will be used to develop the sensing and deployment subsystems, which will interface to a custom high-speed surface data acquisition and control system. Subsurface information can then be collected in real time at the surface where it can be stored and processed. Tasks include systems design, systems integration, and fabrication and initial testing of an engineering prototype. Extensive applications of computer-based technology is crucial t the success of this project. Teaming and Contributions of Each Participant. The INEL will be the lead laboratory in this project and will maintain overall systems responsibility. A team of INEL/Sandia National Laboratory specialists will apply their combined expertise in seismic sensor technology and optical fiber instrumentation toward development of the sensor network. The INEL is designing a custom high-speed surface data acquisition and control system, using purchased components where possible. They will also develop needed software for component interfacing and control of sensing and sidewall coupling functions. Rapid deployment of the array demands a new sidewall coupling scheme that will allow the coupling and decoupling actions of the individual modules to occur in parrallel. New coupling designs are being evaluated using computer modeling, analyses, and simlulation. The INEL is collaborating with the University of Arkansas to develop and evaluate new coupling designs using computer-based three dimensional visual modeling, motion simlulation, and finite element modeling and analyses. Each sensor module will be designed to have dynamic characteristics consistent with the seismic signals to be measured and compatible with the deployment and sidewall coupling. Most of the scientific and engineering personnel, representing the industry participants and the University of Arkansas, have worked together as team members of an ongoing downhole seismic source development CRADA with Sandia. Lessons learned from that experience will be applied to this project. Besides acting as an advisory panel to the laboratories, participating industries will make their relevant technologies and expertise available as appropriate. Advisory companies also expect to provide test facilities and equipment for checkouts and validation expertiments. Technical input, cash for equipment purchases, and certain required manufacturing costs will be contributed by the companies selected as CRADA partners pursuant to this notice. The estimated value of the CRADA partners' contributions is expected to match DOE's approximately 3.3 million dollars investment in the project. Most of this will be in-kind fabrication resources rather than cash. Commercialization Strategy. The main objective of this project is to develop an effective and economical downhole seismic sensor array, that can quickly be placed into the hands of service companies, where it can significantly reduce the costs of performing in-well seismic surveys. One company has already committed to provide survey services to the oil and gas industry using these new sources as soon as they are available. Deliverables. An engineering prototype of the array, scalable to 100 levels that can couple to casings (with inside diameters nominally ranging from five to seven inches), is to be completed and initially tested in a wellbore in approximately two years. LMIT is beginning year two of this three-year project. Major first year deliverables are a proof-of-concept demonstration model of the integrated sensing network and a virtual prototype (computer model) of the selected sidewall coupling concept. A conceptual design of the data acquisition and control system is also completed. Second year deliverables will include engineering prototypes of the sidewall coupling and other critical subsystems that require field testing. Engineering designs will begin on those concepts that have been validated by virtual prototyping, analyses, bench testing, and simulation. Appropriate modeling, analyses, and simulations will continue. After the engineering prototype is successfully tested in the third year, the system will be ready to be made into a field-hardened version for use by service companies. The new system can also be adapted to interface with downhole seismic sources for use in single-well surveys where the source and receiver are in the same well for lateral imaging of salt dome flanks an faults. Technical Design Specifications for LDSSA. Mandatory Specifications are: Must have a fail-safe design, be recoverable without destroying the system, reliably operate to 160 degrees C, realiably operate to 12,000 psi, be deployable/retrievable within 6 hours, be capable of record lengths of up to 64,000 samples, be capable of sample times/rates from 1/8 to 1 ms, have electrical sync with time zero (jitter less than 0.1 sample), have anti-aliasing filter, have a dynamic range of 16 bits, have a fiber optic communication line, have selectable low cut filters (5, 10, 30, 150 Hz), use a conventional transducer (seismic geophone or accelerometer), have pre-amp compatible with the transducer, be designed to work with a 20,000 ft electro-optic cable, reliably operate in gas-filled, liquid-filled, or mixed fluid wells. Desirable Specifications are: Minimize logging costs. Minimize deployment costs. Minimize reproduction costs. Optimize flat response from 5-2000 Hz. Desirable to have a dynamic range of 20 bits. Minimizes downhole electronics. Desirable to have an orienting device. Designed in such a way as to be upgraded to operate at 200 degrees C without modifying the mechanical design of all the systems in the device. Maximize corrosion resistance of materials while being compatible with the environment (temperature, pressure, etc.). Maximize reliability. This Request For Interest will close to response 30 days after publication. This is not an opportunity to sell goods or services to LMIT or the Department of Energy. Interested parties should send a description of their company and a letter discussing their ability to participate in the project to: Mr. Paul Grahovac, Account Executive, Technology Transfer Office, LMIT, P.O. Box 1625, Idaho Falls, ID 83415-3805, phone: (208) 526-3488, fax: (208) 526-0953. E-mail address: pg2@inel.gov. Companies should include a discussion of their ability to manufacture and market the resulting technology. Companies intending to license to other manufacturers or marketers rather than have LMIT be responsible for licensing should include a discussion of their ability to succeed in that activity. (103)

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