Carina® XwellXpress™

Carina XwellXpress, the crosswell low frequency strain and microseismic monitoring service, accurately locates microseismic and strain events in real-time through wireline intervention. This allows operators to improve stimulation and completion designs on the fly to maximise recovery.

The system offers unmatched system flexibility with uncompromised data quality.

Conventional crosswell monitoring and microseismic surveys require the use of geophones in observation wells, typically 12–40 receivers. With this technology either the receiver spacing, array length, or both, will be less than optimal.

Carina XwellXpress is a distributed acoustic sensing-based system that captures acoustic energy every metre along a Constellation™ fibre equipped sensing intervention wireline cable. The intervention cable can be deployed into any well not being treated at the time, turning it into an observation well. The use of wireline does not compromise data quality; data can be acquired along the entire length of the intervention cable unlike the limited aperture of a geophone array. This delivers significant cost savings.

Strengths of the system: measured, not modelled data

No changes to drilling operations

With XwellXpress Wireline deployment for frac monitoring there is no requirements to change borehole size to accommodate RIH completions OD with permanent fibre optic cables clamped to casing, no need to plan for casing hangers and wellhead exit to accommodate control lines, and no requirements to gently build angle after KOP to assist with installation – with XwXp operators can drill wells as normal and the fibre cable is inserted inside the casing after the drilling and casing operations.

High resolution VSP data can be obtained without costly interruption to the frac operation

Expands the seismic data acquisition to the entire wellbore; more data for less expense

Significant costs savings delivered by the unmatched system flexibility, uncompromised data quality

Low cost means to co-locate microseismic events from an adjacent frac or confirm frac length were modelling is uncertain

Easy deployment without the need for specialized equipment

Carina XwellXpress intervention cables can be deployed using conventional pump down or tractor technology.

One cable, multiple applications for the life of the well

The intervention cable with enhanced Carina Sensing System measurements can be used as desired over the life of the well.

  • Monitor the frac process with distributed temperature, crosswell strain and microseismic
  • Baseline VSP and 4D VSP
  • VSP data closer to reservoir depletion when re-frac may be required
  • Production monitoring if conditions allow

The engineered Carina® Sensing System has 100x improvement in signal-to-noise ratio, and greater than 100x improvement in the lower frequency ranges of slow strain and microseismic compared to other DAS systems.

It can detect changes in low frequency strain induced by the development of the fracture network while simultaneously detecting microseismic events and crosswell frac hits, if present, due to its unparalleled sensitivity.

Using a wireline deployed high precision engineered fibre optic acoustic sensor for hydraulic fracture monitoring and optimisation

Downloads

Hydraulic fracture monitoring brochure 2022

Carina XwellXpress spec sheet

First Break publication April 2019

Case study: Carina® XwellXpress enables hydraulic fracture operation optimization on the fly by delivering real-time distributed acoustic sensing data obtained on wireline