Geosteering is the intentional optimization and adjustment of wellbore direction in response to real-time downhole geophysical logging measurements rather than following a pre-defined plan of hitting targets in 3D space. Geosteering is essential for hydrocarbon wells but is gradually introduced in other types of drilling, for example, geothermal and civil wells and tunnels.

geosteering.no is a NORCE-hosted portal that aggregates world-leading research in all aspects of geosteering.

NORCE’s initiatives for geosteering research

The current geosteering research at NORCE originates from the DrillWell Centre. DrillWell: Drilling and Well Centre for Improved Recovery was a Centre for Research-Based Innovation (SFI) by the Research Council of Norway from 2011 to 2019. It included Geosteering and Drilling Solutions for Improved Recovery as one of its research programs.

Geosteering for IOR

Geosteering.no was started as a portal that gathered the research efforts on geosteering, which surrounded our next knowledge-building project for the Norwegian industry, “Geosteering for Improved Oil Recovery.” Geosteering for IOR was supported by the Research Council of Norway, Aker BP, Equinor, and Vår Energi. The project’s objective was to develop a methodology for geosteering by continuously updating the geomodel based on LWD measurements. We developed an interactive Decision Support System for geosteering, which achieved statistically optimal well-landing results in complex synthetic reservoir navigation cases.

SFI DigiWells

The generalization of geosteering decision support workflow that balances drilling risk and recovery was among the seeding ideas for SFI DigiWells: Digital Well Center for Value Creation, Competitiveness, and Minimum Environmental Footprint. The current geosteering research projects spin off the geosteering activities from DigiWells.

Towards 3D and beyond

In 2023, we kicked off two Knowledge-building Projects for Industry supported by the Research Council of Norway:

  • 3D-GiG 3D geological interpretation for geosteering of wells
  • DISTINGUISH Decision support using neural networks to predict geological uncertainties when geosteering