Tag Archives: updates

IFR Surveys Correction for MWD

hand-adjusting-compass
In-Field Referencing (IFR) technology has been applied in directional drilling since at least the early 2000s. Being particularly useful for drilling tightly spaced lateral wellbores, there’s a been a recent surge in demand for this technology, hence requiring more MWD service providers to work with IFR surveys.
IFR surveys has been supported in Mezintel Gamma logging software since 2013, so customers have been able to handle this demand fine. And with increased usage came requests for features and improvements. This article provides an overview of these improvements, but before doing so… what are IFR surveys?
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Finding ‘Check Survey’ Spots

MWD operators often need to match surveys to particular points in a run. A common example of this is during ‘check survey’, which is recommended to be done near the last MWD survey on the previous run. For check survey, finding the last survey on the previous run is fairly straightforward since that survey is probably the very last survey done.
But how about when you need to identify survey locations beyond that, on preceding runs?
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Building Mezintel Gamma Log With Default Minor And Major Increments

With Mezintel Gamma version 22.33.128, users have access to a utility for auto printing reports that enables the input of default minor and major increments. Please note that minor and major increments must be inputted and saved with each new job. The below figure demonstrates utilization of this utility to input default minor and major increments for a job.
Configuring Plots via Auto-Reporting Feature
Alternatively, this can also be achieved utilizing manual printing.

Average ROP: How to Smoothen ROP Plot

In drilling, there are two are two main ways to interpret the rate of penetration (ROP): Instantaneous and Average. Here are good definitions of the two:

Instantaneous ROP is measured over a finite time or distance, while drilling is still in progress. It gives a snapshot perspective of how a particular formation is being drilled or how the drilling system is functioning under specific operational conditions.
Average ROP is measured over the total interval drilled by a respective BHA from trip-in-hole (TIH) to pull-out-of-hole (POOH).
G. Mensa-Wilmot and Y. Harjadi

A Smoother Plot

Average ROP is important because it’s a key factor to consider when discussing drilling efficiency, plus it produces a cleaner plot than instantaneous ROP.

Averaging points produces a cleaner plot.

Averaging points produces a cleaner plot.


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Are Your COM Ports Communicating Accurately?

Are your COM ports swapped?

Mezintel Gamma has a debug window which is commonly used for diagnosing serial port communication issues. One of our customers suggested that this feature would be even more useful if it can be accessed before actually loading a gamma job — instead of only from within a job.
Good idea! So we implemented his suggestion…[1]
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3 Ways to Specify Gamma Scale Factor

You can specify a gamma scale factor for each bit run in Mezintel Gamma (version 22.00.061 [1]) using a new built-in tool that helps you derive scale factors.
You can enter a scaling factor if you know it, otherwise, if you are unsure then you can calculate or find it from the Bit Runs window:

  • In the Scale section under the bit run you want, double-click the value box for Gamma Scale Factor
    The Get Scale Factor window opens

You may also click the button to open up Get Scale Factor window.

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3 New Methods of Editing Gamma, ROP & Other Samples

In Mezintel Gamma, samples points logged when the drill bit is ‘off-bottom’ are not shown on the plot. This is useful because it allows you to safely remove points from the plot by manually setting them to be off-bottom. This hides the points rather than delete them. The hidden points can be revealed again by reverting them back to be ‘on-bottom’.
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Formatting the Timestamps in LAS Files

Timestamp Format
Mezintel Gamma allows you to customize the timestamp format in you LAS export. You may need to do this in order to meet a requirement for another software or the LAS file format preferred by a client.

As of version 22.00.038 [1], when exporting an LAS file you can choose how date & time is displayed in the LAS.
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How to Organize WITS Data to Send to EDR Provider

Mezintel Gamma continuously sends out data to depth tracking EDR providers such as Pason and RigSense (NOV).

On a regular basis, about every 5 seconds, WITS data packets are sent out as several lines of plain text (ASCII) that are usually comprised of Toolface, Surveys, and Gamma data.
As of version 22.00.031 [1], you have more control over the structure of the data packet.

An example of a packet of lines of WITS data as seen on the  Captured Data view in Mezintel Gamma
Notice that a packet of WITS data starts with the symbols  && and  ends with the symbol  !!

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Handling Data Gaps in your Gamma Log Plots

Closing Gaps on Log PlotAs you know, sometimes MWD sample data may go missing for an extended interval of time while drilling continues. In such cases, there is a gap in the sample plot for the depth interval where data went missing.

Up until now Mezintel Gamma used to fill-in (or close) the gap with a straight line. However, some users wanted to control whether or not to show such gaps, so we have provided you with a new option to do just that.
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Renew Database to Regain Performance

Slow Performance Due to Accumulation of Jobs (more than 5 jobs)

Depending on your computer’s specs, Mezintel Gamma can start to run slow if you have accumulated about 5 or more jobs in addition to the default job templates. Some processes may even fail to complete when you have too many jobs. For example:

  • Adding a new job may fail to complete
  • Saving tie-in for the Survey Table may return an error
  • Adding a new bit run may fail to complete

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Exporting Well Logs as TIFF Images

Stitching PDF as TIFF
Some geologists require well logs to be produced as one seamless image file, usually as TIFF.
Up until now, Mezintel Gamma exported logs only as PDFs with pages that print seamlessly from log printers. We referred users who need TIFF well logs to 3rd-party software; but this feature is now available from Mezintel Gamma software!
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New Large Indicators & Plot on Depth Tracker

One of our customers wanted larger indicators on the Mezintel Depth Tracker so that MWD operators can see depth status from 15 feet away.
So, we added an alternative view that enlarges the block height, bit depth, ROP, hook load, hole depth, and slips status.
Simply tap on the Samples button to use this enlarged view.

DTU - Enlarged Samples View
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New website & online support channels from Mezintel

We launched our new website a week ago on October 1st!

While it looks great, it also tells you more about our company and products, and comes with an online support system for our customers. In order to improve our customer service, we introduced the following three channels for delivering support online:

Company Blog


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