Mud Gas Advisor: Enhancing Fluid Interpretation Confidence with Real-Time Analysis of Drilling and Environmental Conditions

Surface formation evaluation (SFE) acts as a continuous geochemical log of the encountered fluids along a well and these data are crucial for making real-time decisions such as geosteering, optimizing downhole sampling and well testing programs. The goal of the Mud Gas Advisor (MGA) workflow is to provide a real-time Interpretation Confidence Index (ICI) and to suggest data corrections or hardware solutions to effectively manage various influencing factors. Different from hardware QC, MGA’s novelty is that it enriches the user with the knowledge of confidence level of mud gas interpretation of the downhole fluid type, regardless the type of hardware used and the changing impact of the drilling and environmental conditions. Hence, the ICI offers a new real-time continuous SFE industry standard for mud gas logging across all service levels.