Methods for characterization of formations, navigating drill paths, and placing wells in earth boreholes

摘要

A method for directing borehole drilling in a target earth formation includes the following steps: providing drilling equipment having a bottom hole assembly that includes a controllable directional drilling subsystem, and a logging-while- drilling directional measurement tool with a look-around and look-ahead capability; determining the presence of a predetermined type of formation characteristic in the target formation; and navigating a drill path in the target formation with the drilling equipment, including receiving measurement signals from the directional measurement tool, obtaining, from the received measurement signals, indications of formation parameters with respect to the formation characteristic in the target formation, and controlling the directional drilling subsystem to drill in a direction determined as a function of the obtained indication of formation parameters.