Method of conducting drilling operations using vertical seismic profiles

摘要

A method is described for providing improved seismic data to a driller to indicate position and spatial extent of a drilling target which may be up to several hundreds of feet ahead of a drill bit. In one embodiment, the method includes the steps of: survey design and data modeling, and definition of a drilling target point and a drilling interruption point; drilling down to a depth at which drilling will be interrupted; interruption of drilling; look-ahead borehole seismic survey (VSP); continuation of drilling; data processing and interpretation; coordinate update for optimum target intersection; and steering of drilling by borehole seismic data interpretation.