Blog Post: The Power of the Gun Barrel Plot

As the oil and gas industry moves into more complex and technologically challenging terrains, precise and efficient visualization tools have become essential for analyzing well data. ROGII has developed the Gun Barrel Plot in Data Manager, the primary interface for Solo Cloud, offering a method for visualizing and analyzing well data that provides critical insights into the competitive wellscape.

Creating Gun Barrel Plots has become significantly easier with the integration of StarSteer and Solo Cloud. By using StarSteer for geosteering, you can upload all your data to Solo Cloud, creating a master project that allows you to access all your subsurface data in a tabular format through Data Manager. The Gun Barrel Plot, an advanced analytical tool within Data Manager, revolutionizes your well visualization process.

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What is Data Manager?

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In the past, generating accurate Gun Barrel Plots with numerous wells required hours of manual plotting. Data Manager simplifies this by organizing and visualizing all your data in one place. Unlike traditional software that requires installation and regular updates, Data Manager is a web-based tool accessible directly through your browser. This eliminates the need for complicated setups, making it easier for clients to manage their data efficiently without the hassle of software maintenance.

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The Gun Barrel Plot Overview

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A Gun Barrel Plot is a graphical representation designed to visualize the spatial relationships between wells, their stratigraphic intervals, production data, and other subsurface features. Essentially, it is a cross-sectional view of wells from the side, resembling the barrel of a gun, which is how the plot got its name. This powerful well spacing visualization tool can display both your wells and those of competitors, as well as polygons such as lease lines and production attributes in a 2D cross-section view. Additionally, it allows for the calculation of distances between wells, lease lines, horizons, and grids on the fly using a handy ruler tool.

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What data is required to build a Gun Barrel Plot?

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To build an accurate, comprehensive Gun Barrel Plot, you will need the following data:

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1. StarSteer Data: Compile your geological data into a Master Project within Data Manager. This ensures that all relevant subsurface information is centralized and easily accessible.

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• Wellbore Directional Surveys are crucial for accurately plotting the trajectories in the Gun Barrel Plot
• Geosteering interpretations or formation structure grids give you the stratigraphic framework needed to represent the geological context of your wells

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2.   Public Data: Supplement your data with public datasets from sources like TGS or PetroNinja. For instance, you want to find another typewell or analyze competitors' well trajectories to optimize the planned well trajectory. Whether you have a subscription to the public databases or not, you can still display the data available there

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3.Well attributes: Whether it's production or completion data available in Excel format, you can import it directly and display it on the Gun Barrel Plot.

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Elements displayed on the Gun Barrel Plot

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Selecting the wells to display directly from the map view will produce a plot in either TVT (true vertical thickness) or TVDss scale. Several key elements are displayed to provide a comprehensive visualization of wellbore trajectories:

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• Slice referenced to TVT or TVDss: The gun barrel plot shows the average up down and left right position of the wellbore after 75 degrees inclination by default at the midpoint of the well. The inclination cutoff can be modified by the end user to meet their standards. Deviation lines are then drawn to show the maximum vertical and lateral extents of the well. The vertical lines show 1σ by plotting a bolded line. When the slice is referenced to TVDss, the exact position of the wellbore in space is plotted where it crosses the cross-section line and can change depending on the line’s azimuth and location along the lateral.

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• Geosteering Interpretation Horizons / Grids: TVT scale plots can be generated based on either geosteering interpretations or grids, whereas TVDss scale plots are based on the Grids only. 

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• Vertical projection of the polygon

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• Typewell Log: Displayed alongside the Gun Barrel Plot, this log allows you to see the log response and the stratigraphy surrounding the laterals.

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• Measurements/Distances: This includes triangle measurements between wells, calculated distances from the well to the vertical projection of the polygon, distances from the well to the geosteered horizon and grid, measurements between different polygons, and TVDss or TVT thicknesses between grids and geosteered horizons.

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• Well Attributes: Well and production attributes can be loaded into Data Manager and displayed as dot size or color for each well in the gun barrel plot. All attributes can be normalized per foot by lateral length after the inclination cutoff.

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How to use the Gun Barrel Plot?

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The Gun Barrel Plot is popular in various stages of field life. Here’s how you can make the most of it:

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• Well Planning: During the initial planning phase, use the Gun Barrel Plot to visualize sticks and well plans and ensure optimal well spacing.

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• Competitor’s Well Analysis: By displaying both your wells and competitors' wells, you can strategically plan your drilling operations to maximize the production and minimize interference.

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• Avoiding Collisions: The detailed visualization provided by the Gun Barrel Plot helps in identifying potential well collisions. By understanding the spatial relationships between multiple wells, you can adjust well paths in advance to avoid dangerous collisions.

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• Production Analysis: After drilling, the Gun Barrel Plot can be used to analyze production data and understand the performance of each well. By visualizing production attributes alongside well paths, you can identify patterns and optimize future drilling and production strategies.

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• Regulatory Compliance: Use the Gun Barrel Plot to ensure that wells are drilled within lease boundaries and comply with regulatory requirements. The ability to measure distances to lease lines and other polygons helps to maintain compliance and avoid legal issues.

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• Enhanced Communication: The clear and detailed visualizations can be used to effectively communicate well planning and performance insights to stakeholders. This improves collaboration and decision-making across teams.

Ready to revolutionize your well data visualization process? 

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Discover the power of the Gun Barrel Plot in Data Manager, integrated seamlessly with StarSteer and Solo Cloud.