Methods and systems for controlling drilling operations are described. The methods include conveying a drilling tool from the earth surface into a wellbore and operating the drilling tool to drill in a drilling direction, wherein drilling mud is conveyed from the earth surface to the drilling tool and returned to the earth surface, obtaining gas data from the drilling mud that returns to the earth surface, determining a reservoir property from the gas data, and adjusting the drilling direction based on the determined reservoir property.

A shale shaker system. The system includes a fluid transport pipe configured to receive a stream of drill cuttings and fluid returns from a wellbore during a drilling operation; an analysis module configured to receive at least a portion of the stream of drill cuttings and fluid returns at an inlet; a cuttings chute configured to receive at least a portion of the stream of drill cuttings and fluid returns from an outlet of the container, and deliver them to a screen box; and one or more screens for filtering drill cuttings from the fluid returns. The analysis module comprises logging sensors configured to operate while drill cuttings are moving through the system. The logging sensors communicate with a processor to determine characteristics of the drill cuttings in real time. A method for analyzing drill cuttings at a well site is also provided.

A system and method for analyzing a gas in a drilling fluid involves a degasser operable to separate the gas from the drilling fluid. A gas analyzer in fluid communication with the degasser receives a sample of the separated gas and determines a property of the gas. A controller in communication with the gas analyzer automates the operation of the gas analyzer by adjusting a parameter of the separated gas sample as the gas sample is supplied to the gas analyzer.

A data processing method includes: collecting test data of a target rock sample in different gas adsorption experiments; the test data including pore sizes and pore volumes corresponding to the pore sizes and including at least two selected from the group consisting of the test data with pore sizes less than 3 nm in CO.sub.2 adsorption experiment, the test data with pore sizes in 1.5 nm to 250 nm in N.sub.2 adsorption experiment and the test data with pore sizes in 10 nm to 1000 μm in high-pressure mercury adsorption experiment; and fitting the test data in overlapping ranges of the pore sizes using a least square method, and obtaining target pore volumes corresponding to the pore sizes respectively. The accuracy of joint characterization of shale pore structures can be improved by using mathematical methods to process the data in overlapping ranges of pore sizes among different characterization methods.

Time-based sag in a fluid can be measured non-invasively using a time-based sag testing apparatus by measuring the change in rotational inertia over time of fluid having no initial density gradient and a center of mass initially coincident with its geometric center.

Analysis and control of drilling mud and additives is disclosed using a mud analysis system and a mud additive system that may automatically monitor and control the drilling mud during drilling of a well. The mud analysis system may acquire measurements on a sample of the drilling mud during drilling, and may send signals indicative of the drilling mud to a steering control system enabled to control the drilling. The steering control system may receive user input or may make decisions regarding additives to be added to the drilling mud and the timing thereof. The mud additive system may be enabled to receive commands from the steering control system and mix and add additives to the drilling mud.

In an embodiment, a method is performed by a computer system. The method includes integrating a series of data inputs related to a well. The series of data inputs includes at least one real-time data input and at least one non-real-time data input. The method further includes based, at least in part, on a result of the integrating, facilitating a real-time display of performance data for the well. The real-time display includes information related to at least one of hydraulic surveillance and torque-and-drag surveillance.

Systems and methods for determining a time-dependent mud weight window are disclosed. The existence of fractures in formation rock along with a type of the formation rock are used to determine the use of a particular solution to determine the mud weight window at a particular time of a wellbore drilling operation.

A system and method of analysing drilling cuttings using image data output from a hyperspectral imaging device and at least one optical camera, includes generating a hyperspectral imaging data set including a plurality of lines of hyperspectral data derived from line images taken by the hyperspectral imaging device positioned along a drilling fluid cuttings path, obtaining tracking information in respect of particles of interest from the output of the at least one optical camera, correcting the position of pixels associated with particles of interest in the plurality of lines of hyperspectral imaging data based on the obtained tracking information to generate corrected hyperspectral imaging data, and analysing the corrected hyperspectral imaging data to characterise the cuttings.

Methods and systems are provided that combine NMR and IR spectroscopy measurements on a rock sample to determine data representing at least one property of the rock sample. In one embodiment, cuttings can be split into first and second lots. Results of an NMR measurement performed on the first lot of cuttings without cleaning can be analyzed to determine pore volume of the cuttings. Results of an IR spectroscopy measurement performed on the second lot of cuttings after solvent cleaning can be analyzed to determine matrix density of the cuttings. Porosity can be determined from the pore volume and matrix density of the cuttings. In another embodiment, combined NMR and IR spectroscopy measurements can be performed on an unprepared rock sample (without solvent cleaning) to characterize properties of kerogen in the rock sample and porosity. In another aspect, a method is provided that employs multi-nucleic NMR measurements to determine porosity.