Downhole telemetry from the user's point of view

This paper deals with the assessment of the benefits of downhole telemetry on the basis of extensive discussions with field experts. A survey of the experience gained with commercially available sensors for directional measurement while drilling shows that extension of this market to onshore applications requires simplification and cost reduction of the tools. Furthermore, an estimate is made of the effect of the following (potential) applications of telemetry in operations improving drilling efficiency, directional control, improving drilling safety, and logging while drilling. Finally, the outlook for utilisation of these potential applications of downhole telemetry against the background of a survey of commercial downhole telemetry developments leads to the conclusion that the economic potential is promising. This applies to reliable systems in modular standardised form.