Acquisition trial of deep smart DAS uphole: Evaluating high-productivity drilling with dual rotary and fiber cable deployment

The volume of seismic uphole surveys in the desert environment diminished, facing harsh drilling conditions and challenging acquisition. This occurs against a backdrop of the growing popularity of land depth imaging from the surface, demanding ever more accurate near-surface velocity calibration. We propose and field-test significant improvements in drilling and recording, leading to the next generation of smart DAS uphole surveys. First, we introduce dual rotary drilling to address unconsolidated sediments, karsts, and lost-circulation zones. This technique delivers 5-10 times productivity improvements compared to conventional rotary drilling. In addition, dual rotary enables deep 300 m upholes that were not previously achievable. We also upgrade fiber installation and cementation procedures leveraging the outer drill string/casing as protective media during cable installation. We present an integrated field trial of this new smart DAS uphole acquisition, drilling a 300 m uphole in under 12 operational hours and completing an uphole survey using DAS fiber-optic sensing technology in a fraction of the time required for conventional geophone uphole surveying.