CONSTRUCTION OF A VSP GUN PIT (LAND)

A.

General
To adopt the best practice in building a VSP gun pit, the following
criteria should be observed:-

1.

Long Gun-pit Offset from Well-head, more than 30m to reduce

TUBE WAVES affecting the data-set.

2.

Construct the gun-pit in the direction of the cat-walk, due to

interconnect-cable limitations.
[Schematic A provides an ideal gun-pit position]

3.

The depth of the gun-pit should be 3m or more to reduce DownWave Multiples in the data-set, as well as for better energy
penetration.
[See Examples 1 and 2]

B.

What are TUBE WAVES?

Energy from the gun reaches the Down-hole receivers either directly
through the formation or along the mud-column (especially drilling with
heavy-drilling fluid) arriving with some delay. The gradient of the TubeWave is steeper than the gradient of the Direct First - arrivals, intercepting
at a point higher-up in the well. (Fig.1)

As use of heavy mud is the main contributor of Tube-Waves (if together

with set-casing that are poorly cemented a situation known as free pipe
condition exist where the Tube-Wave can be intensified), there is no way
around avoiding the use of heavy mud when drilling in over-pressure
formation without the risk of a blow-out.

However, certain practices can be adopted to reduce Tube-Wave travelling

along the ground to the mud column.
[These are shown in Schematic B.]