For a drilling engineer, much of the value of paleontology/biostratigraphy lies with its ability to assist with correlation. The decision to mobilize paleo would depend on how confident geoscientists are in their correlations.
Correlation affects the pore-pressure model, which affects well design. For instance, this could dictate where you would want to set pipe.
Decisions rest on what information you need, and when you need it
The decisions paleo can help you make have direct impacts on cost, often saving lots of money by helping with smart well design. In real-time paleo can also help to implement that well design. Paleo can also make it clear when to stop drilling, if the targets are not present.
Some things to consider for well design
- What is the age of the section coming out of salt? Knowing the age out of salt as soon as possible could help make your decision about where to set pipe.
- Do you have enough window to weight up if the pressure is higher than expected?
- Is the higher pressure because of a “salt-disturbed” section, or because the section is older than expected?
- Should the pipe be set here, or is there a more efficient place ahead of us to set pipe?
- Is it worth the time and/or risk to weight up or down mud and drill ahead, or just set pipe here?
- What are the pressure gradients associated with stratigraphic boundaries?