Softrock Geological Services, Inc. is the most experienced geological service providers in the Durango, Four Corners, San Juan Basin, and Rocky Mountain regions. At the core of what we do, Softrock specializes in providing oil & gas exploration companies with professional, reliable wellsite geological consulting services. Our goal is the provide onsite and offsite geological consulting including fully customized visual well logs and sophisticated, accurate interpretation of the well’s geology that allows our clients to maximize their return on their investment and increase well production. To learn more about our well logs and reporting, visit our Example Logs page.
Our services are tailor-made to our clients’ needs. From well design to planning, implementation, and completion, all operators have varying philosophies and methodology. We can provide you with insight of local and regional anomalies and nuances, share ideas that have achieved success, and help to avoid problem designs, poor drilling parameters, and production target miscues. Here are some examples of the kinds of services that we offer:
Consulting / Wellsite Geology
Softrock can assist in target evaluation and basic well design to maximize production for a variety of targets and facies. Softrock has extesive experience in CBM, tight gas sands, and unconventional targets including shale plays. Read more about our consulting services.
Geosteering
Every horizontal well drilled requires someone on the front lines who understands the local geology, producers’ desires and parameters, and the dynamics of coordinating many third party services at the wellsite. Softrock can be your eyes and ears on location to ensure thorough and smooth flow of communication so that geologic and engineering needs are met. Sometimes subsurface geology dictates the well path, and others are more of an engineering feat, but there are always unexpected conditions encountered at high ROP that require finesse, quick thinking, and fundamental understanding of project goals to mitigate those surprises. Softrock offers a consolidated form of onsite mudlogging and geosteering that eliminates communication delays with offsite third parties. Softrock will find your “Goldilocks” target that maximizes pay using all available data at the wellsite, not just one data stream. Click here to see more.
Horizontal & Vertical Mudlogging
We use HMG StrataLog and Horizontal XSection software packages for the dynamic flexibility of data presentation and fully customize-able features that can be formatted for each client’s needs. Softrock consulted on the feature development phase of these softwares and our geologists field tested this software and continually communicate with the software developer for an ever improving product. Softrock has a bare minimum of 2 geologists on every vertical logging job and we prefer to have 4 geologists on all horizontal wells so that highest quality data can be gathered. Unlike MWD or wireline data, you only get one chance to collect cuttings and gas data, so having experienced geologists catching it is imperative. A 4 person crew splits a 24 hour period into 2 crews of 2 that allocates one geologist to the technical aspects of geologic well logging while another can focus on log creation, correlation, geosteering, and communication with wellsite and office personnel. Read more…
Core Point Selection
Coring is not a tool of the past no matter how sophisticated the logging tools become. Sometimes nothing beats having the rocks at the surface. Whether it is traditional core barrels, continuous wireline retrieval, or sidewall core picks, Softrock can assist in your coring needs, particularly in selecting core points and taking command of drilling rigs so that every person on location is aware of the coring goals and key stopping points are not missed. We work side-by-side with core drilling and handling companies to verify information and proper core handling.
Precision Chromatography
Your interpretation is only as good as your data stream and bad data is worse than no data. That is why we use lab-grade FID Gas Chromatographs and high end microscopes. Additional gas detection at the wellsite is available as per clients’ needs, contact us for special requests.
Specialty Sample Collection
All of our geologists have a strong understanding of specialized data acquired with lab equipment. Often it is redundant and cost prohibitive to have samples caught by additional third parties at the wellsite. Softrock can save operators money by catching specialty cuttings samples such as X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) to be shipped to the appropriate labs ASAP. This reduces mobilization and travel expenses by consolidating sample catching to just Softrock. These samples can then be annotated on our logs to further expand on the comprehensive nature of our data reporting. Other specialty samples include but are not limited to Isotube gas samples, Isotherms, desorption canisters, gas allocation chromatography, and liquid hydrocarbons when possible.
Dynamic Formation Evaluation
Decades of collective experience has helped Softrock to build a vast library of archived logs, scientific papers, maps, and other pertinent information to many Rocky Mountain plays. We have made pay-add recommendations for our clients years before those zones are targeted or become buzzwords in the industry. We pride ourselves on being payzone specialists, but we never ignore “overburden” rocks that could be the next hit play. As geologists, we thoroughly evaluate every layer in the stratigraphic section our clients want to look at. We can make geosteering and TD decisions on the fly while respecting geologic and engineering needs so that production is maximized and AFE’s are minimized.