2

Number 19, 1997

Middle East Well Evaluation Review

Variable water salinities, re-injection of formation water

and long production histories make it very difficult for log
interpreters to evaluate water saturation in many Middle
East reservoirs. The ability to differentiate between
formation and injection water offers many potential
benefits; for example, production wells can be plugged at
exactly the right depth to seal off injection water, and
water-free zones around the well can be identified and
reperforated as a risk-free way to boost production.
Mario Petricola and Chanh Cao Minh reveal the latest
thinking in saturation measurement and show how careful
tool combination can reveal more about reservoir fluids

Neutron capture
Slow neutron
Gamma ray
Nucleus

Excited nucleus

Inelastic scattering
Gamma ray

Nucleus
Fast neutron

Excited nucleus
Fast neutron

ffective reservoir management

relies on an accurate picture of oil
and water saturations behind the
casing. Saturation measurements track
reservoir depletion over time and are
crucial inputs for the development of
workover and enhanced recovery
studies and for the diagnosis of waterrelated production problems such as
injection-water breakthrough.
There are two ways to perform a reservoir evaluation and monitor saturation
through casing. The first measures the
decay of thermal neutron populations
and the other determines the relative
proportions of carbon and oxygen in the
formation using inelastic gamma ray
spectrometry (Figure 3.1).
The salinity of formation water determines which of these methods is appropriate for any particular well. Chlorine,
which is abundant in saline water, has a
large neutron capture cross section,
and its presence is readily established
using the TDT* Thermal Decay Time
technique. However, in wells where
formation water salinity is low or
unknown the carbon/oxygen method
must be used, because TDT data may be
meaningless. Operators sometimes
choose to combine the methods, particularly when the aim is to extract as much
information from the well as possible.

A mature approach to monitoring

Dealing with mature oilfields presents a
range of technical problems. Rising water
32

production, for example, often means that

the continuing viability of a well depends
on controlling water cut and gas/oil ratio
(GOR). At the mature stage of oilfield
development the search for bypassed oil
zones is given a much higher priority.
While pulsed neutron logging remains a
useful tool in reservoir monitoring,
enhanced oil recovery projects have
prompted the development of new tools.
Carbon/oxygen logs, the usual alternative
to pulsed neutron logging (PNL), have
had limited success in the past but the
RST* Reservoir Saturation Tool (RST-B
version) is the first in a new generation
of saturation measurement tools.
The RST tool can be applied to a wide
range of problems including moved oil
analysis, reducing water cut and locating
bypassed oil.
Logging-while-drilling (LWD) data are
acquired under very shallow invasion
conditions. These data do not provide a
clear indication of hydrocarbon mobility.
Invading mud filtrate flushes the nearwellbore reservoir fluids during drilling.
Logging with the RST tool after invasion
effects have developed fully provides a
more accurate estimate of movable
hydrocarbon.
Comparing fluid analysis results from
original openhole logs with RST-derived
logs after a period of production indicates how fluid contacts have moved.
Clear evaluations of current hydrocarbon distribution and determination of
oilwater and gasoil contacts allow the

Fig: 3.1: A TALE OF TWO NEUTRONS: Neutron

capture (where slow thermal neutrons are
incorporated in the nucleus) is the basis for the
TDT Thermal Decay Time method. This is
particularly suitable for monitoring saturation
through casing in areas with very saline
formation waters. Inelastic scattering (caused
by fast neutrons striking the nucleus without
capture) also leads to gamma ray emission .

operator to identify depleted areas and

modify the well (for example by re-perforating) accordingly.
When wells in an area undergoing
water and miscible gas floods start to
produce mainly water, new zones must
be perforated and oil rates increased to
maintain economic viability.
The RST tool can identify those wells
which are potential candidates for re-perforation. The tool can also confirm
depletion over the perforated interval
and locate bypassed oil zones that will
boost production.
In the saline formation waters of the
Middle East, TDT logging has proved a
very reliable method for detection of water
level movement. In many fields TDT campaigns are conducted on an annual basis
to monitor the year-by-year changes in reservoir fluid saturation. TDT logs have also
been widely used for gas detection behind
casing and, in some favourable conditions,
a reliable gas saturation can be obtained
from the TDT porosity.
The TDT technique has also been
used to monitor injection water fronts
when saline water is being injected into
the reservoir. However, many injection
schemes in the Middle East now use
relatively fresh seawater rather than
saline formation water as the displacing
fluid. In these cases the TDT logs
become very difficult to interpret. This is
due to the lack of contrast in the capture
cross sections of the oil and the injection
water.
Middle East Well Evaluation Review

Seawater has a capture cross section

of about 35 cu (capture units), a value
much closer to the capture cross section
of oil than to that associated with
formation water. Consequently, if lowsalinity injection water displaces oil, the
change in sigma is very small. Often
injected water displaces oil and
formation water. This may reduce the
sigma reading and cause an apparent
decrease in water saturation.
A new type of slim induced gamma
ray tool has recently been introduced.
The RST tool measures carbon and

oxygen and can be run through completion tubing. The RST tool can be operated without killing the well and
removing the completion, and data can
be acquired with the well flowing.
The most important measurement is
the carbon/oxygen ratio (COR) which
can be used to compute oil and water
saturation, independent of water salinity.
The tool also evaluates capture cross
section, so water salinity analysis can be
performed in cases where there is complex mixing of formation and injection
water. Finally, the RST tool provides a
Injection water

1:300 ft

Injection water

Formation water

Formation water

Formation water

Formation water

Gas

Gas

Oil

Oil

Oil

Oil

Calcite

Calcite

Calcite

Calcite

Dolomite

Dolomite

Dolomite

Dolomite

Sigma only

Sigma + COR

Sigma + TPHI

Sigma + TPHI + COR

(%)

100

(%)

100

(%)

100

(%)

XX500

XX600

XX700

100

cased hole neutron porosity making it

suitable for gas evaluation.
Geoscientists have developed a technique that combines COR, capture cross
section and porosity data from the TDT
and RST tools to evaluate the respective
saturations of oil, gas, fresh water and
saline water when they occur together.
In some cases, water injection may
have been initiated to bring the reservoir
pressure back up to the bubble point.
While reservoir pressure was below the
bubble point gas would have come out
of solution and may have accumulated
in some unexpected places. In principle,
any given well could contain oil, gas,
formation water and injection water.
Careful use of RST data provides a possible solution to this complex situation.
Figure 3.2 compares results from four
different interpretations in a typical
Middle East reservoir. The first analysis
(Track 1) was performed using only
sigma. It shows oil everywhere, with
very little formation water. While there is
little formation water (which would be
characterized by a high sigma) gas and
injection water cannot be computed
using this simplistic interpretation.
The second option (Track 2) was
computed using sigma and COR. This
identifies the injection water at the bottom of the interval but wrongly interprets the lower COR values at the top as
injection water.
The third option (Track 3) combined
sigma and TPHI. It correctly identifies
the gas at the top of the interval but
misses the low-salinity injection water at
the bottom.
When all three measurements (sigma,
COR and TPHI) are combined in the final
interpretation (Track 4) the injection
water, oil and gas and a small amount of
formation water are correctly identified.
The well was plugged just above the
uppermost occurrence of injection
water. The interval shown as water-free
was reperforated and acidized and produced clean oil at a good flow rate with a
fair amount of gas.
With a saturation computation which
is independent of water salinity, the RST
tool offers vital information in reservoirs
where fresh injection water has displaced hydrocarbons.

Fig. 3.2: The combination of sigma, COR and TPHI measurements allows the interpreter to
evaluate gas, oil, freshwater and saline water saturations with a single tool

MJC Petricola (1996). Monitoring gas, oil, fresh

water and saline water saturations with a single
tool. SPE 36222
Number 19, 1997

33

12500
50

Oil

Shut-in period

Water
40

7500

Begin infill drilling programme

Water cut (%)

Flow rate (BLPD)

10000

Begin water shut-off programme

5000

Shut-in during Gulf War

2500

30

20

10

0
68 70 72 74 76 78 80 82 84 86 88 90 92 94 96
Year

68 70 72 74 76 78 80 82 84 86 88 90 92 94 96
Year
Fig. 3.3: Production history for South Umm Gudair (SUG) Field

Workovers working well

80

The South Umm Gudair (SUG) Field is a

large anticlinal, primarily edge-waterdrive reservoir located in the Partitioned
Neutral Zone (PNZ) between Kuwait and
Saudi Arabia. Its production history
(Figure 3.3) shows a steady decline in oil
production rate and increasing water cut
starting in the late 1970s. When
production resumed after the Gulf War
shut-in there was a short-lived and minor
rise in oil production but by the middle
of the 1990s it became apparent that
water shutoff was required.
Between 1994 and 1995 a successful
water shutoff programme was implemented in the SUG Fields Ratawi Oolite
reservoir.
The programme relied on zonal isolation tests, spinner surveys, thermal
decay logs and well-to-well correlations
to identify watered-out intervals.
Remedial action, including cement
plugbacks, reperforations, additional perforations and acidization, were guided
by the interpretation of these results.
The field was discovered in 1966 and
when water shutoff was initiated in July
1994 there were 17 producing wells. Field
development coincided with the workover
programme with 12 infill wells being drilled at the same time.
Around nine separate water shutoff
workovers had been performed before the
1994 programme the most recent in 1987.
Before the 1994 workovers oil production averaged 31,000 BOPD and was
declining at around 3% per year (Figure
3.4): at the same time water cut had
reached 48%.
A total of 13 wells were worked over
in the programme resulting in a doubling of oil production at these wells (from
20,000 to 40,000 BOPD) and a 50% reduction of water cut.

70

34

Before workover
After workover

Water cut (%)

60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2

7
8
9
Well number

12

14

15

16

21

12

14

15

16

21

8000
Oil gain

Before workover

Oil production (BOPD)

7000

After workover

6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
2

7
8
9
Well number

Fig. 3.4: The workovers in SUG Field (including the workover of one new infill
well) yielded an increase of 29 thousand BOPD from 13 wells. Water production
fell by more than 50%, eliminating 16,000 BWPD

Middle East Well Evaluation Review

WATQ94

GRTDT94
0

GAPHI
PHIE

100

0.5

Decimal

Feet

SWOH66

BWPD
QGROSS94

5000

Decimal
SWTDT94

GPBD

5000

Fraction
PERFS

20

M1-X660X665

X690

M2-X690X700

X710

M3-X710-

Fig. 3.5: Logging results

from Well SUG-2. The
PLT log identifies a
thief zone between
X785 and X794 ft. It
also shows numerous
pay zones that are not
producing any fluid.
About 99% of the water
production is from the
bottom perforation
interval, an
observation supported
by the high water
saturations below
X782 ft calculated from
the TDT log

M4-X760M5-X768-

X770
P. B. Q.-X778X785

M6-X788-

Thief zone
(X785-X794)
X800

M7-X808-

X830

M8-X848-

M9-X864-

M10-X902-

X900

M12-X940-

Logging results from Well SUG-2

The PLT* Production Logging Tool log
indicated the presence of a fluid thief
zone between X785 and X794 ft. The PLT
log also showed numerous pay zones
that were not producing fluids. In
addition, 99% of the water production
was seen to be coming from the bottom
perforation interval. This was indicated
by the high water saturations below
X782 ft as shown in the TDT log (Figure
3.5). When the 1994 TDT log was compared with that from 1983 and with the
openhole resistivity log recorded in
1966, it became apparent that there had
been major changes in water saturation
below X782 ft.
During the workover, the lowermost
perforations were squeezed while reperforation and acidizing was carried out in
shallower perforated zones.
Water cut was reduced from 52% to
just 1% of total fluid production. The high
Number 19, 1997

water saturations shown by the TDT

above X782 ft are an artefact, as proved
by the PLT log and plugback results.
Most of the false high readings coincide
with intervals of little or no flow and it
has been suggested that they may be
due to a residual acid effect from the last
acid job carried out in the well almost
30 years ago. Having seen the conflicting
results between the TDT and PLT tools
in this and some other SUG wells, the
operators decided that it was important
to use the logs in combination.

RS Johnson, MR Khater, SA Razzaque, MS AlFozan, TZ Al-Mutari and MM Qidwai (1996).

Proven technology yields high impact results a
case history of water shut-off in the PNZs South
Umm Gudair Field. SPE 36210

35