SPWLA 53rd Annual Logging Symposium, June 16-20, 2012

IDENTIFYING BYPASSED OIL IN CAO LIMON WITH THE

CARBON/OXYGEN LOG
Marta Elena Becerra, David W. Hampton, Diana Mancilla, Jules Diaz, Rafael Rolon, Helbert Mackualo, and
Alejandro Salgado, Occidental de Colombia; Xavier Goddyn and Juan Angel, Schlumberger; Cesar Patio Ecopetrol
Copyright 2012, held jointly by the Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts (SPWLA) and the submitting
authors.
This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPWLA 53rd Annual Logging Symposium held in Cartagena,
Colombia, June 16-20, 2012.
________________________________________________

ABSTRACT
Cao Limon is one of the giant fields discovered in the 1980s in Colombia. As part of the Llanos basin, the field
contains many prolific sands distributed between Eocene Mirador and Upper Cretaceous, containing 29 API low
GOR, with a strong fresh meteoric water edge-drive aquifer.
Maintaining the current production rate in a mature field is challenging, and requires dedication from the production
and geoscientist teams to locate undeveloped sands.
During 2010 and 2011 the Occidental Llanos Reservoir Management Team implemented an extensive workover
campaign to locate bypassed oil sands, monitor the current level of saturation, and understand current drainage and
imbibitions mechanisms for each area. This campaign included logging approximately 30 wells, with pulsed neutron
tools in Carbon/Oxygen mode in order to differentiate between hydrocarbons and low salinity connate water or fresh
water from the aquifer. Wells in the field typically have ESP pumps with Y-tools installed. The logging tool is
capable of passing through the Y-tool to acquire both yield and windows carbon-oxygen data in order to ensure an
accurately computed oil saturation (So).
The logging campaign has been effective in locating bypassed oil and nearly undrained sands. Based on these
interpretations, the reservoir team was able to propose new producer wells. The results demonstrate that these tools
are helpful in sustaining field development. The methodology is applicable in many brown fields where similar
conditions exist.
One of the most important factors in managing reservoirs is an accurate determination of oil saturation. The
accuracy of this value is critical in tracking reservoir depletion, designing enhanced oil recovery, identifying
workover strategies and understanding water injection breakthrough, especially in Cao Limon, where small
variations in oil saturation can signify a large volume of hydrocarbons. This problem is complicated by variable
water salinities caused by the aquifer influx.
Accurate evaluation of the remaining oil saturation can
be conducted by combining open hole and
Carbon/Oxygen Logs. The integration of these data,
acquired during shut-in conditions, gives valuable
information that can be used to identify bypassed oil,
invaded water zones, undrained sands, and to confirm
the viability of low-resistivity sands which were not
previously considered as net pay.

INTRODUCTION
The Cao Limn field is located in the eastern plains of
Colombia, South America (Fig. 1). The different
reservoirs are formed by a series of sand shale
sequences. The formations of interest are the Upper
Fig. 1 Location of Cao Limn Field in Colombia
Carbonera, the Lower Carbonera (LC-Mirador), and the

SPWLA 53rd Annual Logging Symposium, June 16-20, 2012

Cretaceous K1, K2, and K3 (Fig. 2). The LC-Mirador is the most important formation in terms of oil-in-place, rock
quality, and oil production.
Average porosity for the field is about 25 percent, but it exceeds 30 percent in numerous places. Permeabilities can
be extremely high, on the order of several Darcies.
Good quality oil (29 API) with low gas-to-oil-ratios (GOR) and low bubble point pressures (Pb) is characteristic of
all formations. Strong aquifer support is found in the La Yuca and Cao Limn areas. The aquifer is recharged via
meteoric waters which are very fresh and quite different than the initial formation water salinities. The aquifer has
also been very efficient in sweeping the oil; however there are pockets of oil trapped by structural and stratigraphic
changes whose development is the focus of the reservoir development team.
Cased-hole saturation measurements provide
one tool for identifying these opportunities in
existing wellbores. In reservoirs around the
world, the conventional method for
determining oil and water saturation in cased
wells uses a measurement of the thermal
neutron capture cross section (), which is
strongly influenced by the presence of salt
water. For this method to work well, the
product of salinity and porosity must be
sufficiently high to provide a good contrast of
between the oil and water. Further, the true
formation water salinity must be known to
correctly interpret the water saturation. For
the Cao Limon field, both of these conditions
are problematic.
An alternative tool whose measurements can
be used to determine water saturation in low
salinity and unknown salinity formations is
the carbon/oxygen (C/O) tool.
The primary focus of this paper is to
demonstrate the application of the C/O tool to
measure formation oil saturation in Cao
Limon where the formation water salinity is
very fresh or unknown, usually because of mixing different salinity waters, and where the borehole fluid is also
unknown.
Fig. 2 Stratigraphic column, Cao Limn

GEOLOGIC SETTING
The Cao Limon field was the initial discovery of a series of fields along the same fault trend. These field share
similar productive intervals and depositional environments.
The LC-Mirador sands, Eocene in age, are primarily deltaic distributary channels. The LC-Mirador contains varying
amounts of dispersed kaolinite. Formation resistivity values (Rt) and spontaneous potential (SP) development are
not appreciably reduced due to the presence of fresh waters (low contrast resistivity zones). For this reason, it is
difficult at present to distinguish between shalier zones due to kaolinite and zones encroached by fresh aquifer
water, as both conditions exhibit good porosities and high resistivities.
The Upper Carbonera is formed by relatively discontinuous fluvial or distributary channels. Sands in the Upper
Carbonera are shalier than in the Lower Carbonera-Mirador. Medium to coarse grained with fair to well sorted
sands are encountered in the Upper Carbonera and LC-Mirador.
The Cretaceous K1 formation is shalier and thinner, with generally poorer quality reservoir rocks. The rock is
bioturbated in places and reservoir quality has been reduced significantly over these intervals. Some tight limestone
stringers and minor glauconitic zones exist in this formation, consistent with its marine origin. Grain size and sorting

SPWLA 53rd Annual Logging Symposium, June 16-20, 2012

deteriorate in the deeper section of the Cretaceous K1. The top of the K2 formation is characterized by fine grained
intervals.

TOOL PHYSICS AND MEASUREMENT THEORY

The formation C/O ratio measurement is used to determine the formations oil saturation in a cased well when the
formation water salinity is very low or unknown. Carbon-oxygen logging provides a direct measure of formation
carbon, and therefore oil saturation, independent of water salinity. The C/O measurement is based on Pulsed
Neutron Spectroscopy (PNS).
Fast neutrons (14 MeV) produced by the C/O pulsed neutron source collide inelastically with nuclei of the formation
material, losing some of their energy to the nuclei. The nucleus can release the energy it has gained by emitting a
gamma ray with an energy characteristic of the nucleus. This kind of interaction takes place during and very soon
after the neutron burst, before the neutrons lose too much energy. The gamma rays emitted during this inelastic
scattering process are analyzed during inelastic mode logging with the C/O tool. Figure 3 shows the technical
specifications for the Reservoir Saturation Tool (RST) (courtesy Schlumberger). Two different diameter RSTs are
available, one with 1-11/16 OD where the neutron generator and the detectors are centered aligned and the other
with 2-1/2 OD with eccentered detectors to optimize acquisition in flowing wells and avoid spectrum distortion.
Figure 4, courtesy Schlumberger) shows the nuclear iterations that occur during the burst of neutrons.

Fig. 3 RST Hardware and Technical Specifications

Fig. 4 Measurement Nuclear Interactions

C/O MODE
In C/O logging a single neutron burst is followed within micro seconds by 3 distinct time intervals of measurement.
A net spectrum is composed from these time dependent results and divided into 6 distinct and traceable
contributions: Oxygen, Carbon, Silicon, Calcium, Iron and Tool background. The carbon and oxygen peeks are so
distinct, windows are placed along these intervals (See Figure 5, courtesy Schlumberger). The windows ratio gives
a repeatable and precise answer, however, it is only with the assistance of the Spectral processing can the ratio be
made accurate. The process in combining these two is known as Alpha Processing.
The first processing step decomposes the acquired net
inelastic spectrum, using elemental standard spectra, into
inelastic yields, including carbon and oxygen. The yields
and the C/O yield ratios are computed for the near and far
detectors individually. In parallel, the carbon and oxygen
windows and the resulting C/O window ratios are
computed for each detector. Windows are simple net
inelastic count rates within an energy window that is
dominated by the given element.

Fig. 5 C/O Energy Spectrum

The yields-based and windows-based C/O ratios are

individually transformed into saturation using a database of
measured tool responses in known environmental
conditions.

SPWLA 53rd Annual Logging Symposium, June 16-20, 2012

The spectral processing has been made more robust by evaluating several parameters as simple functions of
counting rate rather than as additional free parameters in the weighted-least-square spectral analysis. These
parameters are the capture background subtraction factor, and the gain, offset and resolution of the background
spectrum relative to the foreground spectrum. Analytically determining the background subtraction factor allows an
accurate measurement of sulfur, previously difficult to obtain because of the prominent sulfur gamma ray at about
the same energy as the 2.2-MeV hydrogen line that is always present in the capture background.
Lithology is a key input in the transformation of the inelastic C/O ratio into So, because it drives the compensation
for the carbon in the rock matrix. In addition, the clay content of the rock can be better determined from the capture
yields than from other measurements such as gamma ray, sigma or neutron-density (Herron and Herron, 1996)
As mentioned earlier, the yields-based and windows- based C/O ratios are individually transformed into volumes of
oil using a database of measured tool responses in known environmental conditions. Each database measurement
characterizes the tools response in terms of a specific combination of formation lithology, porosity, borehole size,
casing size and casing weight. Actual well environments, particularly porosity and lithology, are rarely identical to
the characterized environments. An interpolation/extrapolation method must be used to interpret tool response in a
generalized logging environment.
The processing is based on an algorithm developed for the RST sigma/porosity measurement (Plasek et al. 1995),
called weighted multiple linear regression. The basic idea is to represent the variation of the tool response
throughout the database as a linear combination of specially chosen, fundamental parameters defining the
environment. The tool response is defined in terms of near- and far-detector carbon and oxygen yields at the end
points of 100% oil and 0% oil (or 0% and 100% water) in the formation and in the borehole (Figure 6 Characterization Quadrilaterals). The environmental parameters are chosen or constructed in such a way that they
fully describe the environmental sensitivity of the tool, while remaining maximally independent of each other.

Fig. 6 RST C/O Characterization Quadrilaterals

SPWLA 53rd Annual Logging Symposium, June 16-20, 2012

CARBON/OXYGEN LOG EXAMPLES

C/O Example - Well 28
Cao Limon Upper Carbonera channels are closed systems and are characterized by uncertain pressure support, oil
saturation, water resistivity and connectivity between channels. These uncertainties make it difficult to identify
undrained, swept or wet zones with conventional tools.
Well 28 was drilled and completed in the Lower Carbonera sands in 1989, with good oil production and high
resistivity values around 1800 ohm-m through 2010. High water cut production motivated running a saturation log
to confirm undrained intervals or new opportunities because the original petrophysical interpretation showed two C5
channels (Upper Carbonera) with good net sand and moderate original oil saturation compare to the main reservoir .
On December 2010, an RST log was run and results showed potential in one of those two C5 channels The
lowermost channel appear to be drained showed residual oil saturation, while the uppermost channel showed good
oil saturations, which had not been identified as a good potential in the past. The upper channel was opened and
started production with 2% water cut, and continues producing with 15% water cut. Without the RST log
information, large amount of reserves would have been lost, due to the low prospectivity and high risk of opening a
potential water sand. See Fig. 7.

Fig. 7 C/O Results Well 28 Upper Carbonera Channels

SPWLA 53rd Annual Logging Symposium, June 16-20, 2012

C/O Example - Well 172
Well 172 was drilled and completed as an oil producer in the Cretaceous sands in 2007 with good results until 2010.
Final production in the Cretaceous sands showed a 98% water cut and low oil rate. Due to an ESP pump failure, a
decision needed to be made whether to restart the well in the same zone or open another zone based on open-hole
log evaluation. Two possible opportunities were identified but the risk to open those sands and find wet zones was
considered very high. Testing each of those sands implied an expensive workover, thus a saturation log was run to
reevaluate the potential of the identified sands.
The first sand was in the Upper Carbonera C2-C3 sands, which are located above the main reservoirs and could have
implied a significant volume of reserves to develop. Unfortunately, the oil saturation was very low, despite the high
deep resistivity reading (very fresh formation waters). The second zone, a Cretaceous sand (K1B2) located above
the initially completed zone showed good oil saturations and potential for a new completion. This zone was opened
and confirmed oil accumulations in that part of the field, but produced at higher initial water cuts than expected
(94%). However the recompletion avoided abandoning the well, and allowed recovery of oil reserves that otherwise
would have been lost. See Fig. 8a and 8b.

Fig. 8a C/O Results C2-C3 Sands Well 172

Fig. 8b C/O Results K1 Cretaceous Sands Well 172

SPWLA 53rd Annual Logging Symposium, June 16-20, 2012

C/O Example - Well 12

Well 12 was drilled and completed in the Cretaceous K2 sands in 1991, with good oil production through 2011.
High water cut production motivated running a saturation log to identify by-passed oil or new opportunities because
the original petrophysical interpretation showed Cretaceous K1 sands, as having good quality sands but with high
uncertainty regarding the oil saturation, due to low resistivity contrast between oil and water and high Gamma Ray
responses, highly affected by a combination of fine grain, and presence of clays.
On January 2010, an RST Log was run, and results showed potential in those Cretaceous K1 sands. One year later,
Cretaceous K2 sands were isolated and Cretaceous K1 sands were opened. Initial production showed a 2% water
cut, and continues producing a year later with only 5% water cut. Without the RST log information, considerable
amount of reserves would have been lost, because of the low prospectivity and high risk of opening potential low
productivity water sands. See Fig. 9.

Fig. 9 C/O Results Cretaceous Sands Well 12

C/O Example - Well 5
Well 5 was drilled in January 2008 and completed in the M1 sand with poor production results (water cut of 99%).
Based on these results, the M1 sand was isolated with a bridge plug and the upper C5 sand tested. This too produced
at a 99% water cut. A production logging tool (PLT) was run to evaluate whether there was fluid communication
past the bridge plug isolating the M1 sand. The PLT did not show flow past the bridge plug and the well was
cataloged as an abandonment candidate.
In November 2010 an RST Log was run to evaluate lower C5 channels and the oil saturation of the upper C5
channel sand previously opened. The RST data confirmed that the upper C5 sand had unattractive oil saturations,
but showed good oil saturations in the middle C5 sand. Based on the RST data, the upper C5 sand was squeezed
and the middle C5 sand was perforated with good production results (water cut 1%). Running the RST log, at
substantial cost savings of a WO identified and confirmed the presence of an additional zone to develop in the area.
See Fig. 10.

SPWLA 53rd Annual Logging Symposium, June 16-20, 2012

U C5

M1

Fig. 10 C/O Results Upper Carbonera Channel Well 5

CONCLUSIONS
The C/O log can be effectively used to identify bypassed oil or undrained sands to identify new possible locations or
future opportunities in existing wells, thereby avoiding potentially expensive and uncertain initial completions or
workovers in formations with low or unknown water salinities.
Few C/O tools have sufficiently small ODs that they can pass through the Y-Tool bypass around the electrical
submersible pump, thereby eliminating the need to remove the tubing and pump for logging.
In comparison to workovers and zonal tests, the C/O log has provided a cost effective approach to identify bypassed
reserves.

REFERENCES
Herron S.L., Herron, M.M., Quantitative Lithology: An Application for Open and Cased hole Spectroscopy,
SPWLA 37th Annual Logging Symposium, June 16-19, 1996.
Plasek, R.E., Adolph, R.A., Stoller, C., Willis, D.J., Bordon, E.E. and Portal, M., Improved Pulsed Neutron
Capture Logging with Slim Carbon-Oxygen Tools: Methodology, SPE 30598, SPE Annual Technical Conference
and Exhibition, Dallas, October 22-25, 1995.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Marta Elena Becerra R is a Sr. Petrophysicist in the Llanos Norte Reservoir Management Team with Occidental de
Colombia. She received her BS degree in Petroleum Engineering in 1999 from the Universidad de America. She
gathered experience in open-hole and cased-hole log interpretation from different locations around the world
(Colombia, Ecuador, Peru Venezuela and USA) when she was working for Schlumberger. In 2010 she joined Oxy in
the Llanos and Cravo Norte area in Colombia as a Petrophysicist.
David W. Hampton, P.E. is the Chief Reservoir Engineer for Occidental de Colombia. He received a MS degree in
Petroleum Engineering from the University of Houston in 1987, and a BS degree in Petroleum Engineering in 1983
from the University of Texas at Austin. Upon graduation he was employed by a major service company and was
involved in log analysis and development of a variety of interpretation methods including PNL tool ( and C/O)
interpretations among others. In 2004 he joined Oxy US in the Permian Basin as a reservoir engineer managing
CO2 WAG floods.
Diana M. Mancilla is a Reservoir Engineer with Occidental de Colombia. She received a BS degree in Petroleum
Engineering in 2006 from the Universidad de America in Bogota. Upon graduation she was employed by Occidental
in operations as a well-planner, production with different artificial lift systems and reservoir engineering, involved
mainly in reservoir surveillance, PLT interpretation, waterflooding projects and reserves estimation.

SPWLA 53rd Annual Logging Symposium, June 16-20, 2012

Jules Daz received a BS degree in Petroleum Engineering in 2009 from the Universidad Industrial of Santander
(UIS) at Bucaramanga, Colombia. Upon graduation he was employed by Occidental de Colombia as a Trainee
Engineer working for areas such as Production and Operations Engineering. Nowadays he works as a reservoir
engineer for Cao Limon area.
J. Rafael Rolon H. is a Petroleum Engineer in the Llanos Norte Reservoir Management Team with Occidental de
Colombia currently working in the New Field area. He received a BS degree in Petroleum Engineering in 2009 from
Universidad Industrial de Santander. Upon graduation he was employed by Oxy Colombia and was involved in
operation and production activities, after that was in charge of the of New Field area of the Llanos RMT as a
reservoir engineer.
Helbert Mackualo is a reservoir engineer with Occidental in Bogota, Colombia. During the past 26 years he has
worked in several Los Llanos area fields and the Payoa and La Salina fields in the Middle Magdalena Valley. He has
many years experience in pressure transient analysis, PLT interpretation, reservoir simulation and petrophysics and
has also worked in waterflooding and gas injection projects. He holds a BS degree from the Universidad de
America in Bogot.
Alejandro Salgado is the Llanos Resource Management Team Lead for Occidental de Colombia. He received a BS
degree in Civil Engineering from the Universidad de Los Andes in 1986, and a MS degree in Petroleum Engineering
in 1989 from the University of Tulsa. Upon graduation he was employed by the Colombias National Oil CompanyECOPETROL and was involved in various reservoir engineering projects such as Fluids Characterization, Reservoir
Characterization and Reservoir Simulation among others. In 2003 he joined Occidental de Colombia as a senior
reservoir engineer working in the Cano Limon field.
Juan Angel is a Senior Petrophysicist working for DCS Colombia Schlumberger. He received a MS degree in
Petroleum Engineering from Texas A & M University College Station in 2000, and BS Degree in Petroleum
Engineering in 1995 from Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Expertise from five different locations around the
world (Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Angola, USA) where he has been involved in open hole and cased hole logging
analysis as well as borehole reservoir engineering for a major service company.
Xavier Goddyn works for Schlumberger as a log analyst, with 16 years in the industry. He was a field engineer for
Baker Hughes Inteq (West Africa), Geosteering and software engineer for Georex (North Africa, Venezuela). He
joined Schlumberger 11 years ago as a log analyst in Libya. Currently is a Petrophysicist supporting wireline
interpretation for Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. He has a MSc of Geological Engineering from IGAL (France,
1996).
Cesar Patio is a Senior Petrophysicist working for Ecopetrol. He has 15 years working in Formation Evaluation.
He has held positions as Schlumberger Field Service Manager (Latin America-Africa-Europe), Weatherford
Operations manager (Latin America) in the Wireline segment, and worked with Oxy and Ecopetrol in their
Reservoir department. He currently gives support to all Colombia basins, and international reservoir
characterization projects. Cesar holds a BS Degree in Petroleum Engineering from the Universidad Industrial de
Santander in 1997.