1.

1 Advanced Formation Evaluation

Data Sources – Depth Measurement

by Alain Brie

November 2012
Petrophysical Data Sources

§ Data Sources

§ Invasion

§ Depth of Investigation and Resolution

§ Depth Measurement

1 © Alain Brie 2012 Advanced Formation Evaluation

 Petrophysical Data Sources

Data Sources
§ Database & offset wells
§ Mud logs
§ Cores
§ LWD logs
§ Open hole logs (wireline )
§ Cased hole logs
§ Well tests
§ Production tests

2 © Alain Brie 2012 Advanced Formation Evaluation

Mud Logging – Master Log

3 © Alain Brie 2012 Advanced Formation Evaluation

 Mud Logging – Master Log

On this example, the good

correlation between ROP and
lithology (gamma ray) allows
drawing an accurate section
although cuttings are somewhat
mixed up.

Rate Of Penetration
Gamma Ray

4 © Alain Brie 2012 Advanced Formation Evaluation

 Mud Logging Inputs To Formation Evaluation

§ Mud logging provides non-quantitative information for:

– Lithology identification
§ Especially useful for secondary or trace minerals (Carbonate cement in sands, Mica, Pyrite,
etc.)
§ Clay typing
– Fluid typing confirmation:
§ Total Gas Detection
§ Gas chromatography
§ Hydrocarbon content analysis (cut test)
§ etc
– Should be cautious with the depth difference due to sample lag time
§ Identify and correlate the intervals of interest first before using the information.

5 © Alain Brie 2012 Advanced Formation Evaluation

MWD - Measurement While Drilling

§ MWD sends to surface important drilling

information such as:
– Directional data (D&I),
– Downhole weight on bit,
– Downhole torque,
– Annular pressure,
– Temperature.
§ Data is transmitted to surface by a mud
modulator that shuts alternatively the
mud flow.
§ Power is provided by a turbine in the
mud flow.
Power Pulse Mud Modulator
6 © Alain Brie 2012 Advanced Formation Evaluation
LWD - Logging While Drilling

LWD logs
§ In important wells, sensors fitted in the
bottom hole assembly can acquire
petrophysical data of the formation during
drilling:
– Lithology, porosity
– Saturation,
– Formation dip, borehole imaging
§ The data is transmitted to the MWD Tool
that sends it to surface through the mud
column. It is also recorded in downhole
memory
Resistivity at the bit Tool
GVR geoVISION Resistivity
7 © Alain Brie 2012 Advanced Formation Evaluation
Wireline Logs

Wireline logs
§ Open hole wireline logs
– Petrophysical & geology data
– Wellbore seismic
– Formation tests and samples
§ Cased hole logs are run after casing is set
– Cement evaluation: CBL/VDL, CBT, USIT
– Petrophysical evaluation in cased hole
– Reservoir monitoring and production logging

8 © Alain Brie 2012 Advanced Formation Evaluation

Volumetric Logs (Wireline or LWD)

Volumetric Logs, “the Triple Combo”

§ Gamma Ray indicates shaliness
§ Nuclear logs give porosity
– Density
– Neutron
§ Resistivity gives water saturation
– Laterolog
– Induction
– Micro-resistivity

The combination is often called “Triple Combo”

9 © Alain Brie 2012 Advanced Formation Evaluation
 Other Wireline Services

Advanced Petrophysics Sampling and Testing (Wireline)

§ CMR (NMR) § Side wall cores
§ Elemental Capture Sonde § Modular Formation Tester

Geology Logs (Wireline) Sonic & Seismic (Wireline)

§ Dipmeter § Sonic Scanner
§ Formation micro imager § VSP and check shots
§ Ultrasonic borehole imager

10 © Alain Brie 2012 Advanced Formation Evaluation

 Petrophysical Data Sources

§ Data Sources Overview

§ Invasion

§ Depth of Investigation and Resolution

§ Depth Measurement

11 © Alain Brie 2012 Advanced Formation Evaluation

 Invasion – Water Base Mud

Borehole

Invasion
§ Mud filtrate invades permeable
Virgin formations flushing fluids, changing
Transition zone saturation
Rmc Flushed
zone
zone
§ Invasion creates a radial resistivity
Mud filtrate variation or profile
Rw Sw Rt
Rmf Sxo § Resistivity tools are designed to
Rxo measure the different zones

Mudcake

Mud

12
12 © Alain Brie 2012 Advanced Formation Evaluation
Resistivity Profile

The Resistivity Profile represents the radial variation of resistivity caused by invasion.

Water bearing formation, Rmf > Rw

Radial Resistivity distribution

At least 3 resistivity measurements with different depths of investigation are needed

to characterize the resistivity profile.

13 © Alain Brie 2012 Advanced Formation Evaluation

 Resistivity Profile in an Invaded zone

§ Real Radial Resistivity Profile

- For a water bearing formation,
with Rmf > Rw

§ Simplified step profile of invasion

- Described with 3 parameters: Rt, Rxo, ri
- Can be solved with 3 resistivity
measurements with different depths of
investigation: Deep, Shallow, Micro.

The Step Profile is a simplification introduced to describe the profile with 3 parameters
14 © Alain Brie 2012 Advanced Formation Evaluation
Oil-Base Mud Case

Reservoir at
Irreducible With oil-base mud, the invading phase is
saturation oil. Oil filtrate can invade permeable
formations and Sxo is less than Sw,

Sxo often reduces down to Swirr in the

transition zone and even sometimes in the
Transition Zone water zone,

Oil filtrate mixes with formation

hydrocarbons in the invaded zone, hence
original hydrocarbon density cannot be
determined.

Water Zone

15 © Alain Brie 2012 Advanced Formation Evaluation

 Petrophysical Data Sources

§ Data Sources Overview

§ Invasion

§ Depth of Investigation and Resolution

§ Depth Measurement

16 © Alain Brie 2012 Advanced Formation Evaluation

Depth of Investigation and Resolution
Depth of Investigation is how far away from the
borehole a measurement reads.
• Deep : 50 in (1.3 m) and further
• Shallow : 20 in (.5 m) to 60 in (1.5 m).
• Micro : Only a few inches from the borehole wall.
Resolution

Resolution is the thickness of the thinnest bed

that can be measured.
• Coarse : 3 ft (1 m) and thicker
• Standard : 1 to 2 ft (0.3 to 0.6 m)
• Fine : less than 6 in (15 cm)
Resolution and Depth of Investigation are linked: deep
measurement have coarse resolution while micro
measurements have fine resolution.
17 © Alain Brie 2012 Advanced Formation Evaluation
 Petrophysical Data Sources

§ Data Sources Overview

§ Invasion

§ Depth of Investigation and Resolution

§ Depth Measurement

18 © Alain Brie 2012 Advanced Formation Evaluation

 Depth Overview

The depths and position of all wells has to be

known with accuracy.
This is important for mapping and evaluation of
the reservoir.

19 © Alain Brie 2012 Advanced Formation Evaluation

 Depth Measurements Control

§ The depth of a well is first measured by the driller – Driller’s Depth.

§ The initial reference for depth is the rotary table on the drill floor.
§ Later all depths are referred to an absolute reference, usually the mean sea
level, m.s.l.
§ The logs provide a precise depth measurements – Logger’s Depth
§ The first resistivity log (sometimes the density) is used as the reference
depth and used for all subsequent operations on the well, perforations,
monitoring, test depths, pressures and so on.
§ Major differences with the drillers depth have to be investigated.
§ For field evaluation all measured depth must be corrected for deviation to
obtain True Vertical Depth - TVD

20 © Alain Brie 2012 Advanced Formation Evaluation

 Log Depth Measurement

§ Depth measurement starts with

setting the tool zero.
§ The depth is measured using
two independent wheels.
§ The depth at the bottom of the
well is corrected for cable
stretch.
§ Magnetic marks on the cable
are used to monitor the
system.

21 © Alain Brie 2012 Advanced Formation Evaluation

 Logging Cable Stretch Correction

Example:
Depth = 10000ft
Tension = 4500lbs
Tool Weight = 750lbs

Stretch : 10 ft

§ Log depth accuracy is

±2.5 foot in 5000 feet
§ The consistency between logging runs is
<2 feet in 10000 feet.

22 © Alain Brie 2012 Advanced Formation Evaluation

 Tool and Measurement Depths

§ The depth reference is the tool zero,

§ Logs are memorized by the
distance from the sensor to the
measure zero.

23 © Alain Brie 2012 Advanced Formation Evaluation

 Logging While Drilling Depth

§ The LWD depth system uses the movement of the

traveling block and eliminates movement not related to
the movement of the drillstring, such as during pipe
connections.
§ Depth increments are made by the measured drill line
movement only when the measured load from a
tensiometer exceeds a preset threshold.
§ On floating drill rigs, additional sensors measure heave
to enable compensation in depth processing.
§ Depth is not corrected for stretch resulting from the
weight of the drill string or borehole environmental
conditions such as thermal expansion, pressure and
ballooning.

24 © Alain Brie 2012 Advanced Formation Evaluation