WELL LOGGING

(Assignment)

TOPIC : WORKING MACHANISM OF CBL & VDL

Name: Mahtab
Roll No : F16PG18
Subject : Well Logging
Submitted To : Sir Habib u Zaman
INTRODUCTION :
A cement bond log (CBL) is a type of log that measures the loss of acoustic energy
as it passes through casing.
A cement bond log documents an evaluation of the integrity of cement work
performed on an oil well. Cement bond logs are used to detect the presence or
absence of external cement behind casing. Proper cement placement between
the well casing and the formation is essential.
Transmitter sends acoustic wave to casing cement and then receivers receive
acoustic signal that transfer through casing to cement and reflects to receivers.
Acoustic wave at receivers is converted to amplitude (mv).
Low amplitude represents good cement bond between casing and hole; however,
high amplitude represents bad cement bond. The concept likes when we knock
pipe. If there is something coverage around pipe, the reflection sound will be
attenuated, and vice versa.
The Cement Bond Logging tools have become the standard method of evaluating
cement jobs. They indicate how good the cement bond is.
The variable-density log is commonly used as an adjacent to the cement-bond log,
and offers better insights into its interpretation. The VDL is generally used to
assess the cement to formation bond and helps to detect the presence of
channels and the intrusion of gas.

 CBL-VDL MEASUREMENT :
The cement bond log (CBL), later combined with the Variable Density (VDL)
waveform, has been for many years the primary way to evaluate cement quality.
The principle of the measurement is to record the transit time and attenution of a
20 kHz acoustic wave after propagation through the borehole fluid and the casing
wall.
The CBL measurement is the amplitude in mV of the casing first arrival El at the 3-
ft receiver. It is a function of the attenuation due to the shear coupling of the
cement sheath to the casing. The attenuation rate depends on the cement
compressive strength, the casing diameter, the pipe thickness.

 CEMENTING LOG BASICS :

Cement bond logs were run as early as 1958 with early sonic logs and the
temperature log was used to find cement top beginning in 1933. Cement integrity
logs are run to determine the quality of the cement bond to the production
casing, and to evaluate cement fill-up between the casing and the reservoir rock.
A poor cement bond may allow unwanted fluids to enter the well. Poor fill-up of
cement leaves large channels behind the pipe that, likewise, allow the flow of
unwanted fluids, such as gas or water into an oil well. By-products of cement
integrity logs are the compressive strength of the cement, the bond index, and in
some cases, the quality of the casing string itself.
Both poor bond and poor fill-up problems can also allow fluids to flow to other
reservoirs behind casing. This can cause serious loss of potential oil and gas
reserves, or in the worst case, can cause blowouts at the wellhead. Unfortunately,
in the early days of well drilling, cement was not required by law above certain
designated depths. Many of the shallow reservoirs around the world have been
altered by pressure or fluid crossflow from adjacent reservoirs due to the lack of a
cement seal.
Getting a good cement job is far from trivial. The drilling mud must be flushed out
ahead of the cement placement, the mud cake must be scraped off the borehole
wall with scratchers on the casing, fluid flow from the reservoir has to be
prevented during the placement process, and the casing has to be centralized in
the borehole. Further, fluid and solids loss from the cement into the reservoir has
Gas percolation through the cement while it is setting is a serious concern, as the
worm holes thus created allow high pressure gas to escape up the annulus to the
wellhead - a very dangerous situation.

Poor bond or poor fill-up can often be repaired by a cement squeeze, but it is
sometimes impossible to achieve perfect isolation between reservoir zones. Gas
worm holes are especially difficult to seal after they have been created.

Poor bond can be created after an initial successful cement job by stressing the
casing during high pressure operations such as high rate production or hydraulic
fracture stimulations. Thus bond logs are often run in the unstressed environment
(no pressure at the wellhead) and under a stressed environment (pressure at the
wellhead).

Cement needs to set properly before a cement integrity log is run. This can take
from 10 to 50 hours for typical cement jobs. Full compressive strength is reached
in 7 to 10 days. The setting time depends on the type of cement, temperature,
pressure, and the use of setting accelerants. Excess pressure on the casing should
be avoided during the curing period so that the cement bond to the pipe is not
disturbed.
 Cement logs :
Today’s cement integrity logs come in four flavours i.e cement bond logs (CBL),
cement mapping logs (CMT), ultrasonic cement mapping tools (CET), and
ultrasonic imaging logs (USI, RBT). Examples and uses for each are described in
this Chapter.

Before the invention of sonic logs, temperature logs were used to locate cement
top, but there was no information about cement integrity. Some knowledge could
be gained by comparing open hole neutron logs to a cased hole version. Excess
porosity on the cased hole log could indicate poor fill-up (channels) or mud
contamination. The neutron log could sometimes be used to find cement top.
The earliest sonic logs appeared around 1958 and their use for cement integrity
was quantified in 1962. The sonic signal amplitude was the key to evaluating
cement bond and cement strength. Low signal amplitude indicated good cement
bond and high compressive strength of the cement.
The CBL uses conventional sonic log principals of refraction to make its
measurements. The sound travels from the transmitter, through the mud, and
refracts along the casing-mud interface and refracts back to the receivers, as
shown in the illustration on the left. In fast formations (faster than the casing), the
signal travels up the cement-formation interface, and arrives at the receiver
before the casing refraction.

The amplitude is recorded on the log in millivolts, or as attenuation in

decibels/foot (db/ft), or as bond index, or any two or three of these. A travel time
curve is also presented. It is used as a quality control curve. A straight line
indicates no cycle skips or formation arrivals, so the amplitude value is reliable.
Skips may indicate poor tool centralization or poor choice for the trigger
threshold.

The actual value measured is the signal amplitude in millivolts. Attenuation is

calculated by the service company based on its tool design, casing diameter, and
transmitter to receiver spacing. Compressive strength of the cement is derived
from the attenuation with a correction for casing thickness. Finally, bond index is
calculated by the equation:
1: Bond Index = Atten / ATTMAX

Where:
Atten = Attenuation at any point on the log (db/ft or db/meter)
ATTMAX = Maximum attenuation (db/ft or db/meter)

The maximum attenuation can be picked from the log at the depth where the
lowest amplitude occurs. On older logs attenuation and bond index were
computed manually. On modern logs, these are provided as normal output
curves. Bond Index is a qualitative indicator of channels. A Bond Index of 0.30
suggests that only about 30% of the annulus is filled with good cement.
NTERPRETATION RULE 1: Low Amplitude = Good Cement
INTERPRETATION RULE 2: High Attenuation = Good Cement
INTERPRETATION RULE 3: High Bond Index = Good Cement.
A nomograph for calculating attenuation and bond index for older Schlumberger
logs is given below.
  Mechanism :
While the important results of a CBL are easily seen on a conventional CBL log
display, such as signal amplitude, attenuation, bond index, and cement
compressional strength, an additional display track is normally provided. This is
the variable density display (VDL) of the acoustic waveforms. They give a visual
indication of free or bonded pipe (as do the previously mentioned curves) but also
show the effects of fast formations, decentralized pipe, and other problems.
But you need really good eyes and a really good display to do this. The display is
created by transforming the sonic waveform at every depth level to a series of
white-grey-black shades that represent the amplitude of each peak and valley on
the waveform. Zero amplitude is grey, negative amplitude is white, and positive
amplitude is black. Intermediate amplitudes are supposed to be intermediate
shades of grey.
This seldom happens because the display is printed on black and white printers
that do not recognize grey. Older logs were displayed to film that did not have a
grey – only black or clear (white when printed). So forget the grey scale and look
for the patterns. Older logs were analog – the wave train was sent up hole as a
varying voltage on the logging cable. These logs could not be re-displayed to
improve visual effects. Modern logs transmit and record digitized waveforms that
can be processed or re-displayed to enhance their appearance.
The examples below show the various situations that the VDL is supposed to elucidate. These examples
are taken from “New Developments in Sonic Wavetrain Display and Analysis in Cased Holes”, H.D.
Brown, V.E. Grijalva, L.L. Raymer, SPWLA 1970.