CHAPTER 3 LOGGING TOOLS AND THE CASED HOLE ENVIRONMENT THE CAS! Overview ED HOLE ENVIRONMENT of the Completed Interval The cased hole environment in which the logging tools must operate is shown on Figure 3.1. In this schematic, there are four zones, A, B, C, and D, which are porous and perme- able and which can produce some type of fluid. These zones are separated from each other by impermeable shale layers. Casing is run and cement is circulated to create the situation. shown. The operator of this well is interested in producing zones A, B, and D. The well is then completed by perforating into each of the desired productive zones. This process establishes communication between the completed zones and the common wellbore. The production is said to be “commingled.” ‘As often occurs, things do not work out exactly as planned. Zone A is producing, but zone B is taking some of the production which would ordinarily be produced to the sur- face. Zone B must be at a lower pressure than the wellbore fluid and is called a “thief” zone. Zone D appears to be producing, but some, none, or all of that production is coming from zone C, depending on the pressure of each zone and the wellbore. In this case, the cement is intended to isolate all of the zones along the wellbore by filling the casing to formation annulus. Here, there is a deficiency of such fill and fluid produced from C flows through a “channel” up to zone D. If zone Cis gas bearing, then the fluids in the borehole vary from. ‘completion fluid (salt water) at the bottom of the well, oll between zones A to D, and bub- bling gas through ofl above zone D. What Can Logging Tools Do? Even if no open hole information is available, and the well is cased, logs can be run to help properly complete or remedy this well. If no information is known about the formation, there are formation evaluation logs available, A gamma ray log may be used to discrimi- nate the shaley intervals from clean sands. A compensated neutron log evaluates the porosity of zones A to D. Pulsed neutron capture or carbon/oxygen logs can identify the fluids in the pore space. A cased hole formation tester determines formation pressures and possibly taking samples would have indicated low pressure in zone B. As a result, the com- pletion of zone B may have been delayed or a “dual” completion well configuration used. ‘The well integrity could have been assessed prior to completion. The cement bond type logs are available to evaluate the cement annular fill. This log would have indicated the likelihood of a channel between zones C and D and the need to squeeze cement into that interval. Even though this is probably a new well, casing inspection logs could be helpful to assure that the casing is in good condition and the perforations are located at the proper depths. ‘The so called fluid movement or “production logs” like the spinner flowmeter would indicate that both A and D are producing and that B is thieving, The fluid identification Ww18 Chapter ThreeLogging Tools and the Cased Hole Environment 19 tools would indicate that completion fluid is at the bottom and the gas in entering at zone 1D. Temperature and noise logs would also be helpful to detect the channel between zones Cand D. Cased hole logs are the diagnostic tools necessary to provide an accurate picture of what a well can do, whether it is ready to do it, and if it is doing as predicted after completion. ‘The prior discussion elaborated on three overall applications for cased hole logs. These are: 1. Formation Evaluation 2. Wellbore Integrity 3. Fluid Movement During Production/Injection ‘The remaining chapters of this text focus on the differing technologies available to each of these applications. Regions of Investigation of Cased Hole Logging Tools While overall applications of tools are a handy categorization, it is riot suggestive of cross discipline applications and misses important details of the logging services. However, another type of classification is better suited to categorize the technologies and hint at other new applications. Referring to Figure 3.1, Roman numerals 1, Il, I, and IV are indi- cated at the top. These numerals point to regions of investigation in which tools are pri- marily designed to operate. For example, the production logging tools measure the region inside casing, region I. Casing inspection devices operate in region II. Cement evaluation Jogs inspect region Ill. The various formation evaluation services are measuring parameters in region IV. ‘The importance of this type of categorization is realized when one considers that tools, are usually designed primarily for a single objective. For example, pulsed neutron capture logs are primarily designed for evaluation of formation water saturation. However, this tool may be affected by borehole, casing, and annular conditions. As these tools improved over the years, it was realized that there is information about the other regions in the acquired data. Early on it was realized that wellbore water movement could be detected by oxygen activation. Examples emerged where gas channels were detected. And today it appears that a whole new round of pulsed neutron equipment is being developed solely for such sec- ondary information. The point is that if you have a log in the well file, it may have added information on it regarding its secondary regions which has not been considered or even. understood. Figure 3.2 is a table which lists the generic names of virtually all of the types of logging tools run today. On the left are the application categories. At the top are the regions of investigation. The black dot under a region indicates that the tool is primarily designed to make measurements in that region. A hollow dot under another region indicates that the tool is or may be affected by another region not of primary interest. For example, the pulsed neutron capture is primarily evaluating the formation but may be affected by well- bore fluids, casing, or the annulus. FACTORS AFFECTING LOG RESPONSE The Borehole Environment Detailed discussion of borehole environmental factors affecting tool response is contained in the respective tool chapter. However, a few observations will immediately confirm that given an open hole and equivalent cased hole measurement, the open hole is always bet- ter, other things being equal. (Refer to Figure 3.1.) A cased hole logging tool, if it is to eval- uate the formation, must look through the casing and cement. These cause an increased standoff from the formation, a smaller signal from the formation, plus signals from the casing and cement which must be compensated for and semoved. ‘The proper compensa- tion fs difficult since the cement thickness is, in fact, often not known with any accuracy. Furthermore, the cement may have pockets of water, mud, oil, or gas, which may affect the20. Chapter Three E z g x a E FORMATION EVALUATION SURVEY REGION OF INVESTIGATION rr ‘TEMPERATURE DIFFERENTIAL TEMPERATURE NOTSE (STATIONARY) RADIOACTIVE TRACER OXYGEN ACTIVATION WATER FLOW CONTINUOUS SPINNER FLOW DIVERTING SPINNER HORIZONTAL SPINNER FLUID IDENTIFICATION FLUID SAMPLER BOW SPRING CALIPER MULTIFINGER CALIPER ELECTROMAGNETIC (PAD TYPE) ‘ACOUSTIC PULSE ECHO SURVEY BOREHOLE VIDEO CAMERA CASING POTENTIAL SURVEY COLLAR LOCATOR ACOUSTIC BOND LOG PULSE ECHO BOND LOG PAD TYPE BOND LOG RADIAL DIFFERENTIAL TEMPERATURE. GAMMA RAY AND SPECTRAL GR DIRECTIONAL GR (ROTASCAN) CHLORINE LOG ‘PULSED NEUTRON CAPTURE CARBON /OXYGEN (INDUCED GR) DENSITY PRESSURE FORMATION TESTER Figure 3.2 Generic names of cased hole logging services tool’s response. Certain tools are seriously affected by borehole fluids as well, especially gas, which is present in the figure. There is, however, one bit of good news. Unless chan- neling is present, there should be no formation invasion provided the log is run adequately long after circulating cement. Other factors of the environment relate to tool ratings of temperature and pressure. Each service company’s equipment is rated to slightly different limits and they should be closely consulted as temperature and/or pressure become high. Hostile high temperature ‘equipment is available for some types of tools. The presence of HS requires special atten- tion and knowledge of it is critical not only to the measurement but to the safety of the personnel on the job site.Logging Tools and the Cased Hole Environment 21 Reservoir Fluids When dealing with production logs, itis often necessary to compare downhole production with that indicated on the surface. This cannot be done without an understanding of how fluids behave when coming from the formation to the surface. Fluid conversions ate di cussed in most reservoir engineering texts and are not discussed here except in a very gen- eral sense. Oil downhole usually has a substantial amount of gas held in solution. (See Figure 3.3.) If the oil is produced as a liquid downhole, and its flow rate is measured at, say, 1,000 units per day, this will not in general match the measured oil production at the surface, which Eu VOLUME INCREASING fected “GAS FROM OIL. PRESSURE, DEPTH, INCREASING UE Tisttes] TTT BUBBLE POINT PRESSURE Figure 3.3 Change of fluid volumes in traveling from downhole to surface22 Chapter Three may be 750 or 800 units per day. What happened to the oil? At downhole conditions, the oil contains gas in solution. When the oll comes to the surface, its pressure is reduced to below the bubble point and the gas begins to come out of solution. This solution gas accounts for the missing oil. Ii the wellbore pressure is greater than the oil's bubble point pressure, only the oil phase Js produced and flows in the wellbore. The oil is said to be “undersaturated.” If the well- bore pressure is less than the bubble point pressure, then gas bubbles emerge from the oll and are present downhole. The oil is said to be “saturated,” since it can hold no more gas at these conditions. As the pressure and temperature are decreased further, more and more gas comes out of solution until surface conditions are reached. ‘Water also has gas in solution. However, the gas volume associated with water is usually {quite small. So, if 1,000 units per day of water are measured downhole, the corresponding surface production is, for all intents and purposes, the same—certainly within the accuracy ‘of the measurements that we are making. If gas is present in the reservoir, it is said to be “free gas” and not associated with oil pro- duction. Special charts are available for free gas to convert downhole to surface production and vice-versa. Certain volume ratios are frequently used to convert downhole volumes to standard conditions of one atmosphere and 60°F (15.5°C). These are: _ Gas Volume At Reservoir Conditions *« ~ Gas Volume At Standard Conditions B, << 1 and typically its reciprocal, 1/B,, is used GAS: B, _ Oil Volume At Reservoir Conditions © Oil Volume At Standard Conditions B,> 1 typically, and is due to loss of solution gas Om: By For accurate values of these volume ratios, consult PVT data on reservoir fluids or con- sult the algorithms and charts in reservoir engineering texts.!* TYPICAL PRODUCTION PROBLEMS Poor Initial Performance Poor initial performance is indicated by the well’s failure to meet the producibility expec- tations for it. Most of the following problems can be diagnosed using cased hole logs. Such. performance may be caused by: 1. Damaged zone causing significant skin effect around the wellbore 2. Plugged or ineffective perforations 3. Poor depth control during completion 4. Improperly sized tubing 5. Drawing down below bubble point 6. Thief zones created by commingling high and low pressured zones (see Figure 3.1) Changes in or Unanticipated Phase Production ‘Changes in phases produced typically refers to increases in water or gas production. Unan- ticipated fluid production can mean changes from or unexpected initial production of an undesired phase. Most of these problems can be diagnosed with cased hole logs. Indeed, monitoring of fluid contacts allows the operator to anticipate changes in production. Some causes of this condition are indicated below: 1. Encroachment of water-oil contact (WOC) or gas 2. Water or gas coning, Figure 3.4, B. 3. Fingering through high permeability zones, Figure 3.5. il contact (GOC), Figure 3.4, A.Logging Tools and the Cased Hole Environment 23 Figure 3.5. Water fingering through high permeability layers24 Chapter Three — SHALE—— - . HIGH PRESSURE GAS ZONE: OIL ZONE Figure 3.6 Channeling from nearby zone and leak through damaged casing 4. Channeling from nearby zone, Figure 3.6. 5. Casing damage, Figure 3.6. Decline in Production Declines in production are gradual and usually result from a slowly deteriorating condi- tion. Some of these problems may be difficult to diagnose with logs, but monitoring of the ‘well from time to time with logs may shed light on the mechanism causing the problem. The following are some contributors to production deci 1, Reservoir pressure decreases. 2, Near wellbore permeability loss due to particulate movement and the like. 3. Relative permeability effects. 4, Fracture closure. S. Restriction due to sand fil 6. Increase in hydrostatic head due to increased production of heavy phase. Miscellaneous Problems ‘This category really encompasses an uncountable number of problems. The following are just a few. 1, Effectiveness of fracture, acid, or squeeze cement job. 2, Sand production. 3. Tubing, casing, or packer leaks.Logging Tools and the Cased Hole Environment 25 POINTS TO REMEMBER ‘+ When multiple zones are completed to the same casing string, they are said to be com- mingled, Low pressure zones which take fluid otherwise going to the surface are “thief” zones. Regions of poor cement through which fluids flow are “channels.” “Production logs” are those used to assess fluid movement. ‘There are three overall applications for cased hote logs: 1. Formation Evaluation 2. Wellbore Integrity 3. Fluid Movement During Production/Injection + Logging tools may be classified as to their region of investigation. ‘Other things being equal, a log run in open hole is always better than that same log run through casing, ‘+ Temperature, pressure, and H,S are considerations important to logging tool selection. ‘+ Oil volume flow rate downhole is significantly larger that it is at the surface due to the escape of solution gas. ‘+ Water flow volume down hole is approximately the same as at the surface, ‘* Gas produced from a gas reservoir Is free gas and undergoes a substantial volume change from downhole to surface. + Production problems can be grouped into the following categories: 1. Poor initial performance 2. Changes in or unanticipated phase production 3. Decline in production 4. Miscellaneous References 1. Amyx, J.W, Bass, DM. Je, and Whiting, RL, Petroleum Reservoir Engineering, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1960. 2. Schlumberger, “Fluid Conversions in Production Log Interpretation,” Document €-119S2, Houston, Texas, 1986,