Identification of fractures in carbonates using sonic imaging log: Example from the

central of East European Plain

Xiaohua Che, Wenxiao Qiao, Peng Liu, et al.

Citation: Proc. Mtgs. Acoust. 23, 030003 (2015); doi: 10.1121/2.0000060

View online: https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0000060
View Table of Contents: https://asa.scitation.org/toc/pma/23/1
Published by the Acoustical Society of America

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Volume 23 http://acousticalsociety.org/

169th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
18-22, May 2015
Engineering Acoustics: Paper 4pEA16

Identification of fractures in carbonates using

sonic imaging logs：Example from the central of
East European Plain
Xiaohua Che, Wenxiao Qiao, Peng Liu, Xiaodong Ju and Junqiang Lu
College of Geophysics and Information Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, China;
imchexh@gmail.com; qiaowx@cup.edu.cn; liupeng198712@126.com; juxdong@cup.edu.cn; lujq@cup.edu.cn;

The structure of carbonate is much more complex than sandstone on its heterogeneity and anisotropy. The
Republic of Tatarstan of Russia lies in the central of East European Plain, where oil-gas resource is very
rich, and formations are mainly carbonates. In order to detect the underground geology of the region, the
multi-pole acoustic logging tool, the micro-resistivity imaging logging tool and conventional logging
tools are runned. Processing results of the multi-pole acoustic logging data indicate that the monopole
shear wave attenuation, the Stoneley wave attenuation and monopole variable-density waveforms are all
sensitive to the boundary where wave impedance contrast is high. The boundary may be a fracture, or a
bed interface between shale and limestone. In the micro-electrical scanning images, both the low-dip
fracture and the bed interface show sine curves. The sine curve of the low-dip fracture is relative rough
and the curve width changed with different azimuth, compared with that of the bed interface. The azimuth
of the horizontal stress can be obtained by processing cross-dipole waveforms. Micro-resistivity imaging
tool provides three diameter curves of the borehole in different directions that can determine the borehole
expanding direction, further getting the azimuth of the horizontal stress, too.

Published by the Acoustical Society of America

© 2015 Acoustical Society of America [DOI: 10.1121/2.0000060]

Received 12 May 2015; Published 15 July 2015
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X. Che et al. Identification of fractures in carbonates using sonic imaging logs

1. INTRODUCTION

Well logging is widely used to get physical parameters of formations underground by running a
variety of logging tools in borehole. These parameters mainly belong to three sciences: electrics,
acoustics and nuclear physics. Well logging is also a major method to recognize fracture and its
appearance in carbonate formations. In the acoustic logging field, Jordan and Campbell (1986)
simulated monopole waveforms in fluid-filled borehole surrounded by fractured formations, and
found that the presence of fractures would decrease the amplitude of the shear wave. Yong and
Zhang (2002) found that both the compressional wave and the shear wave were affected by
fractures. The amplitude of the compressional wave is sensitive to high-angle fractures, but the
shear wave is sensitive to low-dip fractures. Fractures can also be deduced from the amplitude of
the Stoneley wave (Paillet, 1980). He explained that the low-frequency tube wave forced the
borehole fluid into the fracture, thereby reducing its amplitude. The reflected Stoneley wave
appears when a low-dip fracture penetrates the borehole, and a related characteristic chevron
pattern in the Variable Density Log (VDL) map of acoustic waveforms is clearly observed (Ni et
al., 2008). Fractures parallel to or inclined with the borehole create azimuthal shear wave
anisotropy around the borehole (Tang and Cheng, 2004). The cross-dipole logging method was
developed to evaluate the anisotropy and its azimuth.

Micro-resistivity imager logging, an electrical logging method, shows the resistivity variation on
the borehole wall in vertically and axially so that fractures near the borehole can be observed
directly. But its radial investigation depth is too shallow to provide the length and width of
fractures (Zhao et al., 2012). In carbonate formations, the section with high acoustic or electrical
impedance contrast may be caused by fractures or bed boundaries of carbonate and shale. The
Gamma Ray (GR) logging is normally used to distinguish the contrast that the bed boundary
shows a high GR value, however, the fracture shows a low GR value.

In this paper, the multi-pole acoustic logging technology and the micro-resistivity imaging
logging technology are introduced. And then these logging results are used to determine the
burial depth of fractures and the azimuth of formation stress in the central of East European
Plain.

2. MULTI-POLE ACOUSTIC LOGGING TECHNOLOGY

The multi-pole acoustic logging tool is a comprehensive device that has multiple working modes.
The representative products are DSI of Schlumberger, XMAC of Baker Hughes and MPAL of
CNPC. Take MPAL for example, a brief introduction of this tool is given below. As shown in
Figure 1, MPAL mainly includes the transmitter section, the sound isolator and the receiver
section. The transmitter section consists of the quadrupole source T1, the monopole source T2
and two dipole T3 and T4. Eight receiver stations have functions of receiving the monopole

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X. Che et al. Identification of fractures in carbonates using sonic imaging logs

wave, the dipole wave and the quadrupole wave.

When T1 works as a monopole source, four receivers (R1-R4) near T1 acquire waveforms to
calculate the compressional wave slowness of formations. When T2 working, eight receivers
(R1-R8) acquire the compressional wave, the shear wave and the Stoneley wave in hard
formations or the compressional wave and the Stoneley wave in soft formations. Two orthogonal
dipole sources (X and Y) are fired in turn, and dipole receivers (X and Y) acquire waveforms
including two in-line components (XX and YY) and two cross-line components (XY and YX),
where the first letter refers to the source orientation and the second letter refers to the receiver
orientation (Tang and Cheng, 2004). The dipole waveforms of two in-line components are used
to calculate the shear wave slowness of soft formations. The dipole waveforms of four
components are processed together to inverse the formation anisotropy.

Figure 1: The sketch of MPAL.

2.1 The slowness of mode waves

The slowness-time coherence (STC) method is used to calculate the slowness of mode waves
(Kimball and Marzetta, 1984). The slowness of the compressional wave, the shear wave (in hard
formations) and the Stoneley wave is extracted by processing the monopole array waveforms.
The slowness of the dipole shear wave is extracted by processing the dipole array waveforms. As
shown in Figure 2, the STC method measures the coherence of a portion of array waveforms in a
given range of time and slowness, and a colorful image versus time and slowness in the right of
Figure 2 is gotten, where blue represents a minimum value of the coherence and red represents a
maximum value of the coherence. During processing, we need to compress the STC image to
one curve by selecting the maximum value of the coherence in every axis of slowness. So we can
get a STC map shown in track 2 of Figure 3 after processing array waveforms along the depth,
where DTP, DTS and DTST represent the slowness curve of the compressional wave, the shear
wave and the Stoneley wave, respectively. The track 3 of Figure 3 shows monopole waveforms,
ATP, ATS and ATST represent the arrival time of the compressional wave, the shear wave and the
Stoneley wave, respectively. The track 4 of Figure 3 shows monopole waveforms in a variable
density form.

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X. Che et al. Identification of fractures in carbonates using sonic imaging logs

P S ST

(a) (b)
Figure 2: Examples of processing results by STC. Monopole array waveforms (a) is in the left and the related
STC image (b) is in the right. P represents the compressional wave, S represents the shear wave and ST
represents the Stoneley wave.

Figure 3: A continuous STC map of logging data. The track 1 shows the depth, the track 2 shows the STC map,
the track 3 shows monopole waveforms and the track 4 shows monopole waveforms in a VDL display. DTP,
DTS and DTST represent the slowness curve of the compressional wave, the shear wave and the Stoneley
wave, respectively. ATP, ATS and ATST represent the arrival time of the compressional wave, the shear wave
and the Stoneley wave.

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X. Che et al. Identification of fractures in carbonates using sonic imaging logs

2.2 The amplitude and attenuation of mode waves

The amplitude and attenuation of mode waves are very sensitive to the formation lithology and
the fluid property. The arrival time of mode waves can be calculated from the slowness of
mode waves and the spacing of the transmitter and receiver. Open a time window and take the
arrival time of mode waves as the window start time. The amplitude of mode waves AMP at
different waveforms is calculated as Equation 1.
1
 N 2 
  ( xi ) 
2

AMPj   i 1  (1)
 N 
 
 
Where N represents the number of sampling points in time window, xi represents the amplitude
of point i. Take the logarithm of eight amplitude values from array waveforms, and the
attenuation of mode waves ATT can be obtained by using the least square fitting method. The
typical algorithm of the attenuation is given in Equation 2

20log10 (AMPn / AMPm )

ATT= (2)
(m - n)* s
Where AMPn and AMPm represent the amplitude of waveforms acquired by the n-th and m-th
receiver, and △ s represents the spacing of the n-th and m-th receiver. The attenuation of the
compressional wave, the monopole shear wave (in hard formations), the Stoneley wave and the
dipole shear wave can be obtained by processing array waveforms measured by MPAL. Figure 4
shows an example of extracting the amplitude curves and the attenuation curves of the
compressional wave from logging data. Eight amplitude curves of the compressional wave are
given in track 2, and the attenuation curve is shown in track 3.

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X. Che et al. Identification of fractures in carbonates using sonic imaging logs

Figure 4: An example of extracting the amplitude curves and the attenuation curves of the compressional wave
from logging data. Eight amplitude curves of the compressional wave are given in track 2, and the attenuation
curve is shown in track 3.

2.3 Anisotropy

In most cases, anisotropy shows its simplest form: transverse isotropy (TI). The dipole shear
waveforms of four components can measure the TI formation whose symmetry axis is
perpendicular to or inclined with the borehole. In this case, the dipole shear wave will split into
two types of shear waves: the fast shear wave and the slow shear wave. Alford (1986) gives the
relationship of the fast shear wave and slow shear wave to four-component dipole waveforms in
Equation 3.
 FP(t ) 0   XX (t ) XY (t )  T
 0   R R (3)
 SP(t )   YX (t ) YY (t ) 
Where FP(t) represents the fast shear wave, SP(t) represents the slow shear wave and R
represents a rotation matrix given in Equation 4, the superscript T of R represents the matrix
transposition.

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X. Che et al. Identification of fractures in carbonates using sonic imaging logs

 cos  sin  
R
cos  
(4)
  sin 
Where θ is the intersection angle between the vibration direction of the dipole source X and the
vibration direction of the fast shear wave. For Equation 3, an inversion method based on
matching the fast and slow shear wave is applied to get the degree and azimuth of anisotropy.

Figure 5 shows a field example of anisotropy. We can find that from depth 1295 m to 1307 m
(green section), the slowness of the fast shear wave and slow shear wave has big differences
(track2), the phenomenon of splitting between the fast shear wave and slow shear wave is clearly
observed in track 3, the anisotropy in track 4 also shows a high value, and the azimuth of
anisotropy keeps stable and its value is about 120°. All of the above indicate that this section is
anisotropic. However, the section below 1307 m does not show obvious anisotropy
characteristics.

Figure 5: A field example of anisotropy. The track 2 shows the difference between the fast shear wave and slow
shear wave, the track 3 shows the fast shear wave and slow shear wave, the track 4 shows the degree of
anisotropy and the track 5 shows the azimuth of anisotropy. The interval marked by the green color is
anisotropic.

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X. Che et al. Identification of fractures in carbonates using sonic imaging logs

3. MICRO-RESISTIVITY IMAGING TECHNOLOGY

Six pads of the micro-resistivity image logging tool are pressed against the borehole wall when
the tool works. There are more than one hundred small electrodes mounted on six pads, and the
electrical currents produced by these electrodes have differences with the variation of formations.
So the resistivity image of formations near the borehole is processed in vertically and axially by
using electrical current curves of electrodes. Figure 6a shows an example of resistivity image,
where the black represents a low value of resistivity and the white represents a high value of
resistivity. For the convenience of the observation, we need to unfold the stereogram to a 2D
image as shown in figure 6b, where the horizontal axis shows azimuth.

Low-dip fractures are well developed in the central of East European Plain. Compared with the
bed boundary, fracture also shows a sine curve. The difference is that the sine curve representing
the low-dip fracture is rough and the curve width changes with azimuth, but the sine curve
representing the bed boundary is smooth and its width has not a big change in azimuth. Figure 7
shows comparisons between low-dip fractures and bed boundaries.

Three diameter curves of the borehole with different azimuth are also obtained depending on six
pads of the micro-resistivity image logging tool. These three curves can be used to depict the
shape of the borehole. The shape of the borehole will become elliptical once the unbalanced
distributed horizontal stress near the borehole exceeds the compressive strength of formation
rocks, and the major axis of the elliptical borehole is perpendicular to the maximum horizontal
stress.

0 90 180 270 360

Azimuth(angle)

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X. Che et al. Identification of fractures in carbonates using sonic imaging logs

(a) (b)
Figure 6: An example of the electrical resistivity image. The stereogram (a) is in the left and its unfolded 2D
image (b) is in the right.

(a) (b)
Figure 7: Comparisons between low-dip fractures (a) and bed boundaries (b).

4. EXAMPLE

4.1 Fractures location

In the central of East European Plain, the lithology of formations underground is carbonate and
shale, and oil and gas are mainly reserved in fractures. Several types of logging tools are applied
to find the fractures in the region. For processing results of acoustic logging measurements, we
select the slowness curves of the compressional wave and the dipole shear wave, the attenuation
curves of the monopole shear wave and the Stoneley wave, and low-pass filtered VDL monopole
waveforms. Selecting the slowness curve of the dipole shear wave instead of the monopole shear
wave is because that the amplitude of the monopole shear wave is too small to observe in some
sections where formations are very soft due to high shale content. The GR curve and
micro-resistivity image are selected as well during processing. Low-dip fractures and even
horizontal fractures are well developed in this region, therefore chevron patterns in the VDL
waveforms can be used to recognize these fractures. As shown in Figure 8, ten doubtable
sections are selected based on chevron patterns, which represent fractures or bed boundaries.

For three sections in Figure 8a, high attenuation of the monopole shear wave (track 4) and the
Stoneley wave (track 5) indicate that these three sections exist big acoustic impedance contrast.
In track 3 the slowness of the compressional wave is about 65 μs/ft(4689 m/s) and the slowness
of the dipole shear wave is about 120 μs/ft(2540 m/s), which indicate that the lithology of

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X. Che et al. Identification of fractures in carbonates using sonic imaging logs

formations is mainly carbonate with less shale content. The GR curve has a good agreement with
slowness curves. It is lower than 50 API in this section. Many black sine curves can be found
from the micro-resistivity image in Figure 8a. The width of these sine curves has big change in
different azimuth. Through a comprehensive analysis, section 1, section 2 and section 3 are
fracture-developed sections rather than bed boundaries between carbonate and shale.

There are also three sections from depth 1275 m to 1300 m in Figure 8b. The attenuation curve
of the dipole shear wave is selected to replace the monopole shear wave, because these sections
are very soft formation. It can be found that both of the dipole shear wave (track 4) and the
Stoneley wave (track 5) attenuation curves show high values. The slowness of the compressional
wave is about 100 μs/ft(3048 m/s) and dipole shear wave is about 200 μs/ft(1524 m/s). The GR
curve also shows a higher value than 70 API. GR curve and slowness curves all indicate that the
shale content of formations is high. In the related micro-resistivity image, black zones with long
depth representing shale layers can be observed, and sine curves between the black zone and
white zone represent bed boundaries. Figure 8c shows two doubtable sections which have similar
characteristics with sections in Figure 8b,especially the micro-resistivity image of section 7 is
almost completely covered by black color.

Processing results of section 9 and section 10 in Figure 8d are similar to sections in Figure 8a
that show low GR and low slowness. Except some sine curves representing fractures are found
from corresponding micro-resistivity images, several caves with big surface area also appear. So
these two sections are fractured reservoirs.

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X. Che et al. Identification of fractures in carbonates using sonic imaging logs

(a)

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X. Che et al. Identification of fractures in carbonates using sonic imaging logs

(b)

(c)

(d)
Figure 8: Identification of fractures in X1 well. There are ten sections marked by the green color. (a) section 1,
2 and 3. (b) section 4, 5 and 6. (c) section 7 and 8. (d) section 9 and 10.

4.2 Identification the azimuth of the horizontal stress

It is very important to identify the azimuth of the horizontal stress, especially in fractured
formations, where fractures are major channels of the oil accumulation and migration. The

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X. Che et al. Identification of fractures in carbonates using sonic imaging logs

azimuth of the maximum horizontal stress is normally parallel to the strike direction of fractures
and perpendicular to the open direction of fractures. The four-component dipole shear
waveforms measured by the multi-pole acoustic logging tool can be used to determine the
azimuth of the maximum horizontal stress. However, excessive stress will lead to the borehole
wall collapse. In this case, three diameter curves measured by the micro-resistivity imager
logging tool is helpful to determine the azimuth of the maximum horizontal stress.

Figure 9 shows processing results of the horizontal stress, where two sections of the borehole
wall collapse are marked with yellow. Big difference among three diameter curves is observed in
track 2. The collapse azimuth of the borehole wall (track 3) of two sections agrees with each
other and the value is about 15°which indicates the azimuth of the maximum horizontal stress is
105°. The borehole wall is stable in the green section, and an obvious anisotropy characteristic
(track 5) is observed. Track 6 shows the azimuth of the fast shear wave is about 105°. The case
that the azimuth of the maximum horizontal stress obtained by two different measurements is
consistent indicate that the azimuth is accurate.

Figure 9: Processing results of the horizontal stress in X1 well. The track 3 shows the collapse azimuth of the

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X. Che et al. Identification of fractures in carbonates using sonic imaging logs

borehole wall. The track 6 shows the azimuth of the fast shear wave. The borehole wall of two sections marked
by the yellow color collapses, and the borehole wall of the green section is stable.

4. CONCLUSIONS

Several types of logging tools are applied to find fractures in the central of East European Plain.
By processing and analyzing measurement data from these logging tools, several conclusions are
obtained below.

(1) The chevron pattern in the VDL monopole waveform can be used to recognize the section
with big acoustic impedance contrast.
(2) The slowness of the compressional wave and the shear wave is helpful to distinguish fracture
and bed boundary.
(3) The attenuation of the monopole shear wave and the Stoneley wave are sensitive to the
fracture, and the attenuation value should be related with the length and width of the fracture.
(4) In X1 well of the central of East European Plain, the azimuth of the maximum horizontal
stress obtained by the multi-pole acoustic logging tool and the micro-resistivity image logging
tool agrees very well and the azimuth is about 105°.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (11204380, 11374371,
61102102, and 11134011), National Science and Technology Major Project (2011ZX05020-009),
China National Petroleum Corporation(2014B-4011, 2014D-4105, and 2014A-3912), and
PetroChina Innovation Foundation (2013D-5006-0304 and 2014D-5006-0307).

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