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    Malcolm H Rider - The Geological Interpretation of Well Logs 2nd Ed. (1999)

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    A Belyana

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Too Ia THE GEOLOGICAL [ TER Rl pp oe ny TATI O ON N Cri Fs i LOGS Second Edition Malcolm Rider THE GEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF WELL Locs Second Edition Malcolm Rider Petroleum Exploration Consultant Rider-French Consulting Ltd Published by Rider-French Consulting Ltd., PO, Box L, Sutherland, 1V28 3XL Scotland email: rider_freach® compuserve.com www.riderfrench.co.uk 2nd edition, Whirtles Publishing 1996, reprinted 2000 © 2nd edition, revised, 2002 Dr NLHLRider All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced. stored, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the express weitten permission of the publisher. ISBN: 0.9541906-0-2 Designed and typeset in 10/12pt Times by Janet Watson Printed vy nterprint Lids, Mahe PREFACE ‘This second esition of a book originally written ten years ago has o great deal of new materisl, new chapters and previous chapters much modified. But the philosophy and format and approximately half the text are the same. ‘The book describes, discusses and illustrates with many real examples, the interpretation of well logs for geolog- ical ends. Basic too! design is an essentiat inclusion, but petrophysics, that is the use of logs for quantifying hydrocarbons, is only very briefly considered. This was the case in the first, widely sold edition, In the intervening years there have been many significant changes, The PC has replaced the mainframe and the personal use of a computer for log. analysis is now assumed: in the previous edition it was not even vonsidered. There has been a revolution in logging tool design. Tools today incorporate downhole processing, and logging signals are digital. This has sourced new tools, which are described, as also are new versions of ‘ld tools. For tis, the straightforward descriptive format used originally has been used again, Not only has log~ ging advanced, so have geological ideas, notably with the advent of sequence stratigraphy. Using both the old and the newer logs for sub-surface sequence stratigraphy is discussed: the possibilities are exciting, ‘Although the new is ettention grabbing, the old basic logs still form the foundation to routine geological well evaluation, This edition, therefore, combines the well established with the newer and more experimental, But throughout, itis the geological content of the logs that is important: lithology, facies, depositional environment, sequence stratigraphy, correlation and more, Judging from the past, the book best serves the purpose of those beginning to acquaint themselves with logs, in industry or academia, and those who do not use logs all the time and like to use the book as an occasional reference. til feel that I owe an early debt to my old colleagues from CFP (Total) and to Oberto Serra, theo BIf but recently retired from Schlumberger. Newer ideas have come from industry colleagues, many in the consulting ‘world, and the feedback from many industry courses given. Especial ackowledgemen: must g0 to Gavin ‘Cameron for his contributions in the dipmeter field. “These feature in the dedicated dipmerer chapter, new in this edition, which leads neturally 10 @ chapter on the exciting, new, image logs. ‘The manuscript has been significantly improved by suggestions and criticisms by specialists in a number of fields: dipmeter and image logging, Rober Trice; log- ‘ging mechanics, Peter Elkington; sequence stratigraphy, John Underhill; and Tertiary geology, Robert Knox. Data and discussion have been provided by Amerada Hess UK Ltd, Westem Adss, Halliburton, Schlumberger, BPB and the Universities of London and Liverpool: they all receive my grateful thanks and recognition. But this new edition would not have been possible without the huge efforts made by the team at Whittles Publishing. They have achieved what I consider to be a superb presentation which makes the book both practical and agreeable to Jook at: for this my considerable thanks. Journalists who write books are generally unsuccess- ful; their style is too obviously self-conscious. Most scientists who write suffer from the opposite; content is the only consideration (there are, of course, obvious exceptions), To most scientists, prose is like make up: it is there toembellish (hide, exaggerate, enbance) the truth Since scieace prefers the truthful truth, prose is neglected. But most women will willingly admit that embellishing the tath hasits benefits. And [ would agree. Inno way will there be an attempt to embellish the uth in this book but 1 do admit to an admiration for those who write well. 1 have done my conscious best (0 be clear; with jargon to the minimum. Many books are dedicated to wives or mothers or chil- ‘dren or even cats. This is a queer habit. Ard quite silly. Jove my children but they have nothing to do with this book: they did their unconscious best to impede it. The best introduction (0 a book I have ever read is a quote (Barrow, 1992) from Groucho Marx: “From the moment I picked up your book wutil [aid itdown, Iwas convutsed with laughter. Sone day 1 intend veading i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Peso lap and rede te alow er is (Pacly adnate Fre 2.1 frm They Ph Lag dt cn and quay cola soe echaip pp. 380g 1. ypemisin of Edie Seay. ewe 2. fom Deve (98) Enema Madey Open Heeb, Ince Figure 3b pein of Pens al Bos. "Rp S16 Fm Hl A.D (9) Prtat lg = eta eter prconve senesn Monop (14s Fe 41 rom McKie, ML. Preecon eine pr SP INS pense! (902 SPE Reve Ebi ‘gd Techaia Syigosg, Bey, March 1-28. permis of Sey Prcleam girs ‘Brae it fo Hil, AD (1990) Procaea ogg — shorts as ine pte een: Mong) ia 433, fom Dobkin TA Ingres neds te Daemite aoe Pre Heght IPE (Ap 14 pp. 7152609 ‘Spr funn 8p IED 8) peso of we Coles Soca” ‘at 65: fom siz, BP Tape Seth Dan Sealed FN 97. Geophys ]=]2]2]°]=]= ape Photoelectric Neutron 12[Dipmecer mage logs = Essentially qualitative use + Sems-quantitstive and quantitative uses * Surclly quantcauive THE GEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF WELL LOGS ~ 1.8 Well-log interpretation and uses ‘The accepted user of the well log is the petrophysicist His imerest is strictly quantitative, From the logs, a petrophysicist will calculate porosity, water saturation, moveable hydrocarbons, hydrocarbon density and so on, all the factors related to quanGfying the amount of bydro- carbons in a reservoir for estimates of reserves. The Society of Professional Well Log Analysts (SPWLA), the Principal society of log interpreters, is mainly composed. of petrophysicists, Reservoir rocks, however, comprise perhaps only 15% of a typical well, and of this 15% only a small percentage actually contains hydrocarbons. The peirophysicist is therefore not interested in 85% or more of the well logs ecorded. The exploration geologist, in contrast, should be interested in 300% of well logs, as the amount of ge0- logical information they contain is enormous. ‘The geophysical measurements made during logging are sensitive, accurate and characteristic of the formation logged. However, to those familiar with the aspect of rocks a8 seen at outcrop, the geophysical signatures of this selfsame rock in the subsurface are impossible to imagine, To an experienced geological analyst of well logs. the reverse is true. A formation that he can instantly identify on the logs, down to the nearest metre, he is hard ‘put to find, even tentatively, at ovtcrop. In the following poges it is intended to relate the out- cmp more closely 10 the wireline, geophysical well log Logs can and should be interpreted in terms meaningful at outerop. They contain as much information, even sometimes more, than the outerop, but can be studied conveniently on a stall desktop oF computer screen. 1.9 This book ~ content and aims “Table 1.2 shows the logs considered in this book and their principal applications, both geological and geophysical ‘The applications have been divided into qualitative, semi-quantitative and stricy quantitative. Seismic and petrophysical applications are generally, by necessity, quantitave or semiquantitative: geological applications, by default, usually qualitative, This should not be. A toz sample set of over 100,000 values for a typical well of 2000 m represents an enormous quantitative database. Statistical, quasi-quantitative ond of course purely quanti- tative methods applied to this digital log database. bring precision to geological intempretation. So this book is con- ‘ered with qualitative and, wherever possible, the more ‘quantitaive methods of geological log interpretation. 2 THE LOGGING ENVIRONMENT 2.4 Introduction Treated simply as an instrument of measurement, a logging too! is required to do two things: to give @ true, repeatable reading, and to miake the reading of a representative, undisturbed sample of the subsurface formation. For the following reasons, neither of these ideals can be realized. ‘The first i thatthe undisturbed formation environment is imevocably disturbed by drilling a well. The new dril- crested conditions are those in which the Jogging ioots work. A tool can only “guess” at the original states. This chapter examines what is involved in this guess, in terms of drilling pressure, drilling temperature and invasion, ‘The second reason is that the ideal conditions for a perfect geophysical measurement cannot be met in bore- hole logging methods, Ideal conditions would require 4 logging (oo! to be motionless for each individual ‘measurement, and to have a sensor of zero dimensions measuring ® point sample, Sensors have dimensions and toot's move, Tool design acknowledges this, and a compromise is made between a practical and practicable measurement and one that is perfect. This chapter will also examine, in general terms, the effects of the logging. ‘method on the measurements made, The notions of depths of investigation, minimum bed resolution and bed-boundary definition will be discussed. 2.2 The pressure environments of borehole fogging and invaston ‘The pressure environment curing drilling and, inevitably during logging, is made up of an interplay between «wo clements; formation pressure and drilling-mud column pressure. ‘The formation pressure is the pressure under which the subsurface formation fluids, and gases are confined. The pressure of the drilling mod is hydrostatic and depends ‘only on the depth of a welt, that is the height of the mud column, and the mud density. Maintaining the pressure ‘exerted by the column of drilling mud at just litle above the pressure of the subsurface formations encountered is one of the necessities for equilibrium drilling: i is a delicate balance, The two pressure environments are examined below. Hydrostatic pressure Fiids transit pressure perfectly 0 that the pressure exerted by the column of fuid is dependent simply on the height of the fluid column and the density of the uid. ‘The pressure in kg in a column of water can be calculated thos: height of water column (im) «density (g/ em?) 10 = pressure (kg) per sq, em o For a column of pure water of 2500 o (density of pure water = 1.09 gfom’) 25001 2 BOB 250% fo ® In oilfield terms, the pressure of a column of fuid may be ‘expressed by is pressure gradient. Thus pure water has a gradient of 1.00 g/cm. That is, a column of pure water will show a pressure increase of J xg/em® per (0 m of column (or | g/em* per om of column) (Figure 2.1), The term ‘column of water’ is used as applicable to wells: ‘depth’ is equally applicable and more understandable ‘when talking about water masses, such as the oceans ‘As water becomes more saline, its density increases (Figure 2.2), Water which has a salinity of 140,000 ppm (parts per million) of solids (mainly NaC, has a density ° most oilfield brines opin, km (ilyid column height? 4 @ 200 400 800800, pressure, kaiom? Figure 2.1 Fluid pressuce gradients related to depth, or height of fluid column, - THE GEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION OF WELL Locs — of 1.09 g/cm? (at 15.5°C). A column of water of this salinity will have a gradient of 1.09 g/cm? and at 2500 m. will exert a pressure of 2500 1.09 2 25005109 99. Sk em 10 ere ® Figure 2.1 shows the various gradients for fluids of different densities and the increases with depth. All ‘gradients are shown as linear Formation pressures Jn most geological basins the pressure at which pore fluids are found increases from the ‘normal’ to moderately over- pressured. Normal pressure is defined as hydrostatic pressure it is due only tothe weight ofthe fuid column above the formation. To calculate normal pressure it is sufficient to know only the depth of the formation and the density ofthe fuids in the formation. If formation water thas che same salinity as sea water, then the pressure at 1000 m in a formation with normal pressure is the same as the pressure atthe sea floor below 1000 m of sea water. ‘The graph (Figure 2.1) therefore shows normal pressure ‘gadients for various salinities Overpressure is simply defined as any pressure above the hydrostatic (or normal) fora particular depth Thus, if the formation fluids are sty with a density of 1.09 g/cm? and the meastred formation pressure is 350 kg/cm? at 2500 m, there is an overpressure, calculated as follows, Normal pressure at 2500 m, fluid density 1.09 gem’, from (3) 2500x1.09 10 Measured pressure at 2500 m = 350 kp/om? ‘Overpressure = 350-272.5 = 77.5 kgfem? 272.5kg/ om" Overpressute exits for a number of reasons, but in all cases it means that the formation fluids are being squezzed by the surrounding rocks. It is similar to the pressure regime in car brakes. When te brakes area rest the brake fuid is at normal pressure. Putting the foot on : 2a. o 5 100 180 200-250 x 109 salinity (otal soles, ppm NaGid Figure 2.2 Graph showing the increase in water density with increase in salinity (NaCI) (From Pisson, 1963.) 10 the brake puts the fluid under overpressure: it is being ‘squeezed by the exira pressure of the foot Generally, post wells drilled show a typical subsurface pressure development. Shallow formations have ‘normal’ ‘or hydrostatic formation pressures: there is no rock squeezing, no overpressure. Deeper into the subsurface slight overpressures are encountered so there is slight squeezing. As the depths increase, 50 the overpressure increases and the formation fluids support more of the rock overburden pressure (Figure 2.3). ‘Overpressures can increase typ {© an empirical maxi- ‘mum called the lithostatic gradient. This gradient, also called the geostatic or overburden gradient, is taken as a convenient gradient representing the probable maximum pressure likely to be encountered in a well at any depth, ‘The average gradient frequently used comes from the Gulf Coast of North America, and in American oilfield units isa gradient of | psift (Lc. in metric 23 gfom and corresponds to an average rock density of 2.3 g/cm (Figure 2:3) (ef, Levorsen, 1967). The true lithostatic gradient will in fact vary from well to well and will depend on the densities of the formations encountered. In the example given (Figure 2.4), which is from a well in Germany, the average formation density is 2.4 g/er? (Meyer-Gitr, 1978). ‘The average well, therefore, encounters formation pressures somewhere between the normal hydrostatic gradient and the lithostatic gradient (Figure 23). In absolute terms this will give usual logging pressures cof between about 150 kg/cm? and 1000 kg/cm (2000 psi opin, kre ° 500 pressure, Karem? 1000 ‘Figure 2.3 Formation fluid pressure increases with depth in atypical oilfield well. The pressure varies berween the hydrostatic (fuid) andthe lithostatic (rock) gradients, - THE LOGGING ENVIRONMENT - rock density, orem? 2.00 2.40 2.80 Quaternary Tectiary average Ihhostatic, Gretsceous gradient =2.ag/en? surassie Permian 0" 500 1000 itnostatic pressure, ko/om: Figure 2.4 True cock density profile and average lihostatic {gradient from a North German well. Redrawn from Meyer-Giirr, 1976). 2 15,000 psi). Most oilfield Jogging tools are designed 10 withstand pressures up to a maximum of 1050-1750 yen (15,000-20,000 psi, significantly above the high est pressure usually encountered, Iwesion-drilling pressures Under ideal conditions, the pressure exerted by the column of drilling mud will be such that when a porous and permeable formation is encountered, as the drill ‘enters the formation, mud will be forced into it (Figure 2.3). The porous rock will then begin to act as a filter, separating the mud into its Jiquid and solid constisaents, “The mud filtrate (the water used to mix the mud) will low imto the formation, while the solids (the mud) will form a

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