OTC-31506-MS

Advance Pulsed Neutron Logging – An Optimized Solution in PMCD

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Well: Case Study of Oil Discovery in Indonesia

Didit Kusuma, PC North Madura II Ltd.; Taufik bin Nordin, Petronas Carigali SDN BHD; Aditya Kusuma Wijaya, PC
North Madura II Ltd.; Azlan Shah Johari, Petronas Carigali SDN BHD; Zeindra Ernando, PC North Madura II Ltd.;
Rosli bin Ismail and Hilman bin Roslan, Petronas Carigali SDN BHD; Heri Tanjung, Jorge Gonzales Iglesias, Ratna
Dewanda, and Piko Satria Danda, Schlumberger

Copyright 2022, Offshore Technology Conference DOI 10.4043/31506-MS

This paper was prepared for presentation at the Offshore Technology Conference Asia held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 22 - 25 March 2022.

This paper was selected for presentation by an OTC program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of
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Abstract
ABC-1 exploration well was drilled through a carbonate build-up structure of Ngimbang Formation in
offshore East Java, Indonesia. Standard triple-combo open hole logs were acquired by means of logging
while drilling, while more advance wireline loggings were planned subsequently. Unfortunately, there were
total losses during drilling which had to be managed by pressurized mud cap drilling (PMCD) which prevent
from cuttings recovery for the rest of the interval. Multiple trips were also required to drill the well safely
resulting in rugose and enlarged borehole. These conditions did not allow open-hole wireline log to access
the target located at the lower interval of the well.
It was inevitable to complete the well despite not enough data had been acquired to perform a
comprehensive formation evaluation. In order to obtain remaining required data, it was decided to
complement the compromised open-hole data with an advance pulsed neutron log (PNL) device, which
offered several unique measurements to tackle the harsh conditions. Some of these key measurements
are: (1) a self-compensation algorithm which provided robust sigma (SIGM) and cased-hole porosity
measurement (TPHI), which was used to further validate neutron from LWD. (2) A combination of
both capture and inelastic high definition elemental spectra measurement were utilized to obtain accurate
mineralogy fraction. (3) carbon-oxygen ratio (COR) high precision measurement to calculate oil saturation.
Lastly (4), fast neutron capture cross-section (FNXS) measurement was also acquired to give insight on
possible gas occurrence even in tight zones.
The advance PNL, acquired over 3 passes, showed consistent reading of sigma, TPHI, FNXS and
elemental spectroscopy measurement. However, there were some discrepancies in between COR passes,
which eventually has shed some light on what happened in this well. The first pass did not really show
any potential oil along the carbonate body. Then, the second pass started to reveal potential oil around the
top part of the carbonate, where resistivity is low with no distinctive neutron-density crossover. The third
pass revealed an even more oil volume along the top carbonate. There is a possibility that the increase of
oil reading might be due to the changing environment during logging, allowing some invasion to dissipate
2 OTC-31506-MS

along the carbonate tops. This implies that there might be yet another oil zone below the revealed oil interval,
should the invasion fluid start to dissipate.
Subsequent well test showed significant oil production over the interval identified from the PNL
interpretation, which put ABC-1 as one of the most successful Indonesian exploration well in 2021.
This case study shows the success of utilizing advance pulsed neutron log to perform comprehensive
formation evaluation under challenging condition, which can be used as reference for tackling similar
drilling challenges in the future.

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Background
ABC-1 well is located in North Madura II (NM II) Block within East Java Basin. Red line in figure 1 shows
the extent of East Java Basin along with the NM II coverage in yellow zone. This well penetrates 381 m of
Ngimbang Carbonate buildup with total depth (TD) at X739 m MD.

Figure 1—Location of North Madura II PSC block (yellow area) in East Java Basin (red line)

The main reservoir in this well comes from Late Eocene – Early Oligocene of carbonate buildup of
Ngimbang Formation. As observed from the previous exploration activities adjacent to this block, limestone
units of this formation were proven to be the major hydrocarbon reservoirs.
During the drilling process of ABC-1, standard open hole logs were acquired by means of logging while
drilling, while more advance wireline loggings such as image log, dipole sonic log, pressure test (MDT),
nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) log and rotary side-wall coring (XL Rock) were planned subsequently
(Figure 2). Unfortunately, there were total losses during drilling which had to be managed by pressurized
mud cap drilling (PMCD) and cuttings could not be recovered for the rest of the interval. Multiple trips were
also required to drill the well safely resulting in rugose and enlarged borehole. These conditions did not
allow advance open-hole wireline log to access the target located at the lower interval of the well. Thus, it
was inevitable to complete the well despite not enough data had been acquired to perform a comprehensive
formation evaluation. The well was completed using uncemented liner.
OTC-31506-MS 3

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Figure 2—Sequence of events prior to PNL logging in ABC-1 well

The only available open-hole logs were obtained through LWD, however the basic measurements
taken (resistivity and density-neutron) had not yield clear hydrocarbon indication. High resistivity reading
correlated with high density reading and low neutron porosity reading indicated the association to low
porosity intervals in the formation and no obvious density-neutron crossover had indicated potential
hydrocarbon at that point.

Solutions
It was decided to complement the compromised open-hole data acquisition program by performing
formation evaluation behind casing using an advance triple-detector pulsed neutron log (PNL) device, which
offered several solutions to tackle the harsh condition. Figure 2 represents the planned logging program, the
actual chronology of the logging runs and the problems faced before finally decided to complete the well
using uncemented 7" liner and running PNL to perform formation evaluation behind casing.
The new-generation triple-detector pulsed neutron logging tool has been developed to deliver reliable
answers for formation evaluation and reservoir monitoring in conditions where the previous dual-detector
PNL struggle, including temperatures up to 175°C (Rose et al., 2015). The utilization of LaBr3 scintillators
(Radtke et al. 2012; Van Loef et al., 2001; Saint Gobain Crystals, 2006; Stoller et al., 2011), in the near
and far detectors has contributed to significant COR precison improvements in comparison to the dual-
detector PNL device. Additionally, the tool provides high-resolution spectroscopy which is useful to identify
precise mineralogy/lithology (Rose et al., 2015). In this well, this measurement complements mineralogical
information as there was no cuttings return after passing the total loss zone.
The triple-detector PNL can be run in "Hybrid" mode which allows the tool to measure neutron capture
cross section log (sigma), porosity log (TPHI), fast neutron capture cross section (FNXS), carbon-oxygen
ratio (COR) and elemental dry weight in one single pass. More information about this triple-detector PNL
can be referred from paper by Rose et al. (2015).
4 OTC-31506-MS

The triple-detector PNL data has undergone two main processing steps: gas-sigma-hydrogen (GSH) and
Spectral Analysis (C/O evaluation). For GSH step, the data has undergone environmental corrections for
borehole size, casing size, casing weight and lithology to obtain TPHI (thermal neutron porosity), FNXS
(direct gas measurement – fast neutron cross section) and SIGM (formation sigma), where the TPHI and
SIGM were the products of self-compensation method (Rose et al., 2015). For the C/O step, the PNL data
has undergone spectral stripping, depth-matching, stacking-filtering, Spectrolith Full Closure (Herron and
Herron, 1996), ELAN – advanced multimineral log analysis (Quirein et al., 1986) and C/O transform (Scott

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et al., 1991; Roscoe et al., 1991; Morris et al. 1999) to solve for dry weight lithology and oil saturation.
Prior to computing for hydrocarbon saturation, the elemental analysis and petrophysical evaluation to
solve for mineral volumes (i.e. illite, quartz, and calcite) and formation porosity were performed using
available open-hole log data from LWD combined with elemental spectroscopy data from PNL to obtain
better accuracy of lithology/mineralogy volume.
The oil saturation was computed using C/O ratio method in the COT (Carbon-Oxygen Transform)
processing. The lithology volumes and total porosity were used in the processing to compensate for carbon/
oxygen counts associated with lithology and solve for saturation. By combining all information acquired
from PNL logging such as sigma, TPHI, FNXS, carbon/oxygen ratio (COR) and elemental dry weights; full
formation evaluation through casing can be performed to provide lithology volume, porosity, and saturation
of oil and gas even in absence of complete set of triple combo open-hole logs as described on several
examples from Indonesia in paper by Tanjung et al. (2021).

Results
In this well, evaluation was performed incorporating acquired LWD, available open-hole wireline data and
cased-hole PNL data by means of simultaneous solver/probabilistic approach. During drilling, partial and
total loss events were encountered. Drilling was safely continued until target depth with PMCD applied.
Figure 3 shows the integration of all available data for interpretation. Borehole fluid density (MWFD)
displayed on Track 1 (purple) was acquired during PNL logging, provides information of possible fluid type
in borehole. In this case, MWFD constantly reads around 1 g/cc indicating borehole filled with water and
there is no indication of oil or gas in borehole during logging.
In track 2 and 3, caliper readings from open-hole wireline tool (C1 and C2) showed huge borehole size
around X320-X340mMD which was not measured by the caliper reading from LWD tool (UCAV, track 4).
This suggested that the borehole was not enlarged during logging while drilling, hence the measurement of
LWD at this interval was not affected by this enlarged borehole.
As can be seen on track 5 and track 7, on this interval (X320-X340m), All 4 curves of carbon/oxygen
reading (FCOR, NCOR, FWCO, NWCO) are showing high C/O counts as seen on track 5 and track 7 at
around interval X320-X340mMD. Hydrogen yield count reading from PNL (CHYHY) is also high (track 1,
blue). Simultaneously high C/O and Hydrogen yield reading can usually be interpreted as coal. However, in
this case, Hydrogen yield (CHY) from LWD was low (track 1, blue), suggesting that the PNL reading was
mainly associated with high-carbon-content fluid filling the cavity. This indicated the presence of potential
oil in this well but not necessarily showed it as the interval of the source, as this was not indicated by the
resistivity nor density-neutron reading from LWD when the borehole was in-gauge then. The temperature
reading (WTEP) on track 4 at this interval showed significant cooling effect suggesting this as the depth
of first mud loss encountered.
OTC-31506-MS 5

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Figure 3—PNL interpretation result of ABC-1 well

As can be seen from track 6, porosity reading from LWD (TNPH) over interval X370-X400 m MD was
really high. The LWD caliper (UCAV, track 4) also records very large borehole. The temperature reading
(WTEP, track 4) at this interval showed even more significant cooling effect suggesting this as the depth of
total loss encountered. High TNPH reading with enlarged borehole condition would normally be interpreted
as the effect of the mud filling the enlarged borehole affecting the reading. However, as this was considered
as the total loss zone, it suggested a possibility of very large carbonate porosity which can be associated with
karst. Additional information from seismic confirms the presence of karst in the upper part of the carbonate
build-up encountered in this well.
Elemental dry weight of several elements such as calcium, silicon and aluminium that were acquired
from the advance PNL were utilized along with LWD triple-combo logs (i.e. GR, density, neutron) to solve
for more accurate lithology volume by means of probabilistic/mineralogical approach using simultaneous
elemental-analysis solver. Track 10 describes the mineralogy assemblages based on elemental spectroscopy
data. It is important to obtain correct volume of calcite/limestone since calcite/limestone portion acts as a
carbon disqualifier from total recorded carbon by PNL to compute for fluid-associated carbon/oil ratio to be
computed as oil volume. Incorrect calcite/limestone volume would lead to inaccurate oil saturation. Litho-
poro analysis result is displayed on track 9 and computed oil saturation is shown on track 8.
6 OTC-31506-MS

Figure 4 shows the closer look of potential oil zone in this well along with the table summarizing the
PNL oil saturation result for each reservoir. Currently, the strongest indication of potential oil zone is around
X367-X382 m MD with average oil saturation from PNL (SO_PNX) around 40 to 60%. This was not
indicated by the open-hole data where resistivity is low with no distinctive neutron-density crossover. Also,
as can be seen on figure 3 previously, there are traces of oil presence below X382 m MD until TD as can
be seen from the computed oil saturation (Figure 3, track 8).

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Figure 4—Potential oil zone of ABC-1 well based on PNL

Lastly, a key observation can be seen from the break down of the PNL measurements. The advance
PNL data was acquired in 3 passes. It showed consistent reading of sigma, TPHI, FNXS and elemental
spectroscopy measurements. However, there were some discrepancies observed between passes for the
carbon/oxygen ratio reading (Figure 5). This provided more insight on what happened in this well. The
first pass (green) did not really show any potential oil along the carbonate body. Then, the second pass
(blue) started to reveal potential oil around the top of the carbonate. The third pass (red) revealed even more
potential oil as it showed higher C/O reading than the previous passes. It is possible that the increase of
C/O reading might be due to the changing environment overtime during logging, especially after PMCD
OTC-31506-MS 7

had been deactivated, hence the drilling fluid invasion started to dissipate and oil re-invaded the carbonate
tops. This opened the possibility that there might be other potential oil zones below the revealed oil interval
on the top of the carbonate should the invasion effect has dissipated. The computed oil saturation (Figure
3, track 8) shows possible presence of oil below X382mMD although not too prominent, which could be
caused by possible lingering invasion effect that exceeded the depth of investigation of PNL measurement
resulting in more pessimistic result.

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Figure 5—Repeatability of three carbon-oxygen ratio passes

After seeing the potential oil occurrence interpretation from PNL, subsequent well tests (DST) were
performed at interval X370-X423 m MD, X442-X460 m MD and X480-X482 m MD resulting in 100% oil
with the flow rate of ~2100 BOPD. It is also possible that oil accumulation in the shallower interval might
also be sourced from deeper interval as this well utilizes barefoot completion with uncemented liner.

Conclusion and Recommendation

Despite of the challenges, triple-detector pulsed neutron log had shown its ability to perform formation
evaluation behind casing and had served as a contingency plan to confirm oil presence. The PNL allowed
simultaneous evaluation of oil saturation regardless the formation salinity, while providing quantitative
lithology and porosity calculation by means of spectroscopy.
Comprehensive evaluation of the integration of all available measurements from open-hole LWD,
wireline and cased hole PNL measurement had enabled the discovery of at least 2100 BOPD, which put
ABC-1 as one of the most successful Indonesian exploration well in 2021. This case study shows the success
of utilizing advance pulsed neutron log to perform comprehensive formation evaluation under challenging
condition, which can be used as reference for tackling similar challenges in the future.
8 OTC-31506-MS

It is recommended to allow sufficient time for the invasion to subside prior to PNL data acquisition to
reduce the likelihood of invasion effect on the reading. Performing multiple time lapsed PNL runs may
provide more valuable insight.

Acknowledgement
The author would like to thank SKK MIGAS for allowing this material to be published. Also, thanks to

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field engineers involved in PNL data acquisition. Special thanks to David Rose from Schlumberger for his
valuable insight and discussion regarding to this interpretation.

Nomenclature
C1 Caliper from wireline
C2 Caliper from wireline
CCLC Casing collars locator
CHY Hydrogen yield measurement of LWD
CS Cable speed
CYFCA Calcium yield measurement of PNL
CYFHY Hydrogen yield measurement of PNL
FCOR Inelastic far carbon-oxygen ratio from yield method
FNXS Fast neutron cross section
FWCO Inelastic far carbon-oxygen ratio from windows method
GR-CH Gamma ray from cased-hole measurement
GR-OH Gamma ray from open-hole measurement
MWFD Borehole fluid density
NCOR Inelastic near carbon-oxygen ratio from yield method
NWCO Inelastic near carbon-oxygen ratio from windows method
SG_PNX Gas saturation of PNL computation
SIGM SIGMA formation capture cross-section
SO_PNX Oil saturation of PNL computation
TPHI SIGMA neutron porosity
UCAV Ultrasonic caliper from LWD
WTEP Temperature measurement
HUD Held-Up Depth
FTD Total Depth

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