11/5/2022

Shale Volume
VSH

Dr. Rafea Ahmed

Why Calculate Shale Volume?

Vshale Cutoff = 50%

9050

Quantitative Vshale 9100

calculations are used to: 9150

Differentiate reservoir intervals from non-
reservoir intervals 9200
Map reservoir bodies
Correct porosity and water saturation log 9250
analysis results for shale effects
9300
0 100
Vshale

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Net-to-Gross
9050 • Gross thickness
– Entire interval =
– Formation 2 =
9100
– Sand facies =
Sand A
• Net sand thickness
9150
– Sand A =
Sand B
– Sand B =
9200 – Total net sand (A+B) =
• NTG
– Entire interval =
9250
– Formation 2 =
– Sand facies =
9300
0 50 100 150
Gamma-ray

Clays and Log Response

Log readings are Elevated GR Reduced Resistivity

affected by clay

If not corrected, will result in

High Neutron
erroneous porosity and Sw Porosity

inaccurate reserves

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Shales and Clay

• Shales are primarily composed of silt- and clay-size particles

• Clay minerals comprise most of the clay-size particles

• An ‘average’ shale is composed of ~50-60 wt% clay minerals

N=25 shales
Frequency

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Weight % Clay Minerals

What is a Shale?

Shale is a fine-grained
detrital sedimentary rock
with a finely laminated
structure, which gives it a
fissility along which the rock
splits readily.

Mudstone is a rock having

the texture and composition
of a shale, but lacking its
fissility.

Shales and mudstones are

compositionally similar.

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V shale

Geologists define clay as any mineral in a rock

with a grain size less than 4 microns, even
though the mineral may not be a clay mineral.
Silt is defined as a rock with particle size
between 4 and 62 microns

Petrophysical analysis deals with minerals,

not particle size,

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Clay Minerals

Clay minerals are hydrous aluminum silicates, with

variable amounts of iron, magnesium, alkali metals,
alkaline earths, and other cations. Clays have structures
similar to mica and form flat hexagonal sheets. Clay
minerals are common weathering products of feldspar and
low temperature hydrothermal alteration of granite. Clay
minerals are very common in fine grained sedimentary
rocks such as shale, mudstone and siltstone and in fine
grained metamorphic slate.

 Kaolin group
kaolinite, dickite, halloysite and nacrite .
 Smectite group
dioctahedral smectites such as montmorillonite
and nontronite,
trioctahedral smectites for example saponite.
 Illite group
clay-micas. Illite is the only common mineral.
 Chlorite group
includes a wide variety of similar minerals with
considerable chemical variation.

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Kaolinite - Al4[Si4O10](OH)8 Chlorite - (Mg,Al,Fe)12[(Si,Al)8O20](OH)16

Illite - KAl4[Si7AlO20](OH)4 Smectite - (Ca,Na)(Al,Mg,Fe)4[(Si,Al)8O20](OH)4• nH2O

Clay Distribution in Sedimentary Rocks

• Laminated
• Dispersed

Altered grains Dispersed matrix

Pore-filling
Mudstone
ripup
Detrital
Laminated shale
Mica

Burrow
Laminated shale

Pore-bridging

Biogenic
pellets (After Wilson and Pittman, 1977)

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Shale Volume Calculation

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Using Gamma Ray to Calculate

Shale Volume

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The gamma ray log has several nonlinear empirical responses as well a linear
responses. The non linear responses are based on geographic area or
formation age. All non linear relationships are more optimistic that is they
produce a shale volume value lower than that from the linear equation

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SHALE VOLUME FROM THE SPECTRAL GAMMA RAY LOG

Vshth = (TH - TH0) / (TH100 - TH0)

The gamma ray spectral log thorium curve for shale volume is preferred in
dolomites and sandstones which are radioactive due to uranium content, and
zones which contain feldspar

SHALE VOLUME FROM THE SPECTRAL GAMMA RAY LOG

Vshk = (K - K0) / (K100 - K0)

The gamma ray spectrolog potassium curve for shale volume is an alternative
method in dolomites and sandstones, which are radioactive due to uranium
content. It cannot be used in zones which contain feldspar and its derivatives,
such as kaolinite.

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Advantages

Limitations

SHALE VOLUME FROM THE SPECTRAL GAMMA RAY LOG

EXAMPLE
GR = 75 API units
GR0 = 45 API units
GR100 = 135 API
units
K = 1.5 % Vsh ?
K0 = 0 %
K100 = 3.0 %
TH = 5 ppm
TH0 = 0 ppm
TH100 = 10 ppm

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CALIBRATING SHALE VOLUME

All log analysis results need to be calibrated to any available "ground truth",
such as core data, sample descriptions, and other lab data. Not all ground
truth is quantitative, so a bit of judgment may be required. Other forms of
calibration data are very accurate, but the results may apply to a tiny volume
of rock. Upscaling to the log analysis volume also requires some careful
thought, and possible some statistical smoothing of the fine scale data. Not all
ground truth is "true", due to cavings from uphole, lag time errors, depth
discrepancies, and other sampling anomalies.
One measure of a good log analysis is that results should match ground truth
reasonably well. In the case of shale volume calculations, ground truth is
usually rather sparse and, if present, may be qualitative instead of quantitative.
 SAMPLE DESCRIPTIONS
 CORE DESCRIPTION
 PETROGRAPHY AND THIN SECTION POINT COUNTS
 X-RAY DIFFRACTION DATA

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