Production Logging

PL and basic sensors

Field Examples

Part 1

1
Production Logging - Principal Activities

• production logging is measurement of fluid parameters on a zone-by-zone basis to yield

information about the type and movement of fluids within and near the wellbore.

• Well diagnostics often leads to intervention to remedy a production problem. The

most common goal is the detection of water breakthrough, with a workover decision to
be made.

• Production monitoring is often carried out on a periodic basis to quantify zonal

contributions to the total well production. The information is used in reservoir
simulation studies for production history matching and material-balance calculations.

• Injection monitoring is carried out to determine the amount of water or gas being
taken by each layer in the reservoir. This is important for reservoir simulation. These
surveys are usually quite straightforward to carry out.

• Well testing applications of PL provide both pressure and flow rate data during well
tests.
PL Applications

* Evaluation of Flowing Wells

-Production profile distribution
-Zonal productivity & Skin Factors
%?

%?

%?
PL Applications

• Diagnosis
– Source of High
• GOR (Gas-Oil Ratio) or

• Water Cut

– Detection of leaks and crossflow P1

High Permeability
Layer P3>>P2

P2

P3
PL Applications

• Production Enhancement
– Data for workover planning:
• Repair the well

• Improve productivity Casing

Leak

– Completion and treatment effectiveness

Corroded casing allows fluids to

escape back into reservoir
Production Logging Sensors:

Telemetry
Interfaces

Casing Collar Locator

Gamma Ray Detector

-Pressure
-Temperature Quartz Pressure
Gauge
Gradiomanometer Caliper
O- Probes (GHOST)
Flowmeter (fullbore)
E- Probes (FloView)

In line flowmeter

Standard Optional
Sensors Sensors

https://www.slb.com/-/media/files/fe/product-sheet/ps-platform-ps.ashx
Flowrate Definitions:

Flowrate
is given by the product of velocity, hold-up and pipe
area.

Velocity, v:
This is actual mean velocity of the phase of interest.

Q = VA
Q : The flowrate
V : fluid velocity
A: pipe area
 Flow

• In a single phase flow a laminar flow is one in which the layers glide
smoothly over adjacent layers.

• In a turbulent flow the fluid exhibits very erratic motion with a violent
interchange of momentum across the pipe.

• The nature of the flow - turbulent or laminar - and its relative position
along a scale indicating the relative importance of turbulent to laminar
tendencies - are indicated by the Reynold’s number.
Laminar flow is a smooth flow in which fluid elements follow paths that are straight and parallel to
the walls containing the fluid. The velocity of the fluid varies from 0 at the container wall to a
maximum at the center for a pipe or wellbore. The velocity profile shape is parabolic.

Turbulent flow is characterized by random, irregular movement of the fluid elements throughout
the fluid except at the container wall. The velocity again varies from 0 at the wall to a maximum
at the center, but with a much flatter profile.
What is Measured

Dye

• The spinner is centred in the casing, hence measures the flow at that point, usually the
maximum.

• A correction has to be applied to get the average flowrate.

Reynolds number

The Reynold’s number (R) is a dimensionless parameter that

represents the ratio of intertial forces to viscous forces and is
defined by:

R = Dv

•  = fluid density
• D = pipe diameter
• v = fluid velocity
•  = fluid viscosity
 Reynolds number

• From experiments the range of Reynold’s numbers for a flow to be laminar,

turbulent or transitional are given by:
• R less than 2000 - laminar flow (Reynold’s lower critical pipe number).
• R between 2000 and 4000 - transition from laminar to turbulent
• R greater than 4000 - turbulent flow
• The majority of flows encountered in oil wells are turbulent
 Flow in the Casing

• in the borehole, sees only the middle part of this flow as the blade is not
the full casing diameter The spinner, centred r.
• The fluid velocity measured is called Vapp
• This has to corrected for the flow pattern to give an average mixture
velocity, Vm
Spinner correction factor

Vaverage = C x Vf

q = C x Vf x A
where,
C = velocity profile correction factor, commonly 0.83. Better, use
chart.
A = Area of flow. Use chart to convert ft/min to flowrate for
given casing.
Vf = Fluid velocity from zone calibration line.
Velocity Correction
Spinner Factor
Flowrates

The velocity has to be converted into a flow rate using the area of
the casing.

Qt = Vfluid * Area

The area can be found using standard tables or a caliper

measurement.

In Oilfield units this can be written

Qt = Vfluid * 1.4 * Di2
 Flowmeters Types
The simplest and most important tool in the string Measures the fluid flow rate.

In line Flowmeters
- small spinner
- good for high flowrates Full bore Flowmeters
- maximum spinner blade size
- best for wide range of flowrates

In line Full bore

Why

Flowmeters measure flow..

Hence are used to detect flow phenomena

- where is the flow coming from

- are all perforations flowing

- is there crossflow

- are there any leaks

 Calibration of Spinners

The raw spinner measurement is rps.

The spinner is reacting to fluid flowing across the blades

The actual rps are also dependent on the speed and direction of the tool.

In a typical production well the spinner reads higher running into the well than running
out at the same speed.

To find the actual fluid velocity the spinner has to be calibrated

 Example log

Several passes have been made at different speeds.

Spinner Calibration

If the tool was perfect a plot of the spinner against the cable
velocities in the zero flow region (D) would give a plot like this.
The line goes through zero.
 Spinner Plot Effects

There are two effects that make the plot deviate from the perfect one (blue
line)
The first is the effect of viscosity.
There is a threshold velocity before the tool starts to react.
This can be different in the two directions resulting in the red lines.
 Mechanical effects at low flowrates

The second effect is mechanical, due to the nature of the tool itself.
The resultant shows the lines curving slightly as they approach zero flow.
The total deviation from the zero point is called the threshold of the tool.It is
different for tool types and for changing environments.
 Non-zero flow
Spinner
rps

Vf
Midpoint
Flow
ro
Ze
Tool Veloc ity
UP Tool Veloc ity
Vf
DOWN
Vf
Flow
ro
Ze

The green line represents the the next zone up the well (C)
The well is flowing
The line is shifted away from the zero flow line by an amount relative to the fluid velocity, Vf.
Other Inputs-caliper
W ell
Sk etc h

W hat happe ns he re?

Spinner RPS
Caliper 2
Caliper

Casing/ hole size

change

Spinner RPS
PFCS caliper

Application: Q = v x Area
- X and Y caliper: PFC1 and PFC2