Well-Logging PE-307

Lecture 3; May 4th 2017, Thursday

Types of Logs
Immediately after a well is drilled, the formations are exposed to the well-bore.
This is an opportune time to determine the properties of the rocks using open-hole
logging tools. In some cases, particularly in wells with complex trajectories,
companies include logging tools as part of the drilling tool assembly. This
approach is referred to as logging while drilling, or LWD.
The first objective of logging in an exploration area is to locate hydrocarbons in a
well. Next, the operating company wants to determine if enough resource is
present to economically justify completing and producing the well. Logging
indicates the basic parameters of porosity (fluid-filled portion of the rock); the
water, oil and gas saturations and the vertical extent of a productive hydrocarbon
zone, or net pay. Logging tools are calibrated to properly determine these and other
quantities from the reservoir so companies can calculate accurate reserve values.
Well Logs are generally of 3 types; Extra Info: Measurements can be classified according
to the field in which we are going to be working:
a) Mechanical Logs
example,
b) Spontaneous Logs
c) Induced Logs electrical engineering measurements of course
describe the measurements made in electrical science.
Mechanical Well-Logs:
Mechanical Measurements involve determining the size, amount or degree (of
something) by using an instrument or device. Hence we can deduce that such well
logs which involve measurements of size (or mechanical measurements) of
borehole are called Mechanical well logs. You physically and mechanically
measure the size. Caliper Log is a mechanical log.
CALIPER LOG:
The wellbore diameter is not uniform. A practice of knowing a drill-sections
diameter is by knowing the diameter of the drill bit used to drill this respective
section. But there are several reasons due to which diameter of the well bore
changes.
i. The borehole is filled with drilling mud. The mud is a mixture of many
chemicals, and quite a number of these chemicals are solids. When a porous,
permeable section is drilled through, mud invades the formation. If water or any
hydrocarbon is present in this formation, mud invasion pushes the fluid back.
These formations are like filters, allowing liquid, but filtering solids. As mud enters
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Well-Logging PE-307
Lecture 3; May 4th 2017, Thursday

the formation, the liquid part of mud invades the rock, depositing the solids at the
face of the formation in the borehole. Now as the solids deposit they form a film or
layer which prevents further invasion. This layer is called mud cake. This results in
reduction of wellbore diameter.
Mud cake is impermeable, and mud invasion can occur upto 4 ft into the
formation. It is desirable for mudcake thickness to be small, so as to ensure the bit
doesnt get stuck in it while retrieving drill string.
ii. While drilling through sections, there are uncased sections (already drilled) that
are unstable either because they are loose/brittle formations, or are weakened due
to mud velocity. In both cases, loose formations material (called cavings) fall
down the hole. This causes an enlargement of wellbore diameter, which is called
cave-ins or washout.
iii. Shale sloughing is the swelling of shale formations due to mud. Shale has clay
content which has affinity to water. The clay absorbs water in mud and the shale
swells, causing decrease in wellbore diameter.
There are other reasons as well. Retrieval/re-entrance of drill string in wellbore can
change diameter of borehole. Sometimes fractures occur in formation due to mud.
Directional drilling, where weight of string on one side of wellbore is often greater,
can cause stress on rock and cause change in wellbore size. Due to all these
reasons, the borehole diameter is not uniform. Knowing where diameter changes is
important for later logs, because the area of log measurement is small and if the
borehole diameter is changed, then it can affect the log measurements.
A caliper log is a well logging tool that provides a continuous measurement of the
size and shape of a borehole along its depth and is commonly used in hydrocarbon
exploration when drilling wells. The measurements that are recorded can be an
important indicator of cave ins, mudcakes, shale swelling etc. in the borehole,
which can affect the results of other well logs.
Remember that well logging is always performed in the last drilled, uncased
section that you believe is the reservoir.
It uses a calibrated tool, brought in the hole by wireline cable. The tool has 2, 4, or
more extendable arms. The tool is sent upto the desired depth and its arms can
move in and out as the tool is then withdrawn from the borehole, and the
movement is converted into an electrical signal by a potentiometer.

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Lecture 3; May 4th 2017, Thursday

The arms push against the borehole wall. A specific opening of arms, lets say 12
inches is set, based on the actual, unchanged bore hole diameter (of the bit size).
Now if in chart (caliper log chart) you find diameter is greater/less than this 12
inches, then it can identify mudcake, cave-ins etc.
Each arm is typically connected to a potentiometer which causes the resistance to
change as the diameter of the borehole changes, creating a varying electrical
signal that represents the changing shape of the borehole. This variation in output
is translated into changes of diameter after a simple calibration and the caliper
log is printed as a continuous series of values of hole diameter with depth.

A caliper log downhole,

being retrieved up.

Caliper log can be of 2 arms or 4 arms, sometimes 6 arms are also present. Caliper
logging produces a log, which is a profile of diameters at different depths, from
where you can deduce changes in diameter. So, you are mechanically measuring
well size using caliper logs.
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Well-Logging PE-307
Lecture 3; May 4th 2017, Thursday

If diameter in log at any block depth is smaller than bit size, then there is mud cake
present, which in turn indicates a porous, permeable formation. If there is no mud
cake indication, still there is chance whether a formation is porous permeable; that
will be deduced from other logs.
The advantage of mud cake is prevention of further fluid invasion/ loss of
mud.
The disadvantage of mud cake is formation damage i.e. near wellbore
permeability is changed or reduced. Mud can react with rock lithology, or
fluid in pores; it can pollute water in formation. Ions exchange can occur.
Pore throats can also be blocked by mud.
Q. If brittle/loose formation is present, or formation gets fractured, then
excessive mud invasion (called loss of circulation) will occur. How to prevent
this?
Generally shallow formations are not problematic, so expensive, designed mud is
not used. You can use water, just to obtain circulation of cuttings up the annulus,
cool the bit and apply pressure. The designed expensive mud is used in deeper
intervals.
Lost circulation, or loss of circulation, is the reduced or total absence of mud flow
up the annulus when mud is pumped through the drillstring. Mud, which enters the
well, is desired to circulate back at the top. Lost circulation occurs when the drill
bit encounters natural fissures, fractures or caverns, and mud flows into the newly
available space. Hence mud is lost.
To prevent the loss of this expensive designed mud, Loss Circulation Materials
(LCM) are added in mud. These are solids, having a granular size greater than the
pore. Hence they cement the problematic zone. Blocking the pores prevents loss of
mud circulation.
Sometimes, even LCM are not helpful. In these cases, we use casings. One
purpose of casing is to separate different zones. If you want to apply higher
hydrostatic mud pressure on a formation, and you have a zone which can get
fractured at that pressure, so you apply casing to isolate this low-pressure zone
from the latter high pressure zone, so that high pressure mud can be used for the
high-pressure zone. But installation of casing is a designed, expensive job as well.
If LCM is not helpful or casing is not feasible, then you perform Blind Drilling.
Blind drilling refers to drilling upto desired depth without preventing loss of

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Well-Logging PE-307
Lecture 3; May 4th 2017, Thursday

circulation. Drilling Blind is a form of drilling whereby the drilling mud does not
return to the surface. A number of reasons contribute to this condition such as the
cavernous or hidden deep fractures in the formation, high permeability of the
formation or incorrect drilling. So, Blind Drilling is also an option. Cuttings do not
come up.
LCM or loss circulation material, are solids which are used when you encounter a
loss zone. And loss zone is defined as a zone where mud is invading, and not
returning up the annulus to mud tank.
Spontaneous Logs:
The second type of well logs, spontaneous well logging involves measurement of
natural properties of formations like temperature, current, radioactivity etc. This is
spontaneous measurement; there is no source, but only a detector to detect these
properties.
i. Temperature Log- involves measurement of formations natural
temperature by a detector sent downhole in the last drilled section.
ii. Gamma Ray Log- involves measurement of natural radioactivity of the
formations. There are radioactive elements present in formations; these
elements undergo decay and emit , , radiations. The detector
measures these radiations.
iii. SP or Spontaneous Potential Log- involves measurement of natural
currents in the lithological layers in the last drilled, open section.
Well logging is a way of identifying and discriminating lithological layers, and to
identify hydrocarbon prospect zones. For example, salt formations are
impermeable layers that are not reservoirs, rather they are seal rocks to trap HC
migration. So, we have to discriminate between sandstone and salt formation to
identify reservoir rock. Also not all sandstones are reservoirs. So objective of well
logging is to identify lithology of formations in the last drilled section. We are
oblivious of where our HC zone exactly lies; so, we perform well logging.
Gamma Ray Tool is one of the good tools to provide us segregation of lithological
layers.

Induced Logs:
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Well-Logging PE-307
Lecture 3; May 4th 2017, Thursday

A tool is sent down, which has a transmitter or source which bombards some
energy. Induced measurements involve bombardment of some kind of energy by
a source, hence the word induced. There is a source that bombards energy, and
there is a detector that receives the physical response of formation to that
bombardment.
i. Neutron Log- involves bombardment of neutron; neutron pass through
some rocks easily, while they are resisted or slowed by some rocks.
These responses provide us with information of lithology.
ii. Sonic Log- involves transmission of sound waves; they too travel at
different speeds through different rocks.
iii. Density Log- involves bombardment of gamma ray.
iv. Resistivity Log- current is induced, voltage drop is measured, and then
resistivity is measured.
Well logging also helps in identifying mineralogy; whether a sandstone is purely
sandstone or is mixed i.e. has shale, silt content etc.
Homework Task- read chapter 1 of Malcolm rider. Chapter 1 is attached after
this lecture.

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