PETROPHYSICS – FMEV 2003

MODULE 8 – SHALES & CLAYS

 OBJECTIVES

Describe the composition of and forms of shales.

Calculate Shale Index from gamma ray log

Distinguish among the different types of clays

Describe the impact of clays on pore throat size and

their implication for reservoir development and
production.

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 SHALES
Shale is afine-grained, clastic sedimentaryrock composedof mud thatisamix
of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other
minerals, especially quartz and calcite. The ratio of clay to other minerals is
variable. Shale is characterized by breaks along thin laminae or parallel layering
or beddinglessthanonecentimeter in thickness, calledfissility. Mudstones, on
theotherhand,aresimilarincompositionbut do not show thefissility.

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 SHALES
The term shale is often used asavery general term for all kinds of clay rich sedimentary
rocks. Shales are the most abundant kind of all sedimentary rocks accounting for around
60%of the stratigraphiccolumn. Assuch, mostof thetimespentdrilling oil wellsisspent
drilling throughshales. Clay mineralsaccount forabout50-60wt.% ofmostshalesandare
oftenresponsible formanyoftheproblemsencounteredwhendrillingthrough shales.

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 HOW SHALE IS DISTRIBUTED
We categrize the distribution of shaly material in formations inthree possible ways:

Laminar Shale:
Shale Occurs when shale exist in the form of laminae or thin layer between of sand. The shale
streak do not actually influence the effective porosity of the sandlayers in the formation; howeverasthe
bulk volume of the shale increases, the overall formation porosity decreases. The presence of shale may
haveconsiderable influence on the logging tool response. Shalesreduces the vertical permeability of the
formation.

Structural Shale:
Shale: isthetypeof shalethatexistasgrainor nodulesintheformationmatrix. Isisconsidered
to have properties similar to laminar shales, except that the effective porosity is not reduced due to this
typeof shales.

Dispersed Shales:
Shales: Occurs when the shaly materials is dispersed through the sandwhere it occupies part
of the intergranular space. This type of dispersed shale reduces the pore space available for fluid
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accumulationandalsoreduces formation permeability.
 SHALE AND SILTS
Shale is a sedimentary rock composed of clay minerals, precipitates
andvery fine clastic particles. The physical andchemical nature of shales is
not uniquely defined. Shale contains, in various proportions, clay
minerals, silt, carbonate, and other non-clay minerals.
Silts is a very fine-grained material that is predominantly quartz, but may
includefeldspar,calcite andotherminerals. Insand– shaleareas wherethe
principal non-clay material of the shale is silt, the silt content has been
observed to vary, being maximum near the sand bodies and minimum in
the shale far from the sands. This is consistent with sedimentation
principles , silts is more likely to be present in the higher energy
environment associated with sand deposition than in the low energy
environment required for deposit of only fine clays, But what are these
clay minerals?
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 CLAY FUNDAMENTALS

Clay minerals Kaolinite

-Illite
- Montmorillonite
Clay minerals and reservoir:
- Small individual crystals
- Chemical/physical instability
Shale (primarily) = Silt+Clay

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Clays are of great importance in the geology of petroleum. It is present in most
reservoir rock in varying amounts. Its related to problems conected with the
porosity andpermeability of the reservoir.
It influencesgreatlytheproductionofoil andgasin many pools, andit isespecially
important in the water-injection programs of secondary recovery. Most of the
compaction and compressibility of sediments is due to squeezing of water our of
clay minerals;thehighmineralcontentof oilfiendwatersis probablylargelydueto
thefreeing of absorbedsaltsattachedto theclay minerals;andclaysformthebulk
of mostdrilling muds.

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The clay minerals present in nearly all reservoirrocks may be dispersed
throughout thesandyrocksasindividual grains, mayfill interstice between sand
grains and thus serve as a cement, minimal amounts may be in thin laminae ,
inter-bedded with layers of sandor carbonates. Since many of the clay minerals
areplaty, smallamountsmaybeplatteredoverthe surfaceof sandgrains. Inthin
films, andthusaverysmallamountof clay mayhavesurpassinglylargeeffectson
such phenomena as adhesion, adsorption, interfacial tensions, capillary and
wettability, etc.
Analyses of clays by X-ray, optical and dehydration methods show them to
consist of aggreagates of extreme minute crystalline particles of clay minerals.
These clay minerals tend to be platy or lathe shaped. The smallest particle
consist of asingle crystal; the larger particle maycontain connected groups of
crystals
This type of study is important for two reasons: (1) the small size of the
individual crystal particles, many being less than 2 microns. (2) the chemical
and physical instability of the clayminerals.
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SHALE EVALUATION

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SCATTERING AND
ATTENUATION

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 GAMMA RAY LOGS
The gamma ray log measures the total natural gamma radiation emanating from a formation. This gamma
radiation originates from potassium-40 and the isotopes of the Uranium-Radium and Thorium series. The
gammaray log is commonly given the symbol GR. Once the gammarays are emitted from an isotope in the
formation, they progressively reduce in energy asthe result of collisions with other atoms in the rock
(compton scattering). Compton scattering occurs until the gammaray is of such alow energy that it is
completely absorbed by the formation.
Hence, the gamma ray intensity that the log measures is a function of:
The initial intensity of gammaray emission, which is aproperty of the elemental composition of the
rock.
The amount of compton scattering that the gamma rays encounter, which is related to the distance
between the gamma emission and the detector and the density of the intervening material.
The tool therefore has a limited depth of investigation.
Note that the gamma ray measurement device accepts gamma rays from almost a hemispherethat
includes the formation and the drilling mud between the formation and the sensor. Gamma raysmay
therefore come from the formation at anyangle from horizontal to almost vertically, and indeed may come
from the drilling mud itself (beware: some drilling muds are very radioactive!).The gammaray log is
combinable with all tools, and is almost always used aspart of every logging combination run because of its
ability to match the depths of data from each run.
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 LOG PRESENTATION
The total gamma ray log is usually recorded in track 1 with the caliper log, bit size and SP log. In this
case, the other tracks most often include resistivity, density, neutron or sonic logs (Fig. 11.1). Although
the API scale goes from 0 to 200 API, it is more common to see 0 to 100 API and 0 to 150 API used in
log presentations, asdata greater than 150API is not common, andcan alwaysbe handled bythe useof
wrap-around. When gammaraylogging is carried out through the cement casing, ascale of 0 to 50 API
is mostoften used, asaresult of the lowervalues measureddue to theattenuation of the gammacount
rate by thecasing.

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 DETERMINATION OF LITHOLOGY

The gamma ray log is an

extremely useful tool for
discrimination of different
lithologies. While it cannot
uniquelydefine anylithology, the
information it provides is
invaluable when combined with
information from otherlogs.

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Itsmainuseisthediscriminationof shalesbytheirhigh radioactivity. Figure
11.6 showshowdifferent lithologies affect the total gammaraylog. Note
that shales, organic rich shales and volcanic ash show the highest gamma
ray values, and halite, anhydrite, coal, clean sandstones, dolomite and
limestone have low gamma ray values. Care must be taken not to
generalize these rules too much. For example a clean sandstone may
contain feldspars (arkose sandstones), micas (micaceous sandstones) or
both (greywackes), or glauconite, or heavy minerals, any of which will
give the sandstone higher gamma ray values than would be expected
from a cleansandstone.

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 DETERMINATION OF SHALE
CONTENT
In most reservoirs the lithologies are quite simple, being cycles of sandstonesand
shalesor carbonates andshales. Once the mainlithologies havebeen identified,
the gammaraylog values canbe usedto calculate the shalinessor shalevolumeVsh
volumeVsh
of the rock.This is important asathreshold value of shalevolume is often usedto
help discriminate between reservoir andnon- reservoir rock.
Shale volume is calculated in the following way: First the gamma rayindex IGR is
calculated from the gammaraylog datausing the relationship:

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Example

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 Chart for
correcting the
gamma ray
Index (IGR) to the
volume of
shale (VSh)

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