Book Reviews
Encyclopedia of Well Logging
R. Desbrands
Graham & Trotman Ltd./Ed. Technip; 1985; ISBN 0-86010-709-4; 584 pp. Price"
£81.00/$150.00
The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary defines the word
'encyclopedia' as: ' A work containing exhaustive information
on some one art or branch of science, arranged systemati-
cally'.
This definition suggests that such a work is comprehensive
and essentially consultative. Indeed, in his preface the author
introduces his work as ' . . . a manual covering all well-
logging measurements . . . ' for ' . . . students, trainees and
e n g i n e e r s . . . '. A major function of this Review is to report
how closely Desbrandes' work reflects the scope and ordering
that are implicitly claimed in the title.
The book comprises sixteen chapters preceded by glossar-
ies of symbols and abbreviations. The symbols essentially
represent relevant format.ion-evaluation parameters. This list
is long but there are some noteworthy exceptions. I could not
find 'resistivity index', for example. Furthermore the symbol
definitions are not accompanied by units where appropriate.
The abbreviations include logging company acronyms for
their tools or related services. This compilation acknowledges
trademarks of four major logging companies but a fifth,
Gearhart Industries, has not been included. Despite the
apparent omissions these reference glossaries are more com-
prehensive than most.
Each of the sixteen chapters includes a reference listing.
The references are ordered in a manner which corresponds
broadly, but not exactly, to the subdivisions of the text itself.
The reference lists are adequate but by no means exhaustive.
Although credit is given to the technical contributions of all
the major service companies, the references reflect key
omissions, e.g. the contribution of Welex in the chapter
references on nuclear well logging.
The first chapter deals with 'well logging during drilling'.
This is the second-largest chapter (82 pp); it covers measure-
ments using drilling mud, measurements in cuttings, measure-
ments relating to drilling, downhole measurements, field
implementation, and interpretation and use of the results. Of
these 82 pages only one paragraph is dedicated to the
measurement of formation characteristics. The brevity of that
discussion, which is also service-company specific, does not
convey the significance of this vitalk bridgehead between
MWD and wireline well logging, In general, however, the
subject treatment is more exhaustive than one would custo-
marily find in a text on well logging.
Chapter 2 deals in preliminary fashion with generalized
aspects of logging and log interpretation. This is followed by
three chapters on the measurement techniques themselves,
electric and dielectric well logging, nuclear well logging, and
acoustic well logging. Each chapter deals with measurement
principles and practice, and with sonde calibration. Of the
sixty-four figures in Ch. 3-5 over half are directly extracted
from the commercial literature of one service company.
There is a proliferation of that same service company's
acronyms. The book scores in its treatment of high-technolo-
gy tools such as induced gamma spectral logs which is much
more comprehensive than competing texts. Ch. 6 deals with
miscellaneous logs and measurements which do not easily fit
into the thematic chapters, e.g. dipmeter, VSP, borehole
gravimetry and temperature logs. However, the treatment of
each is cursory. For example, the description of the caliper
does not even describe how such a tool actually works. Ch. 7
rounds off the treatment of wireline measurement technology
by reviewing recording techniques. This chapter would be
more appropriately entitled 'Recording techniques as prac-
tised by SchlumbergerL Every single example is taken from
Schlumberger's commercial literature, with only a solitary
passing mention of three other logging service companies one
Marine and Petroleum Geology, 1988, Vol 5, February
of whose names has even been incorrectly stated.
Chapter 8 deals with basic formation evaluation. This is the
longest chapter (99 pp.) and it addresses manual-, field- and
computerized-interpretation, cased- and empty-hole evalua-
tion, facies determination, reservoir description and over-
pressured zones. This treatment is forward-looking but again
there is a very heavy inclusion of commercial elements.
Shaley sands are dealt wioth in some detail. Here, as else-
where in the chapter, the style of presentation facilitates easy
reference.
The book gains strongly from Ch. 9 onwards when it
addresses subjects that I have not seen described collectively
elsewhere in a logging text. A chapter on sidewall coring and
fluid sampling is followed by one on wireline completion
operations. Ch. 11 deals with production logging by describ-
ing tools such as flowmeters and temperature logs, and
interpretation methodologies encompassing continuous flow-
meter calibration, two phase flow and inflow well perform-
ance. Ch. 12 comprises a novel treatment of logging in relief
wells.
Chapters 13 and 14 address logging for non-hydrocarbon
purposes (geothermal, mining, groundwater and civil en-
gineering) as well as for the shallow petroleum resources of
tar sands and oil shales. Geothermal receives the greatest
attention; other treatments are superficial.
Chapter 15 deals with logging in oil muds encompassing
mud logging, MWD and wireline well logging. The final
chapter describes the design and cost of MWD, wireline and
production logging programmes.
The text is followed by Appendices on physical constants,
etc., literature sources, graduate schools where logging is
taught, and a five-language glossary of logging terms. Finally
there is an author index and subject index.
In general, the book is more comprehensive in its treat-
ment of logging matters than many competing texts. The
scope is very broad indeed with the word 'logging' being
taken to include mud logging, M W D . production logging and
non-hydrocarbon applications, as well as wireline logging for
petroleum. This has resulted in the treatment of some
wireline topics being rather superficial. Furthermore, the
work leans heavily towards the nomenclature, modus operan-
di and technical publications of the major wireline logging
contractor, Schlumberger. While understandable up to a
point, this leaning has been overdone. For example, in Ch.
2-8, which deal directly with wireline logging, many of the
text figures are extracted directly from the Schlumberger
commercial literature which is already freely available to the
industry. Perhaps as a consequence of this selectivity, the
bibliography contains some noteworthy omissions.
My conclusion is that while the ambitious title word
'encyclopedia' is not justified, the book remains a useful
compendium of the downhole measurements area. It is a
reference text rather than a definitive one. The book's
strengths are the forward-looking integrated treatment of the
different facets of downhole measurements and the inclusion
of high-technology logging tools which are becoming in-
creasingly used in the industry. In general, the scope and
treatment of the subject matter are sufficiently distinctive to
justify its purchase by those concerned with downhole
measurements in applied earth science and in the exploration
and production of both petroleum and non-hydrocarbon
mineral sources.
Paul F. Worthington
The British Petro/eum Company p/c,
Sunbury-on-Thames
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