WATER FLOWING WELL

This example is based on a log recorded in 1973. The well produced water
from a dolomitic bed which- was expected to produce gas.

1. TECHNICAL DATA

1.1. Drilling

- 9 518" casing shoe at 2921 metres

- 8 1/2" hole
- Salt-saturated mud, density 1.25, viscosity 35-37, flow rate 19651/min;
Circulated mud volume: 193 m 3, i.e.:
in the well: III m3
in the pits: 80 m3
in the flow-line: 2 m3
- Theoretical lag time: about 40 minutes.

1.2. Logging

Geological control is ensured with the following equipment:

- Rate-of-penetration recorder with remote depth marker

- Pump stroke counter
- Chromatograph for gas analysis
- Total gas detector
- Mud output densimeter
- Mud-pit level recorder

The data from the three last instruments together with the depth marks
were logged on a multitrack recorder

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1.3. Recorded data and scales

The 264-millimetre-wide chart unwinds vertically from top to bottom as

a function of time. The spacing between two horizontal lines corresponds to 2
min 30 sec.

The chart is divided into three tracks:

Track 1: Total gas curve

The track is 128 millimetres wide, has 10 divisions, each with 5 sub-
divisions. Four different scales are available:

0-25 (1:1 signal attenuation) 10 units full-scale deflection

0-100 (4:1 signal attenuation) 40 units full-scale deflection
0-250 (l0:1 signal attenuation) 100 units full-scale deflection
0-1000 (40:1 signal attenuation) 400 units full-scale deflection

For the last scale, each gas unit is equivalent to 50 ppm of gas in the
analysed mixture.

Track 2: Output mud density

The track is 64 millimetres wide, has 4 divisions, each with 5 sub-

divisions. In this example, each sub-division represents a density variation of
0.01, and the track covers the density range 1.16 to 1.36.

Track 3: Mud-pit level

The track is 64 millimetres wide, has 4 divisions, each with 5 sub-

divisions. Each sub-division equals 18 barrels, i.e. 2.86 m3•

2. OPERATION DISCUSSION

A 06:33 hrs

The Qit volume increases small division, equivalent to a mud gain of

about 3 m3 in 3 minutes.

Note: the densimeter is out of order until 07:20; when repaired it

indicates d = 1.25.

From 06:33 to 07:30 hrs: drilled 4 feet. During that period the pit level
seems to increase slightly.

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S 07:00 hrs

Small gas show. The maximum value (I 300 ppm or 0.1 %) is attained at
07:27 hrs. This gas index seems to correlate with the mud gain observed at
06:35 hrs.

C 07:30 hrs

Drilling and then circulation are stopped to observe the well. In 20

minutes, the pit level increases one and a half sub-division, i.e. about 4 m3•
As the flow-line volume is only 2 m3, its emj'tying does not fully explain this
gain. The formation is thus flowing about 2 m •

When the circulation is resumed (7:42 hrs), the level decreases less than
one small division, which agrees with the 2 m3 required to fill the flow-line.

D 07:50 hrs

Segiming to weight the mud, which results in a steady increase in

mud-pit level (baryte addition + infloW).

E 08:20 hrs

38 minutes after circulation was resumed, arrival of a small gas slug

(IO 000 Wm, i.e. 1%) and decrease in density from 1.25 to 1.20, without any
scattering of the density values, which seems to indicate the arrival at the
surface of a water slug.

From 08:20 till 09:38 hrs: Still weighting the mud; the density decreases
slightly and reaches 1.26.

F 09:38 hrs

Stopped circulating; 3.5 m3 mud gain in 15 minutes. As before, the gain is

larger than the emptying of the flow-line, which indicates that the formation
produces about 1.5m 3•

G 09:53 hrs

Resumed circulation. In spite of the level decrease due to the flow-line

filling, the mud-pit level stays half a small division (1.5 m3) above what it was
before circulation was stopped.

H 10:33 hrs

The density decreases again from 1.27 to 1.22, and there is a slight gas
show 37 minutes after circulation is resumed.

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10:33 to 12:45 Irs

Still weighting the mud. A density of 1.31 is reached, and the pit level
stabilizes. The total gain since the first inflow is about 33 m3 (baryte +
inflow).

From 12:45 till 13:33 hrs: circulating, no baryte addition.

J 13:33

Stopped circulating. After circulation is stopped, the gain is still larger

than the flow-line volume, and 40 minutes later there is again a decrease in
density together with a small gas show.

The phenomenon will be observed each time after the circulation is

stopped.

3. COMMENTS

3.1. Log quality

The overall log quality is good and all required information is properly
entered.

The total gas curve scale has been changed several times (at about 3/4 of
full-scale deflection).

The following should also be noted:

- 2 failures (electrical?) of the detector, at 11:48 and 12:00 hrs. These

failures appear to be coming from a bad contact in the detection circuit.
No adjustment or zero check was made while this log was recorded.
- Densimeter failure; repaired at 07:20 hrs.

The lack of sensitivity of the pit level measurement is regrettable as

only the large gains or losses (larger than I m3) may be detected.

3.2. Log interpretation

The insensitivity of the mud-pit level measurement makes it difficult to

observe certain phenomena and renders the interpretation of the recorded
information very difficult.

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In spite of this, there cannot be any doubt about the nature of the
phenomenon. The following points lead to the conclusion that the inflow was
salt water containing some dissolved gas:

- Low gas indexes; even the recycled-gas shows are small when circulation
is resumed (remember that an inflow of 100 Htres of gas at 3000 metres
and a pressure of 360 bars would give 36 m3 of gas at the surface). In
each case, the gas show was proportional to the time the circulation was
stopped and thus to the amount of water produced by the formation.

- Each time the fluid from the producing zone arrives at the surface after
the circulation is stopped, a decrease in mud density is observed,
corresponding to the arrival of the water at the surface (it is unfortunate
that no sampling for salinity measurement was made at that time).

- The densimeter readings do not show the scattering which is typical of

gas-cut mud.

- The production tests done at this level indicated an inflow of 40 m3 /hr

salt water @ 305 gIl with a density of about 1.2.

3.3. Calculation of the amount of added baryte

x :: water volume, density de :: 1.2

Y :: baryte volume, density db :: 4.0
VI :: initial mud volume (dl :: 1.25): 193 m3
V2 :: final mud volume (d2 :: 1.31)

The mud volume increase was 11.5 divisions = 1l.5 x 2.86:: 33m 3

V2 :: 193 + 33 :: 226 m 3

x+Y :: V2 - VI = 33 m3

(X de) + (Y db) :: (V2 d2) - (VI d1)

From (1), X :: 33 - Y, thus:

(33 - Y) 1.2 + 4 Y:: (226 x 1.31) - (193 x 1.25)

then

2.8 Y :: 15.2 Y :: 5.43 m3

and

X :: 33 - 5.43 :: 27.57 m3

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The water inflow was about 27.5 m3, and the volume of added baryte was
5.5 m3, i.e. 22 tons.

Notice that the cumulated gain of 27.5 m3 in 5 hours, i.e. 5.5 m3/hr in
average, agrees with the gain of about 2 m3 in 20 minutes observed at the
beginning of the kick, and with that of 1.5 m3 in 15 minutes recorded when
the circulation was stopped between 09:00 and 10:00 hrs.

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