PAPER
NUMBER 581-G
Mud Analysis Logging
And Its Use In Formation Evaluation
By
R. W. Wilson
Baroid Division, National Lead Co., Houston, Tex.
INTRODUCTION
Mud logging is the term applied to the pro-
cess o£ analyzing the drilling mud. and cuttings
£or oil and gas and correlating these ~hows with
the depth o£ the £ormations £rom which they came.
The amounts o£ oil and gas £ound in the mud and
cuttings £rom productive £ormations vary widely
due to variations in drilling practice and in £or-
mation characteristics. Hence, mud logging does
not £urnish quantitative tn£ormation use£ul to
engineers in calculating reserves £or productivity
o£ £ormations. Its principal use£ulness is as an
aid to £ormation evaluation in exploratory wells
by detecting and locating oil and gas occurrences
as the well is drilled. In contrast to other log-
ging methods in which the presence o£ oil and gas
is in£erred £rom the measurements o£physical prop.
erties o£ the £ormation, mud. logging aff'ords a
direct determination o£ oil and gas in the £orma-
tion. It is an around-the-clock program to assure
that all oil and gas-bearing £ormation will be de-
tected during the drilling o£ the well. The wide
application 0£ mud logging on exploratory wells
attests to its use£ulness. Approximately 300
units o£ mud logging equipment are now being used
in this country.
SCOPE AND APPLICATIONS
Mud logging is done in a mobile laboratory at
the wells1te while the well is drilled. The oper-
ator with the equipment at his cClllDDand does the
£ollowing:
1. Detects gas in the drilling mud continu-
ously and in the cuttings intermittent-
ly
2. Detects oil in drilling mud and cuttings
samples intermittently
3. Describes the well cuttings by mineral
content, color,.texture, etc.
4. Logs the progress o£ the drill, the depth
and drilling rate, and the circulation
o£ drilling mud through the hole, and
relates showings to their depth o£
origin
Illustrations a1; end o£ paper
79
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5. Determines mud properties intermittently
and observes the rig operation as it may
aff'ect the mud logging results
From the results obtained a log such as that o£
Fig. 1 is drawn.
The principal applications have been mention-
ed in generalized terms. M:>re specif'ically, mud
logging detects oil and gas occurrences as the
well is drilled, the results being available as
soon as cuttings are pumped to the surf'ace, in
time to control coring and testing procedures
while the hole is being drilled. The normal. pro-
cedure is to drill ahead until an increase in
drilling rate signals that a softer £ormation has
been encountered. After 2 to 4 ft o£ the soft
£ormation have been drilled, drilling is halted
until cuttings are circulated out o£ the hole. If'
showings are obtained in likely looking cuttings,
cores may be taken and the formation :further test-
ed be£ore drilling deeper. This application to
wildcatting is the most £requent use o£ mud log-
ging.
Many wildcatters, however, pre£er to drill.
rapidly to the projected depth o£ the well and to
use mud logging results to camplement electrical
logs and other in£ormation obtained during the
drilling o£ the well to determine horizons' to side
wall core and to test £or production~ This program
enables the engineer and geologist to have a maxi-
mum o£ in£ormation when the decision is made
whether to go to the expense o£ making a produc-
tion test.
EQUIPMENT AND TECHNIQUES
The equipment £alls in three groups.
First, that used to detect oil and gas in
drilling mud and cuttings, (a) mud gas detector
consists o£ a gas trap or separator and a hot wire
gas detector usually continvously operating; (b)
cuttings gas detector consists o£ a cuttings ..
crusher in a gas collecting chamber (often a War-
ing Blendor) and a hot wire gas detector; and
 MUD ANALYSIS LOGGING.AND rrs
(c) viewing box illuminated by ultra-vioiet rays
for detecting oil on both mud and cuttings by its
fluorescence.
The second group of instruments is used to re-
late the showings to their depth of origin: a
depth meter, and clock or pump stroke counter for
use in relating cuttings to the depth of origin.
The preferred method is to use the circulating
mud pumps as a fluid meter and with the aid of a
tracer such as cellophane, common grains, or car-
bide, establish the number of pump strokes re-
quired to circulate mud from the bit to the sur-
face. Using this equipment allowance is automat-
ically made for possible variations ~ rate of
pump action and for shutdowns. This may be im-
portant if drilling rate is fast. By charting the
increases in depth with time, the rate of drilling
is determined for small intervals of 2 to 5 ft.
The third group of instruments usually found in
mud loggrng laboratories are auxiliary to the
others, such as, recorders for mud gas and drill-
ing rate, pit level recorders, pump rate meters,
auxiliary power supplies, core analysis equipment,
microscope and screens and other equipment for
handling cuttings.
The instruments in the first group are of par-
ticular importance to mud logging and hence will
be discussed in more detail.
The hot-wire gas detector is used in the de-
tection of gas from both mud and cuttings. Such
gas detectors depend upon the combustion of gas
at the surface of a heated catalytic platinum wire the oil and gas occur. Cavings, sands which break
which is a part of an electrical circuit capable
of indicating the changes in electrical resistance pumping rates may complicate the results obtained
caused by the combustion of gas on ,the catalytic
wire. These gas detectors measure something of
the heating value of the air-gas mixtures which
are tested. Mixtures of the various petroleum gas
in air require varying minimum operating tempe:r:.a- PROBLEMS IN INTERPRErATION
tures of the catalytic wire for cOll!bustion, hence
detection, t'o take place. Methane required con-
siderably higher minimum temperatures than does
the higher molecular weight petroleum gases. It
is usually possible to detect methane by making
use of this characteristic. If the drilling mud
contains substantial amounts of heavier petroleum
gases, as occurs when oil emulsion muds are used,.
these may be removed by adsorpti'on before the gas
is exposed to the hot wire, and the instrument
made to detect only methane.
The ultra-violet rays most useful in oil de-
tection are in the 3,660 AO band. Crude oils
usually fluoresce when exposed to ultra-violet
light of this wave length. Refined oils and
greases also fluoresce but they can usually, but
not invariably, be distinguished from crude oil by the well is drilled, new formation is being ex-
their characteristic color and appearance. Sam-
ples of the severa:1 oils and greases used on the
drilling rig are available for study by the mud
USE IN FO~ION EVALUATION
logger and are qUite useful in identifying the re-
fined products which find their way to the drill-
ing mud stream.
Many minerals fluoresce characteristically
when exposed to ultra-violet light. Calcite and
some limestones are among those minerals comiilon
in bit cuttings which fluoresce. However, placing
a particle of fluorescing cutting into a small
volume of non-fluorescent solvent, such as carbon
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tetrachloride, gives :immediate indication of
whether oil is in the fluorescent cutting. The
oil will be leached out of the particle and the
solvent becomes fluorescent. If no blooming of
fluorescence occurs in the solvent, mineral fluo-
rescence is indicated.
The detection of crude oil in drilling mud
and cuttings is complicated in many wells by the
use of oil emulsion or oil base muds. However,
if the oil-in-water emulsion is stable, and if a
refined oil such as diesel oil or kerosene is
used, the results' obtained in mud logging opera-
tions are not essentially different than if ord-
inary muds without oil are used.
Useful detection of. gas in the drilling mud
and cuttings can be obtained even where, oil-base
muds are "inverted" or water-in-oil emulsions are
used, provided the ,oil used in the mud has been:
refined or well weathered to allow the esc'ape of
the light ends.
The description of cuttings samples is an
important part of the mud logging technique as it
furnishes information on 'the type of rock in which
down to individual grains, enlarged holes and low
from the cuttings, but proper collection and hand-
ling of the samples USUally enable good results to
be obtained.
A brief consideration of the factors a.:t"-
fecting the amounts of oil and gas present in the
drilling mud and cuttings and available for ana-
lysis is pertinent to a discussion of the inter-
pretation of the results of such analyses.
In normal rotary drilling, the pressure of
the drilling mud in the hole is normally' greater
than the pressure of the fluids in the pores of
the formation. Hence this pressure differential
acts to tend to force mud into the porous forma-
tions. The mud solids are usually stopped at or
J?ear the exposed surface of the hole and these
form a filter cake which greatly retards the
passage of the fluid from the mud into the forma-
tion. However, at the very bottom of the hole as
posed and the action of the bit and mud stream dis-
lodges or violently disturbs the filter cake soon
after it is deposited. As a result, we have an
80
 R. W. WILSON

area of relatively high mud filtration rate at the
bit and permeable formations are flushed or water
flooded by the mud filtrate before being chipped
off by the bit as cuttings are formed. This flush
ing tends to reduce the volwne of oil and gas which
enters the, drilling mud.
Waterflooding operations only parti~ly dis-
place the oil and gas from porous rock so some of
the oil and gas content of the formation remains
addition to the presence of hydrocarbons, other
favorable characteristics are revealed. The drill
ing breaks,sand content, and relatively low
methane content of the cuttings indicate favorable
reservoir possibilities.
Example E is the log of a friable sand zone
productive of oil. Showings in the cuttings are
small due to the nature of the sand, the oil and
gas having been almost completely released to the

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in the cuttings as they are dislodged and, as the drilling mud.
fluid pressure on the cutting is reduced in its
travel to the surface, part of the fluids e.scape Fig. 3 contains sections of logs including
to the drilling mud. The rate of pressure reduc- large shows which are, however, not productive.
tion, hence volwne expansion, of volatile gases Section A with a large methane gas show in the cut
is fastest during the last few hundred feet of tings with little in the mud is from a zone of
travel out of the hole. near zero permeability. The low drilling rate in..
dicates a hard, tightly-cemented sandstone. Sec-
With this mechanism in mind, it is apparent tion B is from a zone having low permeability and
that mud and cuttings analysis logging cannot abnormally high pressures. Little flushing could
yield quantitative information on the amounts of occur so almost all the gas in the formation
oil or gas in the formation drilled through. It drilled appeared in the drilling mud and cuttings.
is not diffiCUlt to rationalize the direction of The low drilling rate and absence of a drilling
the influence of various factors, conditions and break confirm a tight, well-cemented sand of low
techniques, though it seems much too complex a permeability. Section C is the log of a carbon-
problem to precisely evaluate them. aceous shale containing gas; this is typical of
the Anahuac and Jackson shales. The absence of
The following factors t~d to reduce the pro- sand and absence of methane in the cuttings are
portion of oil and gas· which may be detected in clues to proper interpretation.
drilling mud and cuttings: (1) high overbalance of
formation pressures by mud pressurej (2) slow drill- Fig. 4 has sections of logs where special con
ing rates; (3) high permeability and simple pore sideration must be given to rig operation. Sec-
geometry of the formation; (4) high filtration tion A is the log of a prod~ctive sand section
drilling muds; and (5) loss of drilling mud into which has been drilled abnormally slOWly in an
the formation. attempt to straighten the hole. The low drilling
rate allowed maximwn flushing ahead of the bit in
ConverElely, larger showings of oil and gas the permeable sand. The relatively small concen-
occur in the drilling mud and cuttings if we have: tration of cuttings in the mud also contributed to
small shows. Often a sand when drilled slowly is
L Low differential pressure broken down to individual grains and is not re-
2. Rapid drilling rate covered in the cuttings ssmples. Section B is of'
3. Low permeability and pore geometry in- a productive zone, the center portion of which was
volving many small capillaries and traps to hold cored. Reduced drilling rate while coring and a
the oil and gas smaller volwne of cuttings from the cored section
4. Low filtration drilling muds contribute to the smaller shows in this· interval.
5. Efficient removal of cuttings from the Sections C and D illustrate another factor in mud
hole. log interpretation - the influence of depth. The
show at 4,000 ft would be considered less impor-
In interpreting mud logs it is also useful to tant than a showing of corresponding size at 11,OOC
bear in mind the role of methane gas in oil produc- ft. Slower drilling rates and heavier drilling
tion. Methane is almost always produced along with muds at the greater depth would normally act to re-
duce the shows
oil and indeed USUally has an important role in •
transporting the oil underground. Even in rich CONCLUSION
gas-distillate production methane is present in a
Mud logging affords a means for detecting and
greater per cent or volwne concentration than any
locating oil and gas-bearing formations in the
other compound. In fact it is pretty safe to
course of drilling exploratory wells. Results of
asswne that unless methane is present there will
mud logging are available in time to control coring
be no production of either oil or gas.
and testing programs while well is being drilled.
Fig. 2 illustrates mud logs of four producing While mud logging does not yield quantitative in-
sections of wells in the Gulf Coast area. These formation, it does reliably locate oil and gas ex-
are examples with simple and straightforward inter- cept under unusual conditions where drilling rate
pretation. The first example (A) is of a section is abnormally slow or drilling mud is being lost to
producing gas; the second (B) gas distillate, and the formation. Its usefulness in the programs of
the third (C) and fourth (D) produce oil. In exploratory wells is indioated by its widespread
application.
81
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PORDSITY

TRACE~
POOR
FAIR
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BIT AND CORE RECORDS ·-dtt.

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TOTAL GAS CURVE (CUTTINGS)-_~~~:_-,'*:~~rtt ±r~'!"£ ",,::c
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FIG. I. A TYPICAL MUD LOG.

82
 I TOTAL GAS •••••••• METHANE
llRlL LING RATE MUD ANALYSIS CU TINes ANA YSIS
OFT P[lItHIl OM.1Il ,,[It fT y 01 A OIL GAS
~5~ 258

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A

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FIG 2. MUD LOGS OF PRODUCING FORMATIONS

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... .,., In ...

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c

Fte 3. MUD LOGS OF NON'- PRODUCTIVE ZONES WITH SHOWS.

 I TOTAL GAS • ••••••• METHANE
MUD &N&LV!lUS OU ANA :YSIS
IL GAS

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1258 258

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FIG 4. MUD LOGS AFFECTED BY DRILLING QPERATIONS