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Life of a well
Life of a well
Schlumberger 1999
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Life of a well
Life of a well-1
Drilled well Cased Well Perforated Well
Need to find:
Saturation casing integrity
Porosity cement quality
Zones
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Life of a well
Objective of a well
The Objective of most wells is to find
hydrocarbons.
The volume of hydrocarbons in place is
given by:





H=Constant x Sw h
where
H = initial oil in place
| = effective porosity
Sw= initial water saturation
h = productive interval
A = drainage area


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Life of a well
Hydrocarbon in Place
This is simple to visualise

A - area of the reservoir
h - the thickness of the reservoir
together the product gives the total volume of
rock

| - percentage of pore space in that volume of
rock. i.e. the volume that contains fluids

Sw = percentage of the pore space containing
water so
(1-Sw) = percentage of pore space containing
hydrocarbons

Hence the equations for the hydrocarbons in
place
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Life of a well
Open Hole Measurements
Open Hole Measurements are made by two
methods;

1) The traditional wireline logging
here the tools are lowered into the well on
the end of an electrical line. Measurement
is usually made pulling out of the hole.
2) Logging While Drilling
the tools are built into drill pipe. Logging
is made while drilling the hole and data is
stored in downhole memory as well as
being transmitted up hole.
3) Logging on drill pipe
here the standard wireline tools are
attached to drill pipe. A cable is still used
for data transmission. Logging is made
both down and up.
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Life of a well
Use of Open Hole logs
The basic parameters needed are:

Thickness - measured by the tool depths

Porosity - measured by porosity tools

Saturation - computed from a combination
of porosity and lithology
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Life of a well
Life of a well-2
Well Produced Workover activity Recompleted
Need to know:
Production Perforation efficiency Flow rates
fluid mix new zones Zone Production
Pressures Flow rates Pressures
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Life of a well
Perforation
Gun systems use three components:

- detonator - primary high explosive ignited by
heat or shock

- primacord - secondary high explosive ignited by
the detonator, burns at 8400 m/sec

- shaped charges - create the perforations,
detonated by the primacord.
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Life of a well
Shaped charge
The explosion forces the liner to flow inwards and out.
It forms into a characteristic shape, the jet.
This is moving rapidly and has extremely high pressures
at the tip.
The dimensions of the perforation, length of the tunnel,
and diameter of the entrance hole are linked and depend
on the geometry of the shaped charge.

Case
Expl osive
Charge
Li ner
Primacord
Primer
Charge
Jet
Ti p
Sl ug
7000 m/s
500 m/s
p=100GPa
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Life of a well
Types of Perforation
Three Types of perforated completion
a) Wireline - Carried on an electric line
1) Casing Gun Completion
Well Pressure > Formation Pressure
Overbalanced perforating
Large diameter carrier gun

2) Through Tubing Perforation
Well Pressure < Formation Pressure.
Completion and final surface production
equipment, or a temporary completion and
testing facilities are in place
Underbalanced perforating, with pressure
control equipment
Through tubing gun (small guns)
Gauges can be run with the string
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Life of a well
Tubing Conveyed Perforating
b)Carried on Drill Pipe or Tubing
3) Tubing Conveyed Perforating
Perforation gun is carried on either the drill pipe
or on tubing.

Well Pressure < or > Formation Pressure

Large interval of perforation in one run - in - hole

High explosive content, perforation spacing

Gauges can be run at the same time
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Life of a well
Perforation Characteristics
Guns are classified by the
number of shots per foot,
spf.
The current maximum is
21 spf.
Guns are also described
by their Phasing- the
directions of the
perforations. This ranges
from 0 to 30/60
The example shows 90.
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Life of a well
Cement Evaluation
Cementation of
wells is of vital
importance for the
wells performance
as it seals one zone
from another,
To properly
evaluate any
measurement in
cased hole the
quality of the
cement has to be
evaluated
Unwanted flui d
flow
Bad Cement
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Life of a well
Cement Bond Logging Tools
There are three types of tool in current use

1) Cement Bond Log (CBL)- Variable Density
Log (VDL)
a) CBL measures the amplitude of
signal reflected from the casing
wall. The higher the amplitude
the lower the amount of
cement.
b)VDL image of the recorded
wavetrain. The only log to see
beyond the first casing into the
formation.
2) Pulse Echo type tool
measures the acoustic
impedance of the casing-
cement interface using
ultrasonics.
The latter tool is either segmented using
individual transducers or rotating covering the
entire casing

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Life of a well
Fluid Flow
Fluid flow in the borehole is complex. The fluid
may start as oil but then bubbles of gas come out
of solution.
There may also be mixed flow of water and oil.
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Life of a well
Flow Regimes
The actual flow regime depends on a number of
factors, such as gas-oil-ratio.
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Life of a well
Production Tools
Current tools consist of a number of sensors.
The major ones are

Flowmeter flow measurement
Gradiomanometer fluid density/
hold up, fluid mix
Pressure reservoir, borehole
pressures,
fluid density
Temperature production
temperature,
flow
measurement, cement
evaluation, channel
identification
Caliper borehole size, Flowmeter
correction

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Life of a well
Production Log Interpretation
Step 1
The first thing that is done is to look at the logs.
Questions asked:

do the spinners change at the perforation
depths
is the fluid density "sensible"
does the shut in pass show anything e.g.
crossflow
does the temperature have any anomalies
are there any stable zones for calibration
what's the problem
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Life of a well
Example 1
What happens here?
Spinner RPS
Well
Sketch
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Life of a well
example-1 solution
Spinner RPS
Casing/ hole size
change
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Life of a well
Flowmeter Interpretation
monophasic flow
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Life of a well
Multiphase Flow
Monophasic flow
simple to analyse
The flowmeter gives the
flowrate , rest is known.

Diphasic flow ( the well is producing two fluids)
also relatively simple to
analyse. the flowmeter gives the
total flowrate
the gradio gives the fluid mix
theoretical correlations are
used to compute the relative
flowrates of each phase
assumption is that the flow
regime is simple

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Life of a well
Triphasic flow
Triphasic flow ( the well is producing water, oil
and gas)

analysis very difficult
the flowmeter still gives the total flow rate
the gradio gives the fluid mix
no correlations to separate the fluids, the
flow regimes are too complex and variable
Only method is to assume one phase
constant and solve for the other two
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Life of a well
Flowmeter response
The spinner is
reacting to the
flow of the
general fluid plus
the slugs passing
by.
The gradio
response will be
similar as the
different fluids go
past.
The result is a log
impossible to
interpret.
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Life of a well
Other Measurement
Hydrocarbon
Water entry
1st Oil entry
2nd Oil entry
3rd Oil entry
Stagnant water
Friction effects
Jetting, Venturi
effects
Mud
Gradiomanometer
water hold up
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Life of a well
Diphasic flow
0 10 20
2.5 rps
3.0 r ps
1.5 rps
7.0 rps
cps
35.7%of
t ot al
flow
42.9%of
t ot al
flow
21.4%of
t ot al
flow
A
B
C
sludge at bottom
of the well
producing only
oil
producing water
with some oil
producing mostly oil
percentage oil
production
100% 0%
WATER
OIL
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Life of a well
Saturation and Time
Over time the saturation undergoes another
change with the oil being displaced by the
invading water
The water could be of a different salinity to that
originally in place
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Life of a well
Saturation Monitoring
The objective is to
monitor the depletion of
the producing zone, i.e.
the difference between
the original and the
current oil saturation.
It is also to detect
problem zones such as
water fingering or
coning.
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Life of a well
Monitoring Tools
Two measurement methods exist:
Pulsed neutron capture logging
Carbon Oxygen logging

Both use an electronic source and pairs of
detectors measuring gamma rays

PNC measures the capture cross section of the
formation. This is related to the amount of
chlorine and hence the water
C/O measures the relative amounts of carbon and
oxygen. This is related to the amounts of
hydrocarbon and water.
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Life of a well
PNC Method and Analysis
The log reading is a linear mixture of the matrix
and the fluid:


The fluid term can be expanded to:



Hence if E
w
, E
ma
, E
h
and the porosity, | are known
the saturation Sw can be obtained.
log f
1
ma
f w
S
w
1 S
w h
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Life of a well
Pulsed Neutron Capture
Interpretation
L
E
=
ma
E
1 |
( )
+
f
E
|
( )
f
E
|
( )
=
h
E
| 1
W
S
( )
+
W
E
|
W
S
.
E
E
E
E
POROSITY
log
ma
w
H
S
w

=

1
0
0
%
S
w
= 0%
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Life of a well
Time Lapse Example
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Life of a well
Carbon Oxygen Analysis
The tool measures carbon (in the
hydrocarbons) and oxygen (in the water)
Combining these gives the saturation
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Life of a well
C/O Saturation
The plot is of the Far C/O ratio against the
Near
The combination gives both the formation
water percentage Sw and the borehole
percentage Yo
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Life of a well
Vertical Wells
Wells can be split into three categories
1) Vertical
drilled to a specific target
measured depth = true depth



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Life of a well
Deviated well
2) Deviated
usually from a platform or
from land to near offshore
measured depth has to be
converted to true vertical depth

possible well tracks
Target formation
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Life of a well
Horizontal well
3) Horizontal
drilled to maximise production or
minimise problems such as coning
well is precisely guided along a
predetermined track
Vertical section
Curvature
Ramp
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Life of a well
Measurements in Open Hole
The measurements made in the borehole are
affected by the environment.

The major effects are:

Borehole size and shape

Borehole Fluids

Borehole Temperature
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Life of a well
Measurements in Cased Hole
The cased hole environment is more complex than
open hole because of
casing and tubing
steel affects measurements
cement
to be measured but unknown in
most cases
unknown fluids
to be measured, affects tools
limited tools
slim hole restrictions plus
casing etc limits tools which can
be run
lot of unknowns
have to take into account
reservoir behaviour, fluid dynamics
as well as rock mechanics and
formation properties
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Life of a well
Measuring in the borehole
Sensors
+
El ectroni cs
Borehol e
Formation
to be
Measured
The formation to be
measured is masked
by the borehole.
The borehole
contains fluids and is
of an irregular shape.
The sensor has to be
able to measure the
formation property
accurately and send
the information to
surface.
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Life of a well
Borehole -Size and Shape
Perfect shape no problems
except if very large.
Ovalised hole; will give
problems for some tools.
Best to run two calipers.
Irregular borehole, gives
problems for most tools.
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Life of a well
Tool Positioning - 1
Formation
to be
Measured
Centrali sed
Tool
Some tools are run
centralised in the
borehole in order to
measure properly.
These include laterolog
and sonic devices.
Special centralisers are
put on the tool.
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Life of a well
Tool Positioning - 2
Some tools are run
eccentred, pushed,
against the borehole
wall.
In some cases this is
done with an
eccentraliser.
In other cases a caliper
arm does this job.
Formation
to be
Measured
Eccentral ised
Tool
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Life of a well
Tool Positioning - 3
Formation
to be
Measured
Tool with
Stand-offs
Stand-Offs
Some tools are run
with stand-offs to
position them at a
fixed distance from
the wall.
The induction family
are usually run in this
manner.
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Life of a well
Borehole - Fluids
Sensors
+
El ectroni cs
Borehol e
Fl uid
Formation
to be
Measured
The borehole fluid can be
- water based mud
fresh or
salt saturated
- oil based mud
varying quantities
of water
- air
- foam

In addition there are a
number of additives to
increase weight, viscosity
and so on.
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Life of a well
Borehole fluids 2
Oil based mud will not allow current to pass so
electrical logs will not work.

Foam and air muds will not transmit sonics
signals. Neutron tools are also affected.

Mud salinity affects electrical and induction tools
in different manners.

Additives such as barite affect density, gamma
ray and photoelectric effect measurements.

The mud type, salinity and additives must be
known so that the appropriate corrections can be
made.
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Life of a well
Borehole - Temperature
Increasing temperature affects the measurements
in some tools. The most affected is the thermal
neutron devices.

High temperature also affect the performance of
the electronics in the tools.

Temperature affects the mud resistivity (it
decreases with increasing temperature).

Temperature is measured during each logging
run.
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Life of a well
Volume of Investigation
The tool shown here measures all around the
borehole. It is omni-directional.
An example of this type of tool is the Gamma
Ray.
Some of the signal is in the borehole. Most
comes from the invaded zone.
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Volume of Investigation 2
Formati on
to be
Measured
Vol ume i nvesti gated
by the tool
Invaded Zone
Vi rgi n
Zone
Vi rgi n
Zone
This type of investigation is also omni-directional
but it reads mainly in the virgin zone.
This pattern is that of the deep resistivity tools.
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Life of a well
Volume of Investigation 3
Formati on
to be
Measured
Vol ume i nvesti gated
by the tool
Invaded Zone
Vi rgi n
Zone
Vi rgi n
Zone
This type of measurement has the sensor facing
in one direction only.
Examples of this are the neutron porosity and
bulk density measurements.
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Life of a well
Vertical Wells
In vertical wells, with homogeneous layers all
types of tool are reading in the same formation.

In horizontal (or highly deviated) wells the deep
reading resistivity tools may read a different layer
to the shallow reading tools.

In addition the omni-directional tools (e.g. GR)
may read different layers from the single
direction devices.
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Life of a well
Drilling Objective
A well is drilled to a pre-determined objective:

An exploration well targets a suspected reservoir.

An appraisal well evaluates a discovery.

A development well is used for production.
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Life of a well
Pre-Drilling Knowledge
Exploration
Structural information obtained from surface
seismic data.
Rough geological information can be provided by
nearby wells or outcrops.
Approximate depths estimated from surface
seismic data.
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Life of a well
Pre-Drilling Knowledge
Appraisal
Detailed structure from logs taken in previous
wells.

Time-to-depth conversion for surface seismic
from logs taken in previous wells.
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Life of a well
Appraisal Wells - Continued
Geological data from cuttings, cores and logs
from previous wells.
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Life of a well
Pre-Drilling Knowledge
Development
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Life of a well
Tool History
1927 - First electrical log recorded.

1930s - SP, Short Normal, Long Normal and Long Lateral
combined, Core Sample Taker.

1940s - Gamma Ray and Neutron, 3-arm Dipmeter using SP, then
electrical measurements, Induction tool.

1950s - Microlog tool, Laterolog tool, Sonic tool, Formation
Tester.

1960s - Formation Density tool.

1970s - Dual Spacing Neutrons, Advanced Dipmeters,
Computerised Surface Systems, Repeat Tester tools,
Electromagnetic Propagation tool.

1980s - Resistivity Imaging tool, Advanced Sonic tools

1990s - Advanced testing tools, Induction imaging tools,
Azimuthal Laterolog tools, Ultrasonic imaging tools,
Epithermal porosity tools, Magnetic resonance tools

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Life of a well
Early Interpretation
Early resistivity logs were used to find
possible producing zones.

high resistivity = hydrocarbon


SP was used to define permeable beds,
compute Rw and determine shaliness.

Resistivity was also used to determine
"porosity".


Archie developed the relationship between
resistivity, porosity and saturation.
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Life of a well
Interpretation Procedure 2
The simplest evaluation technique consists of
recognising the hydrocarbon zone using the
porosity and resistivity curves
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Interpretation Procedure
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Life of a well
Zoning
Zoning is the first step in any interpretation
procedure. During zoning, the logs are split into
intervals of:
1) Porous and non-porous rock.
2) Permeable and non-permeable rock.
3) Shaly and clean rock.
4) Good hole conditions and bad hole
conditions.
5) Good logs and bad logs.


Zoning Tools:
SP.
GR.
Caliper.
Neutron Density-Pef.
Resistivity.