PRODUCTION LOGGING

Presented by
Amanika Dutta (PE-182/20)
Sangeeta Sonowal (PE-219/20)
Saptarshi Chetia (PE-221/20)
Swagata Saikia (PE-224/20)
Tushar Poddar (PE-228/20)
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 Contents
• Introduction
• Why we need production logging
• Production logging applications
• PLT tools
• Components of a PLT tool
• Categories of application
i. Category one
ii. Category two
iii. Category three
iv. Category four and five
• Limitations
• Conclusion
• References
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Introduction
• Production Logging is one of a number of cased hole services that includes
cement monitoring, corrosion monitoring, monitoring of formation fluid
contacts (and saturations), perforating and plug and packer setting.
• Production engineers most commonly apply production logging as an aid in
diagnosing the cause of poor well performance.
• Production logs indicates remedial action to be taken to improve well
productivity.
• Production logging is not a well diagnosis panacea
• Rather, it should be used as supplement to the information gained from the
well flow rate and pressure history and other well tests.

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Why we need production logging

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 Production logging applications
• The purpose of production logs is to evaluate fluid flow inside and outside pipe or, in some cases, to evaluate the well completion
directly. The most common application of production logging is the measurement of the well’s flow profile, the distribution of flow
into or out of the well-bore.

• Major Applications of Production Logging Include:

(1) Locating sources downhole of undesired fluid phase production such as water entries

(2) Isolating mechanical problems such as leaking pipes, leaking packers, and fluid movement in cement channels behind pipe

(3) Detecting thief zones, channeled cement

(4)Production casing integrity is checked by production logs.

(5)Evaluates gravel pack quality, location of perforations

(6)Locates top of cement

(7) Evaluating the effectiveness of well treatment or workover operations by comparing the before and after job surveys

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Production logging tools

• Temperature logging
• Radioactive tracer logging
• Noise logging
• Focused gamma ray density logging
• Unfocused gamma ray density logging
• Fluid capacitance logging
• Fluid identification logging in high angle wells
• Continuous and fullbore spinner flowmeters
• Diverting spinner flowmeter
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Fig: PLT, simultaneous
production logging tool

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Components of PLT Tool
Wire line Telemetry
• Provides two-way serial communication between the

surface equipment and the Production Logging tool

string through a standard single conductor wireline.

• Provides a means for controlling downhole tools remotely
• Real-time data transmission through wireline telemetry allows for continuous
monitoring of downhole conditions, including fluid flow rates, pressure,
temperature, and fluid composition.

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Components of PLT Tool continued
The Casing Collar Locator (CCL)
• A downhole tool or logging device used to detect and track (log)
casing or tubing collars across a zone of interest, typically for
correlation purposes

Applications:
• Casing collars serve as depth references, allowing for precise depth
correlation in the well
• Locating perforations, packers, nipples and other mechanical
components of the borehole
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Components of PLT Tool continued
Gamma ray tool
• The gamma ray tool uses a sensitive scintillation detector and measures
natural radiation emitted by surrounding geological formations.
• The gamma ray tool is typically combined with depth measurements
obtained from a casing collar locator or other depth reference tools.

Applications:
• Depth correlation
• Evaluation of shale content of formations
• Locating radioactive frac sand
• Gamma ray tools can also be used to identify potential hydrocarbon zones

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Components of PLT Tool continued
The Temperature Tool
• The Temperature Tool uses a platinum sensor that has a fast response
to temperature changes.

Applications:
• The primary function of a temperature tool is to provide a temperature profile of
the wellbore. This involves measuring the temperature at different depths or
intervals within the well as the tool is lowered or raised on a wireline.
• Find a lost circulation zone in a current well.
• Finding fluid entry and exit points in production and injection wells.
• Indicate flow behind casing or tubing.
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Components of PLT Tool continued
The Fluid Capacitance Tool
• The Fluid capacitance tool (also sometimes referred to as a Water Hold-Up Tool)

measures the dielectric constant of borehole fluid.

• The tool distinguishes between water and hydrocarbon by measuring the difference

between the dielectric constant of water(~80) and that of oil and gas (~2-6).

Applications:
• Oil/Water/Gas Hold-Up calculations.
• Multi-Phase Production Profiling.
• Identification of water ingress

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Components of PLT Tool continued
Continuous Flow Meter Spinner
• The flowmeter measures the velocity of well fluids using a turbine (spinner) impeller. The higher
the fluid velocity, the faster the spinner rotates. Knowing fluid velocity and tubing size,
volumetric flow rate can be calculated.
• The spinner is continuously rotating and is used in both tubing and casing
• The flowmeter provides high resolution, low friction, flow measurement for multiple applications,
well fluids and flow rates.
• It is run at the bottom of the toolstring
Applications:
• Flow profiling in complex well completions and flow regimes
• Production evaluation, injection evaluation and leak detection
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Components of PLT Tool continued
Strain Gauge Pressure
• The Pressure Tool uses an accurate Strain gauge sensor to measure
pressure in the bore hole.
•

Applications:
• Down-Hole Pressure Gradient Measurement.
• Transient Pressure Build-Up Analysis.

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Categories of applications
Production-logging tools find many applications from the time a well is drilled
until abandonment and, occasionally, beyond. An appropriate categorization of
production logs is by usage. This approach leads to the five distinct categories
listed below that also represent a rough chronological order of tool evolution.
Effective interpretation of the data from each type of log requires significant
education and experience.
1. Diagnose production problems and allocate production
2. Monitor cement placement
3. Monitor corrosion
4. Monitor reservoir fluid contacts
5. Select zones for recompletion

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Category one
Includes tools used to track movement of fluid either inside or immediately outside the
casing of a well. The logs frequently used for such flow diagnosis and allocation
include:
• Temperature surveys
• Mechanical flowmeter surveys
• Borehole fluid-density or fluid-capacitance surveys
• Each of these tools responds to fluid velocity or fluid type.
• The logs are run to determine if a production problem, such as excessive water or gas
production, is the result of a completion problem or a reservoir problem.

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Category two

There are two different objectives of cement-placement monitoring:

• To determine where the cement went (cement top)
• To determine whether the cement provides zonal isolation

The logs used to locate the cement top include:

• Temperature log, which responds to hydration heating
• Unfocused gamma ray log, which responds to behind-pipe density
• Regular bond log, which measures the acoustical deadening of pipe

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Category three

• Zonal isolation should be addressed when pressure imbalance causes crossflow

through poorly cemented sections, leading to excessive production of
unwanted fluids.
• The tools most often used for this purpose include:
• Cement-bond logs
• Temperature
• Noise
• Radioactive tracer
• Neutron-activation logs
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Category three continued
• Cement bond logs: Proper cement placement between well casing and
formation is essential:
I. To support the casing
II. To prevent the fluid from leaking to the surface
III. For isolating Producing zones from water bearing zones

• The temperature log detects alterations caused by flow

• The noise log measures turbulent sound caused by flow and
• The tracer log tracks tagged fluid behind casing.
• The neutron-activation log creates tracer in behind-pipe water.

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Category three continued
• Corrosion-monitoring tools are specialized in nature and include mechanical
caliper tools and electromagnetic casing-inspection tools.
• The mechanical caliper tools are used to assess corrosion internal to the casing
and to measure the shape of casing as well as the amount of rod and drillpipe
wear inside tubing or casing.

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Category four and five
• The last two categories, monitoring of fluid contacts in formations and
selection of recompletion zones, use the cased-hole nuclear logs such as:
• Neutron
• Pulsed-neutron
• Various spectral logs

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Limitations of production logging

• It can be difficult to interpret

• As the fluid migrate, the flow regimes usually changes and become complex in
deviated wellbores or when fluids of various phases enters the wellbore from
multiple zones
• There are no single production logging tool or survey on market that will
consistently give a complete analysis of downhole fluid movement
• The main challenge facing production logging in horizontal wells is that
trapped fluids can directly affect production and influence the data from a
production log

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Conclusion
• Production logs help engineers diagnose problems that occur during the life of
a single well and are also used for management and surveillance of multiple
wells or of the entire reservoir.
• Production logs provide reservoir and production engineers with a diagnostic
aid for understanding the downhole wellbore environment. These in situ
measurements acquired under dynamic conditions are a snapshot of the
existing situation. But that snapshot captures the situation only for that moment
in time. Whether by fluid extraction or injection, oil and gas production
changes reservoir conditions.
• Production logs help operators understand well and reservoir dynamics over
the life of a well and create a roadmap for future remediation, production
enhancements and reservoir development programs.

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References
• Michael J. Economides, Daniel Hill & Christine Economides., 1993: Petroleum
Production Systems.
• www.petrowiki.org/productionlogging.

• Wilson, A. 2016. Production-logging tools facilitate well testing in challenging

environments. J Pet Technol 68(02):79–80.

• Colin, W.H. 2013. Fundamentals of Production Logging, Schlumberger, Houston,

Texas.

• https://wiki.aapg.org/Production_logging
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