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Myth 3 PDF

This document discusses the myth that high water saturation on well logs always indicates zones that will produce water. It notes that pore geometry changes, vuggy porosity, fine-grained textures, fractures, and other factors can cause an apparent high water saturation when the zone may actually produce clean oil. Integrated analysis of logs, core data, and production history is needed to properly interpret water saturation and predict water production potential. The example case study describes how initial log analysis was revised based on further data to correctly classify zones as capable of water production or producing clean oil.

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63 views2 pages

Myth 3 PDF

This document discusses the myth that high water saturation on well logs always indicates zones that will produce water. It notes that pore geometry changes, vuggy porosity, fine-grained textures, fractures, and other factors can cause an apparent high water saturation when the zone may actually produce clean oil. Integrated analysis of logs, core data, and production history is needed to properly interpret water saturation and predict water production potential. The example case study describes how initial log analysis was revised based on further data to correctly classify zones as capable of water production or producing clean oil.

Uploaded by

anjumbukhari
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CANADIAN WELL LOGGING SOCIETY

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Myth-Interpretation
E. R. Crain, P.Eng.
Spectrum 2000 Mindware
[email protected] 403-845-2527
This series on interpretation myths is intended to provoke discussion, rebuttal, dialog, or alternate solutions. I do not contend
that my views are the only possible views, or even a correct
view, on the subject. Responses should be addressed to
[email protected]

Myth #3: High Water Saturation Means Water


Production
Sometimes this is true, but often it is not. Pore geometry
changes with depth can fool the best analyst. You need more
than logs to resolve the issue. Production tests of clean oil from
zones with high water saturation will do the trick. So will capillary pressure data from the zone concerned. Nuclear magnetic
resonance logs might help, but how many of them have you
seen recently?
Vuggy porosity, very fine grained texture, open fractures, and
micro-porosity are possible causes of high water saturation,

Figure 2: Same example with short transition zone adjusted to agree with
production data. The black bar in the saturation track shows the
perforated interval.

which can be detected from thin section petrology or SEM images.


Increased shaliness is a common cause, not from clay-bound
water which is handled by appropriate clay corrections to
porosity and saturation, but rather from an overall decrease in
grain size coincident with the increased clay content. In a typical coarsening upward shaly sand sequence, it can be difficult
to tell whether the zone is getting wet because it is getting
shalier, or because we are approaching free water.
In the case of laminated shaly sands, the unexpectedly low resistivity leads to a false calculation of high water saturation.
This topic was covered by the author in Productivity
Estimation in Milk River Laminated Shaly Sands, Southeast
Alberta in CWLS InSite, Dec 2004, so we will not deal with
it here.
In the worst pore geometry, there may be no oil or gas because
the pores are too small to contain both irreducible water and
Figure 1: Example showing long apparent transition zone. Perfs in this
interval produce clean oil so this cannot be a real transition zone.
Continued on page 15

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Myth-Interpretation

continued from page 14

hydrocarbons. Such an interval could occur anywhere within a


hydrocarbon column, leaving some confusion as to how best to
complete the zone. And there is the special case of gas over water over oil in the McMurray Tar Sands where the high water
saturation does indicate moveable water between the gas and
the oil.

The steps shown in the saturation profile represent pore geometry changes caused by progressively increasing isolated vugs.
The porosity times water saturation product defines different
rock types or pore geometry facies. These are shown best in a
porosity vs water saturation crossplot with different colours indicating the different facies, as shown in Figure 3.

Finally, the analyst must distinguish depleted oil zones (with


residual oil) from zones with naturally high water saturation.
Its a tough job but someone has to do it!

It takes a sharp eye to stay dry in heavy weather. An integrated


approach to petrophysics is your life preserver when it comes to
predicting the possibility of water production.

The example below is from a forensic analysis undertaken more


than 10 years ago. The reservoir is a pure dolomite reef. Figure
1 illustrates the initial interpretation; Figure 2 shows the revised interpretation after production history and thin sections
were reviewed. Figure 3 illustrates the different rock types on a
porosity versus water saturation plot. Rock units with similar
pore geometries fall along constant porosity water saturation
hyperbola.

About the Author


E. R. (Ross) Crain, P.Eng. is a
Consulting Petrophysicist and a
Professional Engineer with over 35
years of experience in reservoir description, petrophysical analysis, and management. He has been a specialist in the integration of
well log analysis and petrophysics with geophysical,
geological, engineering, and simulation phases of oil and
gas exploration and exploitation, with widespread
Canadian and Overseas experience. His textbook,
Crains Petrophysical Handbook on CD-ROM is
widely used as a reference to practical log analysis.
Mr. Crain is an Honorary Member and Past President of
the Canadian Well Logging Society (CWLS), a Member
of Society of Professional Well Log Analysts (SPWLA),
and a Registered Professional Engineer with Alberta
Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists
(APEGGA).

Figure 3: Porosity vs Water Saturation crossplot showing different rock


types tracing different hyperbolic trends. Notice the red triangles with very
high water saturation at the bottom center and right these points will
not make any water. The black X symbols at middle right are from the
water and transition zones and will make water.

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