Formation Evaluation Q & A

Presented to: Prof. Shouhdi Shalaby

Presented by: Moataz M. S. Eltantawi

Question 1:
Give an account on sedimentary rocks classification.
Answer:
Sedimentary rocks are classified depending on the mineral composition to: clastic
rocks and carbonate rocks.
1) Clastics:
Sediments that are formed as a result of weathering, and disintegration of old
masses, transportation, accumulation and deposition in successive layers.
Based on the predominance of certain minerals, clastics are classified into:

1- Quartzose sediments:
- These sediments are clean and almost free of clays and shale.
- They are composed of stable minerals such as: quartz
- The preferential habitats: are the flat lying lands of the continental shelves
of low dip.
- Structural deformation is required to produce oil and gas reservoirs.
- The common drive is: natural water drive.

2- Greywacke sediments:
- They are called ''dirty sands'' or ''salt and pepper sands'' because of their
appearance and their caly and shale content.
- They contain both stable minerals and unstable minerals such as: mica
flakes.
- The preferential habitats: are the short continentals shelves subjected to
rapid erosion.
- Oil and gas accumulation is mostly in stratigraphic traps.
- The common drive is: depletion or internal gas drive.

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3- Arkose sediments:
- They are called ''shaly sands'' such as ''granite wash'' which formed due to
very rapid erosion.
- The composition is almost identical to that of the source rock since unstable
minerals do not have time to decompose
- The preferential habitats: are the regions of high orogeny.
- Structural deformation is and faulting are required to produce oil and gas
reservoirs.
- The common drive is: solution gas drive and limited water drive.

2) Carbonate rocks:
Sediments that are formed in a quiet period of orogeny. The development of
thick carbonate rocks requires a slowly sinking, shallow continental shelf which
gives the opportunity for development of abundant sea life.
Based on the mode of origin, carbonate rocks are classified into:
1- Accretionary limestones: bioherms (reefs) and biostromes.
2- Clastic limestones: redeposited from a weathered limestone landmass.
3- Chemical limestones: formed by direct chemical precipitation.
4- Dolomitic limestones: formed by molecular replacement of calcium by
magnesium in the original limestone.

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Question 2:
Define:
Oolitic Porosity, Vuggy Porosity, Fracture Porosity, Fossiliferous
Porosity, Reef Porosity, Micro Porosity, Isolated Porosity,
Formation Evaluation, Trip Gas, The Geometric Factor, Shale
Base Line, Sand Base Line, Skipped Cycles, Lag Time.
Answer:
1- Oolitic porosity:
Porosity resulting from the packing of fossil spheres of almost uniform diameter,
also due to subsequent leaching or cementation or the void spaces existing inside
the ooliths themselves.
2- Vuggy porosity:
Porosity resulting from leaching of carbonate rocks by solutions or circulating
waters and is characterized by channels and large openings within the rocks. It
may be called solution porosity.
3- Fracture porosity:
Porosity resulting from earth movements which create joints and faults through
which solution waters may gain easy access throughout the originally massive
rock.
4- Fossiliferous porosity:
Porosity developed by leaching when fossil remains within a carbonate rock are
more soluble than the rock itself.
5- Reef porosity:
It is a type of fossiliferous porosity which is present in fossil coral and algal reef
structures as a result of the decay of organic matter originally filling the openings.
6- Micro porosity:
The porosity found in crystal lattices and between mud-sized particles.
7- Isolated porosity:
The porosity of isolated pores as a result of various diagenetic and catagenetic
processes such as: cementing and compaction.
8- Formation evaluation:
The use of methods and tools that are capable of locating and evaluating the
commercial significance of the sedimentary rocks presented by the drill bit under
frequently adverse conditions.
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9- Trip gas:
The show of gas in the mud if the mud pumps are shut down for a period of time
for making connections and then circulation is resumed.
10- The geometric factor:
The relative contribution of the various parts of the formation to the recorded
signal, the integrated geometric factor is the sum of all the geometric factors
starting from the power electrode. It gives idea about the depth of investigation
of the device.
11- Shale base line:
The straight line through all the points of maximum positive excursion in SP log.
12- Sand base line:
The straight line through all the points of maximum negative points in SP log.
13- Skipped cycles:
It is a phenomena that occur in sonic logs when the signal arriving at the second
receiver is not enough to actuate it. The receiver is then actuated by other wave
than the first arrival and the measured time is too long. It may be caused by the
attenuation of the signal in crossing a fracture or clean unconsolidated sands
particularly if they are gas bearing.
14- Lag time:
It is the time required for the cuttings to come to the surface.

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Question 3:
Compare between coring and mud logging procedures.
Answer:
Coring:
1- Methods and instrumentation:
- Conventional coring: in which a bit is use to cut around the periphery of the
hole, while the center will become the recovered core.
- Diamond coring: in which diamond bit is used to obtain high percentage of
recovery especially in hard rock areas.
- Wireline coring: it is used to avoid expensive round trip in conventional
coring.
- Reverse circulation coring: by pumping mud down the annulus and forcing
the core up through the drill pipe.
- Sidewall sampling: it happens after logging to get data about some zones
for proper interpretation.
2- Sampling:
1- At the surface, the core barrel is flashed to burn any hydrocarbons.
2- The core is then removed gently from the barrel and placed in marked trays.
3- Then, the core is measured to determine the amount of recovery and to
determine the location of any missing section.
4- Core description noting: rock type, texture, faults, cavities, dip and any
hydrocarbon.
5- The selected core samples should be packaged for shipment to laboratories
for analysis.
6- In laboratory, the core samples will be sampled again to obtain plugs for
measurement of porosity, permeability and saturation.
3- Analysis:
- Porosity measurement:
1- The sample is extracted with toluene and dried.
2- The bulk volume is obtained either by direct measurement or by
displacement method.
3- The void volume can be obtained either by saturation method or by
Boyl's law porosimeter.

4- Then the porosity can be calculated: =

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 - Permeability measurement:
1- The cylindrical surface of the plug is sealed and a fluid then can be
flowed into one end and out of the other end.
2- Sample dimensions are measured to get the cross sectional area and
length.
3- Also, pressure, fluid rate and viscosity can be measured.
4- Then the permeability can be calculated using Darcy equation:

=

- Saturation measurement:
Either using the extraction method or the retorting method to get the fluids
volume and then divide by the pore volume to get fluids saturation.
- Relative permeability, capillary pressure and formation resistivity factor also
can be measured in laboratory but these are much more difficult and time
consuming.
4- Interpretation:
Changes in saturation within the core as it is pulled to the surface is due to
the decrease in pressure causes the gas dissolved in oil to come out of
solution and expands.
a) Clean sands characterization:
1- Dry gas sands:
- Have zero oil saturation.
- Water and gas saturation depend on the permeability and depth.
- Low permeability sands have higher connate water saturation.
2- Oil sands:
- For low gravity oil found at shallow depths, oil saturation might be
expected to be high.
- Deeper sands having high gravity oil, have low oil saturation and high
gas saturation.
3- Water productive clean sands:
- Have water saturation greater than 0.6 and small amount of oil or gas.
b) Presence of shale in sand section:
- Clays cause difficulties in interpretation as they cause:
1- Small reduction in porosity.
2- Large reduction in permeability.
3- Increase in water saturation.

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 c) Carbonate rocks:
- It is more complex due to the variation in porosity.
- Inter-crystalline and oolitic carbonates resemble sandstones.
- Fractures and vugs in carbonates seldom have high porosity, but the
permeabilities are frequently tremendous.
- In carbonate cores, oil is almost completely flushed and there is no
more than a trace.

Mud logging:
1- Methods and instrumentation:
a) Analysis for oil:
- The basic instrument is: the fluorescent light, in which fluorescence occurs
when a substance is exposed to ultraviolet radiation.
b) Analysis for gas:
- Hot wire analyzer: it detects the increase in a resistance due to catalytic
oxidation of hydrocarbon gases.
- Gas chromatograph: it depends on the variation in the degree of
adsorption of the various components of hydrocarbon gas by a definite
sweep gas as helium.
- Infrared analyzer: it is used to analyze only methane by heating the sample
through infrared rays.
- Mass spectrograph: it is used to separate and determine the relative
amounts of ions on the basis of the mass to charge ratio.

2- Sampling:
1- Cutting samples may be collected at the shale shakers or in settling box.
2- Gas samples may be obtained using agitator to break the gas out of the
mud.
3- The mixture of the gas is fed to gas analyzer in the trailer.
4- The gases released from the mud are condensed and analyzed using gas
chromatograph.
5- At the end of each sampling interval, the sample box is emptied completely.

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3- Determination of lag time:
- To correlate the measurements with the proper depth.
- Lag time can be determined by:
1- By calculating the time required for a tracer to go to the bottom through
the drill pipe and by knowing the circulation rate. The difference in time
between the round trip and the down time is the lag time.
2- By tying a brick on the bit when a new bit is put on. The lag time is the
elapsed time between a drilling break and the change in the type of
cuttings arriving at the surface.
4- Testing the samples:
- Analysis for oil:
1- An unwashed sample of the cuttings is placed in evaporating dish,
covered with water and placed in a box which contains an ultraviolet
source.
- If there is fresh, producible oil in the sample, it will come to the
surface and spread out quickly. This is called live oil.
- The dead oil will rise slowly to the surface and tend to remain in
small drops.
2- A sample of cuttings is washed to remove adhering mud then examined
under fluorescent light, and chloroethene is added. If oil is present, it
will dissolve in the chloroethene and the surface of the liquid will show
some fluorescence.
- Analysis for gas:
1- Using gas analyzers, a continuous analysis is made for gas in the mud.
Gas in mud sources:
a) Shale contamination: many shales may bleed small quantities of gas into
the hole due to poor mud condition.
b) Recirculated gas: high viscosity mud prevent release of gas at the
surface, so the same gas is recirculated and show will be logged again.
c) Gas from the drilled portion of the hole: it is the gas from sands or from
high pressure gas pockets such as: bituminous shales and small sand
lenses.
2- A sample of cuttings is placed in waring blender. The blender is sealed
and connected to the gas analyzer. The gas in air mixture is analyzed for
hydrocarbons. This is referred to as the gas-in-cuttings or microgas.
- Additional data: such as lithology log and rate of penetration rock.

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5- Interpretation:
- When oil sand is penetrated, the formation fluids are flushed by mud
filtrate, so Sw increases. Also, the rock is crushed by the bit and the residual
hydrocarbon is brought to the surface.
- Oil gravity can be determined from fluorescence.
- Gas gravity can be determined from chromatographic analysis.
- Factors that influence the show:
1) Physical characteristics of the rock:
- Porosity affects the size of the show.
- High permeability decreases the size of the show.
2) Type of hydrocarbon:
- Dry gas will show only gas in the mud (mainly methane).
- Distillate reservoir will show presence of propane and butane and
some minor oil.
- Oil reservoirs show strong oil in cuttings.
3) Drilling rate:
- A fast drilling rate will increase the magnitude of the shows.
4) Density of the drilling fluid:
- The greater the mud density, the greater the flushing action.
5) Viscosity of the mud:
- High mud viscosity inhibit the release of the gas from the mud thus
reducing the gas show.
6) Depth of the hole:
- A deep hole causes reducing the residual oil saturation
- On the other hand, deep reservoirs improve the gas-in-mud shows.
7) Circulation rate:
- High circulation rates cause greater dilution of the mud shows but do
not affect the cuttings.

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Question 4:
Answer the following questions:
1- After any necessary borehole signal corrections are made to the induction log
reading, is the corrected resistivity higher or lower than the uncorrected
resistivity?
Answer:
The corrected resistivity is higher after you have made any necessary borehole
signal corrections. The borehole signal contributes an additional conductivity to
the received signal, which lowers the tool resistivity reading .The tool reading
must then be corrected to a higher resistivity reading.

2- If you were choosing a resistivity tool to read as close to the borewall as

3- Why cannot resistivity tools other than the induction log be used in a borehole
with an oil-based mud system?
Answer:
Resistivity devices other than the induction log depend on propagating an
electrical current into the formation. This current requires a conductive path to
flow into the rock from the electrodes in the borehole. A conductive mud system
provides the necessary current path, whereas a nonconductive, oil-base mud
system will not conduct current. The induction Logs function without a
conductive mud because their functioning does not require that currents
propagate directly into the formation. They propagate an electromagnetic field
into the formation that induces a current flow in the rock. The electromagnetic
field will propagate even through insulators or dielectrics.

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4- In a saline mud system with deep invasion, where Rw > Rmf. would you expect
the true resistivity to be higher or lower than the appropriate resistivity tool
reading?
Answer:
The true resistivity would be at least as high if not higher than the tool
Reading. As any filtrate from the saline mud system invades far enough from the
borewall, it will provide a more conductive path for electrical current in the rock
than would be the case in the undisturbed rock. Of course, in induction log
applications the mud systems will usually be fresh, and the reverse will be true: in
a fresh mud system with some invasion the true resistivity will be somewhat
lower than the tool reading. In practice, this may be more than offset in thin beds
by the shoulder-bed effects and skin effects.

5- What will be the effect on the tool reading if a microlog device loses pad
contact with the borewall?
Answer:
When the microlog device or any other pad-mounted device loses contact with
the borewall, the tool will respond only to the fluid in the borehole. It will
essentially measure the mud system resistivity.

6- Which of the Rxo devices works best for very shallow invasion? Which one is
least affected by the larger mudcakes on the borewall?
Answer:
The microlaterolog is the best Rxo tool for shallow invasion. It requires only a few
inches invasion to provide a valid Rxo reading. The proximity log, on the other
hand, requires the deepest invasion of all the Rxo devices but is insensitive to all
but the largest mudcakes.

7- Porosity and bulk density are not directly measured using neutron and density
logging tools. What properties do these tools actually measure? What effect
does the presence of gas have on these measurements?
Answer:
Neutron tools actually measure hydrogen concentration. Density logs measure
electron density. Gas has no effect on density log measurements but may affect
calculations if it is not accounted for as part of the pore fluid .Gas results in a
lower hydrogen concentration in the pores, which results in a lower apparent
neutron porosity measurement.

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8- What would be a good logging practice with all radioactivity logging devices in
holes where there are many thin beds with relatively low porosities? Which
porosity tool would be more accurate in this situation?
Answer:
Operate the radioactive logging tool at slower speeds in thin-bed sequences to
improve both bed resolution and accuracy. The best tool in low porosity thin beds
would be a neutron log operated at a slower-than normal speed.

9- The invasion of the drilling fluid into the formation results in a fluid distribution
profile when we log a well. Sketch the resultant resistivity profile in terms of its
distance away from the well bore for both water bearing zone and oil bearing
zone.
Answer:

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10-Which resistivity logs can be used to determine flushed zone resistivity,
invaded zone resistivity, and true resistivity?
Answer:

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Question 5:
1- Interpret the shown log qualitatively.

Answer:
Interpretation:
- The bed is very thick and reasonably homogenous, although dissymmetrical
shapes of the SP and normal resistivity curves, and also several ripples in the
curves, indicate the presence of shale streaks, mostly in the lower part.
- The high resistivity obtained with the long normal and the lateral can be
interpreted as significant of high oil saturation.
- No maximum is noticed with the lateral near the lower boundary of the bed
which is due to the progressive increase of shaly material downwardly.

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2- Interpret the shown log qualitatively.

Answer:
Interpretation:
From a depth of 14,600 to 14,625 ft.:
1. Strong gas effect, tracks #2 and #3 (i.e. density log reads much higher
porosities than the neutron log) and high porosity values on neutron-
density logs in tracks #2 and #3.
2. Mudcake on caliper log in track # 1 (dashed line). Mudcake is indicated
because the whole diameter, as shown on the caliper log, is getting smaller.

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 3. Interpret the shown log qualitatively.

Answer:
Interpretation:
From a depth of 9.308 to 9,408 ft, note:
1- The high porosities on the neutron and density logs (tracks #2 and #3).
2- The neutron log reads higher porosity than the density log indicating the
lithology is dolomite (tracks #2 and #3).

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 4. Interpret the shown log qualitatively.

Answer:
Interpretation:
- The deflection of the SP curve in track #1 to the left away from the shale base
line (7,440-7,452 ft) indicates porous and permeable sandstone.
- The separation of the short normal curve (Ri) from the the induction curve (Rt)
in track #2 indicates invasion has taken place, and the formation in
permeable.

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