FORMATION EVALUATION

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Dr. Adel M. Al-Matary
Lecture 4

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Logging Interpretation Method -
Basic Approaches
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Quick look Log Interpretation with shaly sand formation

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 Objectives

 How to compute Volume of Shale?

 How to calculate porosity from log reading via formulae
or chartbook?

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 How to derive shale corrected porosity via formulae or
chartbook?
 How to perform hydrocarbon corrected porosity via
chartbook?
 How to get Rw?
 How to confirm Rw is correct?
 How to use Archie equation?

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Log Interpretation
 Interpretation is defined as the action of explaning the
meaning of something
 Log interpretation is the explanation of logs such as b,
GR, Resistivity, etc. in terms of well and reservior
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parameters, zones, porosity, oil saturation, etc.

 Log interpretation can provide answers to questions on:
 How much hydrocarbon is in these wells?
 Where is it?
 Is there communication between these reservoirs?
 What is the extent of this reservoir?

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Log Interpretation (Cont.)
 Log interpretation can provide answers to questions on:
 How will it produce?
 Will it require enhanced recovery techniques?

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lithological
sandstone grades
to clay sediment

GAS

OIL
sandstone
WATER pinch out

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What Can the Log Measurements Provide?

 Log measurements give:

 Porosity: From porosity tools
 Water Saturation: From a combination of porosity / lithology tools
and Resistivity or Capture Cross-Section from the TDT tool
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 Thickness: From depth measurements

 Position: Markers-correlation
 Lithology: Reservoir/non-reservoir

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Early Log Interpretation

 Early resistivity logs were used to find possible producing zones

 SP was used to define permeable beds, compute Rw and
determine shaliness
 Resistivity was used to determine “Porosity”

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 Archie developed the relationship between resistivity, porosity
and saturation

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WellSite Interpretation-Quicklook
 This is a schematic representation of the logging measurements
used and the petrophysical parameters determined for
answering the basic questions of wellsite interpretation

Density
Can ?  Neutron
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Sonic
1. Does the formation contain Hydrocarbon?

Clean? GR Rt
SP
2. Quantity Resistivity

3. Recoverable

(1-Sw) Rxo
f(Rt,)

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Qualitative Interpretation
 This is a summary of phenomenological interpretation
Descriptor Measurement Functional Behavior

Clean/Shaly SP Vshale  SP 
GR Vshale  GR 

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Porosity() Density   b 
Neutron   n 
Sonic   t 
Hydrocarbon Rt Sw  Rt 
So  Rt 
   Rt 
Recoverable/ Rxo vs. Rt Rxo=Rt  no

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invasion
Moveable (shallow vs.
deep) Rxo/RtRmf/Rw 
Moved fluid

Modern Log Interpretation

 LQC
 Consult the field engineer/client and check the original hardcopy
 Environmental correction (GF: PrePlus)
 Data Editing and Crossplot (GF: WellEdit and UtilityPlots)
 Logs in open hole give:
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 Porosity
 Quantity, Type and Distribution
 Saturation
 Thickness
 Permeability
 Producibility
 Lithology
 Rick type, Shale content, Shale type and deposition
 Fluid Type
 Fluid Contact
 Etc.

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Interpretation Procedure

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Zoning
 Zoning is the first step in any interpretation procedure. During zoning, the logs
are split into intervals of:
 Porous and non-porous rock
 Permeable and non-permeable rock
 Shaly and clean rock
 Good hole conditions and bad hole conditions
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 Good logs and bad logs

 Zoning Tools:
 SP

 GR

 Caliper

 Neutron Density

 Resistivity

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 Lithology General

 The next major step in the

Simple
procedure is lithology
identification. Lithology data
gives information on porosity and

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other parameters
 This is an essential step as from
the lithology comes porosity and Dirty
other parameters
 Lithology of a formation can be:
 Odd minerals can also be
present, such as micas in
sandstones or anhydrites in
Complex

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carbonates which complicate the
problem further

Lithology Interpretation
 The lithology can be obtained in several ways:
 From the cuttings (depth problems)
 From local knowledge (good during development)
 From the known depositional environment (good in general basis)
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 From a log Quicklook (good starting point)

 From individual log readings (difficult if there are no areas of zero
porosity)
 From crossplots (the best method)

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Lithology: Logging Tools
 All tools react to lithology – usually in conjuction with the
porosity
 Major lithology tools are:
 Neutron – reacts to fluid and matrix
 Density – reacts to matrix and fluid

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 Sonic – reacts to a mixture of matrix and fluid, complicated by
seeing only primary porosity
 NGT- identifies shale types and special minerals
 GLT/GRA – geochemical logging, identifies 10 elements:
 K,U,Th,Al,Si,Ca,S,Fe,Gd,Ti
 From these the exact mineralogy can be computed

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Crossplots

 A “two-dimensional” way of
looking at logs
 Combines properties from
both measurements, thus
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eliminating ambiguities
 The most common cross-
plot is the Density-Neutron
 Virtually any log can be
plotted against another

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 Crossplots
 A standard crossplot is a
frequency plot with points
plotted as their frequency
 A third dimension is added
in a z-axis plot which uses
something like colour

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classes or numbers to
include another
measurement

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Nuetron Density Cross Plots
 This crossplot has
b plotted against
the corrected
neutron porosity
 Fluid density in this
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plot is 1.0 g/cm3

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Shale Volume: Vsh

(for paper log quicklook)

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Shale Index: Gamma Ray
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(For paper log quicklook)

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Shale Volume: Sonic

Shale Volume: SP
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Shale Volume: Neutron-Density

Shale Volume: Neutron
 Clean Sand Formation Porosity:
Density
ρb = (1-Φd) * ρma + Φd * ρf

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ρ
For ma:
Sandstone: 2.65 g/cc
Limestone : 2.71 g/cc
Dolomite : 2.87 g/cc

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Shaly Sand Formation Porosity:
Density

ρb = (1- Φ - Vsh) * ρma + Φ * ρf + Vsh * ρma

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(ρb – ρma) (ρsh – ρma)

Φ= --------------- - ---------------- * Vsh
(ρf – ρma) (ρf – ρma)

Φdcor = Φd – Φdsh * Vsh (for shale correction)

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 Clean Sand Formation Porosity:
Neutron Matrix Correction (Chart)
NPHI = (1-Φn) * NPHIma + Φn * NPHIf

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(NPHI – NPHIma)
Φn = ---------------- (Chart Por-13b page 3-10)

(NPHIf – NPHIma)

If NPHI is in LIMESTON Matrix, the log reading

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Is the neutron porosity.

Shaly Sand Formation Porosity

•Shale corrected Porosity:

Φdcor=Φ d –Φdsh * Vsh
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Φncor=Φ n –Φnsh * Vsh

•Shale corrected crossplot Porosity:
Φ1 from CP-9
•Hydrocarbon corrected porosity:
Φ2=Φ1+∆Φ (from CP-9)

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Clean Sand Formation Porosity:
Sonic

∆T = (1-Φs) * ∆Tma + Φs * ∆Tf

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(∆T – ∆Tma)
Φs = ---------------- or
(∆Tf – ∆Tma)
For ∆Tma:
Sandstone: 55.5 – 51.3 us/ft
Limestone : 47.6 – 43.5 us/ft
Dolomite : 43.5 – 38.5 us/ft

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Shaly Sand Formation Porosity:
Sonic

∆T = (1-Φ-Vsh)*∆Tma + Φ*∆Tf+Vsh*∆T ma
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(∆T–∆Tma) (∆Tsh – ∆Tma)

Φ= ---------------- - -------------------*Vsh
(∆Tf – ∆Tma) (∆Tf – ∆Tma)

Φscor = Φs – Φssh * Vsh (for shale correction)

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 Basic Relationships

 Rw = resistivity of water in the pore space

 Define Ro = resistivity of a rock totally filled with water
 F: Formation Factor

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 At constant porosity F is constant
 As porosity increases, Ro decreases and F decreases
 Experiments have shown that F is inversly proportional to m
 m: is called the “ cementation exponent”
 a: is called the “lithology” constant

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Saturation Equation

 Saturation can be expressed as a ratio of the

resistivities

 Where n is the “saturation exponent”, an

empirical constant.
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 Substituting for Ro:

 Substituting for F:

 The Archie equation is hence very simple. It links

porosity and resistivity with the amount of water

present, Sw.

 Increasing porosity,, will reduce the saturation for

the same Rt.

 Increasing Rt for the same porosity will have the

same effect.

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 Invaded Zone Saturation
 The same method can be applied to the invaded zone. The porosity is identical, the
lithology is assumed to be the same, hence the constants a,n,m are the same
 The changes are the resistivities which are now Rxo and Rmf
 Rmf is measured usually on surface and Rxo is measured by the MSFL tool
 The equation is then:

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Alternative Saturation Determination
 Dividing for Sxo and Sw, with n set to 2

 Observations suggest:
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 Hence

 Providing a quick look saturation answer when the porosity is not available

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 Archie Parameters

 Rw = resistivity of connate water

 m = “cementation factor”, set to 2 in the simple case
 n = “saturation exponent”, set to 2 in the simple case

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 a = constant, set to 1 in the simple case
 All the constants have to be set
 Two common sets of numbers for these constants are:
 In a simple carbonate, the parameters are simplified to:
 m=2, n=2, a =1
 In a sandstone they become:
 m=2.15, n=2, a =0.62

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Archie’s Equation

Empirical constant
(usually near unity) Resistivity of

a Rw formation water,
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-m
Sw

Water n m Cementation
exponent
saturation,
fraction
Saturation
exponent
Rt (usually near 2)

(also usually Resistivity of

near 2) Porosity, uninvaded
fraction formation, -m

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Rw Determination
• Rw from SP

• Rw from porosity and resistivity (wet zone)

Rw=(Φ^m)*Rt

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• Rw from resistivity only (wet zone)

Rt*Rmf
Rw = --------------
Rxo
• Rw from client (water chemical analysis)

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All the Rw from different sources should be in consistent.

Rmf and Rw

•Rmf and Rw should be corrected by temperature (BHT).

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•Chart Gen-9

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 Clean Sand Formation Workflow
(Density-Neutron)

Φd Φn

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Crossplot porosity Φ1
Rw from SP or
Rw

Sw

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Shaly Sand Formation Workflow
(Density-Neutron)

Φdcor Φncor
CP-9 on page 4-34
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Shale corrected Φ1
Crossplot porosity
a*Rmf
Shr=1-Sxo Sxo^2= -----------------
CP-9 on page 4-34 Φ1^2*Rxo

∆Φ

a*Rw Φ2=Φ1+ ∆Φ Hydrocarbon corrected porosity

Sw^2= ------------
Φ2^2*Rt Sw Shale corrected saturation

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 Permeability
 Permeability is an inherent property of the reservoir

 It is a dynamic property associated with fluid movement

 It cannot be simply related to porosity, a low porosity carbinate may have a “high”
effective permeability due to extensive fractures

 Formulae linking permeability and porosity have been around for a long time

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 The first, in 1927, linked porosity and grain surface area:

K= **3/5*Sg**2*(1-)**2
Usually written:

K=A* **3/S**2
Where  is the porosity, S is the surface area of the grains and A an
empirical constant

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Permeability Equations
 The surface area of the grains is difficult to find from logs

 The equations linking permeability to porosity employed studies which linked the
surface area to the irreducible water saturation Swirr, such as:

K**(1/2)= **2.25/Swirr
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 Swirr is difficult to estimate from logs, except in a pay zone which is producing dry
hydrocarbon

 A more general equation using the volume of irreducible water (Bvwirr= *Swirr)
was revised:

K**(1/2)= 10000* **2*(t-Bvwirr)/BVwirr

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 Permeability Equation (continued)
 These equations are empirical and work well in some places
 Difficulties are:
 Shaly formation (more than 25%)
 Low permeability
 Finding the irreducible water parameter

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 It is also assumed that:
 The permeability is due to intergranular, primary porosity
 The formation is water wet
 The equations are usually only applicable to sandstones as carbonate
rocks have complex poro-perm systems

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Permeability and Logs
 Most tools react to permeability

 The SP is a permeability indicator, it would not exist if there was no permeability

 The separation of shallow, medium and deep resistivity curves indicates invasion,
which can only happen in permeable zones

 The microlog curves react to the presence of mud cake, which only occurs in front
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of permeable formations

 Some tools can be linked to the permeability in a direct fashion

 These are sonic (Stonley wave), Geochemical and RFT/MDT pressure tests and
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. None of these tools is a pure “permeability” tool.
Each measures a property that allows a computation of permeability

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