IMPORTANCE OF WELL LOGS

• Geology is the study of the rocks making up the Earth’s crust.

It entails a precise and detailed study of the composition,
texture and structure of the rocks, the colour of the
constituents, and identification of any traces of animal and
plant organisms.
• This enables the geologist: (a) to identify the physical,
chemical and biological conditions prevalent at the time of
deposition; and
• (b) to describe the transformations that the sedimentary
series has undergone since deposition.
• The geologist depends on rock samples for this basic
information.
• Sampling from the subsurface is rather more problematic.
Rock samples are obtained as cores or cuttings.
• Cores obtained while drilling (using a core-barrel), by virtue
of their size and continuous nature, permit a thorough
geological analysis over a chosen interval. Unfortunately, for
economical and technical reasons, this form of coring is not
common practice, and is restricted to certain drilling
conditions and types of formation.
Core Samples
• Cuttings (the fragments of rock flushed to surface during drilling) are
the principle source of subsurface sampling.
• Unfortunately, reconstruction of a lithological sequence in terms of
thickness and composition, from cuttings that have undergone
mixing, leaching, and general contamination, during their
transportation by the drilling-mud to the surf ace, cannot always be
performed with confidence.
• Where mud circulation is lost, analysis of whole sections of formation
is precluded by the total absence of cuttings. In addition, the
smallness of this kind of rock sample does not allow all the desired
tests to be performed.
• An alternative, and very effective, approach to this problem is to take
in situ measurements, by running well-logs. In this way, parameters
related to porosity, lithology, hydrocarbons, and other rock properties
of interest to the geologist, can be obtained.
Wireline Electrical Logging

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Wireline Electrical Logging
• Wireline well logs are recorded when the drilling tools
are no longer in the hole

• Open-hole’ logs, (open-hole indicates that the

formation forms the wall of a well, as opposed to
‘cased-hole, in which a tube of metal casing lines the
well) are recorded immediately after drilling

• MWD (measurement while drilling) or LWD (logging

while drilling) logs, by contrast, are made as a formation
is drilled

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Wireline Electrical Logging
• Quite different techniques are made to record MWD
and LWD to the open hole wireline logs

• To run wireline logs, the hole is cleaned and stabilized

and the drilling equipment extracted

• The first logging tool is then attached to the logging

cable (wireline) and lowered into the hole to its
maximum drilled depth

• The cable attached to the tool acts both as a support for

the tool and as a canal for data transmission

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 Wireline Logging
Examples of four logging tools.
 The dip-meter, on the left, has sensors
on four actuated arms, which are
shown in their fully extended position.
Attached to the bottom of one of its
four arms is an additional electrode
array embedded in a rubber “pad.”

 It is followed by a sonic logging tool,

characterized by a slotted housing, and
then a density device with its
hydraulically activated back-up arm fully
extended.

 The tool on the extreme right is another

version of a dip-meter with multiple
electrodes on each pad.

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• These specially designed instruments, which are sensitive to
one or more formation parameters of interest, are lowered
into a borehole by a surface instrumentation truck.
• This mobile laboratory provides the downhole power to the
instrument package.
• It provides the cable and winch for the lowering and raising
of the sonde, and is equipped with computers for data
processing, interpretation of measurements, and permanent
storage of the data
• Most of the measurements which will be discussed in
succeeding chapters are continuous measurements. They are
made as the tool is slowly raised toward the surface.
• The actual logging speeds vary depending on the nature of
the device. Measurements which are subject to statistical
precision errors or require mechanical contact between
sensor and formation tend to be run more slowly, between
600 ft and 1,800 ft/h – newer tools run as fast as 3,600 ft/h.
• Some acoustic and electrical devices can be withdrawn from
the well, while recording their measurements, at much
greater speeds.
USES OF LOGS
• A set of logs run on a well will usually mean different
things to different people

• Let us examine the questions asked–and/or answers

sought by a variety of people

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USES OF LOGS
• The Geophysicist:
As a Geophysicist what do you look for?

– Are the tops where you predicted?

– Are the potential zones porous as you have assumed from

seismic data?

– What does a synthetic seismic section show?

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USES OF LOGS
The Geologist:
The Geologist may ask:
• What depths are the formation tops?
• Is the environment suitable for accumulation of
Hydrocarbons?
• Is there evidence of Hydrocarbon in this well?
• What type of Hydrocarbon?
• Are Hydrocarbons present in commercial quantities?
• How good a well is?
• What are the reserves?
• Could the formation be commercial in an offset well?

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USES OF LOGS
• The Drilling Engineer:
• What is the hole volume for cementing?

• Are there any Key-Seats or severe Dog-legs in the well?

• Where can you get a good packer seat for testing?

• Where is the best place to set a Whipstock?

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USES OF LOGS
The Reservoir Engineer:
The Reservoir Engineer needs to know:
• How thick is the pay zone?

• How Homogeneous is the section?

• What is the volume of Hydrocarbon per cubic metre?

• Will the well pay-out?

• How long will it take?

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USES OF LOGS
The Production Engineer:
The Production Engineer is more concerned with:
• Where should the well be completed (in what zone(s))?
• What kind of production rate can be expected?
• Will there be any water production?
• How should the well be completed?
• Is the potential pay zone hydraulically isolated?

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USES OF LOGS
• The three most important questions to be answered by
well site interpretation are:
• Does the formation contain hydrocarbons, and if so at what
depth and are they oil or gas?

• If so, what is the quantity present?

• Are the hydrocarbons recoverable?

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Log Presentations
• A standard API (American Petroleum Institute) log format
exists

• The overall log width is 8.25 in (21 cm), with three tracks of
2.5 in (6.4 cm), tracks 1 and 2 being separated by a column
of 0.75 in (1.9 cm) in which the depths are printed

• There are various combinations of grid. Track 1 is always

linear, with ten standard divisions of 0.25 in (0.64 cm)

• Tracks 2 and 3 may have a 4-cycle logarithmic scale (Fig. 1), a

linear scale of 20 standard divisions (Fig. 2), or a hybrid of
logarithmic scale in track 2 and linear scale in track 3 (Fig. 3).

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LOG PRESENTATIONS

Fig. 1

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LOG PRESENTATIONS

Fig. 2

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LOG PRESENTATIONS

Fig. 3

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Log Presentation - Linear Grid
Depth
Track 1 track Track 2 Track 3

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Log Presentation - Log Grid
Track 1 Depth Track 2 Track 3
track

n n+4
2x10 2x10
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Log Presentation - Hybrid Grid
Depth
Track 1 track Track 2 Track 3

n
2x10

n+2
2x10

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