Well logging
Well logging, also known as borehole logging is the practice of making a detailed record of the geologic formations penetrated by a borehole. The log may be based either on visual inspection of samples brought to the surface or on physical measurements made by instruments lowered into the hole. Some types of geophysical well logs can be done during any phase of a well's history: drilling, completing, producing, or abandoning. Well logging is performed in boreholes drilled for the oil and gas, groundwater, mineral and geothermal exploration, as well as part of environmental, scientific and geotechnical studies.
Wireline logging
Different industries, as mining, oil and gas uses wireline logging to obtain a continuous record of a formation's rock properties, also, groundwater consultants. Wireline logging can be defined as being "The acquisition and analysis of geophysical data performed as a function of well bore depth, together with the provision of related services." Note that "wireline logging" and "mud logging" are not the same, yet are closely linked through the integration of the data sets. The measurements are made referenced to "TAH" - True Along Hole depth: these and the associated analysis can then be used to infer further properties, such as hydrocarbon saturation and formation pressure, and to make further drilling and production decisions.Wireline logging is performed by lowering a 'logging tool' - or a string of one or more instruments - on the end of a wireline into an oil well and recording petrophysical properties using a variety of sensors. Logging tools developed over the years measure the natural gamma ray, electrical, acoustic, stimulated radioactive responses, electromagnetic, nuclear magnetic resonance, pressure and other properties of the rocks and their contained fluids. For this article, they are broadly broken down by the main property that they respond to.
The data itself is recorded either at surface, or in the hole to an electronic data format and then either a printed record or electronic presentation called a "well log" is provided to the client, along with an electronic copy of the raw data. Well logging operations can either be performed during the drilling process, to provide real-time information about the formations being penetrated by the borehole, or once the well has reached Total Depth and the whole depth of the borehole can be logged.
Real-time data is recorded directly against measured cable depth. Memory data is recorded against time, and then depth data is simultaneously measured against time. The two data sets are then merged using the common time base to create an instrument response versus depth log. Memory recorded depth can also be corrected in exactly the same way as real-time corrections are made, so there should be no difference in the attainable TAH accuracy.
The measured cable depth can be derived from a number of different measurements, but is usually either recorded based on a calibrated wheel counter, or using magnetic marks which provide calibrated increments of cable length. The measurements made must then be corrected for elastic stretch and temperature.
There are many types of wireline logs and they can be categorized either by their function or by the technology that they use. "Open hole logs" are run before the oil or gas well is lined with pipe or cased. "Cased hole logs" are run after the well is lined with casing or production pipe.
Wireline logs can be divided into broad categories based on the physical properties measured.
History
, who founded Schlumberger Limited in 1926, are considered the inventors of electric well logging. Conrad developed the Schlumberger array, which was a technique for prospecting for metal ore deposits, and the brothers adapted that surface technique to subsurface applications. On September 5, 1927, a crew working for Schlumberger lowered an electric sonde or tool down a well in Pechelbronn, Alsace, France creating the first well log. In modern terms, the first log was a resistivity log that could be described as 3.5-meter upside-down lateral log.In 1931, Henri George Doll and G. Dechatre, working for Schlumberger, discovered that the galvanometer wiggled even when no current was being passed through the logging cables down in the well. This led to the discovery of the spontaneous potential which was as important as the ability to measure resistivity. The SP effect was produced naturally by the borehole mud at the boundaries of permeable beds. By simultaneously recording SP and resistivity, loggers could distinguish between permeable oil-bearing beds and impermeable nonproducing beds.
In 1940, Schlumberger invented the spontaneous potential dipmeter; this instrument allowed the calculation of the dip and direction of the dip of a layer. The basic dipmeter was later enhanced by the resistivity dipmeter and the continuous resistivity dipmeter.
Oil-based mud was first used in Rangely Field, Colorado, in 1948. Normal electric logs require a conductive or water-based mud, but OBMs are nonconductive. The solution to this problem was the induction log, developed in the late 1940s.
The introduction of the transistor and integrated circuits in the 1960s made electric logs vastly more reliable. Computerization allowed much faster log processing, and dramatically expanded log data-gathering capacity. The 1970s brought more logs and computers. These included combo type logs where resistivity logs and porosity logs were recorded in one pass in the borehole.
The two types of porosity logs date originally from the 1940s. Sonic logs grew out of technology developed during World War II. Nuclear logging has supplemented acoustic logging, but acoustic or sonic logs are still run on some combination logging tools.
Nuclear logging was initially developed to measure the natural gamma radiation emitted by underground formations. However, the industry quickly moved to logs that actively bombard rocks with nuclear particles. The gamma ray log, measuring the natural radioactivity, was introduced by Well Surveys Inc. in 1939, and the WSI neutron log came in 1941. The gamma ray log is particularly useful as shale beds which often provide a relatively low permeability cap over hydrocarbon reservoirs usually display a higher level of gamma radiation. These logs were important because they can be used in cased wells. WSI quickly became part of Lane-Wells. During World War II, the US Government gave a near wartime monopoly on open-hole logging to Schlumberger, and a monopoly on cased-hole logging to Lane-Wells. Nuclear logs continued to evolve after the war.
After the discovery of nuclear magnetic resonance by Bloch and Purcell in 1946, the nuclear magnetic resonance log using the Earth's field was developed in the early 1950s by Chevron and Schlumberger. Nicolaas Bloembergen filed the Schlumberger patent in 1966. The NMR log was a scientific success but an engineering failure. More recent engineering developments by NUMAR in the 1990s has resulted in continuous NMR logging technology which is now applied in the oil and gas, water and metal exploration industry.
Many modern oil and gas wells are drilled directionally. At first, loggers had to run their tools somehow attached to the drill pipe if the well was not vertical. Modern techniques now permit continuous information at the surface. This is known as logging while drilling or measurement-while-drilling. MWD logs use mud pulse technology to transmit data from the tools on the bottom of the drillstring to the processors at the surface.
Electrical logs
Resistivity log
Resistivity logging measures the subsurface electrical resistivity, which can impede the flow of electric current. This helps to differentiate between formations filled with salty waters and those filled with hydrocarbons. Resistivity and porosity measurements are used to calculate water saturation. Resistivity is expressed in ohms·meter, and is frequently charted on a logarithm scale versus depth because of the large range of resistivity. The distance from the borehole penetrated by the current varies with the tool, from a few centimeters to one meter.Borehole imaging
The term "borehole imaging" refers to those logging and data-processing methods that are used to produce centimeter-scale images of the borehole wall and the rocks that make it up. The context is, therefore, that of open hole, but some of the tools are closely related to their cased-hole equivalents. Borehole imaging has been one of the most rapidly advancing technologies in wireline well logging. The applications range from detailed reservoir description through reservoir performance to enhanced hydrocarbon recovery. Specific applications are fracture identification, analysis of small-scale sedimentological features, evaluation of net pay in thinly bedded formations, and the identification of breakouts.The subject area can be classified into four parts:
- Optical imaging
- Acoustic imaging
- Electrical imaging
- Methods that draw on both acoustic and electrical imaging techniques using the same logging tool
Porosity logs
The basic principle behind the use of nuclear technology is that a neutron source placed near the formation whose porosity is being measured will result in neutrons being scattered by the hydrogen atoms, largely those present in the formation fluid. Since there is little difference in the neutrons scattered by hydrocarbons or water, the porosity measured gives a figure close to the true physical porosity whereas the figure obtained from electrical resistivity measurements is that due to the conductive formation fluid. The difference between neutron porosity and electrical porosity measurements therefore indicates the presence of hydrocarbons in the formation fluid.