Well Logging Method
By
Prof. P. R. Mohanty
Department of AGP
IIT (ISM), Dhanbad
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Well Logging (Introduction)
Well logging, also known as borehole logging is the practice of making a detailed
record (a well log) of the geologic formations penetrated by a borehole.
The log may be based either on visual inspection of samples brought to the surface
(geological logs) or on physical measurements made by instruments lowered into the
hole (geophysical logs).
Geophysical borehole logging, also known as downhole geophysical surveying or
wire-line logging, is used to derive further information about the sequence of rocks
penetrated by a borehole.
It basically tells you what you pass through as you are drilling deeper and deeper.
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Objective of Well Logging
Well logging is actually used not just for water wells, but also for oil wells.
The purpose of the analysis is to forecast the outcome of well production tests, to correlate physical properties
of rocks and fluids encountered in different wells in the search for fluids, and to define lithologic bodies.
It also use well logging as a means to perform geothermal, geotechnical, and environmental studies.
Well logs are used while drilling to determine a well's suitability and to record any events, such as any
problems that occur, along with what kind of formations are being drilled through. This information is then
used to determine if the formations are desirable ones or undesirable ones depending on the type of well.
Well logs also tell that whether a water well has enough water or whether an oil well has enough oil. They also
tell that whether the oil or water from a well needs additional treatment before it can be used commercially.
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Borehole Environment
The borehole environment begins with the fluid within the borehole
which is usually drilling mud but can be air or water. The resistivity
of the borehole fluid is referred to as Rm.
As the borehole fluid is forced into the surrounding formation, a
mud cake having resistivity (Rmc) and thickness (hmc) is formed
on the wall of the borehole.
Fluid from the borehole that enters into the immediate surrounding
rock formation and which flushes that part of the formation has
resistivity (Rxo) and also is called mud filtrate (Rmf) resulting in
saturation of the flushed zone (Sxo).
Continuing outward from the borehole, the invaded zone having
resistivity (Ri) and (Rz) is saturated with water and is defined as
(Swi).
Beyond the invaded zone is a zone that is not invaded by borehole
fluid. This zone is called the uninvaded zone. The uninvaded zone Figure 1: Illustration of borehole environment.
contains fluid (water) having resistivity (Rw) and total resistivity
(Rt) with water saturation (Sw).
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Surface (Mud) Logging
Surface logging involves the rig-site monitoring and
assessment of information that comes to the surface while
drilling, with the exclusion of data from downhole sensors.
Objectives:
Collecting drill cuttings
Describing the cuttings (type of minerals present).
Interpreting the described cuttings (lithology).
Estimating properties such as porosity and permeability of the
drilled formation.
Maintaining and monitoring drilling-related and safety-related
sensing equipment.
Estimating the pore pressure of the drilled formation.
Collecting, monitoring, and evaluating hydrocarbons released
from the drilled formations.
Assessing the producibility of hydrocarbon-bearing
formations.
Maintaining a record of drilling parameters.
Figure 2: Illustration of surface logging setup.
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Resistivity Logging
The general equation for computing apparent
resistivity Ra for any downhole electrode
configuration is
where C1, C2 are the current electrodes, P1, P2
the potential electrodes between which there is a
potential difference DV, and I is the current
flowing in the circuit.
Figure 3: Illustration of Resistivity logging.
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Normal Log: only one potential and current electrode are mounted on the sonde, the other pair
being grounded some distance from the borehole.
Lateral Log: In the lateral log the in-hole current electrode C1 is a considerable distance above
the potential electrode pair, and is usually mounted on the wire about 6m above a short sonde
containing P1 and P2 about 800mm apart.
Laterolog: By contrast, the laterolog (or guard log) is a focused log in which the current is
directed horizontally so that the zone tested has the form of a circular disc. This may be
achieved by the use of a short electrode 75– 300mm long between two long (guard) electrodes
about 1.5 m long.
Microlog: The microlog (or wall-resistivity log) makes measurements at very small electrode
spacing by using small, button shaped electrodes 25–50mm apart mounted on an insulating pad
pressed firmly against the wall-rock by a power-driven expansion device.
Resistivity Dipmeter Log: The sonde of the dipmeter log contains four equally spaced micro-
resistivity electrodes at the same horizontal level, which allow the formation dip and strike to be
estimated. 7
Porosity Estimation (Archie’s Law)
The effective resistivity can also be expressed in terms of the resistivity and volume of the pore
water present according to an empirical formula given by Archie’s Law:
Where, is the porosity, is the fraction of pores containing water of resistivity and are
empirical constants. can vary considerably according to the quantities and conductivities of
dissolved materials
Porosity is defined as the fractional volume of pore spaces in a rock. The method of porosity
estimation is based on the relationship between formation factor F and porosity discovered by
Archie.
where and are the resistivity of the saturated formation and pore fluid respectively.
Porosity and formation factor are related by: where a is an empirical constant specific to
the rocks of the area of interest, and m a constant known as the cementation factor which depends
on the grain size and complexity of the paths between pores (tortuosity).
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Darcy’s Law
Darcy’s law in a homogeneous permeable medium is given by a simple
proportionality relationship between the instantaneous flow rate ‘’ through a
porous medium, the permeability ‘’, of the medium, the dynamic viscosity of the
fluid ‘’ and the pressure drop over a given distance, in the form of:
The integral form of the Darcy’s law is given by: where is the total discharge.
It is used extensively to determine the flow through permeable media.
This law is valid for laminar flow through sediments.
In fine-grained sediments, the dimension of interstices are small.
In coarse-grained sediments is also similar but, in very coarse-grained sediments
the flow may be turbulent. Hence Darcy’s law is not always valid in such
sediments .
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Induction Logging
The induction log is used in dry holes or boreholes that contain non-
conductive drilling fluid which electrically insulates the sonde.
The wall-rock is energized by an electromagnetic field, typically of about
20kHz, which generates eddy currents in the wall-rock by electromagnetic
induction.
The secondary EM field created is registered at a receiver which is
compensated for direct coupling with the primary field and which allows a
direct estimate of apparent resistivity to be made. The set-up is thus similar
to the surface moving coil-receiver EM system.
Clearer indications of lithological contacts can be obtained using a focused
log, in which two extra coils are mounted near the receiver and transmitter
and wired in series with them.
Therefore, it provides a depth of penetration of about twice the transmitter–
receiver separation.
Figure 4: Illustration of (a) A simple induction log
This particular focused system has the disadvantage that spurious apparent
(b) A focused induction log.
resistivities are produced at boundaries, but this effect may be compensated
by employing additional coils.
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Self-Potential (SP) Logging
In the self-potential (SP) log, measurements of potential difference
are made in boreholes filled with conductive drilling fluid between
an electrode on the sonde and a grounded electrode at the surface.
The SP effect originates from the movement of ions at different
speeds between two fluids of differing concentration. The effect is
pronounced across the boundary between sandstone and shale.
Near the borehole there is a contact between mud filtrate in the
sandstone and pore fluid of different salinity in the shale. This
causes an imbalance of charge across the boundary and generates a
potential difference of a few tens to a few hundreds of millivolts.
The main applications of SP logging are the identification of
boundaries between shale horizons and more porous beds, their
correlation between boreholes, and the determination of the volume
of shale in porous beds. Figure 5: Illustration of Self-Potential (SP) log
They have also been used to locate coal seams.
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Radiometric Logging
Radiometric logs make use of either the natural radioactivity produced by the unstable
elements , and or radioactivity induced by the bombardment of stable nuclei with gamma
rays or neutrons.
Natural Gamma Radiation Log: Shales usually contain small quantities of radioactive
elements, in particular which occurs in micas, alkali feldspars and clay minerals and trace
amounts of and . These produce detectable gamma radiation. The natural gamma
radiation log consequently detects shale horizons and can provide an estimate of the clay
content of other sedimentary rocks. It radioactivity originating within a few decimeters of
the borehole.
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Gamma-ray Density Log: In the gamma-ray density (or
gamma–gamma) log, artificial gamma rays from or
sources are utilized.
Porosity may be estimated from the density
measurements. For a rock of formation density , matrix
density and pore fluid density ; Thus;
Neutron–gamma-ray Log: In the neutron–gamma-ray (or
neutron) log, nonradioactive elements are bombarded
with neutrons and, as a result of neutron capture by the
nuclei, they are stimulated to emit gamma rays which
provide information on porosity. The neutrons collide
with atomic nuclei in the wall-rock.
Figure 6: Illustration of Natural gamma and neutron
The method is suitable for use in both cased and uncased logs over same sequence of dolomite and shale.
boreholes.
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Sonic Logging
The sonic log, also known as the continuous velocity or acoustic log,
determines the seismic velocities of the formations traversed.
The sonde normally contains two receivers about 300mm apart and an
acoustic source some 900–1500mm from the nearest receiver. The source
generates ultrasonic pulses at a frequency of 20–40 kHz.
Since the wall-rock invariably has a greater velocity than the drilling fluid,
part of the sonic pulse is critically refracted in the wall-rock and part of its
energy returns to the sonde as a head wave.
Porosity may be estimated from the sonic measurements. For a rock whose
matrix velocity (the velocity of its solid components) is and pore fluid
velocity is , the formation velocity is given by;
In addition to providing porosity estimates, sonic logs may be used for
correlation between boreholes and are also used in the interpretation of
seismic reflection data by providing velocities for the conversion of
reflection times into depths.
It can also provide useful attenuation information, usually from the first P-
wave arrival. Figure 7: Illustration of (a) A simple sonic log
(b) A borehole-compensated sonic log. 14
Temperature Logging
Temperature gradients may be measured through a borehole section using a sonde on which a number
of closely-spaced thermistor probes are mounted. The vertical heat flux H is estimated by:
where is the vertical temperature gradient and is the thermal conductivity of the relevant
wall-rock. It is usually determined by laboratory measurement.
Temperature gradients within about 20m of the Earth’s surface are strongly affected by diurnal and
seasonal changes in solar heating and do not provide reliable estimates of heat flux.
Porous strata can also strongly influence temperature gradients by the ingress of connate water and
because their contained pore fluids act as a thermal sink.
Heat flux measurements are commonly made to assess the potential of an area for geothermal energy
utilization.
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Magnetic Logging
Magnetic Log: The normal magnetic log has only limited application. The magnetic
field is either measured with a downhole fluxgate or with a proton magnetometer or a
susceptibility meter is utilized. Anomalous readings indicate the presence of magnetic
minerals.
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Log: The nuclear magnetic resonance (or free fluid index)
log is used to estimate the hydrogen ion concentration in formation fluids and, hence, to
obtain a measure of porosity.
A pulsed magnetic field causes the alignment of some of the hydrogen ions in a direction
different from the Earth’s field. A receiver measures the amplitude and decay rate of the
precession of the protons as they realign in the geomagnetic field direction when the
polarizing field is inactive.
The amplitude measurements provide an estimate of the amount of fluid in the pore
spaces and the rate of decay is diagnostic of the type of fluid present.
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Gravity Logging
Where density is a function of depth only, the strata being substantially horizontal,
stepwise measurement of the vertical gravity gradient with a gravity log can be used
to estimate mean densities according to the calculation given by
A specialized borehole gravimeter of LaCoste and Romberg type is used for gravity
logging.
The instrument has a diameter of about 100mm, an accuracy of ±5 microgal, and is
capable of operation in temperatures up to 120°C and pressures up to 80MPa. The
normal vertical spacing of observations is about 6m and, if depths are determined to
±50mm, densities can be estimated to ±0.01Mgm-3, which corresponds to an
accuracy of porosity estimation of about ±1%.
This is more accurate than other methods of measuring density in boreholes and can
be used in cased holes. It is however time consuming.
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