Introduction to well logging (By: Dr/A.

Mohsen) 2020

Well Logging
Introduction
George Bissell and Edwin L. Drake made the first successful use of a drilling rig on a
commercial well drilled especially to produce oil in Pennsylvania. They drilled to 69 feet (21
meters). The first commercial oil well in the world was drilled by Colonel Edwin Drake in
Pennsylvania, Cowboy land, in 1859. Colonel Drake knocked the well 21 meters down, hit
pay and changed the world.

In 1886 The Egyptian government drilled its first well in a location named Gemsa in
the Eastern Desert. The well produced 25 barrels of crude oil per day.

Conrad and Marcel Schlumberger, 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 (station method).

Types of well logs:

- Open hole logs.
- Cased hole logs.
- Productive hole logs.

Types of open hole logs:

- Mechanical (e.g. Caliper).
- Electrical (e.g. Sp, Resistivity).
- Acoustic (e.g. Sonic).
- Nuclear (e.g. GR, Density, Neutron).

Invasion process
Introduction to well logging (By: Dr/A.Mohsen) 2020

Formation temperature
• Ft can be calculated by knowing
–Formation depth
–Bottom hole temperature
–Total depth of the well
–Surface temperature
• Calculation of Formation Temperature:
y= m.x+x
•x = depth
•y = temperature
•m = slope {geothermal gradient (dT/dy)}
•c = constant (mean annual surface temperature)
Introduction to well logging (By: Dr/A.Mohsen) 2020

Logging tools & well logs

- Caliper

The Caliper log is a continuous measure of the actual

borehole diameter. Mechanical caliper could be single arm, two
arms, three arms, four arms or even multi arms depends on its
objectives. It could be part from other tools like density tool,
image,…. etc.

Common uses of the caliper log:

1. Contributory information for lithological assessment .
2. Indicator of good permeability and porosity zones
(reservoir rock) due to development of mud cake.
3. Calculation of mud cake thickness.
4. Measurement of borehole volume.
5. Measurement of required cement volume.
6. Indication of hole quality for the assessment of the
logging data quality for those tools affected by hole
diameter.

- SP (Self potential)

The SP log is a record of direct current (DC) voltage (or potential) that develops naturally (or
spontaneously) between a moveable electrode in the well bore and a fixed electrode located at the
surface.

Origin of SP is due to two main components :

1- Electro-chemical components (80%) which are brought about by
differences in salinities between mud filtrate and formation water within
permeable beds where the cations move from the highly concentrated
Nacl solution to the less concentrated one.
2- Electro-kinetic component (20%) which is due to the flow of the
drilling fluid through the mud filtrate through the permeable formations.

SP is used to:
• detect permeable beds.
• detect boundaries of permeable beds.
• determine formation-water resistivity (Rw).
• determine the volume of shale in permeable beds.
• It is also used to correlate zones between wells.
Introduction to well logging (By: Dr/A.Mohsen) 2020

- GR (Gamma-ray)

Gamma ray logs are lithology logs that measure the natural radioactivity of a formation
flowing from the formation using radioactive decay from uranium, thorium and potassium as
the source.

Because radioactive material is concentrated in shale, shale has a high gamma ray
reading. Shale-free sandstones and carbonates, therefore,
usually have low gamma ray readings (i.e. Shale indicator).

Types of Gamma Logs:

1.Natural Gamma Ray : Total Formation natural gamma.
2.Spectral Gamma Ray: Define the contribution per each
radioactive element (U, TH, K) to the total GR.

uses of Gamma Logs:

- Gamma ray logs are used to identify lithology.
- correlate between formations
- calculate volume of shale.

The spectral gamma ray log records not only the number of gamma rays emitted by the
formation but also the energy of each, and processes that information into curves
representative of the amounts of thorium (Th), potassium (K), and uranium (U) present in the
formation.

Important uses of the spectral gamma ray log:

• determining shale (clay) volume (Vshale) in S.S.
reservoirs that contain uranium minerals, potassium
feldspars, micas, and/or glauconite.
• differentiating radioactive reservoirs from shales.
• source-rock evaluation.
• evaluation of potash deposits.
• geologic correlations.
• clay typing.
• fracture detection.
Introduction to well logging (By: Dr/A.Mohsen) 2020

- Resistivity

Electrical logs are perhaps the most important tools available to a

petrophysicist. This is because they provide a method for calculating the
water saturation, upon which calculations of STOOIP are based. They
were also some of the first logs to be used, with Marcel and Conrad
Schlumberger testing out an electrical log for the first time in 1927 in the
Pechelbronn field, France.

Uses of electrical resistivity Logs

(i) Recognition of hydrocarbon zones (Fluid indicator) (ii) indications of

lithology, (iii) facies and electro-facies analysis, (iv) correlation, (v)
determination of overpressure, (vi) determination of shale porosity, (vii)
indications of compaction, and the investigation of source rocks.

Conventional Resistivity Tools

•A, B are the current electrodes where a current of constant intensity is passed
between them.
•M, N are the potential electrodes where the resultant potential difference is
measured between them.
•The distance between A & M is called the spacing and the point of inscription
is at O , midway between them.
•The larger the spacing, the deeper the investigation (16 inches for the Short
Normal and 64 inches for the Medium Normal).

Modern Resistivity Logs (Laterologs)

A bucking current is emitted from the two far electrodes , and is
automatically adjusted such that the two pairs of monitoring electrodes are
brought to the same potential difference. Then the current from the central
electrode is focused in a thin disk far out into the formation. This electrode
arrangement produces a thin disk of current that is confined between the two
sets of measuring electrodes. The strongly focused beam is little affected by
hole size, penetrates the invaded zone, and measures the resistivity of the
virgin formation, Rt. The sensitivity is 0.2 to 20,000 ohm.m.

Induction Logs
The dual induction laterolog (DIL) has several parts: (i) a deep
penetrating induction log (ILd), (ii) a medium penetration induction log
(ILm), (iii) a shallow investigation and (iv) an SP electrode.
Introduction to well logging (By: Dr/A.Mohsen) 2020

- Sonic

The sonic log is a porosity log that measures interval transit time ( DT) of a
compressional sound wave traveling through the formation along the axis of the borehole.
The sonic log device consists of one or more ultrasonic transmitters and two or more
receivers. Modern sonic logs are borehole compensated (BHC) devices.
Interval transit time (t) in microseconds per foot, sec/ft (or microseconds per meter,
sec/m) is the reciprocal of the velocity of a compressional sound wave in feet per second
(or meters per sec.).
The travel time Dt (Usec./ft.) depends on the formation velocity which is function of:
1) Lithology 2) Porosity 3) Pore fluid

Sonic porosity (Primary porosity):

 secondary =  total -  primary

Applications
- Lithology determination. - Sonic porosity ( primary).
- Secondary porosity ( sec.). - Fracture detection.
- Combinable with most of the logging tools. - Can run in any fluid type.

- Density

Density is measured in grams per cubic centimeter, g/cm3, and is indicated by (rho).
The tool is comprised of a medium-energy gamma ray source (cobalt 60, cesium 137).
When the emitted gamma rays collide with electrons in the formation, the collisions
result in a loss of energy from the gamma ray particle. The scattered gamma rays that
return to the detectors in the tool are measured in two energy ranges. The number of
returning gamma rays in the higher energy range, affected by Compton scattering, is
proportional to the electron density of the formation.
For calculating density (total) porosity is:

where:
D = density derived porosity. ma = matrix density .
b = formation bulk density ( log reading). fl = fluid density .
The density log can assist the geologist to:
• identify evaporite minerals
• detect gas-bearing zones
• determine hydrocarbon density
• evaluate shaly-sand reservoirs and complex lithologies.
Introduction to well logging (By: Dr/A.Mohsen) 2020

- Neutron
Neutron logs are porosity logs that measure the hydrogen concentration in
a formation. In clean formations (i.e., shale-free) where the porosity is filled
with water or oil, the neutron log measures liquid filled porosity N , PHIN, or
NPHI).
Neutrons are created from a chemical source in the neutron logging tool.
The chemical source is usually a mixture of americium and beryllium (AmBe)
which continuously
emit neutrons. When these neutrons collide with the nuclei of the formation
the neutron loses some of its energy.
With enough collisions, the neutron is absorbed by a nucleus and a
gamma ray is emitted. Because the hydrogen atom is almost equal in mass to
the neutron, maximum energy loss occurs when the neutron collides with a
hydrogen atom. Therefore, the energy loss is dominated by the formation’s
hydrogen concentration. Because hydrogen in
a porous formation is concentrated in the fluid-
filled pores, energy loss can be related to the
formation’s total porosity.

Fluid Saturation
Fluid saturation is the fluid volume to the pore volume inside a rock (Sfluid = Vfluid/Vpores).
Water saturation (Sw) of a reservoir’s uninvaded zone is calculated by the Archie (1942) formula:

Water saturation (Sxo) of a reservoir’s invaded zone is calculated by the Archie (1942) formula:

Hydrocarbon saturation:

Sh = 1 – Sw
Shr = 1 – Sxo
Shm = Sh - Shr