2

LOG INTERPRETATION
Almost all oil and gasproduced today comes from accumulations in the pore spacesof reservoir rocks-usually sandstones, limestones, or dolomites. The amount of oil or gas
contained in a unit volume of the reservoir is the product
of its porosity by the hydrocarbon saturation.
In addition to the porosity and the hydrocarbon saturation,
the volume of the formation containinghydrocarbonsis needed in order to estimate total reservesand to determine if the
accumulationis commercial. Knowledge of the thicknessand
the area of the reservoir is needed for computation of its
volume.
To evaluate the producibility of a reservoir, it is necessary to know how easily fluid can flow through the pore system. This property of the formation rock, which dependson
the manner in which the pores are interconnected, is its
permeability.
The main petrophysical parameters neededto evaluate a
reservoir, then, are its porosity, hydrocarbon saturation,
thickness, area, and permeability. In addition, the reservoir
geometry, formation temperature and pressure, and lithology can play important roles in the evaluation, completion,
and production of a reservoir.
Porosity
Porosity is the pore volume per unit volume of formation;
it is the fraction of the total volume of a sample that is occupied by pores or voids. The symbol for porosity is 6. A
dense,uniform substance,suchas a pieceof glass,has almost
zero porosity; a sponge,on the other hand, has a very high
porosity.
Porositiesof subsurfaceformations can vary widely. Dense
carbonates(limestones and dolomites) and evaporites (salt,
anhydrite, gypsum, sylvite) may show practically zero
porosity; well-consolidated sandstonesmay have 10 to 15%
porosity; unconsolidated sands may have 30%) or more,
porosity. Shalesor clays may contain over 40 % water-filled
porosity, but the individual pores are usually so small that
the rock is impervious to the flow of fluids.

Fundamentals of Quantitative
Log Interpretation

Porositiesare classified according to the physical arrangement of the material that surrounds the pores and to the distribution and shapeof the pores. In a clean sand, the rock
matrix is made up of individual sand grains, more or less
spherical in shape, packed together in some manner where
the pores exist between the grains. Such porosity is called
intergranular, sucrosic, or matrix porosity. Generally, it has
existed in the formations since the time they were deposited. For this reason, it is also referred to asprimary porosity.
Depending on how they were actually deposited, limestonesand dolomite may also exhibit intergranular porosity. They may also have secondary porosity in the form of
vugs or small caves. Secondary porosity is caused by the
action of the formation waters or tectonic forces on the rock
matrix after deposition. For instance,slightly acidic percolating watersmay createand enlargethe pore spaceswhile moving through the interconnecting channels in limestone formations, and shells of small crustaceanstrapped therein may
be dissolved and form vugs. Conversely, percolating waters
rich in minerals may form depositsthat partially sealoff some
of the pores or channels in a formation, thereby reducing
its porosity and/or altering the pore geometry. Waters rich
in magnesiumsalts can seepthrough calcite with a gradual
replacementof the calcium by magnesium.Sincethe replacement is atom for atom, mole for mole, and the volume of
one mole of dolomite is 12% less than that of calcite, the
result is a reducedmatrix volume and correspondingincrease
in pore volume.
Stressesin the formation may also occur and cause networks of cracks, fissures, or fractures, which add to the pore
volume. In general, however, the actual volume of the fractures is usually relatively small. They do not normally increasethe porosity of the rock significantly, although they
may significantly increase its permeability.
Saturation
The saturation of a formation is the fraction of its pore
volume occupied by the fluid considered. Water saturation,
then, is the fraction (or percentage)of the pore volume that

2-l

CASED HOLE LOG INTERPRETATION PRINCIPLES/APPLICATIONS

contains formation water. If nothing but water exists in the

pores, a formation hasa water saturationof 100%. The symbol for saturation is S; various subscripts are usedto denote
saturation of a particular fluid (S, for water saturation, S,
for oil saturation, S,,for hydrocarbon saturation, Ss for gas
saturation).
Oil, or gas, saturation is the fraction of the pore volume
that contains oil or gas. The pores must be saturated with
somefluid. Thus, the summationof all saturationsin a given
formation rock must total 100%. Although there are some
rare instancesof saturating fluids other than water, oil, and
hydrocarbon gas (such as carbon dioxide or simply air), the
existenceof a water saturation less than 100% generally implies a hydrocarbon saturation equal to 100% less the water
saturation (or 1 - S,) .
The water saturation of a formation can vary from 100%
to a quite small value, but it is seldom, if ever, zero. No
matter how rich the oil or gasreservoir rock may be, there
is always a small amount of capillary water that cannot be
displaced by the oil; this saturation is generally referred to
as irreducible or connate water saturation.
Similarly, for an oil- or gas-bearing reservoir rock, it is
impossible to remove all the hydrocarbonsby ordinary fluid
drives or recovery techniques. Some hydrocarbons remain
trapped in parts of the pore volume; this hydrocarbon saturation is called the residual hydrocarbon saturation.
In a reservoir that contains water in the bottom and oil in
the top, the demarcationbetweenthe two is not always sharp;
there is a more or less gradual transition from 100% water
to mostly oil. If the oil-bearing interval is thick enough,water
saturation at the top approachesa minimum value, the irreducible water saturation,S,,. Becauseof capillary forces,
some water clings to the grains of the rock and cannot be
displaced. A formation at irreducible water saturation will
produce water-free hydrocarbons. Within the transition interval somewater will be produced with the oil, the amount
increasing as S,,, increases. Below the transition interval,
water saturation is 100%. In general, the lower the permeability of the reservoir rock the longer the transition interval.
Conversely, if the transition interval is short, permeability
will usually be high.
Permeability
Permeability is a measureof the easewith which fluids can
flow through a formation. For a given sample of rock and
for any homogeneousfluid, the permeability will be a constant provided the fluid doesnot interact with the rock itself.
The unit of permeability is the darcy (which is very large),
so the thousandth part or the millidarcy (md) is generally
used. The symbol for permeability is k.
In order to be permeable, a rock must have some interconnected pores, capillaries, or fractures. Therefore some

2-2

rough relationship betweenporosity and permeability exists.

Greater permeability, in general, corresponds to greater
porosity, but this is far from being an absolute rule.
Shalesand somesandshave high porosities, but the grains
are so small that the pathsavailable for the movementof fluid
are quite restricted and tortuous; thus, their permeabilities
may be very low.
Other formations, such as limestone, may be composed
of a denserock broken by a few small fissures or fractures
of great extent. The porosity of sucha formation can be low,
but the permeability of a fracture can be enormous. Therefore, fractured limestones may have low porosities but extremely high permeabilities.
Reservoir Geometry
Producing formations (reservoirs) occur in an almost limitless variety of shapes, sizes, and orientations. Figure 2-l
shows some of the major reservoir types; almost any combination of these is also possible.

Piercement Salt Dome

Anticline

~~

Pinnacle Reef

Channel Fill
Fig. 2-l--Some

Low-Permeability Barrier

Lenticular Traps

typical reservoir shapes and orientations

FUNDAMENTALS OF QUANTITATIVE LOG INTERPRETATION

The physical shapeand orientation of a reservoir can bear

heavily on its producibility. Reservoirs can be wide or narrow, thick or thin, large or small. Giant reservoirs, such as
somein the Middle East, can cover hundredsof squaremiles
and be thousandsof feet thick. Others are tiny, far too small
for a well completion. Configurations vary from a simple
lens shape to tortuously complex shapes.
Most reservoir-forming rocks were supposedlylaid down
in layers like blankets or pancakes. Their physical characteristics thus tend to be quite varied in different directions,
a condition called anisotropy. This nonuniformity is a very
important consideration in reservoir engineering and completion design.
Normally, the permeability of such formations is much
higher parallel to rather than perpendicular to the layering,
and the permeabilities of the various layers can also vary
widely.
Reservoirs that did not originate as deposited layers of
grains do not conform to this laminar model of anisotropy.
Carbonate rocks that originated as reefs, rocks subjectedto
extensive fracturing, or rocks with vuggy porosity are
examples.
Temperature and Pressure
Temperature and pressure also affect hydrocarbon production in several ways. In the reservoir rock, temperature and
pressurecontrol the viscosities and mutual solubilities of the
three fluids-oil, gas, and water. As a result, the phaserelationship of the oil/gas solution may be subject to highly significant variations in responseto temperature and pressure
changes.For example, as pressure drops gas tends to come
out of solution. If this happensin the reservoir rock, the gas
bubbles can cause a very substantial decreasein the effective permeability to oil.
The relationships between pressure, temperature, and the
phaseof hydrocarbon mixtures are extremely variable, dependingon the specific typesand proportions of the hydrocarbons present. Figure 2-2 is a simple, 2-componentphasediagram that illustrates those relationships.
Ordinarily, the temperatureof a producing reservoir does
not vary much, although certain enhanced-recoverytechniques (such as steam flood or fire flood) create conspicuous exceptions to this rule. However, some pressure drop
betweenthe undisturbedreservoir and the wellbore is inevitable. This pressuredrop is called the pressure drawdown; it
can vary from a few pounds per square inch (psi) up to full
reservoir pressure. These relationships will be addressedin
Chapter 4.
Log Interpretation
Unfortunately, few petrophysical parameters can be measureddirectly. Instead,they must be derived or inferred from

Critical Point

Temperature Fig. 2-2-2-component

diagram

the measurementof other physical parametersof the formations. A large number of thesephysical parameterscan now
be measuredthrough casing. They include, among others,
the thermal decay time, the natural radioactivity, the hydrogen content, the elemental yields, and in some casesthe interval transit time of the rock.
Log interpretation is the processby which thesemeasurable parametersare translated into the desired petrophysical
parametersof porosity, hydrocarbon saturation, producibility, lithology, and mechanical rock properties.
Since the petrophysical parameters of the virgin formation are usually needed, the well logging tool must be able
to see beyond the casing and cement into the virgin formation, or the interpretation techniquesmust be able to compensate for these environmental effects. An elaborate environmental test facility and computer modeling programs
are used to design correction algorithms for these environmental effects.
It is the purpose of the various well logging tools to provide measurementsfrom which the petrophysicalcharacteristics of the reservoir rocks can be derived or inferred. It is
the purpose of quantitative log interpretation to provide the
equations and techniques with which these translations can
be accomplished.

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CASED HOLE LOG INKERPRETATION

PRINCIPLES/APPLICATIONS

Determination of Saturation
Determining water and hydrocarbon saturation is one of the
basic objectivesof well logging. Most of the casedhole water
saturation equationsare basedon proven openholeinterpretation models. In open hole, the modelsuse resistivity values
while sigma measurementsare used in most cased hole
evaluations.
Actually, the basic fundamentalpremisesof casedhole log
interpretationare few in numberand simple in concept.These
will be covered in Chapter 3.

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REFERENCES
Archie, G.E.: Classification of CarbonateReservoirRocksand Petrophysical Considerations, AAPG Bull&t (February, 1952) 36, No. 2.
Jones, P.J.: Production Engineering and Reservoir Mechanics (Oil Condensateand Natural Gas), OGJ (1945).
Log Interpretation Charts, Scblumberger Educational Services, Houston
(1989).
Log Interpretation Principles/Applications,
SchlumbergerEducational Services, Houston (1987).
Timur, A.: An Investigationof Permeability, Porosity, and ResidualWater
SaturationRelationshipsfor SandstoneReservoirs, Ihe Log Analyst (JulyAug., 1968) 9, No. 4.