SPWLA 53rd Annual Logging Symposium, June 16-20, 2012
DIELECTRIC LOGGING UNCOVERS NEW RESERVES IN A
REACTIVATED COLOMBIAN FIELD
Cesar Augusto Patio Suarez, Ecopetrol
Laurent Mosse, Schlumberger
Diana Chaparro, Jorge Mantilla, Felix Mulett, Ecopetrol
Eric Decoster, Irina Mikhaltseva, Schlumberger
Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts
Copyright 2012, held jointly by the Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log
Analysts (SPWLA) and the submitting authors
This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPWLA 53rd Annual Logging
Symposium held in Cartagena, Colombia, June 16-20, 2012.
ABSTRACT
Ecopetrol discovered the Yarigui field in the
Magdalena Valley in 1943 and has drilled about 150
producer and 10 injector wells. The producing intervals
are Tertiary age thin reservoirs of unconsolidated shaly
sandstone intercalated with shales. They are largely
independent and not connected. Composed of fluvial
deposits, they have connate formation water salinity of
the order of 35-ppk NaCl. Wells are usually drilled with
very fresh muds, of less than 5-ppk NaCl. The field has
been under limited fresh water injection for several
years. The current development program contemplates
drilling 10 additional injectors and using recycled
produced water to limit unwanted salinity changes and
reduce the possibility of shale alteration.
Ecopetrol has concentrated on producing the upper
Yarigui reservoirs, of higher resistivity, without
considering the lower resistivity sandstones, assumed to
be water bearing. This was because the very fresh mud
filtrate that invades the formation did not suggest oil
displacement in the low-resistivity reservoirs based on a
combined Archie-type analysis of the deep resistivity
and the micro-resistivity.
To better understand the lower resistivity reservoirs,
Ecopetrol decided to test a new multi-frequency
dielectric dispersion tool. The primary field product of
this tool is a water-filled porosity, which, when
compared with the total porosity, quantifies the oil
present in the invaded zone. This quick-look is obtained
at the well site and uses only the highest frequency
generated. With it, Ecopetrol identified significant
quantities of oil below their initial target and decided to
extend the formation tester pressure acquisition to the
new intervals, finding them to be at original pressure.
A complete dielectric dispersion analysis was
performed offsite. In addition to water-filled porosity,
this analysis provides water salinity in the region
investigated by the tool, which was found to be equal to
1
or higher than the filtrate salinity. This confirmed that
the tool was reading the invaded zone, where the fresh
mud filtrate was mixing with the saltier formation
water, making a standard invaded zone resistivity (Rxo)
analysis particularly difficult. This analysis also yields a
combined Archie mn exponent, obtained under the
assumption that the m cementation exponent and the n
saturation exponent are equal. This exponent was
entered into the Archie equation and applied to the deep
resistivity. By comparison with the shallow saturation
readings obtained from the dielectric tool, the method
identified the reservoir zones containing hydrocarbons
displaced during the invasion process. The mn exponent
was compared with values obtained from core analysis
on nearby wells and found to be in the correct range.
Based on these results, Ecopetrol decided to first
complete the lower intervals. These intervals produce
oil that is additional production. This test was
conducted over a period of several months, before the
upper reservoir layers were in turn perforated, raising
the overall production of the well.
This methodology has been applied to other wells in the
same field, yielding consistent results.
INTRODUCTION
The Yarigui field was discovered in 1943, in the Middle
Magdalena Basin, located along the central reaches of
the Magdalena river valley, between the Central and
Eastern Cordilleras of the Colombian Andes. The
producing formations are essentially continental
Paleogene sandstones (Paleocene-Miocene) of the La
Paz and Mugrosa formations. These sandstone
reservoirs are essentially fluvial deposits, in a
continental environment.
After some sixty years of continuous production,
involving the drilling of over 100 wells, Ecopetrol
initiated a new drilling program in 2003, consisting of
an additional 50 producing wells, and more than
doubling production. An additional 10 injectors wells
were drilled during the same campaign, and a fresh
SPWLA 53rd Annual Logging Symposium, June 16-20, 2012
water injection program began in 2009, further boosting
production.
It is in this context of fresh water injection, coupled
with the difficulty of reliably assessing low resistivity
pay zones that Ecopetrol first developed an interest in
the dielectric tool, using it in the Yarigui field for the
first time in 2010. Although no indications of injected
fresh water fresh water were detected, the tool proved
to be extremely useful in the low resistivity pay
environment of Yarigui, clearly identifying oil at
resistivities below the accepted cutoff for the field. This
is the main subject developed in this paper.
DIELECTRIC DISPERSION LOGGING TOOL
Dielectric tools are electromagnetic propagation tools.
The principle of dielectric logging is to measure the
propagation of electromagnetic waves, driven by both
the formation permittivity and formation conductivity.
When the latter are recorded at different frequencies,
the tool measures the dielectric dispersion. The
Dielectric-Scanner* (* mark of Schlumberger) is such a
tool (Hizem et al., 2008; Mosse et al., 2009). While the
permittivity and conductivity at high frequencies are
mainly related to the water volume fraction and water
salinity, the dispersion is driven by rock textural effects.
Measuring the dielectric dispersion hence provides
three important formation petrophysical parameters: the
water-filled porosity, the water salinity and textural
parameters.
In shaly-sand formations, the textural parameters that
can be extracted from the dispersion are a rock textural
parameter related to Archies law, called MN_ADT,
and a CEC estimate.
Depending on the formation water salinity, two
dispersion regimes can be separated: when the salinity
is higher than about 20 ppk, textural effects dominate
the dispersion, including clay particle texture effects;
when the salinity is lower than 20 ppk, specific
polarization phenomena occur around the charged clay
surfaces and contribute to the dispersion: purely
textural effects are not enough to explain the observed
dispersion (Pirrone et al, 2011, Han et al, 2012).
In the present study, the formation water salinity stays
above the 20 ppk limit, and rock textural parameters
alone are assumed to dominate the dispersion.
The dielectric dispersion logging tool used in this study
benefits from 9 spacings per frequency. It means that
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it benefits from 9 different radial pieces of information
per frequency. The depth of investigation of
electromagnetic propagation tool is related to the
spacing between antennas and in most cases, it does not
exceed a few inches. If the invasion is deeper than
these few inches, the 9 spacings will be used to
perform a mudcake/standoff correction. If the invasion
profile is very shallow, a couple of inches, a radial
profiling can be tested (Mosse et al., 2009).
In one of the well presented below, the invasion profile
is shallow enough to be seen by the dielectric tool, but
still too deep for the true virgin zone to be measured.
As will be shown, this is a special case of a ramp
profile.
The main petrophysical outputs of dielectric dispersion
analysis are water-filled porosity, water salinity and
textural parameters. In addition, a reconstructed low
frequency resistivity, called RXO_ADT is provided. It
is obtained by extrapolating the fit of conductivity
measurements down to very low frequency and can be
compared to the usual micro-resistivity and deep
resistivity measurements. When the invasion is deep, it
should overlap with the micro-resistivity. On the other
hand, when radial profiling is performed, two
resistivities are reconstructed, RXS_ADT and
RXD_ADT, corresponding to a shallow resistivity and
to a deep resistivity respectively. Those two resistivities
when compared to the micro-resistivity and the deep
resistivity are used to assess the invasion profiling
performed by the dielectric tool, as will be
demonstrated below.
The Dielectric-Scanner* is a multi-frequency, multi-
spacing, multi-polarization tool. Processing all the
acquired measurements at well site would be time-
consuming and is today not feasible. Hence the field
product is limited to a mudcake/standoff correction
done on the highest frequency transverse
measurements, followed by a petrophysical analysis
based on the Complex Refractive Index model (CRIM).
This model, based on the highest frequency alone and
hence not containing textural effects, has proved to be
efficient in predicting the water-filled porosity and
water salinity in 20-30 p.u. relatively clean formations
with moderate water salinity (Seleznev, 2006).
The full processing, including potential radial profiling
and multi frequency analysis, is then performed offsite
on a dedicated processing platform.
 SPWLA 53rd Annual Logging Symposium, June 16-20, 2012

WELL 1 absorbing water from the filtrate and presenting a

higher porosity close to the borehole wall. The lower
This well is a development well on which the Dielectric dielectric RXO_ADT equal to the micro-resistivity on
Scanner was run for the first time. The conventional one side, and the higher Rt on the other side supports
completion methodology used by Ecopetrol, after this hypothesis.
hundreds of wells drilled in the field, generally does not
consider any reservoir showing resistivities of less than
5 Ohm.m as potential pay.

A full suite of logs including density, photoelectric

factor, thermal neutron, natural gamma ray and
dielectric dispersion were also recorded in this well.
X050
The lithology model is derived from core measurements
available in neighboring wells. Sands are classified X100

lithic arkose or feldspathic litharenite following the

X150
Folk 1974 definition. Clay minerals are mainly kaolinte
( 70% dw ), illite ( 15% dw) and smectite ( 5% dw). As
X200
depth increases, the kaolinite contribution increases
while illite and smectite disappear. X250
With only Density, PE, Neutron and Gamma Ray to
separate the different minerals, the lithological model X300

has to remain simple. It is made of three minerals, a

X350
generic clay mineral, the end points of which have been
adjusted to reproduce a mix of kaolinite and illite, a
generic QFM mineral, containing quartz and feldspars Figure 1 Dielectric water-filled porosity and reconstructed
and finally a calcite mineral to account for apparent RXO after mudcake/standoff corrections on Well-1
calcitic cement or streaks. This model allows
reconstructing a grain density compatible with the RXO
typical grain density measured on cores, about 2.63g/cc. RXOZ
Having an appropriate lithological model is necessary
to obtain both a correct total porosity and a correct RXO_ADT
matrix permittivity.

In Well-1, the Dielectric-Scanner* shows sensitivity to

RT
a shallow invasion profile. If this shallow invasion
profile is not taken into account, the answer given by a
simple mudcake/standoff correction suffers from a bias
induced by the deeper region. This can be seen on
Figure 2 Sketch of the depth of investigations of micro-
Figure 1: the reconstructed RXO_ADT lies between the resistivity and dielectric tool after mudcake/standoff
micro-resistivity and the deep resistivity. This pattern is correction; the latter reads deeper.
due to the fact that the Dielectric-Scanner* reads
slightly deeper than the micro-resistivity. It points out
To further investigate this radial profile, a radial
the existence of a shallow radial profile in conductivity. processing was performed. Now, two reconstructed
Figure 2 sketches the micro-resistivity and dielectric resistivities are output by the Dielectric-Scanner*
depth of investigations and corresponding readings in processing: the shallower resistivity RXS_ADT, and
front of a ramp invasion profile. deeper resistivity RXD_ADT, that are shown in Figure
Note the apparently too high water-filled porosity in 3. The extent of the shallow zone identified by
Dielectric-Scanner* is given by H_SH, which can be
front of the shale at X145-X155 ft. This is due to shale
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SPWLA 53rd Annual Logging Symposium, June 16-20, 2012
found in the depth track of Figure 3. It does not exceed
two inches.
X050
X100
X150
X200
X250
X300
X350
Figure 3 Dielectric water-filled porosity and reconstructed
RXO after mudcake/standoff corrections and radial
profiling on Well-1
The first observation is that now RXS_ADT is on top or
above the micro-resistivity, while RXD_ADT lies
below. This is expected, as now the Dielectric-Scanner*
defines a shallow zone very close to the borehole, a
zone reaching under the depth of investigation of the
conventional micro-resistivity. The deeper RXD_ADT
is now reading further than the previous RXO_ADT, as
the contribution of the shallow zone has been removed,
see Figure 4.
Except in a short interval between X155-X180 ft,
RXD_ADT never matches RT. This indicates that the
invasion is extending much further than 4 inches into
the formation, i.e. further than the maximum depth of
investigation of the Dielectric-Scanner*. The deeper
arrays of the dielectric tool are reading in fact an
intermediate zone. This difference is a strong indication
of a ramp radial profile, starting very close to the
borehole wall, and extending deep into the formation.
The invasion processing of the Induction tool also
indicates an invasion ramp that starts at the borehole
wall and ends at about 10 inches into the formation.
The resistive, or conductive, profile has been discussed,
but the Dielectric-Scanner* provides above all a water-
4
filled volume profile. In the porosity track of Figure 3,
the dielectric deep and shallow water-filled porosities
are shown. When RXD_ADT is not matching RT, no
clear conclusions on movable oil can be drawn: indeed,
there is very little sign of movable oil, but as the deep
dielectric reading is not quite reading the virgin zone, it
is possible that the true saturation profile lies beyond
what is obtained from dielectric alone. When
RXD_ADT is matching RT, as between X110 and
X130 ft, then we can assume that dielectric deep does
correspond to the virgin zone, and in this case a larger
signal of movable oil is present.
RXO
RXS_ADT
RXOZ
RXD_ADT
RT
H_SH
Figure 4 Sketch of the depth of investigations of micro-
resistivity and dielectric tool after mudcake/standoff
correction and radial profiling. The shallow zone reads
shallower the micro-resistivity, while the deep zone reads
much deeper.
The dielectric radial profiling will not be sufficient
under these conditions to assess the oil movability in
every reservoir. This assessment will have to rely on the
comparison between the shallow Dielectric-Scanner*
water saturation SWXS_ADT and a deep water
saturation estimated using RT, SWT.
A Modified Simandoux equation is usually applied in
this field to estimate the water saturation from RT. In
the present paper, an alternate approach will be used.
As mentioned previously, at salinities higher than 20
ppk, most of the clay effects are incorporated in a single
textural parameter called MN_ADT (Pirrone et al,
2011). This parameter appears in the conductivity low
frequency limit as , following an
Archies equation formulation. The deep saturation is
then estimated using . The
formation water salinity is selected using an estimate of
Rw from SP, while respecting the lower limit imposed
 SPWLA 53rd Annual Logging Symposium, June 16-20, 2012
by dielectric water salinity. The resulting water volume
should be lower than or equal to the dielectric water
filled porosity.
Two series of tests were conducted in this well to better
assess the potential of the low resistivity reservoirs.
Figure 6 presents the bottom part of the well, where the
low resistivity sandstone reservoirs were tested.
Track 1 displays Caliper and SP. Track 2 presents the
shallow salinity estimated from the dielectric log and
the formation salinity estimated from the SP. In Track 3
the dielectric textural parameter MN_ADT is varying
but remaining close to2. In the following TEST track
are the formation pressures and fluid mobilities,
together with an indication of the intervals that have
been perforated. The next track shows the water
saturation derived from RT and the dielectric water
saturation. The green color corresponds to the
remaining oil seen by dielectric tool and the orange
color corresponds to the difference between deep and
shallow saturation, hence the potential movable oil
fraction. In the porosity track, the total porosity and the
water-filled porosity are displayed: the difference is
colored in green and corresponds to the remaining oil
volume after filtration. The last two tracks show the
permittivity and conductivity dispersions.
The Dielectric water-filled porosity clearly indicates the
presence of oil in some sands of this bottom interval.
When the Dielectric saturation is compared to the deep
saturation, it appears that some of these sands will
produce oil, and in particular the lower ones.
Production tests are expected to produce oil, with a
significant water cut.
The shallow zone water salinity is low, meaning that
filtrate invaded, but is neither constant nor equal to the
filtrate salinity. Similarly, MN_ADT is about 2, but
varying from sand to sand. A conventional micro-
resistivity interpretation based on surface filtrate
salinity and a constant estimate of m could not have
provided accurate results.
The formation pressure gradient initiates an increase at
the top of the interval. It has clearly changed in the
water sand at the bottom, but intermediate points are
failing to capture the dynamic in-between the two
regions.
5
Figure 7 follows the same template as Figure 6. In the
resistivity track, the green color corresponds to RT
greater than 5 Ohm.m, which is the cutoff usually
applied in this field to flag target sands for completion.
Oil is present in all the cleanest sands and the
movability indicator shows significantly higher
prospectivity than in the lower zone.
Figure 5 presents the production results. At month 1,
only the lower zone was opened, and at month 5, the
upper zone was in turn opened. As expected the lower
zone is producing oil with a high water cut. The upper
zone, usually produced in this field, yields both a higher
oil production rate and lower water production rates.
400
Oil Prod Rate
Calend Days
300 bbl/d
200 Water Prod
Rate Calend
100 Days bbl/d
Gas Prod Rate
0
Calend Days
0 5 Mcf/d
Figure 5 Water and hydrocarbon production rates for
Well-1. The second interval is opened at month 5 .
Dielectric logging motivated the test of the lower zone
and hence led to an increase of the oil production in this
well.
The field product providing the water-filled porosity
first confirmed the presence of oil in some low
resistivity intervals. The complete radial and dispersion
analysis revealed the heterogeneity of the sandstone
reservoirs. The sandstone bodies opened in the lower
zone show uneven characteristics. It is probable that
some provide mostly water, as the movability indicator
tends to confirm in Figure 6. These should have been
excluded from the completion program, as we now can
see after re-interpretation.
SPWLA 53rd Annual Logging Symposium, June 16-20, 2012

X500

X750

Figure 6 Log plot of Well-1, lower zone

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 SPWLA 53rd Annual Logging Symposium, June 16-20, 2012

X250

X500

Figure 7 Log plot of Well-1, upper zone

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SPWLA 53rd Annual Logging Symposium, June 16-20, 2012
WELL 2
Well-2 is also located in the Yarigui field. The same
methodology has been applied. Invasion is however
deeper in Well-2 than in Well-1, and no invasion
profiling is necessary or applicable. The difference in
invasion characteristics may come from the different
drilling mud used in Well-2.
A slight corkscrew effect on Well-1 was already
visible. This effect is also present and even more
pronounced in Well-2. A corkscrew borehole produces
typical patterns on pad tools that depend on the severity
and periodicity of the phenomenon. In Well-2, the
periodicity is about 2 feet, for a severity of 0.5 inch.
Density, Micro-Resistivity and Dielectric logs are
affected to some degree. However, due to the multiple
spacings and associated mudcake/standoff corrections
that are systematically applied on all the tools, the
corkscrew effect can be removed to a large extent from
the final answer. The standoff thickness estimates from
these tools can be seen in the depth track of the
8
different log plots, and clearly shows the corkscrew
borehole effect.
Figure 8 presents a log plot for Well-2 following the
same template as Figure 6 and Figure 7. The massive
shale can be used to link the two wells. In Well-2, the
drop of resistivity happens about 250 ft above this
shale. The dielectric water-filled porosity however
clearly indicates oil in the low resistivity intervals. The
complete analysis done following the same scheme as
described for Well-1 shows that some of the sands
contain moveable oil, for example X160-X165 ft .
Note that this sand corresponds to a change in the
formation pressure patterns. It is closer to the original
reservoir pressure, and appears to be hydraulically
isolated from the sands above, and from the sands
below X250 ft. This is a new pay zone that can be
added.
Below X250ft, two sands still contain moveable oil,
despite the low formation pressure. These two sands
present conditions similar to the upper sands X020-
X100ft.
 SPWLA 53rd Annual Logging Symposium, June 16-20, 2012

X050

X100

X150

X200

X250

Figure 8 Log plot of Well-2

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SPWLA 53rd Annual Logging Symposium, June 16-20, 2012
CONCLUSION
In this paper, it was shown that dielectric dispersion
logging was efficient in predicting the oil presence in
low resistivity conditions, with variable shale content
and water salinity. At an early stage, the field product
allows to consider zones that were usually bypassed.
The full radial and dispersion analysis then provide a
more elaborate picture that allows to identify intervals
with potentially moveable oil and to discard others that
are almost surely at residual oil saturation. The interest
and applicability limits of the dielectric radial profiling
have been discussed.
The application of the technique discussed in this paper
allows incorporating additional pay zones and
consequently reserves. The field is complex, with
varying sand quality and shale content. All sandstone
reservoir layers appear to be independent hydraulically.
It has been under fresh water injection for some time.
Applying the most recent logging technologies offered
by the oil logging industry provided a better
understanding of these specificities.
REFERENCES
Hizem M., Budan H, Devill B., Faivre O., Moss L.
and Simon M., 2008, Dielectric dispersion: a new
wireline petrophysical measurement: SPE paper No
116130.
Moss L., Carmona R., Decoster E., Faivre O. and
Hizem M., 2009, Dielectric Dispersion Logging In
Heavy Oil: A Case Study From The Orinoco Belt:
Transactions of the SPWLA Annual Logging
Symposium.
Pirrone M.,. Han M, Bona N., Borghi M., Galli M. T.,
Pampuri F., Faivre O., Hizem M., Kherroubi J., Moss
L., 2011, A novel approach based on dielectric
dispersion measurements to evaluate the quality of
complex shaly-sand reservoirs, SPE 147245-PP.
Han M., Cuadros J, Patino Suarez C.A., Decoster E.,
Faivre O., Moss L., N Seleznev, 2012, Continuous
estimate of Cation Exchange Capacity from log data: a
new approach based on dielectric dispersion analysis.
Transactions of the SPWLA Annual Logging
Symposium
10
Seleznev N., 2006, Formation properties derived from
multi-frequency dielectric measurement: Transactions
of the SPWLA Annual Logging Symposium, paper
VVV.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR SECTION
Cesar Patio is a Senior Petrophysicist working for
Ecopetrol. He has 15 years working in Formation
Evaluation. He has worked as a Schlumberger Field
Service Manager (Latin America- Africa-Europe),
Weatherford Operations manager (Latin America) in
the Wireline segment, and with Oxy and Ecopetrol in
the Reservoir department. Currently working and
giving support to all Colombia basins, and international
reservoir characterization projects. Cesar received a BS
Degree in Petroleum Engineering in 1997 from the
Universidad Industrial de Santander.
Laurent Moss has an engineering degree from
Suplec obtained in 1997 and a Ph.D. in fundamental
physics from the Centre of Atomic Energy (CEA) in
Saclay obtained in 2002. He joined Schlumberger the
same year and first worked on nuclear density tools. He
then turned toward electromagnetic tools and led the
physics and interpretation team for Dielectric-Scanner*
project until end 2011. He currently works as Principal
Petrophysicist in Latin America.
Diana Chaparro C. graduated as a Petroleum Engineer
from the Universidad de America in 1994. She worked
as a wireline engineer for Schlumberger from 1996 till
2008. She is currently a Specialist in the area of logging
and perforating for Ecopetrol. Diana has over 16 years
of experience in the field of logging.
Jorge Mantilla is a Msc Petroleum Engineering
working for Ecopetrol. He has 14 years working as a
Reservoir Engineer. He has worked as as Operation
Engineering (7 years), Currently working and giving
support to all Ecopetrol Colombia waterflooding
projects. Jorge received a BS Degree in Petroleum
Engineering in 1989 from the Universidad Industrial de
Santander and a Master Degree in Petroleum
Engineering in 2003 from the same University.
Felix Mulett is a Senior Geologist working for
Ecopetrol. He has 20 years working in Integrated
Reservoir Modelling. He has worked as a Senior
geologist for OXY Colombia in the Reservoir
department. Currently working and giving support to
the Middle Magdalena Basin, and Waterflooding
projects. Felix received a BS Degree in Petroleum
 SPWLA 53rd Annual Logging Symposium, June 16-20, 2012

Engineering in 1991 from the Universidad Industrial de

Santander.

Eric Decoster obtained an engineering degree at Ecole

Centrale in Paris in 1976 and an MSc in civil
engineering, flow through porous media, at the
University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1977. He joined
Schlumberger in 1978. He was recently assigned as
Principal Petrophysicist in the Faja Regional
Technology Center located in Barcelona, Venezuela
and is now Petrophysical Advisor for Schlumberger in
Latin America. He is currently serving as the SPWLA
Latin America Director.

Irina Mikhaltseva holds a diploma in Geological

Engineering from Gubkin Russian State University of
Oil and Gas in Russia. She joined Schlumberger after
graduating in 1996 and worked as a petrophysicist since
then. She currently works as a Sonic Domain champion
for Wireline in Moscow, Russia.

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