Sidewall Coring http://www.ipims.com/data/fe32/E3019.asp?

UserID=37647&Code=3220

Sidewall Coring

Wireline Core Gun

The chronological sample taker or core sample tool (CST) is a multishot gun that is lowered into the
borehole on a wireline logging cable. At the appropriate sample depth, a 1-inch hollow bullet is fired
horizontally into the borehole wall, and a core up to 2 inches long recovered ( Figure 1 , Sample taking
operation of the sidewall gun). On a single run into the hole, combined guns can shoot up to 72 sidewall
cores.

Figure 1

In a very irregular, washed-out, overgauge hole, cores may be much shorter, or may even consist
entirely of filter cake or drilling fluid-contaminated sediments. In very hard rock, the bullets may break
on impact, fail to penetrate, or, if recovered, may contain only fractured or crushed material.

Though, for a number of obvious reasons, sidewall cores are inferior to bottomhole cores, they are far
more commonly cut. One reason is that they are cheap to obtain, requiring minimum rig time. More
importantly, they are taken after the well has been drilled and logged and, therefore, are planned with
the benefit of hindsight.

Rotary Sidewall Corer

This tool is an attempt to combine the advantages of sidewall coring with conventional coring
technology. The inner barrel is forced out at an angle through the side of the outer barrel, and into the
borehole wall by the hydraulic action of pumped drilling fluid. Pumping is then stopped, and the inner
barrel is retrieved on a wireline; the outer barrel is moved to a new location in the hole, and a new
inner barrel pumped into place for the next core.

The rotary sidewall cores are 1 inch in diameter and up to 1 foot long. They are of only slightly better
quality than wireline gun cores and require more expensive equipment and rig time to obtain. This type
of coring is not commonly performed.

Sidewall Core Slicer

1 of 2 17/07/2012 08:26 a.m.

Sidewall Coring http://www.ipims.com/data/fe32/E3019.asp?UserID=37647&Code=3220

The tricone tool that is used is run on a wireline and can cut long (up to 3 ft) triangular cores from the
borehole ( Figure 2 , The sidewall core slicer (tricone) tool).

Figure 2

The tool is lowered to the zone of interest, at which point a pad is extended against one side of the
borehole wall, forcing the cutting tool against the opposite wall. Two diamond-tipped, circular saw
blades mounted at 600 to each other move out of the tool and up its length, cutting a triangular slice of
formation, approximately 1 inch on each side. After cutting, the pad is retracted into the tool and the
core falls into a core catcher below. Up to four cores can be cut on a single run in the hole. Any
irregularity in the borehole will prevent tool contact, resulting in a fragmentary core.

Such core slices are very useful geologically. They provide extensive stratigraphic information rapidly
and at a relatively low cost. Unfortunately, tricores can only be obtained successfully in very
well-consolidated formations. Softer rocks tend to disintegrate with saw vibration.

2 of 2 17/07/2012 08:26 a.m.