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SPE 39872
Evaluating and Monitoring Reservoirs Behind Casing With a Modern Pulsed Neutron
Tool
G. Simpson, SPE and L. Jacobson, SPE, Halliburton Energy Services, F. Salazar, SPE, Halliburton de Mexico, S.A.
Abstract
Pulsed neutron capture logs have long provided a means of
determining water saturation and estimating porosity of formations behind casing. Recent technological advances in pulsed
neutron logging have resulted not only in improvements in
saturation and porosity data, but also in the capability to provide
information regarding water entry and flow, lithology, and improved differentiation of gas-filled zones from tight formations.
These advances provide greater accuracy in reservoir evaluation
and monitoring as well as improved completion and production
diagnostics.
Inelastic, capture, borehole, and background spectra are now
utilized to enhance porosity estimates, identify water flow, and
help determine lithology. Modular tool design allows the pulsed
neutron tool to be combined with production logging tools for
more reliable production diagnostics. Simple tool modifications
permit quantitative measurements of water velocity and borehole oil holdup. The modular design also allows additional detectors to be placed in the toolstring for lithology identification
and gravel pack evaluation.
This paper discusses this new pulsed neutron capture technology and gives an overview of the expanded range of pulsed
neutron applications. Field examples of waterflow detection,
gravel pack evaluation, oil/gas discrimination, and conventional
analysis are presented from offshore wells in the Gulf of Mexico
and from onshore wells in Mexico and the U.S.
Introduction
The Thermal Multigate Decay-Lithology (TMD-L *) tool represents the latest generation of Halliburtons pulsed neutron capture
(PNC) tools. This tool provides all of the capabilities of its
predecessor, plus new measurements and enhanced capabilities
for high-quality water-flow logging, improved gas and porosity
measurement, and lithology evaluation, as well as conventional
cased hole formation evaluation.
Technical advancements include: larger diameter detectors
for higher count rates, increased time gates to record the entire
burst cycle from buildup through decay, improved background
measurements for better environmental corrections, gamma ray
spectra recorded over the entire span of the neutron pulse and
decay cycle, and an improved telemetry package.
The following sections describe the tools capabilities and
their application to reservoir evaluation and monitoring.
Tool Capabilities
The new tool is shorter and more modular in construction than its
predecessor, and has higher count rates, finer decay time gating,
and spectral lithology measurements from the far-spaced detector. The tool is 25.2 ft long (including its telemetry and gamma ray
sections), with a diameter of 1.69-in. It is rated to 15,000 psi and
350 F. The modular construction allows easy reconfiguration
for water-flow measurements. The tool may also be run in
combination with other production-logging sensors placed beneath it. New processing software complements the higher count
rates to improve statistical precision in the determination of
formation capture cross section.
These features enable the tool to be used for standard casedhole formation evaluation, qualitative and quantitative water-flow
evaluation, gravel-pack evaluation, and lithology evaluation. It
also has the capability to discriminate between gas, oil, and water; as well as discriminate between tight formations and gas.
EVALUATING AND MONITORING RESERVOIRS BEHIND CASING WITH A MODERN PULSED NEUTRON TOOL
Time Gates
The new tool distinguishes itself from its predecessors through
greatly expanded measurement, processing, and telemetry capabilities. Improvements include a 10-fold increase in gates to
measure gamma ray counts, dynamic gating to optimize the decay
measurements, and spectral processing of the neutron burst and
the ensuing decay. A detailed description of these features is
provided in Jacobson, et al.1
Spectral Data. A key feature of the new tool is the spectral
recording of the gamma ray interactions in the long-spaced
detector. Fig. 1 shows the timing sequence for the new tool. Fig.
2 displays the decay spectra for capture measurement. Four 256channel spectra are recorded during each burst cycle, as seen in
Fig. 3:
1. The first spectral gate begins 20 microseconds after the start
of the neutron burst and is 60 microseconds wide. It accumulates primarily inelastic data.
2. The second spectral gate begins 130 microseconds after the
start of the burst and is 60 microseconds wide. It accumulates
data associated with the borehole decay.
3. The third spectral gate begins 250 microseconds after time
zero and is 1000 microseconds wide. It accumulates data
from the formation component of the decay process.
4. The fourth spectral gate begins at the start of the background
period and is 5 milliseconds wide. It measures activation
gamma rays as well as background gamma ray activity.
Logging speeds of 5 to 10 ft/min are required to obtain optimal spectral measurements, rather than the 20 to 30 ft/min required for sigma data.
Lithology Indicator
The formation spectrum is corrected for the presence of background activation and is used to estimate the silicon and calcium
present in the formation. These estimates provide a mechanism
for distinguishing gas sands from tight calcareous zones, and
eliminate errors caused by activation and radioactive scale.
Lab and field data show that the silicon yield is especially
useful in distinguishing sandstone from limestone. It is output to
the log as a lithology indicator. However, when a sand reservoir
is saturated with saltwater, a reduction in the silicon response
can be expected (as compared to the freshwater- or oil-saturated
case) due to increased neutron absorption by the chlorine in the
saltwater.
The combinations of silicon and calcium curves with the
standard ratio of the near and far capture counts (RTMD) provide the necessary information to distinguish gas from low-porosity formations. Fig. 4 shows the difference between sandstone
and limestone detected by the capture spectra.
The log in Fig. 5 demonstrates this capability. This log was
run in a well in Oklahoma. The tool was run in brine-filled 5 in. casing, set in a 7 7/8-in. borehole. This particular example highlights the capability of the tool to distinguish between sand and
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lime intervals. The silicon-index curve (SI) serves as the lithology indicator, and clearly distinguishes the sand zones A, B, and
E from the lime zones C and D. Note also the shale laminations
within zone A. Zone F is seen to be a limy-sand.
Distinguishing gas from low porosity
Gas sands and tight calcareous zones generally contain very little
saltwater, making differentiation of these zones possible.
A low silicon value will indicate either a porous saltwatersaturated sand or a calcareous zone. A high silicon value indicates an oil- or gas-saturated sand.
The FM curve will distinguish a saltwater sand from a calcareous zone. The RTMD will distinguish oil from gas. Collectively, these log curves differentiate tight zones from gas sands.
The example in Fig. 6 is from a well in South Texas. The
operator encountered drilling problems due to extreme over pressures, and was not able to obtain openhole logs below Z350 ft.
The well was drilled to a total depth of Z650 ft, and 2 7/8-in.
casing was set in a 6 1/8-in. hole. The area was known to be gas
productive, but it was known to have tight intervals as well. Because openhole logs were not obtained, it was decided to run the
new tool one week after drilling, in order to distinguish possible
gas zones from tight zones.
The log was run over the section of the well that had not
been previously logged. The log was continued over a section of
the well that had been logged by open-hole tools, so that the data
gathered with the new tool could be compared with the previous
openhole data. The log was run at 5 ft/min, to obtain a combination of inelastic data and capture data for analysis. The analysis
used the inelastic counts recorded during the neutron burst in
gates 3 through 9 from the near and far detectors.
The ratio of the near to far inelastic counts is denoted RIN.
Gamma rays produced during the neutron burst associated with
inelastic scattering resemble the Compton scattering effect related to gamma-gamma logging for openhole density logs. The
RIN measurement can therefore be plotted with RTMD to distinguish gas from tight- or low-porosity zones in a qualitative
interpretation.
In Fig. 6, the openhole Density and Neutron porosities are
plotted in Track 2, and are shaded red when the two curves cross
over each other to indicate gas. Track 3 shows the RTMD curve
plotted in blue, with the RIN curve plotted in red. When the
curves cross over, the area between the curves is shaded red.
The intrinsic formation sigma (SGIN) is plotted in black across
Tracks 2 and 3.
In this well, the mud filtrate was expected to affect the sigma
readings, because only one week had passed since drilling; therefore, no quantitative water saturation figures were calculated.
Notice that the SGIN curve reads almost the same in each of the
sands having similar gamma ray response, except in the zone
from Y840 to Y980 ft, which shows slightly lower SGIN. Over
this interval, both the openhole Density/Neutron and the RTMD/
RIN indicate gas, as seen by the red shading. Notice that the
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The 28Al* activity dies away with a half-life of 2.24 minutes, with a 1.78-MeV gamma ray emitted by each decay.
Activation via fast neutrons (such as oxygen and silicon activation) is fairly shallow, because the neutrons quickly lose energy as they penetrate the surrounding formation. This characteristic can be usefully exploited for gravel pack logging, because changes in the relatively distant formation lithology will
not significantly affect the measurement of gravel-pack efficiency.
Thermal Neutron Capture. Likewise, the thermal neutron
capture by aluminum in aluminum oxide (Al2O3) involves a reaction that yields the same end product:
nTh + 27Al 28Al* + p ...................................................... (3)
Thus, gravel packs composed of either SiO2 or Al2O3 can
be evaluated through this technique.
Optimal Velocity. At very slow logging speeds, the source
will activate a region completely, but this activity may decay
away before it can be sensed by the detector. At the other ex-
EVALUATING AND MONITORING RESERVOIRS BEHIND CASING WITH A MODERN PULSED NEUTRON TOOL
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the packer. Because the well was located offshore, in the Gulf of
Mexico, environmental concerns prohibited the use of radioactive tracers to locate the problem. It was therefore decided to try
the new water-flow tool, and to use oxygen activation to locate
the problem. The problem was solved by pumping water down
the annulus between the casing and tubing at a rate of bbl/min,
while making stationary measurements with the water-flow tool
in the tubing.
The first measurement is at X500 ft, and indicates flow, as
seen from the oxygen activation gamma rays at 6.13 MeV on the
gamma ray energy spectra in Fig. 10. The next measurement was
at Z500 ft, and indicates no flow, as shown by the absence of
oxygen activation gamma rays on the spectra. These measurements showed that the flow was located between the two measure points. By making a series of stationary measures between
these points, a hole was finally located at Z396 ft. Measurements
taken just 4 ft lower indicated no flow.
determined later that these voids were associated with blank sections in the tubing-conveyed perforating guns. Minor voids were
also detected in the interval above the top of the screen to near
the top of the pack. In the absence of a gravel pack, the silicon
activation technique can also be used to measure silicon content
for lithology determination. Carbonate zones exhibit lower silicon-activated gamma ray counts relative to sandstone formations.
Lithology and Gravel-Pack Evaluation. Sand, which is typically composed of SiO2, can be activated by the TMD-L tool to
aid in the determination of lithology or evaluation of gravel packs.
A gamma ray detector below the neutron generator in the
tool measures the silicon activation when the tool logs upward
through a sand or gravel pack. Because fast neutron reactions
occur in close proximity to the tool, this process is sensitive to
the SiO2 density near the tool, and provides good sensitivity to
gravel-pack efficiency.
The thermal-neutron capture by aluminum oxide provides
information used in the assessment of Al 2O3 gravel packs.
Gravel packs are used in wells to control the production of
formation sand. A high-quality gravel pack is essential to sustaining production in wells that would normally tend to produce
formation sand.
Conventional gravel-pack evaluations use logging tools that
employ radioactive sources to measure the density of the pack.
These density measurements can become quite inaccurate when
high-density completion fluids are used with light gravel pack
material.
Silicon activation has been used successfully to determine
gravel-pack quality without the problems associated with conventional density-type tools. The modular design of the TMD-L
tool allows a second gamma ray detector to be placed 9 ft below
the neutron generator. At a logging speed of 5 to 10 ft/min, the
silicon-activation gamma rays can be measured to provide an
accurate evaluation of gravel pack quality.
The example in Fig. 11 is taken from a deep-water field in
the Gulf of Mexico. The silicon activation log was run to detect
major voids in the gravel pack. Track 3 of the log shows a plot
of the silicon-activation gamma rays, minus a background pass
to subtract gamma ray counts from iron activation in the casing.
The top of the screen is shown at Y180 ft, and the top of the pack
is clearly shown at Y025 ft. The Depth Track shows a plot of the
computed gravel pack percent, scaled 0 to 100%. Three major
voids were detected at Y280 ft, Y300 ft, and Y325 ft. It was
Personal Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank Charles R. Conley for graphics
work and Matt Varhaug for editorial assistance. The authors gratefully acknowledge the management of Halliburton Energy Services for allowing this paper to be published, as well as the operating companies that granted permission to publish their log examples.
Conclusions
This paper has shown how a modern pulsed neutron tool
can use spectral data and activation analysis to provide improvements in lithology determination, tight-vs-gas evaluation, gravelpack evaluation, and formation fluid analysis. This enhanced
capability greatly expands the range of applications available
for cased-hole reservoir monitoring and evaluation, and extends
the utility of pulsed neutron tools beyond that of earlier pulsed
neutron tools.
Nomenclature
Al = aluminium
FSIN = far spaced inelastic count rates
FTMD = far spaced formation count rates
GI = gas index
GR = gamma ray
NPHI = formation neutron porosity
NTMD = near spaced capture count rates
nTh = thermal neutron
OAI = oxygen activation indicator
p = proton
RHOB = formation bulk density (gm/cc)
RTMD = ratio of near to far detector capture count rates
RIN = ratio of near to far detector inelastic count rates
SGIN = intrinsic formation sigma
SGFM = formation sigma
Si = silicon
Sw = water saturation
BH = borehole sigma
FM = formation sigma
References
EVALUATING AND MONITORING RESERVOIRS BEHIND CASING WITH A MODERN PULSED NEUTRON TOOL
IN
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Formation Spectrum
BH
Decay Gates
Gates 1-32
each 10 s wide
Gates 33-48
each 20 s wide
Gates 49-60
each 50 s wide
Gate 61
10 s wide
1250 s
NB
0.0
NB
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
time (ms)
1.0
1.2
1.4
Background Spectrum
CCH00010
Background Gates
20
25
time (ms)
Fig. 1TMD-L Timing Gates: 61 decay-curve time gates, spanning 1250 ms, are shown in the upper half of the figure.
The lower half shows the arrangement of the tools three background gates. These background gates are 1-ms, 1-ms,
and 3-ms wide, respectively, spanning a total of 5-ms. The time spans for the spectral windows are shown above the
time gates: IN = inelastic spectrum, BH = borehole spectrum, and the formation spectrum are all shown at the upper
half of the figure, while the background spectrum is shown over the lower half of the figure. NB indicates the time frame
of the neutron burst.
SS DECAY SPECTRUM
SIGB
ABT
SIGF
AFT
FS DECAY SPECTRUM
=
94.3
= 34,493.0
=
15.6
= 12,875.9
SIGB
ABT
SIGF
AFT
1000
=
=
=
=
86.5
7,051.6
12.2
5,652.3
Counts
Counts
1000
100
100
CCH00062
10
10
200
200
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Inelastic Spectrum
Energy (MeV)
3
0.04
0.04
0.03
0.03
Normalized Count
0.02
0.01
0.02
0.01
0.00
0
20
40
60
80
Borehole Spectrum
Energy (MeV)
5
3
4
0.00
8
0.04
0.03
0.03
0.02
20
40
0.04
Normalized Count
Normalized Count
60
80
Background Spectrum
Energy (MeV)
5
3
4
0.02
0.01
0.01
CCH00065
Normalized Count
Formation Spectrum
Energy (MeV)
0.00
0.00
0
20
40
60
80
20
40
60
80
Fig. 3Typical spectra obtained with the new water-flow tool in a 12% limestone test formation. Three measurements
of 300 seconds each are shown in each diagram. The upper curve is magnified by a factor of 5 to emphasize the
spectral structure at high energy levels.
0.04
Limestone
Sandstone
0.03
0.02
0.01
0.00
X5
20
40
60
CCH00063
Normalized Count
EVALUATING AND MONITORING RESERVOIRS BEHIND CASING WITH A MODERN PULSED NEUTRON TOOL
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EVALUATING AND MONITORING RESERVOIRS BEHIND CASING WITH A MODERN PULSED NEUTRON TOOL
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Capture Spectra
0.012
Liquid Zone
Gas Zone
0.008
Increase due to
Chlorine
0.006
0.004
CCH00071
Normalized Counts
0.010
0.002
0
70
80
100
120
140
160
Channel
180
200
220
240
220
240
Gas
Interval
Liquid
Interval
Inelastic Spectra
0.014
Liquid Zone
Gas Zone
Normalized Counts
0.012
0.010
No Difference in
Carbon Peak
0.008
0.006
CCH00072
0.004
0.002
0
60
80
100
120
140
160
Channel
180
200
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Silicon Activation
Velocity/Spacing (1/min)
0.2
Vopt
c
b
0.1
d
a
CCH00069
Normalized Activity
Velocity = Velocity/Spacing*Spacing
0.0
0
10
20
30
Velocity/Spacing (1/min)
Oxygen Activation
40
12
EVALUATING AND MONITORING RESERVOIRS BEHIND CASING WITH A MODERN PULSED NEUTRON TOOL
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NEAR OAI
FAR OAI
NORMALIZED COUNTS
X,500
OBI
OAI
X,500
2
0
0
20
40
60
100
80
120
140
CHANNEL
160
200
180
220
240
260
Z,396
(hole)
NEAR OAI
FAR OAI
NORMALIZED COUNTS
OBI
OAI
Z,396
2
0
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
CHANNEL
160
180
200
220
240
260
Z,500
NEAR OAI
FAR OAI
NORMALIZED COUNTS
OBI
OAI
Z,500
2
CCH00066
0
0
20
40
60
80
100
140
120
CHANNEL
160
180
200
220
240
CCH00078
Depth
Result
Depth
Result
W500
X500
Z500
Y500
Z000
Z250
Z375
Downflow
Downflow
No flow
Downflow
Downflow
Downflow
Downflow
Z520
Z440
Z410
Z392
Z401
Z396
No flow
No flow
No flow
Downflow
No flow
Downflow
260
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