SPE 134076

Integrated Formation Evaluation in an Anisotropic Reservoir Offshore Deep

Water Indonesia Using a Combination of Image Logs, WFTs and Mini DSTs for
Pay and Hydrocarbon Definition
Graziano Capone, Eni Indonesia; Alfio Malossi, eni E&P GEOP; Maurizio Mele, Chantipna Damronsak, and Antonio
Valdisturlo, eni E&P GICA; and Enzo Beretta, Alice Clementi, and Basil Al Shamma, eni E&P RESM

Copyright 2010, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition held in Florence, Italy, 19–22 September 2010.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been reviewed
by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its officers, or
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Abstract
Reservoir characterization of laminated turbiditic sequences is often problematic due to the highly
anisotropic setting, which affects the formation evaluation from conventional LWD, wireline logs and
mudlog data. The reservoir, fluid content and pay petrophysical parameters are usually under-
estimated. Time and cost constraints can prohibit the utilization of new generation high resolution tools
and to perform conventional DSTs.
An oil and gas bearing well in deep water Indonesia was accurately evaluated with a relatively low
time and cost investment in formation evaluation and data acquisition. Pay, porosity and water
saturation were calculated by integrating high resolution image logs with standard wireline logs. An
ample dataset of reliable formation pressures and fluid samples were obtained in a thin bed
environment from Wireline Formation Testing (WFT) utilizing standard and large size probes.
Mini DSTs were carried out to characterize reservoir and fluid properties. Thin beds were recognized
using an imaging log in oil base mud and through a Thin Layer Analysis (TLA) approach the net sand
calculation was enhanced. The TLA result was cross-checked with an electrofacies profile obtained using
standard well logs (density, neutron and gamma ray) and calibrated with the sedimentological core
description from other wells. In the final net sand computation beds not corresponding with actual
reservoir facies were not considered so that only the effective reservoir was included.
The result of this integrated approach resulted in an increase in the net pay evaluation in
comparison with the conventional formation evaluation, and confirmed the high potential of non-
conventional pay in a deep water environment. An exhaustive reservoir and fluid characterization was
also achieved without coring and conventional DSTs.

1. Introduction and Operating Constrains

Eni Indonesia operates deep water blocks in the Tarakan Basin, North Kalimantan, down
to 4500 ft water depth.
Deep water drilling were conducted in a remote area, more than 500 km from the nearest
operating base. An appraisal well was drilled during the 2009 drilling campaign in 4000 ft
water depth, to confirm the discovery of oil and gas sand reservoir and investigate the
presence of possible deeper pool pay as interpreted by seismic and geological model.
2 SPE 134076

Figure 1. Location Map

Operations were conductet in order to minimize the impact of logistic to contract

management. All formation evaluation acquisition was focused on evaluating the main thick
reservoirs, with the goal to reduce rig time and avoiding risks connected to long wireline
operations. Mudlogging (Gas while drilling) and LWD quick look interpretation were utilized to
focuse and optimize the wireline acquisition and interpretation. All target were evaluated while
drilling and reservoir informations were integrated by wireline logs. All wireline operations in
non target sections were eliminated, and recorded only on 12” ¼ (main reservoir) and 8” ½
section (possible new pools) to a maximum TD of 10400 ft.
All formation evaluation contracts (mudlogging, LWD and wireline) were managed as
lump-sum sevice for standard acquisitions. Mudlogging utilizes standard chromatograph
associated to an immersion gas trap. LWD tools were standard type. No wireline high
resolution tools were made available at the rig site except for the oil base imager and the
modular formation tester. No DST’s were planned.

2. Geological Setting

Objective of the drilling activity on 2008-209 campaign were the pliocene turbiditic
sediments, in syntectonic deposited deformed channels systems. The trap type is mixed
stratigraphic and tectonic. The sand distribution is generally not homogeneous along the
channel axis and in the interconnected lobes. Based on the discovery well data, the main
reservoir sand bodies were expected to reach thickness of 10 to 25 m maximum, by analogy
SPE 134076 3

in seismic attributes. The seismic response shows also for the deeper horizons good anomalies
related to hydrocarbon accumulations. Seismic resolution is unable to estimate the sand
lateral continuity and reservoir thickness, due to the presence of hydrocarbon also in thin and
laminated sand bodies. The lateral and vertical anisotropy is enphasized by alternation of
thick and laminated reservoirs, and by the tectonic stresses. Overpressured hydrocarbon
accumulations in presence of tectonic disturbance contributes to create ambiguous seismic
response.

3. Operation Management and Drilling Result

During the perforation in the 8” ½ section the presence of sand was quite constant,
diffused, but never exceding 10-20 %. Gas shows were generally low entity, with evidences of
connection gas due to increase of the pore pressure regime. Recycling gas was also defined
from gas while drilling anlaysis. Several reservoirs were defined by LWD data, but only few
sand bodies were detected. Resistivity was generally depressed with values below 10 ohmm
and density neutron shown a very limited hydrocarbon effect.
The stratigraphic facies were interpreted as mainly thin beds and laminated sequences.
Based on this interpretation the well has being deepened down to 11640 ft. A total of 3100 ft
of open hole were drilled.
The wireline standard triple combo confirmed the LWD data, and a high resolution oil base
imager was run to define the real net sand pay and assest the wireline formation testing
acquisition. The presence of laminated sequences was identified and an intensive wireline
formation test (WFT) campaign was planned to verify fluid gradient, reservoir mobility and
collect fluid samples.
4 SPE 134076

Figure 2. Mudlog and LWD

The formation testing string was equipped with one standard probe and one large pad
brobe, in order to drain the laminated sequence and reduce the risk of dry test. A fluid
analyzer plus pump out systm were utilized for fluid identification and sampling.
A total of 57 pretest were attempted. Of them only 8 resulted dry, with an average of 72
md/cp drawdown mobility. All fluid identification and sampling operations were successful and
confirmed the fluid gradient interpreted from pressure data.
SPE 134076 5

Sequence 1

Sequence 2

Sequence 3

Figure 3. Wireline Formation Testing Interpretation

The WFT data defined several separates mega-sequences, devided by pressure and/or
fluid barriers.
Based on the WFT three mini DST were planned. The mini DST string was specially
designed for wireline operations, minimizing the tool weight and lenght to minimize the risk to
get the tool stuck, and maximizing the pump efficiency, in order to obtain the maximum flow
rate with the minimum Δp (differential pressure) to obtain valuable data and minimize the
formation fluid volume pumped to the borehole.
The total operation time for three mini DST in wireline was of 22 hrs, while the same
operation using pipe conveyed (TLC) was estimated to be around 50 hrs.
6 SPE 134076

Phase Contract Technology Operating Real Time Elaboration /

Time Processing
Standard drilling parameters
Mudlog + High resolution gas Gas While Drilling
While
chromatograph 150 hrs
Drilling
Standard GR – Resistivity – QC and preliminary
LWD
Density Neutron petrophysical analysis
Standard GR – Resistivity – Quick Look Petrophysical
Density Neutron analysis
Image Log - Sonic Static and dynamic image
WFT with high large probe,
Wireline Wireline Fluid ID, high efficiecy pump 55 hrs
Real Time Interpretation
out, PVT and standard
sampling chambers
Borehole Seismic Veocily corridor stack
Real Time Monitoring and
Mini DST Mini DST Wireline 22 hrs
preliminary interpretation
Table 1. 8” ½ Formation Evaluation Operational Sequence

A total of 9.5 days required to drill and perfom data acquisition in 3100 ft of 8” ½ open
hole section.

4. Basic Formation Evaluation

A conventional quick look shaly sand approach, with a standard wireline log set (density,
neutron, gamma ray and resistivity), was applied at the first step for the formation
evaluation, using the Indonesia equation to estimate the water saturation (Sw). However,
the result was affected by two orders of problems:
- the net sand calculation was scarcely realistic, due to the presence of in the reservoir facies
of thin (millimeters to centimeters thick) sand/shale lamination, typical of diluted turbiditic
deposits, detected using an electrical imaging log but not captured by the standard well
logs (due to their poor vertical resolution). This problem was successfully tackled using an
integrated approach involving all the available data (sedimentological facies from cores,
electrofacies from standard wireline logs and Thin Layer Analysis from imaging log)

- the computed Sw, relatively high, and the calculated net sand, were poorly consistent with
the data coming from nearby, already drilled wells. Moreover, the Sw from conventional
interpretation did not match the results of both wireline formation tester (WFTs) and Mini
DST, which revealed by sampling the presence of hydrocarbons. This problem is still due to
the lamination, causing a marked electrical anisotrophy and consequently depressing the
resistivity readings in the sandy reservoir layers. This problem may be resolved using a
resistivity modeling: however, due to the time constrain and lack of software support, this
kind of approach could not be applied in this well.

The figure below (Figure-1) shows the conventional interpretation result in laminated
reservoir interval. An average Sw from Computer Processed Interpretation (CPI) was 65% but
both WFTs and Mini DST reported the oil flow.
SPE 134076 7

Figure 4. Conventional shaly sand CPI plot with Log Facies and Image Log.

5. Advanced Formation Evaluation

In order to overcome the problems of reservoir definition, getting a more realistic

formation evaluation, an integrated interpretation involving conventional log , high resolution
image log and Log Facies from cluster analysis was introduced.
Thin layer analysis
A Thin Layers Analysis (TLA) was performed using the electrical responses of the imaging
log, in order to optimize the net sand/ net pay calculation throughout reservoir interval. TLA is
a methodology based on the definition of a flexible threshold to be compared to a
classification log, in order to separate sand from shale (therefore providing a dual-component
result). After this preliminary classification, further improvements may be obtained by
analyzing the local variations of the classification log. In this study, the conductivity log from
an high resolution image tool for oil base mud has been used for sand and shale identification.
Log Facies Prediction
Log-derived electrofacies were defined using a Cluster Analysis approach. The input logs
for the automatical clustering procedure were gamma ray, density and thermal neutron
porosity. The density-neutron separation, computed as follows:
DNDF = DEN - [2.71 - (NEUT/0.60)]
was used as an additional log for a better sand/shale discrimination. The data for the cluster
analysis were selected from key wells where core data are available. A hierarchic clustering
algorithm (Ward’s method) was used for an automatical classification. This first cluster model
has initiated with 30 classes which were finally grouped to 6 classes. The manual grouping
procedure was guided using petrophysical parameters such as Phie (Effective Porosity), Vsh
8 SPE 134076

(Shale Volume) and MKCAL (Synthetic Permeability) , in order to define facies with
homogeneous petrophysical characters. Figure-2 shows the cluster model on Neutron-Density
Crossplot.

5
4

(A) (B)
FACIES LEGEND
GR NEUT DEN DNDF PHIE VCL MKCAL
1 CLAY
2 SILTY CLAY
3 SILTY SAND
4 SAND 1
5 SAND 2
6 SAND 3

Figure 5. Result of the cluster analysis. The log data distribution and the log-facies
characterization is shown on the density-neutron cross plot (facies are highlighted by colours,
as in the legend). (A) distribution of the log data used for the cluster analysis; (B) distribution
of the log data used as a guide for the cluster grouping.
Figure 6 and Figure 7 show the Log-Facies profile from cluster analysis correlated with the
Core-Facies profile from the sedimentological analysis for well-A and well-B. Log Facies and
Core Facies are presented in tracK 7 and tracK 8 respectively. The Core-facies are defined as
follows:
SPE 134076 9

Core facies

1 – clay
2 – bioturbated siltstone
3 – bioturbated sandy siltstone
4 – siltstone with very thin ripple-laminated
streaks of very fine silty sandstone
5 – slump units (mostly mud)
6 – very fine silty sandstone or sandy
siltstone, bedded, laminated
7 – “muddy sandstone” matrix-rich
8 – thin bedded sands, rippled, bioturbated
9 – medium bedded sands, bioturbated
10 – thin bedded sands, ripple laminated
11 – medium bedded sands, graded and
laminated

The Log-facies from cluster analysis have been validated versus Core-facies using a
contingency analysis (Figure-5). This kind of statistical analysis allows to assess the rate of
correspondence between a “test” classification (in this case the Log-facies) and a reference
classification (in this case the Core-facies). In Figure-5 both the facies classifications are
grouped to reach the best fit. The maximum frequencies are distributed along the diagonal of
the square matrix, showing a good correspondence of the grouped facies. The matrix
normalized by column totals allows to assess the recognition rate of Core-facies by the Log-
facies (as it shows the distribution of Core-facies within each Log-facies). The matrix
normalized by row totals (showing the distribution of Log-facies within each Core-facies)
allows to calculate the reconstruction rate of Core-facies by Log-facies. Both the recognition
and the reconstruction rate matrices are reasonably similar, pointing out a fair to good
correspondence of the two classifications:
Log-facies 1 is an expression of Core-facies 1 (clay)
Log-facies 2+3 are an expression of Core-facies 2 to 8 (thin-bedded turbidites from
diluted flows)
Log-facies 4+5+6 are an expression of Core-facies 9+10+11 (thick-bedded turbidites)
Taking into account this facies correspondence, as well as the core and the test data, it
was possible to separate the reservoir Log-facies (no. 3 to 6) from the non-reservoir facies
(no. 1+2)
10 SPE 134076

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

MDT
PERM
SYNTHETIC PERM
CORE AIR PERM.

Figure 8. Comparison between Log Facies (track 7) and Core Facies (track 8) n Well-A.
SPE 134076 11

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

MDT
PERM
SYNTHETIC PERM

CORE AIR PERM.

Figure 9. Log Facies and Core Facies comparison in Well-B.

Figure 10. Contingency analysis between Log Facies and Core Facies
12 SPE 134076

6. Advanced FE: Thin Layers Analysis (TLA) and Integrated Interpretation

TLA sand flag has been defined using high resolution conductivity curve borehole image
log. However the standard application of this software produced too much sand at the
preliminary calculation, due to the presence of noise or insignificant features on high
resolution conductivity curve. A filter re-sampling from 1 cm to 4 cm was then applied to the
TLA sand, in order to remove the beds which are derived by spikes (noises) from the tool
reading, which could affect the sand count. The figure-6 below shows the preliminary TLA
sand after applied the filter, plotted on track 8 of the presentation display.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

SAND FLAG FROM TLA

(FILTERED BY FACIES)
SAND FLAG FROM TLA
(RESAMPLED)

Figure 11. TLA sand flag, filtered using the log-facies(track 9).

The Log-facies were then used as an additional criterion to recognize the reservoir
intervals: the TLA sand log was filtered by log facies class 3, 4, 5 and 6 to select only the
true reservoir facies. The final TLA sand flag after filtered by facies log shown on the figure-6,
plotted on track 9.
At the end of this integrated work flow, the net sand/net pay has been increase more than
80% respect to the net pay computed from conventional interpretation. However it have to
take into account that NET PAY derived from the filtered TLA output is just a lithological net
pay and it is does not take into account Sw evaluation. Hence this NET PAY evaluation should
include also those intervals in which the Sw calculated is over the Sw cut off and bypassed by
the conventional evaluation.
SPE 134076 13

7. Mini DST Operations.

MiniDST is a well-known technology used worldwide to evaluate reservoir and fluids
properties. By the means of a dual-packer assembly one-meter interval of the borehole can be
isolated both in open and cased hole.
Fluid samples suitable for PVT analysis can be collected. Downhole optical analyzers,
monitoring in real-time the fluid composition, enable to start a representative sampling when
low level of contamination is achieved.
The analysis of the pressure response acquired with high resolution quartz gauges,
provides the main formation evaluation targets: reservoir pressure, local permeabilities and
skin. As the tool can be set repeatedly at different depths, different layers can be thoroughly
investigated in a single run.
In the last decades miniDST are gaining more and more popularity as possible alternatives
to well testing in explorations and appraisal activities [1, 2, 3]. Reasons include cost/time
savings, no hydrocarbon flaring due to environmental constraints, safety.
Along with economics constraints, the technology was adopted in the present work
because it is very suitable to characterize thin laminated lithologies with high degree of
vertical heterogeneity and to assess potential fluid segregation.
The tool string included the following modules:
ƒ CFA (Compositional Fluid Analyzer, providing C1, C2-C5, C6+, CO2, GOR/GLR and
fluorescence) positioned above the upper pump-out to monitor the fluid behaviour after
pumping operation,
ƒ Two pump-out: the lower for packer inflating/deflating, the upper for pumping the
formation fluid,
ƒ LFA (Live Fluid Analyzer providing GOR, contamination, colour, fluid fraction and gas
detection), positioned below the upper pomp-out, to monitor the fluid behaviour from
the reservoir,
ƒ Dual packer assembly, including high resolution P/T quartz gauges
ƒ Two 1-gal sample chambers.
After wireline logs and RFT survey, the tool string was RIH and three miniDST were
performed as depicted in Figure 6.1.

Fig. 12. Location depths on miniDSTs.

14 SPE 134076

The design Charts developed by eni [4] were used to demonstrate the feasibility of
miniDSTs and to optimize the durations of each test sequence.
Table 2 shows some details on the test sequences.

miniDST1 miniDST2 miniDST3

Draw Down Duration (min) 60 50 60
Pumped Volume (cm3) 4970 39260 47600
Build-Up Duration (min) 60 60 60
Fluid sampling yes no yes
Table 2. miniDSTs Test Sequences.

8. Mini DST Interpretation.

Table 3 and Table 4, respectively summarize the petrophysical and PVT input data. PVT
data were estimated by using literature correlations. Surface properties (oil viscosity, API
gravity, GOR and gas gravity) were gathered from flash calculation on the RFT downhole
samples.

miniDST1 miniDST2 miniDST3

Net pay (ft) 4 4 12
Porosity (%) 20 13 24
Oil Saturation (%) 60 50 70
Water Saturation (%) 40 50 30
Table 3. Petrophysical Input Data.

miniDST1 miniDST2 miniDST3

Reservoir Pressure (psia) 5790 5712 5188
Reservoir Temperature (°F) 160 165 150
Oil formation volume factor (RB/STB) 1.5 2.26 1.5
Oil viscosity (cp) 0.7 0.25 0.6
Oil Gravity (°API) 32.7 45 37
Oil compressibility, co (1/psi) 1.24E-5 3.35E-5 1.28E-5
Total compressibility, ct (1/psi) 1.29E-5 2.2E-5 1.32E-5
Table 4. PVT Input Data.

Figure 13 to Figure 15 show the log-log diagnostic plot of the final build-up and the
matched pressure history of each miniDST.
SPE 134076 15

MiniDST 1. Almost instantly radial flow stabilization was detected on the build-up
derivative: neither partial penetration effect nor wellbore storage was seen at early time. This
proves a highly laminated zone where the pay thickness is comparable with the interval
isolated between packers. An anomalous trend in the derivative can be recognized between
0.2 minutes to about 60 minutes, after that the original radial flow stabilization is recovered.
Such anomaly does not represent a physical reservoir response but it is most likely due to
borehole-vs-tool effects.
MiniDST 2. Similarly to miniDST1, no partial penetration effects and no wellbore storage
were seen at early time. Middle time behaviour of the derivative was matched assuming a
radial composite model due to radial worsening of the flow capacity. Two alternative
hypotheses were considered: radial composite due to the presence of gas in the inner near-
wellbore zone and dual permeability effects. The presence of gas was ruled out because
(assuming a constant permeability) the viscosity ratio oil/gas should be in the order of 25,
while the mobility ratio required to match the derivative is about 4. The dual permeability
model is not a realistic scenario because it is unlikely to have vertical cross flow between
highly laminated layers in such short time. The final radial flow stabilization can be detected
after approximately 10 minutes.
MiniDST 3. A negligible partial penetration is present at early time (-1/2 slope). Full
radial flow stabilization developed after 0.1 min and remains clearly evident up to about 10
min. Afterwards, due to the gauge resolution, the pressure derivative becomes more and
more scattered.
Discussion. Table 6.6 summarizes the quantitative interpretation output. Flow capacity
results confirm the vertical heterogeneity of the reservoir: minimum k·h value of about 80
md·ft was measured in the intermediate tested interval, a maximum of one order of
magnitude more (1300 md·ft) was measured in the upper tested interval.
CFA composition and GOR are presented Table 6.5.

Figure 13. MiniDST 1. Log-Log Plot and Matched Pressure History.

16 SPE 134076

Figure 14. MiniDST 2. Log-Log Plot and Matched Pressure History.

Figure 15. MiniDST 3. Log-Log Plot and Matched Pressure History.

C1 C2-5 C6+ CO2 GOR CGR

wt% wt% wt% wt% cft/bbl bbl/cft
miniDST1 9.7 5.2 85.1 0 860 1160x10-6
miniDST2 52 16.8 31.2 0 11740 85x10-6
miniDST3 11.9 4.9 83.2 0 1040 962x10-6
Table 5. CFA Composition and GOR.
SPE 134076 17

miniDST1 miniDST2 miniDST3

Extrapolated pressure (psia) 5798 5712 5188
Pore Pressure Gradient (psi/ft) 0.56 056 0.56
Effective Flow Capacity (mD ft) 200 80 1300
Effective Permeability (mD) 53 23 110
Intrapacker Skin 1 3 9
Radius of investigation (ft) 175 160 140
Table 6. Quantitative Interpretation Output

9. New reserves evaluation and reservoir productivity.

Based on the result of the integrated evaluation, new seismic maps were produced and
volumetric estimated. Mini DST’s demonstrate the productivity of non conventional pay
(capacity to well flow). The total hydrocarbon in place is now computed including sand and silt
count on the net hydrocarbon (thin layers and laminated facies).
The results of this methodological approach are now under application for the re-
evaluation of the previous drilled wells, where similar facies were encountered and not
considered in the final hydrocarbon in place computation.
On deep water and remote locations, an integrated multidisciplinary and well managed
approach, could improve well results also avoiding high costs of expensive hi-tech wireline
logs and well testing.

References

1. T. M. Whittle, J. Lee, A. C. Gringarten: “Will Wireline Formation Tests Replace Well

Tests?”, SPE 84086, SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition held in Denver,
Colorado, USA, 5-8 October 2003.
2. Hani Elshahawi, Robert H. Hite, and Melton P. Hows. “The State of Optimum Value
Testing – The Vision and the Reality”, IPTC 12075, presented at the International
Petroleum Technology Conference held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 3-5 December 2008.
3. E. Beretta, A. Tiani, G. Lo Presti, F. Verga: “Value of Injection testing as an Alternative
to Conventional Well Testing: Field Expereince in a Sour-Oil Reservoir”, SPE 100283-
PA-P, first presented at the 2006 SPE Europec/EAGE Annual Conference and Exhibition,
Vienna, Austria, 12-15 June 2006.
4. C. Bertolini, G. Tripaldi, E. Manassero, E. Beretta, D. Viberti, and F.Verga: “A Cost
Effective and User Friendly Approach for mini-DSTs Design”, SPE122886, 2009 SPE
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8-11 June 2009.