A

Shales

Shales

Schlumberger 1999

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Shales

shales
Matrix

Shale

Porosity

Clean formation

Structural shale

Porosity

Matrix

Matrix

Laminar shale

Dispersed shale
Porosity
Shale

Porosity

Matrix

Shale

Porosity

Shale

Matrix

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Shales

clay minerals

Kaolinite
Illite
Smectite
Chlorite

N (thermal) Pe

2.54
2.52
2.02
2.73

59.6
47.9
87
59.6

1.85
3.97
1.70
4.07

Most shales are comprised of these clay minerals.

Clay minerals frequently occur together in
"mixed layers", e.g. Illite - Montmorillonite.
Kaolinite
Illite
Smectite
Chlorite

Al, Si, little K

K, Fe, Mg, Si
Very high porosity.
Fe, Mg, no K

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Shales

Shale and Logs

Shales have properties that have important
influences on log readings:
They have porosity.
The porosity is filled with salted water.
They are often radioactive.
Resistivity logs exhibit shales as low resistivity
zones.

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Shales

Shale and Logs continued

Neutron porosity logs exhibit shales as high
porosity.

Density and sonic logs react to the porosity and

matrix changes.
Gamma ray logs react to shale radioactivity.
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Shales

Shale Corrections
The electrical properties of shales greatly
influence the calculation of fluid saturations.
A layer of water close to the clay surface is
electrically charged.
Archie's equation assumes that the formation
water is the only electrically-conductive material
in the formation.
The clay layer requires an additional term in the
saturation equation.
Porosity tools can be corrected for the shale
effect. An "effective porosity" can be computed
as compared to a "total porosity" which includes
the shale effect.

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Shales

Shale Volume 1
The volume of shale must be computed to correct
the tool readings.
This is achieved using simple equations such as:

Vcl

GRlog GRmin
GRmax GRmin

or

Vcl

SPlog SPmin
SPmax SPmin

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Shales

Shale Volume 2
However, as every tool reacts to shale, each tool is
a shale indicator. For example:

b wS w h 1 S w ma 1 Vcl clVcl

Shale volume can be computed from different

sources and from crossplots of different kinds of
log data.

The ideal method of computing shale volume is to

use the Neutron Density plot.

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Shales

Single curve - Shale Volume

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