Logging and Log Interpretation - Radioactive Tracers in Oil Production Problems

The development process for the use of radioactive tracers as a means of locating zones of permeability is discussed. The general techniques for the safe handling of radioactive materials is given as developed by the Lane-Wells Co. and Well Surveys, Inc. The prob1em and. successes with tracers in waterflood systetns, oil and gas injection profiles, fracture sand tracing, squeeze (ement tracing. lost circulution, and cement top localion are discussed and illustrated. INTRODUCTION The exact location of the permeable zones lying within the productive horizon has been a major problem faced by the petroleum engineer for decades, and it has been a problem which has seldom been solved with certainty. Reservoir engineers usually have to incorporate a question mark in their estimates of future reservoir performance because of blanks in the core data. Although the use of radioactivity or electrical logs for the estimation of porosity has been of great assistance in furnishing a record for the reservoir engineer, this application of logging data has not completely solved the problem. In short, the industry needs an in-situ well surveying method which can locate and estimate the permeability of the zones existing within a given pay section. The initial development work with radioactive tracers has been towards filling the need for permeability information. Progress to date permits the location of permeable zones with a qualitative estimate of their relative importance with respect to permeability. The calibration of the method is still incomplete. but present development work on tracer preparations, borehole effect correction factors, and instrument limitations give a promise of quantitative "permeability profiles" in the near future. The development work on the radioactive tracer method discussed here began several years ago in the laboratories of Well Surveys, Inc., in Tulsa. At the outset of this work, three approaches to the problem were visualized as follows: 1. A fluid carrying a soluble, chemically inert, gamma ray emitting isotope is pumped down the borehole and out into the permeable zones of the formation. The greater gamma activity of the permeable zones thus permits them to be differentiated from the impermeable zones which contain no active tracer. It was found difficult to obtain a tracer material which was chemically inert. Absorption to some degree was noted in all experiments. Also, it proved impossible to hold the tracer near the horehole where it could be logged. 2. A fluid carrying a soluble, gamma ray emitting isotope is pumped down the borehole into the permeable formations. In contrast with proposal 1, above. the tracer is chemically active with the fluids and materials in the pore spaces of the permeable zones. The permeable zones are thus indicated by their higher radioactivity level. The main difficulty in this proposal was finding a tracer material which would not be absorbed by shale as well as in the permeable porosity. Very little field work was done with this system. 3. Radioactive particles suspended within the injection fluid are pumped down the well. As the fluid enters the permeable formations, the radioactive particles are filtered out on borehole wall. The permeable zones are differentiated from the impermeable by the gamma ray activity deposited on the formation wall.