Reservoir Engineering Equipment - Application of a Resistance Network for Studying Mobility Ratio Effects

Campbell and Martin1 described a new exploratory logging tool which was developed as the result of a new concept of the phenomenon that takes place when a porous formation containing mobile hydrocarbons and irreducible interstitial water is invaded by mud filtrate. They postulate that invasion will create a bank of interstitial water between the flushed zone and the undisturbed formation. This postulate was confirmed by Wyllie.' Thus, if R,, is greater than R, and mobile hydrocarbons are present, the resistivity profile with increasing radii from the borehole is high:low:high, as shown in Fig. 1. If mobile hydrocarbons are absent, the bank of interstitial water is indistinguishable from the undisturbed formation and the resistivity profile, when R is greater than R,, is high:low, as shown in Fig. 2. The zone containing the bank of interstitial water and residual oil was named the "low zone". Campbell and Martin conducted extensive electrolytic wedge and resistivity analog model studies to select a logging system that would reflect the presence or absence of the low zone. The system they selected was that of a family of lateral curves. The model studies indicated that the presence of a low zone could be detected in approximately 60 to 70 per cent of the producing sand reservoirs with a family of lateral curves provided that the sonde effectively occupies 90 per cent of the diameter of the hole. These studies were conducted with D, = 5d. The presence or absence of the low zone is best determined by a plot of the apparent resistivity vs spacing as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. A dip or inflection in the profile that repeats at successive depth intervals is considered diagnostic. To reduce the shunting effect of the hole and mud, a sonde of insulating material that is surrounded by a series of flexible rubber bumpers was designed. The bumper efficiency is considered to be the ratio of the bumper diameter to the hole diameter. Field tests conducted by Campbell and Martin on 10 wells with a tool that provided for station readings indicated that dips or inflections could be detected in 19 out of 25 known producing zones. INSTRUMENT DEVELOPMENT Halliburton developed a logging system to simultaneously and continuously record eight lateral curves. The instrumentation is described in the literature.' The original logs made