Migration to Cased Hole Petrophysics: Are We Ready?

In the present Oil & Gas business context, the uncertainties reduction for hydrocarbon production increase in an operational costs and risk reduction scheme, are among the main drivers in several operating companies in the northern region of South America (Colombia & Ecuador). Electrical logging and drilling tools stuck events due to differential pressures, fishing operations, high wellbore tortuosity, difficult geometries and unconsolidated formations affecting wellbore stability, are among the main problems increasing non-productive time and operating costs. Minimizing open hole operations with a full migration to cased hole data acquisition, providing inputs for petrophysical uncertainty reductions without jeopardizing well completion decisions or initial reservoir characterization, would constitute an attractive solution for operators. Following those initiatives, we start by achieving a complete open hole formation evaluation and then migrating to case hole data acquisition and petrophysical assessment while benchmarking against open hole results. Low and variable formation water salinity, complex mineralogy's affecting resistivity and radioactive minerals, are common petrophysical challenges in our reservoirs. We had to implement Archie and salinity-independent formation evaluation solutions with cased hole technologies and in absence of open hole logs. The open hole petrophysics consist on simultaneous assessment of matrix and fluids saturations, while evaluating the oil mobility and water cut with the incorporation of multi-depth of investigation sensors in single logging runs (spectroscopy, dielectric dispersion, and magnetic resonance). We then moved to cased hole formation evaluation, with spectroscopy & nuclear-based petrophysics in gas, light oil, and heavy oil-bearing reservoirs. By implementation of non-archie fluids volumetric computation (that relies on conversion of dry weight total carbon to oil saturation and fast neutron cross section to gas saturation- done through a simultaneous inversion by solving matrix-porosity-fluids volumes into an elemental analysis), we obtained a representative formation saturation range behind casing. We then discussed on the different scenarios were migrating to cased hole is sustainable and its potential limitations.