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Squeezing more hydrocarbons out of an old field was the challenge. Effectively identifying new reserves in deeper zones was the solution.
12/10/08
The confidence developed through the use of image logging led to a new interpretation for faulting and new success at an old field.
both in characterization and subsequent development. The Goal is Met In addition to conventional triple combo open hole logging suites used on 30 of the 40 development wells drilled to an average depth of 8,300 feet into the lowermost zones, it is noteworthy that electrical microimage borehole logs also were acquired. We shot seismic over the field, and once we said heres our play and started to drill we put together the formation evaluation program with image logs right at the front of that, Lockman said. We needed to understand the geometries of the geologic structure, and that was the premise of running image logs up front. The program employed Halliburtons X-tended Range Micro Imager (XRMI) tool designed for fresh mud, as well as its predecessor the EMI. Information provided by the borehole image logs acquired at Inglewood has been used to:
Resolve thrust fault geometries in the Miocene. Interpret and re-map the subsurface below the Nodular Shale unit. Identify igneous units not distinguishable on conventional logs. Provide fracture characterization for use in successfully completing within igneous units. Refine the selections of intervals for perforation and stimulation within intervals of sand. The image logs gave us a way to evaluate the deep structure, Lockman noted. There were over 1,300 traditional well logs in the field from wells dating back to discovery, with 50 or so to the Sentous reservoir, the target of our deep drilling program. The issues were being able to map thrust features at those depths, because theres a lot of high angle beds with thickening and thinning shales, Lockman said. The image logs let us take a look at the structure and interpret it differently than before. Going in, that was our main goal, he noted. We were drilling in and around the Newport-Inglewood fault,
Reprinted with permission of the AAPG EXPLORER
a strike-slip feature that had been mapped down to the basement with complex folding on both sides of the fault. A Deeper Understanding The image logs, the company said, also proved invaluable to determine the best way to complete the wells and to look for recompletion opportunities. As an example, Lockman cited a re-completion effort that took place in the last year in the Sentous zone: There are some igneous rocks, volcanic facies there that we were able to identify on the image logs, and we also identified they were highly fractured, he said. We recompleted some of those wells in volcanics, which was not pay zone for us initially. The wells drilled in Pxp Inglewood deep development program underwent frac completions, which entailed shooting in perfs and fracing with a
frac sand behind that. To pick these perfs we also used the image logs to pick intervals we felt would take the perfs and take the fracs the best and give us the biggest advantage, Lockman said. We were sort of optimizing the perfs, so to speak. Lockman succinctly summarized the major role image logging played
in successfully dealing with the geology of the deeper, Lower Pliocene and Upper and Middle Miocene strata of the Inglewood field. Conventional triple combo logs and traditional dipmeters hadnt been able to decipher this complex geology, he noted. Image logging contributed with its capability to
identify structural details, such as small folds, overturned beds, fractured intervals, thrust-faulted intervals, igneous rocks and thinly laminated reservoir rocks. The confidence developed through the use of image logging led to a new interpretation for faulting of the Inglewood Field at depth, Lockman said. J
12/10/08