Transition Zone Geosteering

Fredrik Jonsbrten
Berle, A.E., Jensen, K.R., Thorsen, A.K., 2010: Transition Zone
Geosteering. EAGE Geosteering & Well Placement Workshop, November
2010, Dubai, UAE.

Berle, A.E., Gjengedal, J.A., Ahmadhadi, F., Thorsen, A.K., 2010:
Determining the Oil-Water Contact while Drilling above the Transition Zone
in Long Horizontal Wells (...). SPWLA 51st Annual Logging Symposium,
June 2010, Perth, Australia.

Sverhagen, E., Erichsen, C., Jensen, K.R., Rnning, K.J., Sb, A.,
Bakka, M., 2009: How to Avoid Shale Intervals in the Grane Reservoir (...).
2009 SPE ATCE, October 2009, New Orleans, USA.

Helgesen, T.B., Thorsen, A.K., Kroken, A., Rnning, K.J., Hass, A.-M.,
2006: Real-Time J-Function Determination and Optimal Well Placement
(...). SPWLA 47th Annual Logging Symposium, June 2006, Veracruz,
Mexico.

Acknowledgements
1. Wellbore Placement Strategies

2. Transition Zone Theory

3. Case History: The Troll Field

4. Summary

Outline

Wellbore Placement Strategies
Aquifer drive

Wellbore Placement Strategies
Gas cap expansion or gas injection

Wellbore Placement Strategies
Aquifer & gas cap / dual injection

Wellbore Placement Strategies
Compartmentalization / Production influence

Capillary Pressure, p
c
Transition Zone Basics
r
p p p
wetting wetting non c
u cos 2
= =

Young-Laplace Equation
Capillary Pressure is the pressure difference across the
interface between two immiscible fluids.


p
c
= capillary pressure = surface tension
= wetting angle r = effective radius of interface
| | gh P S h S
g
P
h
gh S P
o w c w w
o w
C
o w w c
) ( ) (
) (
) ( ) (
1



= =

=
=

Saturation-Height Function
< 90
Wetting phase
Non-wetting phase
Free Water Level (FWL):
The elevation where the capillary
pressure is zero.
FWL
Transition Zone Basics
Rocks contain a variety of capillary
tubes (pore throats) with different
radii; all with different capillary
action.
Within a larger volume of rock, this
gives rise to a transition zone with
gradually diminishing S
w
upward,
represented by the capillary pressure
curve.
S
w
[fraction]
S
w i

0
FWL = 0
Capillary treshold pressure
C
a
p
i
l
l
a
r
y

P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e
,


P
c

=

f

(

h
F
W
L


)

c
wi w
P
S S
1
n
w
w
m
t
t
w
m
t
w
n
w
S
R a
R
R
R a
R
R
F S
u
=
u
= =
Archies Equation
P
c
/ S
w
and Resistivity

c
wi w
P
S S
Gamma Ray
S
w
[fraction]
1-S
o i
S
w i

0 1
FWL = 0
Capillary treshold pressure
C
a
p
i
l
l
a
r
y

P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e
,

P
c

=

f

(

h
F
W
L


)

Saturation
Transition Zone:
Saturation vs height above FWL is
governed by P
c
. The shape of the
capillary pressure curve is
determined by pore throat size
distribution.
Full oil saturation:
Lithology determines the level of
irreducible (bound) water.
Resistivity (Rt)
Z
O
N
E

1
:

T
R
A
N
S
I
T
I
O
N

Z
O
N
E

Z
O
N
E

2
:

F
U
L
L

O
I
L

S
A
T
U
R
A
T
I
O
N

Case History: The Troll Field
5km TROLLWEST
OILPROVINCE
TROLLWEST
GASPROVINCE
TROLLEAST
WEST 31/2-5 31/2-1 31/3-1
EAST
DEPTH
m
MSL
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
DraupneFm.
Sognef j
o
rdFm.
Fensf j
o
rdFm.
Krossf j
o
rdFm.
L. Heather Fm.
Upper
Jurassic
Sand
(IntheTroll Field)
Gas
Oil
Quaternary
Tertiary
CretaceousShetlandGp.
DraupneFm.
M-U
JurassicSst.
Brent Gp.
Troll W-Ecrosssection
DunlinGp.
Statf j
o
rdFm.
Troll West Oil Province
22-26m oil column
Oil: 155 MSm3
Gas: 25 GSm3
Troll West Gas Province
8-13m oil column
Oil: 500 MSm3
Gas: 510 GSm3
Troll East
0-8m oil column
Oil: 180 MSm3
Gas: 1100 GSm3
o Very high permeability.
o Primarily gas cap expansion drive.
o Extensive sub-sea development.
o Optimum placement: 0-1m above FWL.
o Geosteering mostly on conventional resistivity.
o Empirical models for resistivity vs. height above FWL.
o More than 600,000m of horizontal reservoir section to date.

-1,0
-0,5
0,0
0,5
1,0
1,5
2,0
2,5
3,0
0,1 1 10 100
H
e
i
g
h
t

a
b
o
v
e

O
W
C

[
m
]

2MHz PD Resistivity [ohm.m.]
Case History: The Troll Field
S
w
[fraction] S
wi

0
FWL
H
e
i
g
h
t

a
b
o
v
e

F
W
L

1
1-S
o i

Case History: The Troll Field
< 140cm >200cm
Case History: The Troll Field
Case History: The Troll Field
Case History: The Troll Field
Case History: The Troll Field
RESULTS
6 horizontals geosteered with
azimuthal resistivity @ 2-3m from
FWL.
More than 20,000m of reservoir.
Accurate mapping of OWC position.
Removed the requirement to verify
the OWC position by steering down.
1 well geosteered with the same
method within a 1.3m oil column.
Summary
Geosteering within, or close to, the O-W transition zone with
resistivity measurements is feasible
In very long horizontal sections.
In areas with highly variable OWC levels.
Multiple depths of investigation + response modelling =
High degree of accuracy and flexibility.
Azimuthal resistivity measurements can improve the accuracy of
stand-off calculations.
The transition zone resistivity profile is not static and may change
significatly with changing reservoir properties and moving fluid
contacts.
Thank you!
Fredrik Jonsbrten
Baker Hughes
fredrik.jonsbraten@bakerhughes.com