FORMATION EVALUATION: PULSED NEUTRON CAPTURE LOGS

EQUIPMENT AND APPLICATIONS

• Pulsed neutron capture (PNC) logs are the most important devices for evaluation of forma­tions
through casing. These tools are small diameter 1 11/16 in.(42.9mm) or less. They are designed for
through tubing operations and are often run without shutting in production from the well being
logged. These tools do not contain chemical neutron sources. Instead, they are electronically
pulsed and emit bursts of neutrons periodically.

• The pulsed neutron capture logs are primarily used for measurement of water saturation,
porosity, and presence of gas in the formation.2-s Many new applications have recently emerged,
some relating to measurements typically associated with fluid movement down­hole.
 Applications of the PNC measurement

1. Porosity
2. Water saturation
3. Gas detection
4. Location and monitoring of gas/oil and water/oil contacts
5. Correlation with open hole resistivity logs
6. Shale indicator
7. Evaluate changes in saturation due to zones watering out
8. Measure residual oil saturation (ROS)
9. Locate and select zones for recompletion

The above are the formation evaluation applications. The applications regarding fluid flow are listed below:
1. Waterflow in and near the wellbore by oxygen activation
2. Measure water holdup
3. Detect gas entry by inelastic count rate
4. Detect substantial gas channels
5. Locate zones of acid injection
6. Detect natural fractures with the gamma ray log
7. Locate injected water breakthrough when run with carbon/oxygen (C/O) log
 PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION

Tool Configuration

The typical PNC tool configuration is shown on the Figure below. The pulsed source or minitron emits a burst
of 14 million electron volts (mev) neutrons periodically at about 1,000 microsecond intervals. These neutrons
interact with the formation causing gamma ray emissions which may be detected at the two detectors. There is
a near (N) or short spaced (SS) detector and a far (F) or long spaced (LS) detector. The near is about 1 foot (30.5
cm) and the far is about 2 feet (61 cm) above the source. This spacing will vary among the ser­vice companies
and among the tool models.

Gamma Ray Detectors

The gamma ray (GR) detectors are typically sodium iodide (NaI) detectors, similar to those used for
conventional gamma ray logs.
 Formation Model
The formation consists of the rock matrix, effective porosity
filled with water and a hydrocar­bon, and shale.9•10 Note that the
effective porosity is used in this model and it specifically
excludes porosity associated with the shale. Shale porosity is
impermeable, contained within the shale rock, and not relevant
to saturation calculations.

NEAR SS DETECTOR

NEUTRON SOURCE
 FACTORS INFLUENCING THE SIGMA MEASUREMENT

• Borehole and Diffusion Effects

The service companies try to position the detectors of their tools to minimize borehole and diffusion effects. However,
such effects remain. Diffusion occurs due to expansion of the neutron cloud with time. It also occurs when the capture
cross section of the borehole significantly differs from the formation. When the thermal neutrons are captured in one
region, say the borehole, they then bleed or diffuse back into it from the formation,
thereby introducing spurious counts not related to formation sigma, and hence the result is in error.

• Logging Considerations
PNC logs are run at logging speeds of about 20-30 ft/min (6.1-9.1 M/min). Since discrete counts are measured, some
statistical variation is inherent in the measurement which affects repeatability. Weighted average multiple logging passes
with three to five logging runs is a technique commonly used to reduce such statistical variations. Reduced logging speeds
also accomplish the same objective.
The vertical resolution of PNC tools is about two feet. The resolution is limited by the source to detector spacing and the
algorithm used to smooth the data. The tool is not cen­tralized (except the Dual Burst TOT when run as the oxygen
activation Water Flow Log, WFL), and therefore is recentralized.
 FACTORS INFLUENCING THE SIGMA MEASUREMENT

•  Formation Water Salinity, Porosity, and Invasion

Formation water salinity and porosity are the most important factors affecting the suit­ability of PNC logs for an area. As
a rule of thumb, the minimum porosity and salinity are .15 and 50,000 ppm NaCl, respectively.

Another factor is the water in the formation. With a depth of investigation of 10 to 20 in. (25.4-50.8 cm), the PNC is very
sensitive to invasion. Invasion can occur when the interval of interest is in communication with wellbore fluids, either
through perforations, channels, holes in casing, and the like.
 POINTS TO REMEMBER

• PNC logs are through tubing devices.

• Wells do not have to be shut in (subject to safety considerations) prior to logging.
• PNC logs are used to measure porosity, water saturation, and detect gas.
• PNC logs can locate gas/oil and water/oil contacts.
• Time lapse PNC logging is useful to monitor changes in oil or gas saturation, movement of GOC or woe.
• PNC logs can determine Residual Oil Saturation, ROS, using a log-inject-log approach.
• PNC logs are frequently run to locate bypassed hydrocarbons in uncompleted zones prior to plugging and abandoning.
• PNC logs are useful for fluid movement monitoring.
• PNC tools use a pulse neutron source which emits 14 mev neutrons.
• Gamma rays from inelastic collision occur during the first tens of microseconds and are not used for capture measurements.
• Capture gamma rays arise primarily a few 10 of microseconds after the burst until about
1000 µs or more.
• The Near-Far count rate overlay is used for gas detection.
• The inelastic count rates are sensitive to wellbore fluids, especially gas.
• The PNC tools are not good lithology tools.
• The depth of investigation of the Sigma measurement is about 8 to 18 in. (20 - 45 cm).
• The best fluid in the wellbore is a high (greater than 50 kppm NaCl) salinity water.
• The worst fluid in the wellbore is a gas.
• Typical logging speeds are in the neighborhood of 20-30 ft/min (6-9 m/min).
FORMATION EVALUATION: NEUTRON LOGGING
NEUTRON LOGGING OVERVIEW

Applications and Mode of Operation

Neutron logs are used to evaluate formation porosity, detect gas, and as correlation logs between open and cased
hole when the gamma ray lacks character. The neutron logs are primarily responsive to two parameters, the
porosity and the hydrogen density of the pore fluid downhole. Hydrogen is present in water, oil, and gas. Both
water and oil have about the same hydrogen density, called hydrogen index, while a gas has a substantially lower
hydrogen index. When the pore space is filled with a liquid, either water or oil, the neutron logs measure porosity.

Neutron Interactions

Neutron logging tools use a chemical neutron source such as Americium-Beiyllium, AmBe. This provides a
continuous source of neutrons with initial energies of about 4.5 million electron volts (mev). Neutrons with such
energies are called “fast neutrons.” These fast neutrons collide with various nuclei in the formation and are
slowed down. When a collision with a neutron occurs, energy is lost to the other nucleus. It turns out that the
energy loss tends to be small unless the mass of the nucleus with which the neutron collides is about the same as
the neutron. Hydrogen is the only atom fitting this description and therefore the slowing down of such fast
neutrons is primarily a function of the number of hydrogen atoms per unit formation volume.
SINGLE DETECTOR NEUTRON TOOLS

Tool Configuration

The basic single detector neutron tool is shown on Figure

6.1.• This figure is split to show the difference in tool
response to low and high hydrogen content formations.
After fast neutron moderation phase, the neutrons are
epithermal for a very short time, after which they are
thermal for a long time and experience diffusion. The
propagation of neutrons is shown on the left for large
concentration of hydrogen, and on the right for a low
concentration of hydrogen. Where the neutrons have
moved farther out, there are more neutrons in the vicinity
of the detector and hence more counts.
The Log Response
The greater the neutron propagation or slowing down
length, the more counts detected at the detector. This is the
case since more neutrons are adjacent to the detector when
they move farther from the source. The greater the
hydrogen concentration, the smaller the neutron
propagation. Figure 6.2 schematically shows the response of
such a single detector neutron log to a variety of formation
and pore space conditions.^ Notice that the shales record
the fewest counts. This is due to the presence of hydrogen in
the form of OH hydroxyl radicals associated with the shale
matrix and a more limited shale porosity. The gas response
indicates a large neutron count rate, since gas has a low
hydrogen index and the neutrons propagate deeper into the
formation. Notice also that the lowest zone has essentially
the same response to both water and oil at the same
porosity. The hydrogen indices of water and oil are
approximately equal.^
Applications of a Single Detector Tool

When the gamma ray lacks character, it cannot be used to tie in the cased hole collar locator to the open hole logs. The
neutron log serves as an excellent substitute for this application. When run with a collar locator in cased hole, it can
easily be correlated with the open hole neutron log. Other applications of the neutron log are the location of clean gas
zones. However, the presence of the highly moderating shales could and often does mask gas zones.

The single detector tool can be used to estimate the porosity of the formation.
Hydrogen index of Formation Fluids

The hydrogen index, H, of a fluid is a measure of its hydrogen content per unit volume, i.e., hydrogen density. As
indicated earlier, neutron tools respond to hydrogen in the pore space and oil and water are nearly equal in their
hydrogen index.

Gas Effect
When gas is present in a zone, the effect is to show an erroneously low porosity. At first glance, this is due to the reduced
hydrogen content or hydrogen index of the gas. While this is true, the observed porosities are too low, even when the
lower hydrogen index is taken into account. The reason is that when gas is present, the neutron cloud is significantly
larger, causing more neutrons than expected to appear at the far detector. This results in a lower than expected ratio, and
lower than expected porosity indication.

Response to Shales

As discussed earlier, shales have hydrogen both as water in the pore space and as hydroxyl (OH) radicals attached to the
matrix (bound water). This excessive amount of hydrogen results in an erroneously high indication of porosity in shales.
In a nutshell, shales are rocks with a lot of hydrogen content not related to porosity.
POINTS TO REMEMBER

• Neutron logs are used as correlation logs between open and cased hole.
• Neutron logs are used to measure porosity.
• Neutron logs can detect gas.
• Neutron logs are used to monitor gas cap movement or gas encroachment.
• Neutron logs may be helpful at locating sources of sand production.
• Neutron logging tools use chemical AmBe neutron sources.
• Neutrons primarily are affected by hydrogen in the formation.
• The main hydrogen in the formation is in pore fluids.
• Single detector neutron tools may be used for porosity evaluation.
• Dual detector neutron tools measure liquid filled porosity.
• Shales appear to have erroneously high porosities.
• Gas zones appear to have erroneously low porosities.
• Hydrogen index is an indication of the bulk hydrogen density of a fluid.
• Water and oil have hydrogen indices of about 1.0.
• Gas has a low hydrogen index.