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Quantitative interpretation of carbonate reservoir rock using wireline logs: a case study from Central Luconia, offshore Sarawak, Malaysia

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Abstract

The current study focuses on the quantitative evaluation of petrophysical parameters of selected wells using wireline log data in Central Luconia, offshore Sarawak. Based on the relatively high resistivity and, low-neutron/-density log responses, three major zones are identified. These include gas-bearing zones (Zone-1 and Zone-3) and mixed zone (Zone-2). The gamma ray, neutron and density logs confirmed that Well A was composed of carbonate rocks ranging from limestone to dolomite. Zone-1 and Zone-3 consist of limestone, whereas Zone-2 contains dolomite. The average porosity of these zones (Zone-1, Zone-2 and Zone-3) are 15.7, 4.3 and 13.7%, whereas gas saturation is 83, 41 and 93%, respectively. The permeability values are 543 mD (Zone-1), 47.7 mD (Zone-2) and 601.5 mD (Zone-3). The water saturation value in Zone-2 is very high, up to 66% compared to Zone-1 and Zone-3 which are 17 and 7%, respectively. It is pertinent to mention that Zone-1 and Zone-3 contain movable gas (i.e., HC movability index is less than 0.7). Furthermore, bulk volume water values in three zones (0.012, 0.0083 and 0.009) indicate the presence of irreducible water. In contrast, pore-filled dolomite cement is mostly from Zone-2, indicating high water, low gas saturation, low porosity and less movability index values, which indicate the presence of high microporosity. Additionally, bulk volume water suggests that these micropores are saturated with irreducible water. High microporosity affects the wireline log response in Zone-2 and therefore provides misleading information.

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Abbreviations

\(I_{\text{GR}}\) :

Index gamma ray

\(P_{\text{b}}\) :

Formation bulk density

\(\varPhi_{\text{ND}}\) :

Neutron–density porosity

\(S_{\text{w}}\) :

Water saturation

\(R_{\text{w}}\) :

Resistivity of formation water

\(R_{\text{xo }}\) :

Shallow resistivity

\(a\) :

Tortuosity factor

\(V_{\text{Shale}}\) :

Volume of shale

\(P_{\text{ft}}\) :

Fluid density

\(\varPhi_{{{\text{Ncorrected}}}}\) :

Corrected neutron porosity

\(S_{\text{xo}}\) :

Water saturation of flushed zone

\(R_{\text{t }}\) :

True formation resistivity

\({\text{BVW}}\) :

Bulk volume water

\(m\) :

Cementation exponent

\(P_{\text{ma}}\) :

Apparent matrix density

\(\varPhi_{\text{D}}\) :

Density porosity

\(\varPhi_{\text{Dcorrected}}\) :

Corrected density porosity

\(S_{\text{h}}\) :

Hydrocarbon saturation

\(R_{\text{mf }}\) :

Resistivity of mud filtrate

\(K\) :

Permeability

\(n\) :

Saturation exponent

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. South East Asia Carbonate Research Laboratory (SEACaRL), Department of Geoscience, University Technology Petronas, 31750, Tronoh, Perak, Malaysia

    Hammad Tariq Janjuhah

  2. Department of Geoscience, University Technology Petronas, 31750, Tronoh, Perak, Malaysia

    Ahmed Mohammad Ahmed Salim & Abubaker Alansari

  3. Department of Earth Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, 45320, Pakistan

    Mumtaz Muhammad Shah

  4. Centre for Seismic Imaging (CSI), Department of Geoscience, University Technology Petronas, 31750, Tronoh, Perak, Malaysia

    Deva Ghosh

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  1. Hammad Tariq Janjuhah
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Correspondence to Hammad Tariq Janjuhah.

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Janjuhah, H.T., Salim, A.M.A., Shah, M.M. et al. Quantitative interpretation of carbonate reservoir rock using wireline logs: a case study from Central Luconia, offshore Sarawak, Malaysia. Carbonates Evaporites 32, 591–607 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13146-017-0361-6

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