Shale Volume

Schlumberger
Contents
E1.0 SHALY FORMATIONS.................................................................................................................1

E1.1 INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................................1
E1.2 POROSITY IN SHALY FORMATIONS.....................................................................................3
E1.3 EVALUATION OF SHALE VOLUME (VSH)................................................................................4
(05/96)
Introduction to Openhole Logging
(05/96)
Schlumberger
E1.0
Shaly Formations
E1.1 INTRODUCTION
Shales are one of the most important common constituents of rocks in log analysis.
Aside from their effects on porosity and permeability, this importance stems from their
electrical properties, which have a great influence on the determination of fluid saturations.
Archie's water saturation equation relating
formation resistivity to water saturation, assumes that formation water is the only electrically conductive material in the formation. The
presence of another conductive material (e.g.,
shale) requires changes to either Archie's
equation or the model relating resistivity to
water saturation. As well, the presence of clay
in the formation complicates the concept of
porosity. The water associated with the clays
can represent a significant amount of porosity.
However, this porosity is not available as a
potential reservoir for hydrocarbons. To this
point, we have dealt with tool responses from
our porosity devices that yield total porosity
T . At this time we have to introduce a new
term, effective porosity, e , which is that portion of the formation porosity available to
contain and produce fluids.
The presence of shale in formations generally affects the response of the logging devices.
In our discussions we usually speak of shaly
sands; however, the presence of shale in carbonates can often be treated in a similar manner.
As briefly mentioned before, we categorize
the distribution of shaly material in formations
in three possible ways (see Figure E1):
1) Laminar Shale: occurs when shale
exists in the form of laminae or thin
layers between thin layers of sand. The
shale streaks do not actually influence
the effective porosity of the sand layers in the formation; however, as the
bulk volume of shale increases, the
overall formation porosity decreases.
The presence of the shale may have
considerable influence on the logging
tool responses.
2) Structural Shale: is defined as the type
of shale that exists as grains or nodules in the formation matrix. It is considered to have properties similar to
laminar shale.
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3) Dispersed Shale: occurs where the

shaly material is dispersed through the
sand to occupy part of the intergranular space. Dispersed shale reduces the
pore space available for fluid accumulation and also reduces formation
permeability.
The evaluation of shaly sands requires that
we assume some distribution model. With the
advent of computers we can analyze formations on the basis of sedimentation principles.
Here we determine the silt and wet clay content
of the shale; the former is a maximum near the
main sand body (high-energy deposition) and
the wet clay becomes predominant as distance
from the main sand body increases (lowenergy deposition).

When shales consist of wet clay and silt, the
bulk volume fractions may be expressed as:
Vsh = Vsilt + Vclay
Another commonly used expression is
the silt index (Isilt) where
Isilt = Vsil t/Vsh
also
Vclay = Vsh (I Isilt).
Figure E1: Forms of Shale Classified by Manner of Distribution in the Formation

Pictoral Representations Above, Volumetric Representations Below
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Schlumberger
E1.2
POROSITY IN SHALY
FORMATIONS
When a sand contains shale we cannot obtain
an accurate value of effective porosity from
one porosity log. The responses of the density
and neutron logs to shale content in sands is
considered to be the same as in nearby bedded
shales, no matter what model of shale distribution is considered. On the other hand, sonic
logs have quite a different response between
laminated-structural and dispersed shales.
a) Density Logs
- When shale and sand matrix densities
are close to each other, the density log
is least affected by shale and reads
close to the effective porosity.
- When the shale matrix density is less
than 2650 kg/m3 the density log in
shaly sands will record porosities
higher than the effective porosity.
- When shale matrix density is greater
than 2650 kg/m3, the density log in the
shaly sands will record porosities
lower then the effective porosity.
- The relationship for liquid-filled shaly
sands can be written as
b = f e + ma (1 - e Vsh ) + sh Vsh
or
b = (1 e )ma + e f
+ Vsh (sh ma )
b) Neutron (CNL/SNP) Logs

- Neutron tools respond to the amount
of hydrogen in the formation. Because
shales contain bound water, the porosity recorded by neutron devices in
shaly sands is always higher than the
effective porosity.
- In liquid-filled shaly sands, the neutron
relationships may be written as
N = e + Vsh ( Nsh )
c) Sonic Logs
- Sonic traveltime in shales rises because
of the fluid content of the shales;
hence, sonic porosities in shaly formations are always higher than the effective porosity. To further enable
sonic porosity determination, we must
also know what shale model is present, and also whether a compaction
correction is necessary.
- In compacted formations with shales
present, a general sonic relationship
may be written as
tlog = ( e Vsh )tm a + (Vlam +
Vstr )tsh
+ ( e Vdis)tf
- In uncompacted zones, sonic porosities
derived from this relationship must
also be corrected downward for the
lack of compaction.
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E1.3
EVALUATION OF
SHALE VOLUME (Vsh)
Basic methods of shale (clay) volume calculation use the following indicators:
- Gamma ray
- NGS tool
- Spontaneous potential
- N versus D crossplot
N versus S crossplot
a) Gamma Ray
If the radioactivity of the shale content is
constant and if no other mineral in the formation is radioactive, the gamma ray reading may
be expressed as a function of clay content.
The formula can be written as
GRzone GRclean
Vsh =
GRshale GRclean
b) NGS Natural Gamma Ray

Spectrometry Tool
By using only thorium and potassium components of the gamma ray signal, the radioactive uranium element not associated with
shales will be eliminated. The same method is
then applied to the NGS as that for a regular
gamma ray.
CGRzone - CGRclean
Vsh =
CGRshale - CGRclean
These formulae will not hold true for zones
that contain radioactive matrix materials or radioactive waters (e.g., granite wash sands).
Similarly, this method will not hold true where
nonradioactive shales occur.
Some typical values for formations are
- Clean Sandstone: GR = 1530 API
- Clean Carbonates
- Dolomite: GR = 1020 API
- Limestone: GR = 815 A.P.I.
- Shallow Cretaceous Shale: GR = 100
140 API
Strictly speaking, all GR values should be
corrected for borehole effect and formation
density. However, this approximation is usually satisfactory.
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Schlumberger
c) Chart Calculation
The linear equations in (a) and (b) of this
section are good first estimates of shale volume. Chart Vsh -1 (Figure E2) allows us to
correct for the non-linear relationship between
Vsh and the GR deflection denoted as x. Line
(1) is generally used, yielding good interpretation results.
d) Spontaneous Potential (SP)

In waterbearing sands of low to moderate resistivity, the ratio of SSP (static SP) to PSP
(pseudostatic SP) is indicative of clay content,
where
= PSP/SSP and Vsh = 1 -
If hydrocarbons are present, will be decreased because of the further reduction of
PSP by the hydrocarbons. Also, when using
this method to calculate Vsh , suitable bed thickness must be present to obtain PSP and SSP.
Figure E2: Chart Vsh - 1: Shale Model Correction
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Schlumberger

E1.0 SHALY FORMATIONS.................................................................................................................1

Introduction to Openhole Logging

Introduction to Openhole Logging

3) Dispersed Shale: occurs where the

from the main sand body increases (lowenergy deposition).

Figure E1: Forms of Shale Classified by Manner of Distribution in the Formation

b) Neutron (CNL/SNP) Logs

Introduction to Openhole Logging

b) NGS Natural Gamma Ray

d) Spontaneous Potential (SP)

Figure E2: Chart Vsh - 1: Shale Model Correction

Introduction to Openhole Logging

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