A Field Streaming - Potential Experiment

Abstract Streaming-potential experiments were conducted within the Muddy- and Dakota-sandstone interval of a Denver basin well. Analysis of the data shows that, for this case, streaming potentials opposite sands were higher than those opposite shales when the mud was fresh. Streaming potentials opposite shales, however, were of sufficient magnitude to be important in SP interpretation. They were linearly dependent upon pressure differential, and they increased with mud filtrate resistivity. The magnitude of streaming potentials opposite sands was influenced by the characteristics of the original mud cake formed at the time of drilling. Use of mud samples taken at the time of logging may not always be satisfactory for determining streaming-potential corrections. Both the streaming and electrochemical potentials were found to be affected by the previous history of the borehole system. Following a change in mud characteristics, several days were required for SP stabilization. This was, in part, due to the mud cake acting as an imperfect shale membrane. Introduction Laboratory investigations by Wyllie, Salisch, Moore, Sen Gupta and Bannerjee, and Hill and Anderson have shown that streaming potentials developed across mud cakes deposited on permeable filter beds are of sufficient magnitude to be critically important in SP interpretation. Streaming potentials across shales have been reported by Schenck, Gondouin and Scala, and Hill and Anderson. The magnitude of the shale streaming potentials obtained by Schenck and by Gondouin et al led these authors to conclude that in many cases the shale streaming potential would approximately equal the mud-cake streaming potential. Hill and Anderson, however, obtained somewhat lower magnitudes of shale streaming potential. The field experiment described in the present paper was a cooperative project carried out by the respective operations and research departments of Schlumberger Well Surveying Corp., Shell Development Co. and Shell Oil Co. The primary objective of the experiment was to determine in the borehole the streaming-potential behavior of both shales and mud cakes under conditions approaching, as nearly as possible, those normally encountered in logging practice. METHODS AND EQUIPMENT WELL A Muddy- and Dakota-sandstone well in the Denver basin was chosen for the experiment. Both sandstones were water-bearing and, since reservoir pressures in these sandstones are abnormally low (gradient of approximately 0.25 psi/ft), it was expected that studies of streaming potential could be conducted from low-pressure differentials (approximately 200 psi) to about 2,000 psi by bailing mud from the hole, filling up and then applying wellhead pressure. JPT P. 305^