School of Engineering

COURSEWORK SUBMISSION SHEET

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Due Date Date Submitted For official use only
5 November 2010 4 November 2010 LATE DATE

MATRIC No. 1010207

SURNAME Hermani

FIRST NAME(S) Arief Budiman

COURSE & STAGE

MSc Drilling & Well Engineering
Full Time /Part-Time/ODL
MODULE NUMBER & TITLE ENM200 Subsurface
2(a) Drill Stem Testing
ASSIGNMENT TITLE 2(b) Reservoir Properties of Carbonates Sedimentary
Rocks
LECTURER ISSUING COURSEWORK Brian Cronin

I confirm: (a) That the work undertaken for this assignment is entirely my own and that I have
not made use of any unauthorised assistance.
(b) That the sources of all reference material have been properly acknowledged.
[NB: For information on Academic Misconduct, refer to
http://www.rgu.ac.uk/academicaffairs/assessment/page.cfm?pge=7088]

Signed ………………………..................................... Date ......................................................

Marker’s Comments

Marker Grade
Coursework Question 2(a)
Drill Stem Testing
In petroleum exploration it is essential to determine the commercial viability of a potential reservoir.
This can be performed with a series of tests. There are 4 major classes of tools & techniques to
evaluate a formation, namely mud logging, coring & core analysis, wireline logging and drill stem
testing (Jorden and Campbell, 1984).

Drill Stem Testing (DST) is one of the methods to determine the production capability of a well. It is
conducted to determine the reservoir characteristics i.e. probability and pressure of a reservoir. In
principal, it is a flow experiment on an isolated area of interest in a formation. Normally carried out on
exploratory wells or temporary completions, it is performed by acquiring formation samples which will
be analyzed based on the liquid content, flow rate, pressure and temperature. It can also be
conducted during actual drilling operations. DST data will assist on the development of the production
facilities required, estimating or/ and reducing the development cost as well as the safety of advance
drilling. This will also help in the plan to accelerate the production schedule and maximize the
reservoir life span. Generally there are 2 applications of DST, namely Cased Hole (with casing) or
Open Hole (without casing, more economical). Diagram 1 show the basic setting for DST. Below is a
table listing the basic equipment in DST and its’ description:

No Equipment Description
1 Drill String A hollow pipe with valves in it to allow flow of the formation fluid. The
valves are controlled from the surface to minimize wellbore effect.
2 Packers Inflatable/ expanding rubber seal that act as plugs.
3 Test Tree/ Choke A combination of valves that controls the flow of the formation fluid.
Table 1: Basic Equipment in Drill Stem Testing

As an alternative to utilizing hydrostatic head to control the well as in normal drilling, DST works on
mechanical system which controls the fluid flow. Formation fluid is obtained through the drill string
instead of the annulus. Initially the test string is lowered with deflated packer(s) and closed valves.
Once it reaches the zone of interest, the packer(s) will be inflated until it seals off the area in between
the casing/ wellbore wall and the drill string wall. This will restrict the formation fluid flow into the
annulus and only allows it to flow into the drill string through perforations around the drill string. Next
the valves in the string are opened and the test tree/ test choke is operated to initiate the fluid flow.
Typical DST is split into 4 periods (Schubert, 2010). Please refer Diagram 2 for the pressure vs. time
analysis:
1. Pre-Flow Period (approximately 5 – 10 minutes)

This period is to bring down the pressure to well bore pressure and remove any supercharge
caused by mud infiltrating the hole during the drilling process.

2. Initial Shut-In

This cycle allows the formation to recover from the pressure surge and let the pressure build
back to the true static pressure.
3. Main Flow (approximately 1 hour)

This is an extensive production phase where large samples of fluid is captured and analyzed for
water content, gas bubble, bust pressure and temperature.

4. Final Shut-In (approximately 24 hours)

In this stage the formation pressure is recorded within a predetermined interval. Data acquires at
this point will approximate the permeability, degree of formation damage during drilling and the
size.

Research based on the data gathered in DST will help in the assessment on the further progress
either for potential production or abandonment of the well. DST may also be combined with other test
method such as gamma ray logging. Since the control of the formation fluid is done manually by the
use of chokes and valves, for safety reasons, proper planning and precaution need to be in place prior
to execution.

Drill Stem Perforations

Packers
Fluid Flow

Area of Interest

Area of Interest

Diagram 1: Basic Setting of Drill Stem Testing in an Open Hole (Schubert, 2010)
 BC F I

Pressure
H

A D E G
Time
A – DTS tool is lowered to hole
AB – Increasing pressure
B – DST tool is at area of interest, packer(s) inflated
C – Valve inside drill stem is opened, fluid starts filling drill stem
CD – Pre-flow period
EF – Well shut-in for pressure build up
GH – Main Flow Period
HI – Final shut-in
I – Packer(s) deflated, DST toll removed

Graph 1: Standard Pressure vs. Time during DST (Jorden & Campbell, 1984)

References

JORDEN, J.R., CAMPBELL, F.L., 1984. Well logging I: rock properties, borehole environment, mud
and temperature logging. New York: American Institute of Mining, metallurgical & petroleum
engineers.

SCHUBERT, J.J, 2010. Drill stem testing. [online]. College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University.
Available from http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?
q=cache:sV26Xi3xU80J:www.pe.tamu.edu/schubert/public_html/DOE_SLB%2520short
%2520course/22.3%2520Drillstem
%2520Testing.ppt+drill+stem+test&cd=11&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=firefox-a. [Accessed on 23
October 2010].

WIKIPEDIA, 2010. Drill stem test. [online]. San Francisco: Wikipedia Foundation Inc. Available from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drill_Stem_Test. [Accessed on 24 October 2010].

SCHLUMBERGER, 2010. Oilfield glossary. [online]. Houston: Schlumberger Limited. Available from
http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/Display.cfm?Term=drillstem%20test. [Accessed on 23 October
2010].

Bibiliography

KOHLHASS, C.A., 1980. Drill Stem Testing. In: Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), SPE reprint
series book no: 14 pressure transient testing method. Dallas, Texas: SPE. pp 314-318.

Montgomery, J.M., 2010. Drillstem testing and sampling of deep Frio and Wilcox reservoirs.
Duncan, Oklahoma: Halliburton Services Research.
RITCHIEWIKI, 2010. Drill-stem testing. [online]. Kelowna: Equipment, specifications, information and
photos. Available from http://www.ritchiewiki.com/wiki/index.php/Drill-stem_Testing. [Accessed on
23 October 2010].

Coursework 2(b) – Petroleum Geology

Reservoir Properties of Carbonates Sedimentary Rocks

While there are reservoirs that are made from highly fractured igneous and metamorphic rocks, which
are not likely and in smaller scale, most reservoir rocks are made of sedimentary rocks. There are 3
basic types of sedimentary rocks: 1. Clastic/ detrital (made from rock debris e.g. sandstone &
mudstones); 2. Biochemical (produced by organism e.g. limestones) and; 3. Chemical (precipitation
of chemical solutions e.g. dolostones)

Carbonate sedimentary rock formed more than 50% of the world’s oil and gas reservoir (Roehl &
Choquette, 1985). It has distinctive features that characterized it from other sedimentary rocks.
Basically made up of more than 50% of organic matters, it is mostly originated intra-basinal. Majority
of carbonate sedimentary rocks are in the form of two types of rocks:

1. Limestones which are composed mostly of calcite or high magnesium calcite, and

2. Dolostones which are composed mostly of dolomite.

Carbonate Rocks Mineralogy

1. Calcite Group Minerals – Includes Calcite (CaCO3), Smithsonite (ZnCO3), Magnesite

(MgCO3), Otavite (CdCO3) and Siderite (FeCO3).

2. Dolomite Group Minerals – Includes Dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) Ankerite (CaFe(CO3)2)

Kutnohorite (CaMn(CO3)2)
 3. Aragonite Group – Includes Aragonite (CaCo3), Witherite (BaCO3), Strontianite (SrCO3) and
Cerussite (PbCo3).

Grains Types

Fossil (Full or pieces of skeleton of organisms) - Sizes vary from granule to fine sand depending
on the organism and scale of damage throughout deposition.

Ooids (coated grains) - A spherical sand size particle with concentric or radial internal formation.
The centre is usually made of quartz or other carbonate particles. It is covered by deposits of
chemical precipitated calcite.

Peloids (by product pellets) - Spherical accumulation of microcrystalline calcite of coarse silt to fine
sand size. Comes from the excrement pellets of burrowing benthic organisms which consist of
microcrystalline calcite.

Aggregates & Inter-clast - Debris of earlier created limestone or partly lithified limestones. Mostly
originated from within the basin of deposition. Aggregates consist of several carbonate particles
cemented by microcrystalline cement or bound by organic matter (Tucker, 1981).

Matrix/ Cement

1. Micrite – Fine grain carbonate mud that gives dull opaque appearance on most limestone.

2. Sparite – Coarse grain calcite crystals from digenesis.

Porosity & Permeability

Vuggy/ vugular, less homogeneous and irregular as carbonate can undergo dissolution/ re-
precipitation even in low acidic environment. Normally is very high in porosity and permeability.

Classification

Folk Classification (primarily used in laboratory works)

This type of classification divides carbonates into 2 groups:

i. Allochemical - Grains that originated from other sources (depositional effects) similar to
detrital grains in clastic rocks.

ii. Orthochemical – Carbonates that crystallize in place.

 Diagram 1: Folk Classification of Carbonate Rocks (Nelson, 2000)

Dunham Classification (widely used)

This classification segregates the rock based on the texture and grain size and divides grains into 2
broad groups as in the diagram below:

Diagram 2: Dunham Classification of Carbonate Rocks (Nelson, 2000)

Structure

Arrangement varies between bedding planes (cross, graded, imbricates), current and wave structures
(ripples, cross laminar), dunes, hardground surface (horizons of synsedimentary) and tepees (Tucker,
1981). Stratifications may not be as obvious as in sandstones since it is lack in contrasting colours. It
may contain irregular discontinuity or non-structural fracture called stylolite. This is due to insoluble
residue or insoluble organic material in the build up of sedimentation.

Main Depositional Environments and Facies (Press et al., 1995)

Continental-shelf/ carbonate platforms or shelters – Warm shallow seas joined to continents or

epeiric seas (partially or fully covering continents).

Shoreline intertidal flats – Areas that are flooded during high tides and uncovered during low tides.

Deep ocean floor – Only in shallow part of deep sea unless it is saturated with highly excessive
organic activity and organism remains are buried considerably quick. This is due to the high rate of
dissolution in this type of area. Unsaturated area is insufficient for sedimentation.

Continental non-marine lagoon – High carbonate water content area located behind barriers.
Normally has excessive organism constituent which will assist in precipitation of carbonate by removal
of CO2.

Most of the petroleum reservoir in the world is made up of carbonate sedimentary rock. These types
or rock are mostly formed in-situ. Its elements depend highly on organic activity and are very sensitive
to post-deposition alterations. Water body’s temperature, salinity and depth need to be in the “just
right” condition for deposition and sedimentation to occur.
References

ROEHL, P.O., CHOUQUETTE, P.W., 1985. Carbonate petroleum reservoirs (casebooks in earth
sciences). Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, Tokyo: Springer-Verlag.

TUCKER, M.E., 1981. Sedimentary petrology: an introduction to the origin of sedimentary rocks.2nd
ed. London: Blackwell Science.

NELSON, S.A., 2000. Carbonates and other rocks. [online]. New Orleans: University of Tulane.
Available from http://www.tulane.edu/~sanelson/geol212/carbonates.htm. [Accessed on 23 October
2010].

PRESS, F. et al., 1995. Understanding earth. 4th ed. New York: W.H. Freeman and Company.

Bibliography

LYNN, S.F., 2000. Carbonate sedimentary rock classifications. [online]. Harrisonburg, Virginia: James
Madison University. Available from http://csmres.jmu.edu/geollab/fichter/SedRx/Carbonate.html.
[Accessed on 23 October 2010].

KIRKALDY, J.F., 1963. Minerals and rocks in colour. Stockholm: Blanford Press.