Evaluation of Production and Injection Profiles by a Combination of Thermal Anemometry Technology, Spectral Noise Logging, and Numerical Temperature Modeling in Horizontal Oil Producers and Water Injectors

Abstract The limitations of conventional spinner-based methods of production logging in horizontal wells, such as low rate, oil viscosity, wellbore trajectory, and debris, have driven the development of non-mechanical technologies over the past two decades. The paper illustrates an innovative combination of several spinnerless methods as a comprehensive approach for reservoir performance evaluation based on recent field cases. The ability of a simultaneous evaluation of the fluid flow rate inside the wellbore as well as through the formation allows a complete assessment of well-reservoir performance. For the wellbore fluid flow evaluation, the thermal anemometry method was proposed. The technique allows the detection of the fluid flow zones and the calculation of fluid velocity based on temperature changes of the permanently heated thermal anemometer sensor. The successful field tests and cases of the technique application were published in several technical papers [1, 2], where the consistency of thermal anemometry data with spinner results was proved. The current technical paper provides the fluid flow velocity calculation methodology based on the laboratory and field calibrations of the thermal anemometry tool. Spectral noise logging (SNL) and numerical temperature modeling were proposed for the reservoir fluid flow evaluation. The mentioned methods were also successfully implemented over the last decade and confirmed by the number of published technical papers [3, 4]. For the spectral noise logging the new-generation split-channels tool was used. For the numerical temperature modeling the high-resolution temperature data acquisition was used to derive the quantitative production/injection profiles related to reservoir flow. The paper demonstrates the results of several case studies where the combination of the spinnerless methods was applied: one oil producer and two water injectors. For oil producers, the cause of the high water cut was determined by the localization of water inflow zones. For water injectors, the evaluation of the water injection conformance across the reservoir section was resolved by calculating the detailed injection profiles. The complex results of reviewed case studies emphasizing the wellbore-oriented and reservoir-oriented flow profiles give a broader understanding of the production/injection processes. The paper also discusses the limitations of each technique, as well as the advantages and complementarity of the comprehensive approach in general. One of the advantages discussed in the paper is a lack of mechanical elements in tools, making the combination of spinner-less methods a reliable alternative to conventional spinner-based methods for production logging in horizontal water injectors and oil producers.