Saturation Monitoring With the

RST Reservoir Saturation Tool

Bob Adolph
Christian Stoller
Houston, Texas, USA

The RST Reservoir Saturation Tool combines the logging capabilities of traditional methods for evaluating saturation in a tool slim enough to pass
through tubing. Now saturation measurements can be made without killing

Jerry Brady
ARCO Alaska, Inc.
Anchorage, Alaska, USA
Charles Flaum
Montrouge, France
Chuck Melcher
Brad Roscoe
Ridgefield, Connecticut, USA
Amal Vittachi
DeWayne Schnorr
Anchorage, Alaska

For help in preparation of this article, thanks to Darwin

Ellis and Jeff Schweitzer, Schlumberger-Doll Research,
Ridgefield, Connecticut, USA; and Mohamed Watfa, Abu
Dhabi, U.A.E.
In this article, ELAN (Elemental Log Analysis), CNL
(Compensated Neutron Log), Gradiomanometer, RST
(Reservoir Saturation Tool), GST (Induced Gamma Ray
Spectrometry Tool), Dual-Burst and TDT (Thermal Decay
Time) are marks of Schlumberger. Macintosh is a mark of
Apple Computer, Inc. VAX is a mark of Digital Equipment Corporation.
1. Steinman DK, Adolph RA, Mahdavi M, Marienbach E,
Preeg WE and Wraight PD: Dual-Burst Thermal
Decay Time Logging Principles, paper SPE 15437,
presented at the 61st SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA,
October 5-8, 1986.
2. Woodhouse R and Kerr SA: The Evaluation of Oil
Saturation Through Casing Using Carbon-Oxygen
Logs, paper SPE 17610, presented at the SPE International Meeting on Petroleum Engineering, Tianjin,
China, November 1-4, 1988.

January 1994

the well to pull tubing and regardless of the wells salinity.

Determining hydrocarbon and water saturations behind casing plays a major role in
reservoir management. Saturation measurements over time are useful for tracking reservoir depletion, planning workover and
enhanced recovery strategies, and diagnosing production problems such as water
influx and injection water breakthrough.
Traditional methods of evaluating saturationthermal decay time logging1 and carbon/oxygen (C/O) logging2are limited to
high-salinity and nontubing wells, respectively. The RST Reservoir Saturation Tool
overcomes these limitations by combining
both methods in a tool slim enough to fit
through tubing.3 The RST tool eliminates
the need for killing the well and pulling tubing. This saves money, avoids reinvasion of
perforated intervals, and allows the well to
be observed under operating conditions
(next page ). Moreover, it provides a log of
the borehole oil fraction, or oil holdup,
even in horizontal wells. To understand the
operation and versatility of the RST tool
requires an overview of existing saturation
measurements and their physics.4
3. Audah T and Chardac J-L: Reservoir Fluid Monitoring
Using Through-Tubing Carbon/Oxygen Tools, Transactions of the SPWLA 34th Annual Logging Symposium, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, June 13-16, 1993,
paper LL.
Stoller C, Scott HD, Plasek RE, Lucas AJ and Adolph
RA: Field Tests of a Slim Carbon/Oxygen Tool for
Reservoir Saturation Monitoring, paper SPE 25375,
presented at the SPE Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition, Singapore, February 8-10, 1993.
Scott HD, Stoller C, Roscoe BA, Plasek RE and Adolph
RA: A New Compensated Through-Tubing
Carbon/Oxygen Tool for Use in Flowing Wells,
Transactions of the SPWLA 32nd Annual Logging
Symposium, Midland, Texas, USA, June 16-19, 1991,
paper MM.

The Saturation Blues

In a newly drilled well, openhole resistivity

logs are used to determine water and hydrocarbon saturations. But once the hole is
cased, saturation monitoring has to rely on
tools such as the TDT Dual-Burst Thermal
Decay Time tool or, for C/O logging, the
GST Induced Gamma Ray Spectrometry
Tool, which can see through casing.
The Dual-Burst TDT tool looks at the rate
of thermal neutron absorption, described by
the capture cross section of the formation,
to infer water saturation (terms in bold are
explained in Gamma Ray Spectrometry at
a Glance, page 38 ). A high absorption rate
indicates saline water, which contains chlorine, a very efficient, abundant thermal-neutron absorber. A low absorption rate indicates fresh water or hydrocarbon.
The TDT technique provides good saturation measurements when formation water
salinity is high, constant and known. But oil
production from an increasing number of
reservoirs is now maintained by water injection. This reduces or alters formation water
salinity, posing a problem for the TDT tool.
Roscoe BA, Stoller C, Adolph RA, Boutemy Y, Cheeseborough JC III, Hall JS, McKeon DC, Pittman D, Seeman B and Thomas SR: A New Through-Tubing OilSaturation Measurement System, paper SPE 21413,
presented at the SPE Middle East Oil Show, Bahrain,
November 16-19, 1991.
4. For more on nuclear logging:
Ellis DV: Well Logging for Earth Scientists. New York,
New York, USA: Elsevier, 1987.
Tittman J: Geophysical Well Logging. Orlando,
Florida, USA: Academic Press, Inc., 1986.
Ellis D, Grau J, Schweitzer J and Hertzog R: Basics of
Nuclear Logging, Oilfield Review 35, no. 3 (July
1987): 4-10.

29

Depth, ft

Near Carbon/
Oxygen Ratio

Far Carbon/
Oxygen Ratio

Shut-In

Borehole Oil
Holdup Shut-In

Sw
Shut-In

Water

Shut-In

Flowing

Borehole Oil
Holdup Flowing

Sw
Flowing

Limestone

Flowing
0

1.0 0.1

Volumetric
Analysis

0.6 -20

120 100

Oil

Dolomite

X700

X800

In low-salinity water (less than 35,000 parts

per million), the tool cannot accurately differentiate between oil and water, which
have similar neutron capture cross sections.
When the salinity of the formation water
is too low or unknown, C/O logging can be
used. C/O logging measures gamma rays
emitted from inelastic neutron scattering to
determine relative concentrations of carbon
and oxygen in the formation. A high C/O
ratio indicates oil-bearing formations; a low
C/O ratio indicates water- or gas-bearing
formations (next page, top).
The major drawback to C/O logging tools
has been their large diameters. Producing
wells must be killed and production tubing
removed to accommodate tools with diameters of nearly 4 in. [10 cm]. In addition, the
tools have slow logging speeds and are
more sensitive to borehole fluid than formation fluid, which affects the precision of the
saturation measurement.
As Easy as RST

X900

nComparing RST logs run in the same Middle East well during shut-in (red) and flowing
(blue) conditions. Production is from a vertical, 6-in. diameter, openhole completion.

Tracks 1 and 2 show the carbon/oxygen logging ratio curves for both the near and
far detectors. Tracks 3 and 4 show the RST interpretation (borehole oil holdup and
water saturation logs). Track 5 is the volumetric analysis.
Both the near and far C/O ratios show a sharp increase at X848 ft, indicating an oilwater interface in the borehole. Above 850 ft, the C/O ratios from both detectors
increase steadily, showing the depths at which the oil is produced.
The borehole oil holdup during flowing indicates that most of the oil is produced from
the interval X728 to X750. The water saturation curves separate from X770 to X850 ft,
indicating that oil from the borehole reinvaded the formation while the well was shutin. After the shut-in period, when the well flowed, the formation water flushed out the
oil, as shown by the increased water saturation and verified by the flowing borehole oil
holdup. The volumetric analysis from openhole ELAN Elemental Log Analysis interpretation indicates substantial oil saturation in the upper half of the reservoir.

The RST tool directly addresses these shortcomings and can perform either C/O or
TDT logging (see Logging the RST Tool in
Prudhoe Bay, page 32 ). It comes in two
diameters111/16 in. (RST-A) and 21/2 in.
(RST-B)and can be combined with other
production logging tools ( next page,
bottom ). The RST-A tool logs up to four
times faster than the GST tool. The RST-B
toolthe only C/O tool that can log flowing
wellsmakes passes at speeds comparable
to the GST tool.
Both versions have two gamma ray detectors. In the RST-A tool, both detectors are on
the tool axis, separated by neutron and
gamma ray shielding. In the RST-B tool, the
detectors are offset from the tool axis and
shielded to enhance the near detectors
borehole sensitivity and the far detectors
formation sensitivity. This allows the formation oil saturation and borehole oil holdup
to be derived from the same RST-B C/O
measurement. Because of size constraints,
such detector shielding is not possible with
the RST-A tool. An independent determination of borehole fluid holdup is then
needed, for example from the Gradiomanometer tool run on the same logging suite
or by logging shut-in.
For both tools, the detector crystal is
cerium-doped gadolinium oxyorthosilicate
(GSO), one of a new generation of scintillation crystals that outperforms the sodium(continued on page 34)

30

Oilfield Review

a
Open Hole

Carbon/Oxygen and

Carbon/Oxygen

C/O Near

Connate Water

Connate Water

Depth, ft

Ratio

Movable Oil

Residual Oil

Pore Volume

50

p.u.

Mixed Water

C/O Far

Ratio

0.5

Remaining Oil

Borehole Oil Holdup

Pore Volume

p.u.

0 -20

Injection Water

120 50

Remaining Oil

From RST

0 30

X150

X200

X250

RST-A Sonde
111/16 in.

c.u.

Pore Volume

10 50

p.u.

nCombining the diagnostic capabilities

of C/O logging and TDT logging with the
RST-B tool in a Middle East observation
well. From left to right: Track 1 shows
openhole fluid analysis. Track 2 shows
C/O logs from the near and far detectors
and oil holdup. Track 3 shows the fluid
analysis based on C/O logging. Track 4
shows the log of . Track 5 shows a combined C/O and fluid analysis.
The observation well contained water in
the borehole over the entire interval, so
the oil holdup value was set to 0. The C/O
fluid analysis, used to distinguish between
oil and water, shows only a small oil
depletion from X190 ft to X250 ft and a
large oil depletion from X140 ft to X170 ft.
By itself, however, C/O logging cannot
differentiate between injection and connate water. To accomplish this, a log of
is used in conjunction with the C/O logs.
The log can differentiate between oil
and salt water but not oil and fresh water.
The revised interpretation indicates formation water from X170 to X210 ft and a
water injection breakthrough from X140 to
X170 ft. Interpretation based on alone
would have identified the water injection
breakthrough as oil.

RST-B Sonde
2 1/2 in.

Side View

Electronics

Photomultiplier
tube

aa
GSO detector
(far)
Electronics

Photomultiplier
tube
GSO detector
(near)
Shielding

Neutron
generator

Top View

Far

Near

nThe dual-detector RST-A and RST-B tools.

January 1994

31

Logging the RST Tool in Prudhoe Bay

Prudhoe Bay, the largest oil field in North AmerMost of the hydrocar-

bons are in the Ivishak Sandstone. The main

recovery methods used in Prudhoe Bay are gravity drainage, gas injection, aquifer influx, waterflooding and miscible gas flooding. Over time,

50

Depth, ft

it was discovered in

1968.1

p.u.

(OWC) at X1250 ft and the original gas-oil contact

Connate Water

Borehole Oil
Holdup Flowing

ica, contained 20 billion stock tank barrels when

(GOC) at X1050 ft.

Injection Water
and Gas
0

Gamma Ray

By 1992, production rates fell, indicating

Gas

severe reservoir depletion. The well was produc-

Oil

ing 3750 B/D of fluids with a 94% water cut. Production was 220 BOPD and the gas/oil ratio

Porosity
0

GAPI

100 40

p.u.

X1000

(GOR) was 1115 ft3 of gas per barrel of oil. The

the expansion of gas above and water below the

RST tool was run to evaluate hydrocarbon distri-

oil column has produced mobile oil lenses that

bution and locate fluid contacts.

C/O data measured with the well flowing were

are elusive to tap. The salinity of injected water

is low, creating conditions suited to C/O logging

combined with CNL Compensated Neutron Log

with the RST tool.2

data as input to the ELAN Elemental Log Analysis

As the Prudhoe Bay field matures, increasing

program (right track). The resulting fluid analysis

gas and water production is exceeding the capacity of surface handling facilities, thus limiting oil
production. No pipeline exists for the gas, so it

confirmed oil depletion over both perforated

intervals and identified the current GOC at X1110

X1100
GOC

must be reinjected. Wells with declining oil pro-

ft. The borehole oil holdup log showed oil production from perforations above X1170 ft and was

duction and increasing gas and water production

used to identify the present OWC at that depth.

are typically worked over or produced intermit-

The lower perforations were not producing any

tently. Extending the life and economic viability

and water production and maximizing oil produc-

oil. After these were plugged, the well produced

Perfs

of these marginal wells relies on reducing gas

OWC

tion by producing bypassed oil zones.

BP well with a 250-ft [76-m] oil-bearing sandstone interval (right). Openhole logs from 1983

Locating Bypassed Oil

X1200

Perfs

RST data were used to reduce water cut in a

300 BOPD of oil with negligible water cut.

(not shown) marked the original oil-water contact

In early 1992, ARCO drilled and perforated a

sidetrack well in an area of Prudhoe Bay undergoing waterflooding. Less than six months later,
production was 90% water with less than 200
BOPD, as expected. The original perforations

1. Shirzadi SG and Lawal AS: Multidisciplinary Approach for Targeting New Wells in the Prudhoe Bay Field, paper SPE 26093,
presented at the SPE Western Regional Meeting, Anchorage,
Alaska, USA, May 26-28, 1993.
2. Vittachi A and Schnorr D: Reservoir Oil Saturation Monitoring
Through Casing With New Carbon/Oxygen Measurements,
Transactions of the SPWLA 34th Annual Logging Symposium,
Calgary, Alberta, Canada, June 13-16, 1993, paper HHH.
Dupree JH and Cunningham AB: The Application of
Carbon/Oxygen Logging Technology to the Ivishak Sandstone,
Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, paper SPE 19615, presented at the 64th
SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, San Antonio,
Texas, USA, October 8-11, 1989.

nReducing water cut. The left track shows the gamma

ray and borehole oil holdup logs measured with the well
producing. The borehole oil holdup curve shows no oil
production below 1170 ft.
The right track is an ELAN Elemental Log Analysis
output based on openhole and RST fluid data. It indicates oil depletion below 1170 ft. After the lower perforated interval was plugged, production increased from
220 BOPD oil with 94% water cut to 300 BOPD oil with
negligible water cut.

extended from X415 to X440 ft (next page). C/O

logging measurements were made In the shut-in
well with three different toolsthe RST tool and
two sondes from other service companies.
The RST results confirmed depletion over the
perforated interval (Tracks 2 and 3). Effects of the
miscible gas flood sweep are apparent throughout the reservoir. The total inelastic count rate
ratio of the near and far detectors indicates qualitatively the presence of gas in the reservoir. In

32

Oilfield Review

Openhole
Data
CRRA
Depth, ft

4.0

2.6

Gamma Ray
0

GAPI

150

Connate Water

Sand

Gas

Bound Water

Oil

Shale

Gas
Saturation
Oil
Saturation
0

Porosity
1 40

X100

p.u.

GOC

X200

A
X300

Perfs

X400

Lithology
0 0

10

nFinding bypassed oil

zones. ARCO ran three

C/O logging tools with the
well shut-in over the same
interval in search of
bypassed oil. Track 1
includes the gamma ray,
count-rate ratio between
near and far detectors
(CRRA) and the borehole
oil holdup curves. Track 2
shows the RST oil saturation and gas saturation
curves. Track 3 shows the
RST fluid analysis. Track 4
is openhole log data.
The RST data identified
Zone A as the best zone
for perforating. Interpretation based on logs from a
non-RST C/O logging tool
identified Zone B for perforation, which the RST
data show to be mostly
water. Zone B was perforated first, producing 200
BOPD with more than
95% water cut in a matter
of weeks as a result of
water coning into the perforation. When Zone A
was perforated, oil production increased to an
average of 600 BOPD with
a reduced water cut of
90%. All water production
was identified as from
Zone B.

addition, differences between the openhole fluid

75% water cut. Production declined to 200 BOPD

analysis and the RST fluid analysis were

with more than 95% water cut in a matter of

assumed to be gas.

weeks. The decline prompted ARCO to perforate

One potential bypassed zone, A, was identified

Zone A, commingling production from earlier per-

from X280 to X290 ft. A second zone, B, based on

forations. Production increased to an average of

the openhole logs and a C/O log from another ser-

600 BOPD and the water cut decreased to 90%.

vice company, was proposed from X220 to X230

Subsequent production logs confirm that Zone A

ft. The RST log shows Zone B to contain more gas

is producing oil and gas and Zone B is producing

and water than Zone A.

all of the water with some oil.

After assessing the openhole logs and the

three C/O logs, ARCO decided to perforate Zone
B. The initial production was 1000 BOPD with a

January 1994

33

100

iodide [NaI] crystal conventionally used for

gamma ray detection (see New Scintillation Detectors, page 35 ). Several properties
of GSO allow for a smaller diameter detector crystal than if NaI were used, and hence
a smaller diameter tool.

80

34

60

Counts

Time, sec
40

Net inelastic
B

Counts

20

Neutron burst

Flexibility is a key advantage of the RST

tool. It operates in three modes that can be
changed in real time while logging:
inelastic-capture mode
capture-sigma mode
sigma mode.
Inelastic-capture mode: The inelastic-capture mode offers C/O measurements for
determining saturations when the formation
water salinity is unknown, varying or too
low for TDT logging. In addition to C/O logging, thermal neutron capture gamma-ray
spectra are recorded after the neutron burst.
Elemental yields from these spectra provide
lithology, porosity and apparent water salinity information.
In the inelastic-capture mode, each measurement cycle contains one neutron burst
and three timing gates for collecting spectra
( right ). The first gate measures the total
gamma ray spectrum during the neutron
burst, which contains both inelastic and
capture spectra. The second gate measures
an early capture spectrum following the
neutron burst, which is used to subtract the
capture background from the previous
inelastic spectrum, yielding the net inelastic
spectrum. The C/O ratio from the net inelastic spectrum is used to determine saturation.
The third gate measures a capture spectrum
after the neutron burst, which is used to
determine formation lithology. For example,
the ratio of silicon to calcium is used to
distinguish silicates from carbonates. Logging passes are made at 60 to 100 ft/hr [18
to 30 m/hr].
Capture-sigma mode: The capture-sigma
mode is used to determine lithology and the
capture cross section in the same logging
pass. It simultaneously records capture
gamma ray spectra and total capture gamma
ray count rates. Elemental yields from the
capture spectra can provide lithology,
porosity and apparent water salinity infor-

Counts

Modes of Operation

Energy

Energy

nTiming for the inelastic-capture mode of the RST tool. Timing gate A
records inelastic spectra during the neutron burst. Timing gates B and
C record capture spectra after the burst. The net inelastic spectrum is
formed by subtracting a fraction of the early capture spectrum measured in gate B from the spectrum measured in gate A.
mation as in the inelastic-capture mode.
Total count rate measurements are used to
determine for the formation and the borehole. Unlike the inelastic-capture mode,
each measurement cycle in the capturesigma mode contains two neutron pulses
a short one and a long one. Total count
rates collected during and after the short
burst are used to determine the borehole
fluid ; total count rates collected after the
longer burst are used to determine the formation . Logging is usually performed at
600 ft/hr [180 m/hr].
Sigma mode: The sigma mode is used
when the salinity of the formation water is
high enough for TDT logging. It provides
capture cross-section data in a fast passup
to 1800 ft/hr [550 m/hr]. Although the timing sequence mimics the capture-sigma
mode, only decay-time data and a pulse
height spectrum, for calibrating the tool
gain, are recorded.

Interpretation

The conversion of C/O ratios to saturations

relies on an extensive data base designed to
measure RST tool response to a variety of
borehole environments. The RST-A and
RST-B tools have been logged in a wide
variety of conditions at Schlumbergers
Environmental Effects Calibration Facility in
Houston, Texas, USA. For each combination of lithology, casing and cement at the
facility, four C/O ratio measurements were
made to cover the four combinations of oil
and water in the borehole and formation:
water-water, water-oil, oil-water and oil-oil.
The resulting measurements represent the
largest C/O characterization data base for
any nuclear tool in the oil field today. Similarly, the largest data base of capture-sigma
measurements was also acquired. Different

Oilfield Review

New Scintillation Detectors

Running the RST tool through tubing would not be possible without a scintillation crystal called cerium-doped
gadolinium oxyorthosilicate (GSO), one of several new crystals finding its way to the oil patch. Developing
these crystals for borehole detectors requires coupling a knowledge of nuclear physics with sophisticated
crystal-growing techniques.

Comparison of Scintillation Crystals

Crystal

Density
g/cm3

Effective
Atomic Number Z

Refractive
Index

Relative
Light Flash
Intensity

Energy
Resolution
@662keV1, %

Light Flash
Decay Time2
ns

Rugged

Unaffected
By Moisture

Dewar
System
Required

NaI(Tl)

3.67

51

1.85

100

6.5

230

No

No

No

BGO

7.13

75

2.15

15

9.3

300

Yes

Yes

Yes

GSO

6.71

59

1.85

20

8.0

56 and 600

No

Yes

No

LSO

7.40

66

1.82

75

10

40

Yes

Yes

Depends on
application

1. Energy resolution refers to the commonly used relative full width at half maximum for the 137Cesium gamma ray peak at 662 keV.
Sharply defined spectral peaks indicate good energy resolution.
2. Decay time is the time constant for the exponential decay of the light flash. Faster decay times are preferred.

What Makes a Great Crystal?

resolution, and makes the detector more sensi-

The New Detectors

Scintillation detectors are so named because

tive to low-energy gamma rays. If at all possible,

For nearly 45 years, thallium-doped sodium

they generate flashes of light when struck by

the light-flash intensity and duration should be

iodide (NaI) has been the gamma ray detector of

gamma rays (for details on how scintillator crys-

relatively unaffected by temperature change. This

choice for nuclear logging. It is widely used to

tals work, see Gamma Ray Spectrometry at a

eliminates the need for temperature control hard-

determine formation density and chemical com-

Glance, page 38).1 Most of the properties that

ware downhole.

position, salinity through casing, and mineralogy.

make a crystal desirable for logging are those

that maximize the intensity of these flashes and
the number of

counts.2

In addition, crystals

C/O logging and thermal decay time logging

NaI excels in intensity of light flash and tempera-

expose the crystal to high instantaneous gamma

ture stability. Although new crystals literally do

ray fluxes during or immediately after the neutron

not outshine NaI, they do bring increased detec-

should be rugged, not cracking on impact, and

burst. The light flashes must have a short enough

tion efficiency, greater ruggedness, reduced sen-

unaffected by moisture.

duration to avoid piling up on one another,

sitivity to humidity, and the ability to handle

which produces false pulse amplitudes and

much higher counting rates without pileup (see

counting rates.

Comparison of Scintillation Crystals, above).

A crystal of high density and high atomic number provides more opportunity for interaction with
incident gamma rays, maximizing count rates.

Once a light flash has been generated, the

Bismuth germanate (BGO) was first manufac-

Crystal volume also affects performance. A big-

goal is to get as much light as possible to the

tured commercially in the early 1970s, providing

ger crystal intercepts more gamma rays, thereby

photomultiplier tube (PMT). To prevent internal

higher counting rates than NaI that result in bet-

increasing count rates. It also decreases the

absorption of light, the crystal should be trans-

probability that a gamma ray will escape the

parent to the light it generates. Because light

crystal after one or two scatterings.

generated by the crystal must eventually pass

Knoll GF: Radiation Detection and Measurement. New York,

New York, USA: John Wiley and Sons, 1989.

A high light-flash intensity produces large volt-

through the window of the photomultiplier tube,

ages that are easily measured, improving energy

the index of refraction of the crystal and window

Birks JB and Fry D: The Theory and Practice of Scintillation

Counting. London, England: Pergamon Press, 1964.

should be similar to maximize light transmission.

The photocathode of the PMT must be highly

1. For a discussion of scintillation spectrometry:

2. Melcher CL, Schweitzer JS, Manente RA and Peterson CA:

Applications of Single Crystals in Oil Well Logging, Journal of
Crystal Growth 109 (1991): 37-42.

responsive to the wavelength of the crystal

light to maximize the number of photoelectrons
it ejects.

January 1994

35

nComparison of a
GSO crystal used in
the RST tool and
the larger NaI crystal used in the GST
tool. GSOs higher
density and higher
atomic number
allow it to function
in the small diameter RST tool.

combinations of formation and borehole

salinities were used to generate over 1000
measurements for each tool.
The C/O data base is used to calibrate the
C/O ratio (COR) model to a particular logging environment. The COR model relates
measured C/O ratios to the porosity, oil saturation, lithology, oil density, oil holdup,
borehole diameter and casing weight and
diameter. Once calibrated, the model is
inverted to solve for fluid volumes,5 and
these values are further refined using alpha
processing, described below. The oil volumes are then converted to saturations.
Alpha Processing: Windows
Versus Yields

ter precision (right). Its use in the Hostile Natural

Gamma Ray Sonde (HNGS) offers the choice of
faster logging or improved statistical precision in
estimates of thorium, uranium and potassium.
BGOs high detection efficiency is also used in a
33/8-in. neutron-induced spectrometry tool.3 In
general, higher count rates and improved spec-

BGO vs. NaI

Uncertainties

BGO

NaI

Th

2.82 ppm

4.63 ppm

1.51 ppm

2.61 ppm

0.51%

0.74%

Th = 12 ppm, U = 6 ppm, K = 2%

tron-induced capture gamma ray spectra. The

nQuantifying BGOs statistical advantage.

Uncertainties for thorium (Th), uranium
(U) and potassium (K) outputs are presented for 1-sec accumulations in a standard shale. Standard deviations of Th, U
and K concentration estimates drop by 30
to 40 % when a BGO detector is used
instead of a NaI detector.

poor temperature response of BGO, however,

lutetium oxyorthosilicate (LSO), a cousin of GSO,

requires the use of a Dewar flask. BGO can also

promises to be the best scintillator for many

experience pileup problems.

applications.6 Although still in development, this

tral peak-to-Compton ratios more than compensate for the main limitation of BGO, low intrinsic
resolution. GSO and BGO crystals generally give
better precision than similarly sized NaI crystals
in estimating element concentrations from neu-

The RST tool is the first commercial logging

scintillator combines high counting efficiency

tool to use the GSO crystal, which was developed

with a light-flash intensity nearly that of NaI and

by the Hitachi Chemical Co., Ltd. in the early

five times that of BGO. It is unaffected by mois-

1980s.4 The high density and high atomic number

ture, is rugged and can handle higher counting

of GSO make for a smaller diameter detector than

rates free of pileup than other scintillators under

NaI, and hence a smaller diameter tool (top).5

consideration for borehole use. The light gener-

The high density also improves the crystals

ated by an LSO crystal, similar in wavelength

ability to detect gamma rays, particularly high-

to that of NaI, works well with existing photo-

energy ones.

cathode materials.

GSO has a detection efficiency nearly as high

Competing crystals are breaking the near

Schlumbergers traditional approach to processing C/O logging data, the C/O yields
approach, is to determine the carbon and
oxygen yields from the measured inelastic
spectrum, and then use their ratio to determine oil volume, then saturation. The
C/Oyields approach provides good accuracy
but reduced precision.6 Advantages of this
method are ease of use and interpretation.
Because the contribution of carbon to the
total spectrum is relatively small, however,
good statistics require long measurement
times or slow logging speeds. To shorten
measurement times without sacrificing precision, a windows approach has been
adopted. Windows are sections of the spectrum most influenced by changes in carbon
and oxygen and least influenced by
changes in other elements (next page, left ).
The ratio of the gamma ray counts from the
carbon window to counts in the oxygen
window is then used to determine a more
precise saturation.
The C/Owindows approach provides good
precision but poor accuracy. It improves the
statistics of the measurements because the
total counts in the windows are high. But
interpretation is more difficult. For example,
in a clean, water-bearing sand and a waterfilled borehole, the C/Oyields ratio would be
zero, whereas the C/Owindows ratio is nonzero. The ratio produced by the windows
method must be calibrated with ratios mea-

as BGOs but can operate at higher temperatures

monopoly held by NaI for over four decades,

without a bulky Dewar flask. It produces signifi-

though the price is high. The pair of GSO scintil-

cantly less pulse pileup during the neutron burst.

lators in the RST tool costs about $10,000 at pre-

Because the light output from GSO is lower than

sent. But an expanding market is likely to result

for NaI, the RST tool employs a newly designed,

in improved production methods and reduced

sensitive PMT.

prices. These new scintillators are sure to make

3. Jacobson LA, Beals R, Wyatt, DF Jr and Hrametz A: Response

Characterization of an Induced Gamma Spectrometry Tool
Using a Bismuth Germanate Scintillator, Transactions of the
SPWLA 32nd Annual Logging Symposium, Midland, Texas,
USA, June 16-19, 1991, paper LL.

A new member of the scintillation detector

further inroads on NaIs territory. Crystal research

4. Takagi K and Fukazawa T: Cerium-activated GD2SiO5 Single

Crystal Scintillator, Applied Physics Letters 42 (1983): 43-45.

family was developed two year ago by scientists

and development are continuing and new crystals

at Schlumberger-Doll Research, Ridgefield, Con-

with special properties may be added to this

necticut, USA. They found that cerium-doped

expanding list of exotic detectors.JT, TAL

36

5. Melcher CL, Schweitzer JS, Utsu R and Akiyama S: Scintillation

Properties of GSO, IEEE Transactions of Nuclear Science 37,
no. 2 (April 1990): 161-164.
6. Melcher CL and Schweitzer JS: A Promising New Scintillator:
Cerium-Doped Lutetium Oxyorthosilicate, Nuclear Instruments
and Methods in Physics Research A 314 (1992): 212-214.

Oilfield Review

sured under known conditions. Ideally, the

windows-based C/O tool would be logged
first in a known water-bearing zone to determine a zero carbon value, then logged in a
zone of known oil saturation to obtain a
second calibration point.
Alpha processing for the RST tool combines the accuracy of the yields ratio with the
precision of the windows ratio to obtain saturation results in the minimum time. It calculates the volume of oil (the product of porosity and oil saturation) from the C/Owindows
methodthe windows oil volume, and the
volume of oil from the C/Oyields methodthe
yields oil volume. The difference between
these volumes is tracked and used to adjust
the windows oil volume. Alpha processing is
applied over a specified number of levels,
known as the alpha filter length.

nThe RST Job Planner software for planning RST jobs on the Macintosh. The field engineer or client specifies the many input parameters, including RST tool type, lithology,
saturation precision and alpha processing level, to calculate corresponding logging
speeds with the RST tool. CDV stands for oil gravity. Logging speeds are reported for
two levels of confidence, 68% and 95%. The use of alpha processing increases logging
speeds by improving measurement statistics.

Carbon Oxygen
Counts

Carbon

Oxygen

Energy, MeV

nInelastic spectra measured with the

far detector of the RST tool in an oil
and water tank. Shaded areas indicate
the carbon and oxygen windows used
to improve measurement statistics.

January 1994

Planning the RST Job

Future of the RST Tool

With nuclear tools like the RST tool, careful

job planning can significantly affect the precisionand the costof the final answer.
To facilitate planning an RST job, a software
program called RST Job Planner is used to
determine the logging speed and number of
passes needed to produce results according
to clients specifications. Versions of RST Job
Planner can run on VAX computers at the
field logging interpretation center (FLIC) or
on a Macintosh computer. The Macintosh
version is available to clients.
RST Job Planner requires a variety of input
parameters, including tool type, lithology,
porosity, oil gravity (referred to as carbon
density valueCDV), casing size and
weight, borehole diameter, number of levels
for alpha processing and number of levels of
vertical averaging. In addition, clients specify the precision, or standard deviation of
the answer, in terms of a percent saturation.
The output consists of station times and
logging speeds in a table showing two levels
of confidence,7 68% and 95% (above ). This
allows the client to weigh precision needs
against logging costs. Higher precision
requires slower logging speeds. The fastest
logging option, however, may not always be
the most cost-effective for the client. While
the RST-B tool typically logs at less than half
the rate of the RST-A, it can minimize the
time a well is off-line and avoid problems
associated with reinvasion from shut-in.

With the RST tools accuracy, precision and

versatility for saturation monitoring
unmatched in the oil field, applications for
the tool continue to grow. The RST tool has
recently provided holdup measurements in
horizontal and through-tubing wells. A
porosity measurement determined from a
ratio of the count rates in the near and far
detectors will soon be added to the sigma
mode. Software is being developed that will
convert between RST and TDT logs,
enhancing the value of RST logs in -monitoring programs. In addition, the RST tools
response to gas is being studied. These
ongoing projects, plus experimental use of
the RST tool in uncharacterized environments by innovative field engineers and
clients, promise an exciting future for this
newest saturation monitoring device. TAL
5. Oil volume is the volume of formation taken up by oil.
It can be expressed as porosity times oil saturation.
6. Accuracy refers to how close the mean value of a
measurement is to the true value. Consider a
speedometer that always registers 10 miles per hour
(mph). It is inaccurate when the car is traveling 60
mph but accurate when the car travels 10 mph.
Precision refers to the spread of individual measurements from the mean. A precise system produces
results with very little spread. The broken speedometer
is very precise, since it always gives the same measurement of 10 mph.
7. A precision of one standard deviation corresponds
to 68% confidence; two standard deviations correspond to 95% confidence and three standard deviations correspond to 99.9% confidence.

37

Gamma Ray Spectrometry at a Glance

The interactions and measurements associated with gamma ray spectrometry may be confusing to nonexperts in nuclear logging.
Simply put, gamma ray spectrometry measures gamma rays (counts) in time and gamma ray energies. Some elements emit
gamma rays naturally; others can be bombarded with neutrons to induce gamma ray emissions. Each element produces
characteristic gamma rays of specific energies. Moreover, the number of characteristic gamma rays produced is proportional to
the abundance of the element. Naturally occurring and induced gamma rays may be counted and sorted according to energy.
This produces a gamma ray spectrum that can be processed, or decoded, to identify the elements and their concentrations.

Downhole Accelerator

Ion source

Inelastic Neutron Scattering

In inelastic neutron
scattering, the neutron
bounces off the nucleus,
but excites it into quickly
giving off what are

n
Filament

Magnet

Target

called inelastic gamma

rays. The measurement
of gamma ray energies

The starting point for induced gamma ray

from inelastic neutron

spectrometry is the generation of neutrons. Like

scattering yields the

its predecessors, the RST tool uses a downhole

relative concentrations

accelerator to emit pulses of high-energy

of carbon and oxygen,

neutrons into the formation. This device creates

which are then used to

determine water

14-million electron volt (MeV) neutrons by

Inelastic
gamma rays

accelerating deuterium ions into a tritium target.

saturation.

Elastic Neutron Scattering

n
Neutron Absorption

Slow
neutron

Excited
nucleus

The neutrons primarily interact with formation

nuclei in three ways:
In elastic neutron-scattering, the neutron

Capture
gamma ray

bounces off the bombarded nucleus without

exciting or destablizing it. With each elastic
interaction, the neutron loses energy. Hydrogen,
with the mass of its nucleus equal to that of a

38

In neutron absorption, the nucleus absorbs the neutron and becomes

excited, typically emitting capture gamma rays. Neutron absorption, or

neutron, is very good at slowing down neutrons.

neutron capture, is most common after a neutron has been slowed by

Hence, how efficiently a formation slows down

elastic and inelastic interactions to thermal energies of about 0.025 eV.

neutrons generally indicates the abundance of

The measurement of capture gamma ray energies is used to estimate the

hydrogen. Because hydrogen is most abundant in

abundances of elements most likely to capture a neutronsilicon, calcium,

pore fluids, neutron slowdown indicates porosity.

chlorine, hydrogen, sulfur, iron, titanium and gadolinium.

Oilfield Review

Photomultiplier Tube
Gamma
ray
Scintillation
material

Photoelectron

Photocathode
surface

Long burst

Counts

Short burst

Window

Collector
0

500

1000

1500

Time, sec

A decrease in the production rate of capture

gamma rays over time, as measured with the

A gamma ray is detected when its interactions with the detector crystal create
electrons and holes that excite the crystal into generating flashes of light

TDT tool, is proportional to the absorption rate of

(scintillations). The intensity of these scintillations is related to the energy of

thermal neutrons. This decay is basically

the bombarding gamma ray. Most gamma rays lose some of their energy on

exponential and accounts for both the absorption

the way to the detector because they scatter randomly, create new particles

and diffusion of neutrons in the formation. The

or disappear.

slope of a semilog plot of gamma ray counts

The light flashes pass through a window at one end of the crystal and

versus time yields the capture cross section of

fall on the photocathode surface of a photomultiplier tube, liberating

the formation. Expressed in capture units, the

electrons via the photoelectric effect. The tube amplifies the electronic

capture cross section expresses the probability

charges about 200,000 times and provides a current signal large enough to

that a neutron passing through a cross-sectional

be analyzed by downhole electronics.

area of a material will be captured.

Counts

Oxygen
Silicon
Tool background
Calcium
Iron
Carbon

20

Neutron
burst

Inelastic Early
capture

Time, sec

Late
capture

100

Neutron
burst

Inelastic

A pulsed neutron source and time-gated detectors

solve the difficulty of distinguishing gamma rays of

Energy, MeV

As with any other nuclear logging tool, the gamma ray spectra collected by
the RST tool must be processed to identify the elements that contributed to

nearly the same energy from two different interactions.

the spectra and their abundances. This is possible because each element

Inelastic gamma rays occur during the neutron pulse;

produces a characteristic set of gamma ray peaks.

capture gamma rays occur later, after the neutrons have

A library of standard elemental spectra is used to determine the

been slowed down. A typical timing cycle takes

individual elemental contributions. Each standard elemental spectrum

advantage of this by scheduling the first measurement

represents the response of a tool to a particular element. A computer

gate during the neutron pulse and subsequent

determines the linear combination of these elemental standards that best

measurement gates at later times. Which interactions,

fits the measured spectrum and calculates the elemental yields. A yield is

and hence, which elements contribute to the spectra,

the fractional contribution of an element to the total observed spectrum,

depend largely on the sequence and duration of pulsed

after subtracting off the capture background. It is proportional to the

neutron bursts and timing gates.

abundance of the element.

39