USIT Log features

USIT Microdebonding

What to look for

in a USIT log

February-2003

Javier Peyrière
 Table of contents
Table of Contents 2
Common formats 3
Cement evaluation examples 5
Good Cement 5
Mud Channel 6
Traces of Cement 7
Cement and Squeeze 8
Light Cement 9
Wet Microannulus 10
USIT Image Interpretation and guide 11
Other Effects (examples) 13
Casing shape and wear 14
Third Interface reflection 18
Centralizers 19
To Remember about USIT 20
Microdebonding 21
Background Information 22
Examples 24
Theory and algorithm 28
Examples of microdebonded logs 31
Limitations and advice 35
To remember about Microdebonding 37
Microdebonding References 38

2 JP Version 1
14-Feb-03
 USI combined casing +
cement presentation
QC Casing Cement

Channel

Bond index
Cement raw
Thickness image
Thickness
Internal radius
Casing cross-section Cement
interpreted
Amplitude
Processing flags

Eccentering, CCL, gamma Ray

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 USI + CBL/VDL
cement presentation
QC CBL USI VDL

CBL

VDL
Bond index
Acoustic impedance
Cement image interpreted
CBL, Gamma Ray
Process flags, eccentering

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 Good cement
Strong
CBL formation
flat, Mean Weak
AI 8 casing arrival
low
MRayl arrival

QC CBL USI VDL

• The AI value depends on

the type of cement
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 Mud channel and
contaminated cement
Weak
CBL formation
variable, arrival
high Strong
casing arrival

Channel

Low-Z
cement

QC CBL USI VDL

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 Partial cementation
Weak formation
arrival
CBL flat,
high Strong casing
arrival

Traces of
contaminated
cement

QC CBL USI VDL

• Patches of cement within

fluid
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 Channel and Squeeze
Channel After squeeze

Perfs

USI

CBL

USI BI VDL USI BI VDL

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 Light cement top
• Low
impedance
• 0-4 MRayl
scale
shows
contrast
between
light cement
and liquid
• Liquid/solid
threshold
set low (2.1)
for light
cement 0 0-4 Threshold
100 MRayl 2.1 MRayl
• CBL agrees
with USI
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 Wet microannulus
• USI is weakly affected
• CBL reads near free pipe

Strong, regular
casing arrival
High CBL

Uniform
medium-Z
USI

USI BI VDL

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 USI image interpretation
High Z
Patchy

Gas

Cement
Localised
Medium
Liquid
Micro-
debonded
Cement
Light or Gas entry if
contam. gas zone
Extended
Cement
Cement Narrow
data

Dry micro-
Mud Mud annulus
channel layer + (Debond) Gas
cement channel

Squeeze No Squeeze ?

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 USI and CBL/VDL guide
USI CBL/VDL

Resolution 0.6 in to 1.2 in. 360 deg. x 3 ft

Well bonded Cement Cement
cement
Very light Low contrast Low contrast from
cement [special processing mud
if debonded]
Dry microann. Dry microann. /gas Good/fair bond
Debonded (special
cement processing)
Wet microann. Slightly affected Ambiguous
Mud layer Channel Ambiguous
Contaminated Low-Z cement Ambiguous
cement
Mixed lead/tail Mixed lead/tail Ambiguous
cement
Mud channel Channel Ambiguous
Gas channel Gas channel Cement/ambiguou
s
Formation bond Not seen VDL qualitative
Outer casing/ Third interface Strongly affected
hard formation arrival (not
affected)
Casing Very sensitive Slightly sensitive
condition
Mud < 12 dB/cm/MHZ No strict limit
attenuation

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 Other effects
• Casing effects

• Third arrival effects (formation)

• Centralizers effect

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 Casing shape effects
• Manufacturing patterns often
affect cement image slightly
• Does not affect interpretation
Am Int Cement
p rad.

Formation
reflections

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 Poor casing condition
affects cement evaluation
Echo
Processing amplitude
shows Red “Gas”
flags indications
rugosity

QC Casing Cement

• Processing flags and

amplitude
image show that gas indications
are an artifact of internal
rugosity
15 JP Version 1
 Casing wear can affect
cement image
• Drill pipe wear creates false
“channel”

Wear False
groove channel

QC Casing Cement

16 JP Version 1
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 Deformed casing
• Deformed casing can cause lost
echoes and tool eccentering. Even the
eccentering curve becomes false. The
log must be repeated with a wider
acquisition window. Window

Echoes
outside
acquisition
window

Max/min TT TT histogram
Eccentering
Lost echoes

QC Casing Cement

17 JP Version 1
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 ThirdNarrow
interface reflections
side of
annulus

Channel

Galaxy
pattern

Int. Thickness Cement

radius
• Typical “galaxy” patterns: interference
between casing resonance and reflections
from outer casing (here) or hard formation.
• In this example, it shows good cement except
in free pipe when the casing is close to the
formation
18 JP Version 1
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 Centralizers and good
cement
• USI usually sees Casing
joint
centralizers
• Important to verify
if casing properly
centralized

Centralizer

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 To remember about USIT
• USIT-CBL together: gives an
answer for most of the cases

• The casing condition will affect

the log

• The cement quality is evaluated

real time

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USIT
Micro-debonding

Introduction,
description,
advice

21 JP Version 1
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 Background information

• USIT gives a value of the Acoustic

Impedance (AI) of the media behind
the casing
• In general:
– AI gas < 0.3 MRay
– AI liquid < 2.6 Mray (water around
1.5M ray)
– AI conventional cement > 2.6 MRay
– AI light cement, foam cement often
< 2.6 MRay

22 JP Version 1
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 Presentation

• Presence of low impedance (gas or

liquid range) spots/areas within the
cement
• Multiple reasons (mixed with gas,
fluid, temperature effects when
hardening, light cement, foamed
cement…)
• Act as a barrier to ultrasound
• Patchy cement aspect, low bond
etc…

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Example 1: “patchy cement”
Raw BI Interp • Patchy “gas”/
cement indicates
micro-debonded
cement (patchy dry
micro-annulus)

Patches of Gas
and Liquid

Patches of Good
cement

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 Example 2: Extended dry
microannulus
• Debonded Cement
Raw BI Interp
• Debonding can be
extensive with low
impedance
variability and not
associated with
gas entry

Extended debond
(reading gas)

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Example 3: Gas Micrannulus
Raw BI Interp • Gas coming to
surface of old
storage well
• Old CBL showed
almost 100%bond
Narrow gas
channel
Gas microannulus
Good cement

• New USI showed

areas of debond
(gas microannulus)

26 JP Version 1
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 Micro-debond on USI and
CBL
• CBL less affected than USI without
pressure
• USI and CBL improve with pressure
Without pressure With pressure

CBL

USI

USI BI VDL USI BI VDL

27 JP Version 1
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 Theory or Hypothesis

• Gas and liquids have a

homogeneous AI within the same
medium
• Solids have a more heterogeneous
AI repartition (Variable cement
impedance is indicative of solids)
• Cement is a solid (when hardened)
• By comparing the AI of
neighbouring points we can
determine if it is a solid or a fluid

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 Micro-debonded cement
processing

Vertical
Deviation

Transducer Diagonal 1
“spot” size

Horizontal Diagonal 2
Deviation

• If all 4 standard deviations > set

thresholds
• Data point is considered to be
locally debonded
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 Micro-debond logic

Micro-debonding
Pixel Z AI Thresholds algorithm Cement

Liquid

< Thresh

OR

> Thresh
Micro-D
Gas
<Thresh

OR

> Thresh

Micro-D

30 JP Version 1
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 USI micro-debond logic
• Classifies patchy low-impedance
material as micro-debonded
cement
• Helps interpretation of light and
foam cement Low Formation
Micro-debond
presentation
Conventional CBL arrivals

BI Map BI Map CBL VDL

31 JP Version 1
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 Micro-debond logic
example
• Automatically classifies patchy
low-impedance material as
micro-debonded cement

CBL

BI Map CBL VDL

32 JP Version 1
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 LiteCRETE 12 ppg cement
• Gas entry from known gas zone
• Micro-debond logic shows
cement is present

CBTBI

Debond Threshol BI VDL

logic d map

33 JP Version 1
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 LiteCRETE Gasblok 10.3
ppg
Micro-debond logic shows cement
is present

CB
TBI

Raw map Z BI Debond

logic

34 JP Version 1
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 USI micro-debond logic
limitations

• Does not work with extended dry

debond (gas microannulus)
• Empirical threshold
• Need to “tune” threshold
sometimes
• Can indicate “debonding” in a
channel due to casing shape
effects.

35 JP Version 1
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 Logging advice

• Normal cement
• Log with micro-debonding off
• Play-back with micro-debonding
on if bad bond.

• Light/Foam Cement (low Acoustic

Impedance)
• Log with micro-debonding on
• Play-back with micro debonding
off to see the AI map (not hidden
by the green micro-debonding
flag)
36 JP Version 1
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 To remember

• Act as a barrier to ultrasound

• Vocabulary: Microdebond is the
same as dry microannulus, gas
microannulus or dry debond
• Indicates solid cement
• Often occur without gas entry even
in double casing strings due to
pressure or temperature changes
• Gas entry should only be suspected
if in known gas zone, gas injector
well near, or gas at surface

37 JP Version 1
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 References
• Microdebonding: what is it and does it provide hydraulic
isolation?, Andrew Hayman 29 Nov. 2001

• SPE 55649, Assessment of Foamed – Cement Slurries

Using Conventional Cement Evaluation Logs and
Improved Interpretation Methods from Gary J. Frisch,
William L. Graham and James Griffith (SPE, Halliburton)

• SPE 19538, Guidelines for Ultrasonic Cement-Sheath

Evaluation from K. J. Goodwin (SPE, Mobil)

• Overcoming Interpretation Problems of Gas-

Contaminated Cement Using Ultrasonic Cement Logs
from R.J. Butsch (SPE, Schlumberger)

• The Evaluation of Specialized Cements from R.J. Butsch

et al. (SPE, Schlumberger)

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