https://jrisetgeotam.lipi.go.id
RISET
Geologi dan Pertambangan
Indonesian Journal of Geology and Mining
108
Research article
Wireline logs vs. drilling events: Which one to believe in implying subsurface pressure?
Riset Geologi dan Pertambangan
Indonesian Journal of Geology
and Mining
Vol.31, No 2, pages 108–116
doi:
10.14203/risetgeotam2021.v31.1176
Keywords:
Subsurface pressure,
Wireline logs,
Drilling events,
South Sumatra Basin.
Corresponding author:
Agus Mochamad Ramdhan
E-mail address:
agusmr@gl.itb.ac.id
Article history
Received: 2 July 2021
Revised: 14 October 2021
Accepted: 25 October 2021
©2021 Research Center for
Geotechnology - Indonesian
Institute of Sciences
This is an open access article under
the CC BY-NC-SA license
(http://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).
ABSTRACT As generally known, subsurface pressure can be
implied using both wireline logs and drilling events. However,
there may be a case where wireline logs and drilling events
do not indicate the same subsurface pressure. Data from four
vertical wells located in the South Sumatra Basin, Indonesia,
were analyzed as a case study. Two wells, Wells A and D,
encountered high overpressured zones, confirmed by drilling
events and wireline logs data. The two others, Wells B and C,
only encountered low overpressured zones, inferred by the
relatively low mudweight used during the drilling. However,
the wireline logs of Wells B and C show a reversal as Wells A
and D. There are two hypotheses to explain the condition in
Wells B and C. First, the wireline logs reversal is due to shallow
carbonate cementation. Second, Wells B and C were drilled in
an unintentional underbalanced condition. The method used
includes XRD, SEM, and titration analysis. The results show that
the first hypothesis is false, while the second is true. It may be
due to some missing information related to drilling events in
the final well reports of Wells B and C.
INTRODUCTION
Subsurface pressure anomaly, i.e., overpressure, can cause problems during the drilling. Lumpur
Sidoarjo (LUSI) in the East Java Basin is the best example in Indonesia of how serious the problem
can be. The subsurface pressure can be measured directly using pressure instruments such as
Repeat Formation Tester (RFT) and Modular Formation Dynamic Tester (MDT) or indirectly based
on wireline logs, mudweight, or drilling events like kick and gas while drilling.
Deviated sonic and resistivity logs from the normal compaction trend in a certain depth interval
below the surface commonly indicate an overpressured zone. The presence of drilling events,
such as a significant increase of mudweight, kick, and increasing gas content, can also indicate the
Agus Mochamad Ramdhan1, Arifn1, Rusmawan Suwarman2
1
Department of Geology and Department of Groundwater
Engineering, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Bandung, Indonesia
2
Department of Meteorology and Department of Groundwater
Engineering, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Bandung, Indonesia