What is it about?
We offer the community of geophysicists, geologists and petrophysicist a paper where we explain in detail how to simulate spontaneous potential logs that result from pressure or concentration gradients. We explain how this our finite-difference algorithm can be used to help interpreters better understand the behavior of these logs under different scenarios. For geohydrology, understanding and properly employing this log is fundamental because it is one of the few sources of information on the salt concentration in underground water.
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Why is it important?
To this point, no other paper on this topic exists where everything is explicitly explained. we consider that our paper compensates and corrects many inaccuracies and errors that classical papers on the topic overlook. We also show how, based purely on physics and the algorithm derived from it, many field observations are replicable in our simulations. Based on all the results included, we expect this paper to be a valuable tool for those who work on borehole measurements of spontaneous potential in terms of log interpretation.
Perspectives
This is the first of a series of serious studies and applications of spontaneous potential logs. With the possible retraction of the unconventional market, companies might be forced to return to conventional reservoirs where they might have overlooked valuable resources from the lack of knowledge or technology. Spontaneous potential logs are not, at this point, useful in unconventional fields, but could benefit the well log analysts and petrophysicists focused on conventional reservoirs, either inland or offshore ones.
Joshua Bautista-Anguiano
The University of Texas at Austin
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Mechanistic 3D finite-difference simulation of borehole spontaneous potential measurements, Geophysics, April 2020, Society of Exploration Geophysicists,
DOI: 10.1190/geo2019-0632.1.
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