Characterization of well logs using K-mean cluster analysis

• Main Authors: Amjad Ali, Chen Sheng-Chang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: SpringerOpen 2020-05-01
• Series: Journal of Petroleum Exploration and Production Technology
• Subjects: K-mean cluster analysis; Density log; P-wave velocity; Fluid velocity; Fluid bulk modulus; Acoustic impedance
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13202-020-00895-4

Abstract The identification process of different lithologies, hydrocarbons, and water-saturated zones in oil and gas industries involves petrophysical studies that are carried out by geoscientists using different software packages. This study aims to propose a method by integrating mean cluster analysis and well logs to identify dominant lithologies, pore fluids, and fluids contact. For this purpose, initially, K-mean cluster analysis is applied to density log and P-wave velocity data of three wells in order to group them into different clusters. Based on centroids of each cluster, different lithologies have been identified. The density log equation has been utilized to compute the porosity of each cluster, and the mean of each density log cluster is used as matrix density. Next, sonic log equation has been inverted to compute the fluid velocity and the mean of each P-wave velocity cluster is used as matrix velocity. For the fluid density, sonic and density log equations are jointly inverted to compute the fluid velocity of each cluster. The fluid bulk modulus and acoustic impedance are computed using fluid density and velocity. Based on the results of K-mean cluster analysis, different lithologies (shale, sandstone, and limestone) have been recognized successfully. In well-1, hydrocarbon and water-saturated zones are successfully identified and fluids contact has been established in the zone of interest. However, well-2 and well-3 did not show any indications of the presence of hydrocarbon in the respective zones.