FORMATION EVALUATION FROM LOGGING ON CUTTINGS

This paper presents an overview of a vast research project called Form ation Evaluation 2000, which was undertaken by Agip SpA and was aimed at characterizing in real time the formations encountered during drill ing by means of measurements on drill chips. To date, the project has demonstrated the feasibility of obtaining representative values of P- and S-wave velocities, rock strength and deformability, permeability, porosity, density, residual fluid content, and saturation. Further wor k is under way to determine the pore-size distribution, the thermal ex pansion coefficient, and the electrical resistivity of the rocks from measurements on cuttings. The paper presents the methodology used to s ystematically develop these technologies and illustrates the results o btained to date during the various sequences of the research, i.e., th e primary design of the measurements, laboratory tuning, and field app licability. Furthermore, the paper presents a series of field cases in which these techniques were used, to highlight the industrial applica tions of such a package of measurements.