Selected question paper for mud loggers

1) Write the names of clastic and non-clastic sedimentery rocks.

CLastic ROCKS
Detrital Sedimentary Rocks
Sediment name
Description Rock Name
and particle size
Rounded rock fragments Conglomerate
Gravel (>2 mm)
Angular rock fragments Brecia
Quartz
Quartz predominates
sandstone
Sand (1/16 to 2
Quartz with considerable feldspar Arkose
mm)
Dark color, quartz with considerable feldspar, clay and
Graywacke
rocky fragments
Splits into thin layers Shale
Mud (<1/16 mm)
Breaks into clumps or blocks Mudstone

Chemical sedimentary rocks derive from material that is carried in solution to lakes
and seas. If the solute precipitates out of the solution to form chemical sediments,
rocks such as limestone can be formed.

Chemical Sedimentary Rocks

Group Texture Composition Rock Name
Clastic or nonclastic calcite, CaCO3 Limestone
Nonclastic Dolomite, CaMg(CO3)2 Dolostone
Inorganic Nonclastic Microcrystalline quartz, SiO2 Chert
Nonclastic Halite, NaCl Rock salt
Nonclastic gypsum, CaSO4.2H2O Rock gypsum
Clastic or nonclastic calcite, CaCO3 Limestone
Biochemical Nonclastic Microcrystalline quartz, SiO2 Chert
Nonclastic Altered plant remains Coal

2) What is the difference between sand and sandstone?

Sand is loose unconsolidated material having particle size between silt and
pebbles (1/16 to 2mm). When held together by chemical cement or by clay,

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 they are called sandstone. Sandstone results from the breaking down or
weathering of older rocks and from the transportation and sorting of rock
fragments by water or by wind

3) Particles of sediment from 1/16 to 2 mm are of what size….sandsize

4) What is tight sandstone?
Sandstone having low porosity/permeability which need hydraulic fracturing to produce tight
gas. defined as having less than 0.1 millidarcy (mD) matrix permeability and less than ten percent
matrix porosity
5) What is the difference between claystone, mudstone & shale?
Claystone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed primarily of clay-sized particles (less
than 1/256 millimeter in diameter).

Shale: Soft, finely stratified sedimentary rock that formed from consolidated mud or clay
and can be split easily into fragile plates

Mudstones and shales are made of silt- and clay-sized particles that are too small to
see. The only difference between mudstone and shale is that mudstones break into
blocky pieces whereas shales break into thin chips with roughly parallel tops and
bottoms. Both are made of ancient mud.

6) The best source rocks are sandstone & limestone/dolomite

7) The shape of sandstone grains are _____subrounded to rounded,_______ &
_sunabgular________.
8) The different types of sandstone are quartz arenite, greywacke arkose
9) The grain supported limestoneis called Grainstone/ packstone according to Dunhum .
10) Mudstone is formed under low kind of energy conditions.
11) Qurtzite is the metamorphosed form of sandstone
12) The chemical element found in dolomite not found in limestone is Magnesium
13) What is sorting? Draw the shape of well sorted sandstone.
Sorting describes the distribution of grain size of sediments, either in unconsolidated deposits or
in sedimentary rocks. Very poorly sorted indicates that the sediment sizes are mixed
(large variance); whereas well sorted indicates that the sediment sizes are similar (low variance).

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 14) A body of rock of considerable thickness is called formation.
15) Calcimeter is used for calculation of amount of Calcium Carbonate
16) phenolphthalein is used for identifying the drilled cement.
17) The reaction of cut flouresence is _____bloming_____ & ___streaming_______.
18) The chemical used in cut flouresence is Acetone
19) BaCl2 is used for the identification of Gypsum/anhydrite
20) AgNo3 is used for identifying halite.
21) What is the purpose of using Alzarine Red Chemical?
 To differentiate between dolomite and limestones
22) The shapes of claystone are amorphous , elongated &
23) Define the following with examples:
(i).Source rock
In petroleum geology, source rock refers to rocks from which hydrocarbons have been
generated or are capable of being generated
e.g…shale, limestone, mudstone

( ii). Reservoire rock

A petroleum reservoir, or oil and gas reservoir, is a subsurface pool
of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. The naturally occurring
hydrocarbons, such as crude oil or natural gas, are trapped by overlying rock formations with
lower permeability. Reservoirs are found usinghydrocarbon exploration methods.
e.g…sandstone, limestone/ dolomite.

(iii). Cap rock

A relatively impermeable rock, commonly shale, anhydrite or salt, that forms a barrier or seal above and
around reservoir rock so that fluids cannot migrate beyond the reservoir.

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 (iv). Cavings

Pieces of rock that came from the wellbore but that were not removed directly by the action of the drill bit.
Cavings can be splinters, shards, chunks and various shapes of rock, usually spalling from shale sections
that have become unstable. The shape of the caving can indicate why the rock failure occurred.
(v).reaming and circulation
Reaming….To enlarge a wellbore. Reaming may be necessary for several reasons. Perhaps the most
common reason for reaming a section of a hole is that the hole was not drilled as large as it should have
been at the outset. This can occur when a bit has been worn down from its original size, but might not be
discovered until the bit is tripped out of the hole, and some undergauge hole has been drilled. Last,
some plastic formations may slowly flow into the wellbore over time, requiring the reaming operation to
maintain the original hole size.
Circulation….to clean hole from cutting/ or after trips for clearance of hole circulation is made, only mud is
circulated with no RPM….main difference in reaming and circulation is that reaming is done with RPMs.

(vi).Spot sample and Regular sample.

Spot samples are taken directly from shale shakers which is representative of certain depth
while composite sample are taken from tray down shakers and normaly having sample of 5m to
10m

(Vii) . Mud functions

 Remove cuttings from well

 Suspend and release cuttings
 Control formation pressures
 Seal permeable formations
 Maintain wellbore stability
 Minimizing formation damage
 Cool, lubricate, and support the bit and drilling assembly
 Transmit hydraulic energy to tools and bit
 Ensure adequate formation evaluation
 Control corrosion (in acceptable level)
 Facilitate cementing and completion
 Minimize impact on environment

(viii). Fishing and milling

There are a number of problems that can occur while drilling a well. Whether a drillstring
breaks and falls to the bottom of the wellbore or a bit breaks, accidents happen. Even pipe
or a tool can fall from the rig floor into the bottom of the well.

This stray equipment that has fallen into the well is referred to as fishor junk, and regular
drill bits cannot drill through it.

A process by which metal downhole is milled. A mill is usually used to remove junk in the hole or to grind away all
or part of a casingstring. In the case of junk, the metal must be broken into smaller pieces to facilitate removal from
the wellbore so that drilling can continue. When milling casing, the intent is to cut a window through the side of the
casing or to remove a continuous section of the casing so that the wellbore may be deviated from the original well

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through the window or section removed. Depending on the type of grinding or metal removal required, the shape of
the cutting structures of mills varies. Virtually all mills, however, utilize tungsten carbine cutting surfaces.

(ix. Kick and blowout

KICK…….A flow of formation fluids into the wellbore during drilling operations

BLOWOUT….An uncontrolled flow of reservoir fluids into the wellbore, and sometimes catastrophically to the
surface.

(x).Sphericity and roundness.

The shape of a sedimentary particle, or grain (what we called gravel, sand, silt, and clay) is essentially its geometric
form.

The geometric form of a particle depends on two different concepts:

 the relative length of the particle intercepts along the three perpendicular axes A, B, and C, corresponding
to three orthogonal axes X, Y, and Z (its sphericity)
 the sharpness or roundness of the corners and edges

The sphericity of a particle influences erosion, transportation, and deposition patterns. A "flat" particle
would travel in a different way then a "spherical" particle.
The roundness of a particle instead is a direct measure of the distance that particle traveled and the
harshness during transportation.

24) Draw the following shapes :

(i).Elongated ( ii). Sub angular ( iii) . Sub rounded ( iv). Rounded
PLZ refer to picture above.
25) Define crystalline, microcrystalline & amorphous.

Crystalline:

1. (Chemistry) having the characteristics or structure of crystals

2. (Earth Sciences / Geological Science) consisting of or containing crystals

3. made of or like crystal; transparent; clear

Microcrystalline: having crystal size only visible in microscope.

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Amorphous.: lacking definite form; having no specific shape; formless

26) Which one has more porosity, well sorted sandstone, poorly sorted sandstone or fractured
limestone.

Well sorted sandstone..

27) Write %age values for trace, streak, thin bands, intercalations, alternations.

 0-5 trace
 5-10 streak
 10-20 thin bands
 20-40 intercalations
 40-50 alternations

28) Limestone recrystallizes to Marble.

29) Anticline is a structural sedimentary trape.
30) Chert consists of Sio2
31) Oolitic limestone is inorganic_ limestone.
32) What are the main components of BHA?

 x-over
 hwdp
 jars
 stablizers
 dc
 DHM (Downhole motor) for direction of efficiency drilling
 bit sub
 bit

33) What is the difference between LWD, MWD & SDL?

Sdl. Surface data logging, also called mudlogging. Where cutting from mud is logged and gases from
wellbore is recorded in real time.
Mwd stand for measurement while drilling, use of this tool give us inclination and azimuth in directional
well drilling
Lwd…logging while drilling….different log suit like, gamma, resisitivity, density measurement are done
during drilling and sent to surface through mwd tool and also saved in tool memory which can be later
on retrieved during POOH.

34) What is a sensor? Define analog and digital sensors. Write the names of both the sensors
separately installed on rig site.
Sensor:
A device that detects or measures a physical property and records, indicates, or otherwise
responds to it.
Digital Sensor: A digital sensor is an electronic or electrochemical sensor, where data conversion and
data transmission are done digitally. Digital sensors produce digital output (0 or 1) which can be easy
to communicate directly with a microcontroller.
Example….SPM…stroke per minute

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Analog Sensors supply a proportional signal corresponding to the distance from the target to
the sensor face. The signal is in the form of a 4 to 20 mA. current. As the object approaches, the
current decreases to a minimum of approximately 2.5 mA.
Example…Pit volume, SPP, Hook load, Torque, CSIP,
35) What are the components of gas system? How it works?
36) Write the components name of chromatograph.
37) Define, background gas,trip gas, connection / pupm off gas, produced gas, formation gas, recycled
gas, contaminated gas.
38) What is a tracer? Why we ues a traces ? write different tracers names.

A type of nonreactive, easily differentiated material placed in a small portion of a circulating mud system at a certain
time to be identified when it later returns to the surface from downhole. Mud tracers are used to determine mud cycle
time (circulation time). Dyes, paints, beans, oats, chips, glitter or any material that will follow the mud and not be lost
or destroyed can be used as a tracer. Care must be taken to use materials that do not dissolve, disperse or plug
the bit or downhole motor. Mud tracers are distinct from mud-filtrate tracers.

39) What is the difference between hydrostatic pressure and ECD ? writ the mathematical formulas for
both in us system.

Hydrostatic pressure is pressure exerted by mud on bottom hole while at rest.

HP= 0.052X MW(ppg)xTVD (ft)= result in Psi
Wher ECD is effective density exerted by a circulating fluid against the formation.
ECD= Annular pressure loss (psi) + MW (ppg)
0.052
TVD (ft)
40) 1 Barrel = 42 Gallons = 158.98 liters.
41) 1 SG = 8.33 PPg.
42) Write formulas for : metal displacement ( open end & closed end ), Annular Volume, String
Capacity, hole capacity.
Metal displacement opn end= (od)2 x TVD (FT)
1029.4
Metal displacement close end = (od)2-(id)2 xtvd (ft)
1029.4
Annular volume = diameter of hole( dh)2- (od)2 X tvd (ft)
1029.4
2
String volume/ hole capacity = (ID) x TVD (ft)
1029.4
43) 1 m3= 6.29 barrels.
44) CosØ=__base/ hypo_______.
45) Durring blowout/ kick the WOB will be decrease or increase.
46) What will be the effects on these parameters during a kick?
Rop,…..increase…..drilling break
hook load……..dcrease
temperature, …….increase
pit volume………..increase
47) What is lag time? What are the applications of lag time?
The elapsed time for mud to circulate from down the wellbore and back to surface. Cycle time allows the mud
engineer to catch "in" and "out" samples that accurately represent the same element of mud in a circulating system.
Cycle time is calculated from the estimated hole volume and pump rate and can be checked by using tracers such as
carbide or rice granules.

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 48) Write formula for, down time , lag / bottoms up time, cycle time, caving %age.
Down time = string capacity
POPxSPM
Lag time = annular volume
POPxSPM
CYCLE TIME = DOWN TIME+ LAG TIME
Caving……
First we calculate exact lag time using tracers….suppose we have 55m lag time, theoretical, supposing
hole is not caved.
Suppose if real/ observed lagtime is 60 min thn we calculate the real annualr volume by
Annular volume = 60X popXspm
Now subtarct it from theoretical annular voulume having 55m lag time we got percentage of caving.

49) What is pipe washout? Write types of washout.

Washout is any wear, crack , leakage from drill pipe. Have two type Vertical and horizontal.

50) What is TFA? Calculate TFA for bit having nozzels 16*5 , 32*2.
TFA stand for total flow area…..
(16)2+(16) 2+(16) 2+(16) 2+(16) 2+(32) 2+(32) 2 = answer in inch 2
1308.8
51) What is the difference between PDC and Tricone bits.which is more suitable for drilling
sandstone?

Tricones are roller cone bit where 3 cone are rotated in drilling operation while pdc are fix cutter bits.
Named after poly srystalline diamond bits. Insert bits, type of tricone bit is suitable for drilling hard sand
stone, and losse to friable sand may also drill gud with pdc.

52) Write different rig operations.

 Drilling
 Tripping
 Reaming
 Circulation
 Cement drilling
 Casing
 Logging
 Coring
 Fishing

53) Pump out put = (liner od)2X liner piston lengthXpump efficieny = litres/stroke
25.4
54) Flow rate = POPxSPM
55) Define: pv, yp , mud density, funnel viscosity , slip velocity, slug mud , hi- vis mud.
PV…Plastic viscosity….measure of resistance to flow
YP…yield point….attractive forces between solid content of mud.
Mud density….mud weight… that how much mud has solid contents
Funnel viscosity…funnel is instrument use to measure viscosity…..remaining viscosity is same

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Slug mud….heavy weight mud
Hi-vis….higly viscous mud/ high viscosity

56) Drill pipe OD ranges from ___3 ½”_____ to __6 5/8”____.

57) What is surge and swabe?
Swab….. reduce pressure in a wellbore by moving pipe, wireline tools or rubber-cupped seals up the wellbore. If the
pressure is reduced sufficiently, reservoir fluids may flow into the wellbore and towards the surface. Swabbing is
generally considered harmful in drilling operations, because it can lead to kicks and wellbore stability problems.
In production operations, however, the term is used to describe how the flow of reservoir hydrocarbons is initiated in
some completed wells.
Surge….Increased pressure in a wellbore by moving pipe, wireline tools or rubber-cupped seals down the wellbore.
If the pressure is increased sufficiently, mud may flow into the wellbore weak formation, resulting in loss of mud
58) Barite is used for weight up mud.
59) For X % HCl from 37% Hcl, formula is P1V1 =P2V2
60) Write the abbreviations for:
sandstone,s.st limestone l. st, claystone clst, silt stone slt st, marl mrl, gypsum gyp , green gn or grn,
black blk, bluish blu, hard hd or hrd, moderate mod, fine f or fn, coarse crs , quartz qtz.
61)Describe the sandstone in abreviations as you are looking under microscope along with oil shows
both in FLD & FLC.
s.st: lt brn, lt gy -gy, trnsp -trnsl, hd, vf -f grn, sbang -sbrnd, wl srt, arg mtx, sil cmt, glauc, slt cal.
Direct: spt, dl, lt yel.
Indirect: mod, strng, bri, mlky
62) Describe limestone sample.
LST: Of wh, lt pl ylsh brn,hd-mod hd, bit crshd,
micrxln-crpxln, sbblky, blky, i/p chky, abd-com Foss & foss
frag, tr Pyr, tr rexlzd.
63) What is calcareous clay, argillaceous limestone. Limestone and chalk. Write calcimetry ranges for
these.
Cal clay….clay having carbonate contents. Marl is some time also termed as calcareous clay.
Calcimetry range from 20 to 40 %
Arg l.st….lime stone containnning substantial clay component but not more then 50 percent.
Calci range from 60 to 70 %
l.st…hard sedimentary rock composes entirely/ mainly off calcium carbonate.
Calci above 85- 100%
Chalk……soft, white, formed from skeletal remain of sea creatures.
Calci…..more than 90%

64) 1m= 3.281ft.

65) What is PPE? Write the components of PPE.
PERSONNEL PROTECTECTION EQUIPMENT
Googles
Helmat
Safety shoes
Cover all
Gloves

66) What are the assesories minerals of sandstone?

Biotite
Muscovite

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Oliveine
Pyroxene
Garnet
magnetite

67) What is the difference between cement and matrix?

Matrix is the fine grained material in which larger crystals or clasts are embedded in rock of all types,
whereas cement is precipitated mineral from fluids which binds large and small rock particles
together in sedimentary rock.
68) What is geochemical sample?

69) Write the colors of: chlorite , gluconite , pyrite.

 Chlorite…green mostly
 Glauconitic…pale green, green
 Pyrite…..yellowish, gold dust,

70) Pdf is the file extension for portable document format.

71) Xls is file extension for crystalline.
72) What is the difference between LAN & WAN?

LAN (Local Area Network) is a computer network covering a small geographic area, like a home, office,
schools, or group of buildings.

WAN (Wide Area Network) is a computer network that covers a broad area (e.g., any network whose
communications links cross metropolitan, regional, or national boundaries over a long distance
73) H2S is heavier than air.
74)The specific gravity of H2S is 1.19
75) PPm stands for parts per millions
76) Draw well profile:
(i) 30˝ casing shoe @ 150m.( ii ) 20˝ casing shoe @ 1500m.( iii) 13 3/8˝ casing @ 2570m.
(iv) 9 5/8˝ casing @ 4100m (v) 7˝ liner top @ 4050 m & shoe @ 5400m.(vi) 6˝ Open Hole 400m.

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150m (30”)

1500m (20”)

2570 (13 3/8”)

TOL 4050M
4100(95/8”)

5400 (7” liner)

OPEN HOLE (6”) 5800m

Please calculate the following with the help of formulas above. Any confusion
let me know.

Drill collars 192m OD= 4.75˝ ID=

hwdp 287m OD= 3.5˝ ID=2.06˝
Drill pipe1 1400m OD= 3.5˝ ID=
Drill pipe 2 4921m OD=5 ID=4.276˝

Calculate:

(i) Hole Capacity , String Capacity , Annular Volume, Metal displacement.

(ii) How many strokes will be necessary to get the cuttings back to surface after drilling 400m of
6inc. open hole?
(iii) What will be the lag time after drilling 400m in 6inch open hole?
(iv) How many strokes will be necessary to spot a pill at the liner shoe after drilling 400m of
6inch open hole?

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 77) If the theoratical strokes are 2900, 2300 up strokes and 600 down strokes and actual total
strokes are 2500, then what will be the actual lag time. Also calculate hole wash out and caving
%age.spm=150

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