Prediction of formation temperatures in permafrost regions from temperature logs in deep wells—field cases

Important data on the thermal regime of the Earth's interior come from temperature measurements in deep boreholes. Drilling greatly alters the temperature field of earth materials surrounding the wellbore. In permafrost regions, due to thawing of adjacent strata during drilling, representative data can be obtained only by repeated observations over a long period of time. In this paper we predict undisturbed formation temperatures (and geothermal gradients) from shut‐in temperature logs in deep wells. The main features of the method are: (1) in the permafrost section of the well, the starting point in the well thermal recovery is moved from the end of well completion to the moment of time when the refreezing of enclosing strata was completed; it takes into account the refreezing of thawed material in a temperature interval; and (2) below the permafrost base, the starting point in the well thermal recovery is moved from the end of well completion to the moment of time when the first shut‐in temperature log was taken. A generalized formula to process field data (for the well sections below and above the permafrost base) is presented. Temperature logs conducted in five wells verify the method. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.