A proposed NMR solution for multi-phase flow fluid detection

Jun-Feng Shi,Feng Deng,Feng-Qin Ma,Meng-Ying Wang,Jian-Jun Zhang,Hua-Bing Liu,Chun-Ming Xiong,Li-Zhi Xiao,Shi-Wen Chen,Rui-Dong Zhao

doi:10.1007/s12182-019-00367-3

Abstract

In the petroleum industry, detection of multi-phase fluid flow is very important in both surface and down-hole measurements. Accurate measurement of high rate of water or gas multi-phase flow has always been an academic and industrial focus. NMR is an efficient and accurate technique for the detection of fluids; it is widely used in the determination of fluid compositions and properties. This paper is aimed to quantitatively detect multi-phase flow in oil and gas wells and pipelines and to propose an innovative method for online nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) detection. The online NMR data acquisition, processing and interpretation methods are proposed to fill the blank of traditional methods. A full-bore straight tube design without pressure drop, a Halbach magnet structure design with zero magnetic leakage outside the probe, a separate antenna structure design without flowing effects on NMR measurement and automatic control technology will achieve unattended operation. Through the innovation of this work, the application of NMR for the real-time and quantitative detection of multi-phase flow in oil and gas wells and pipelines can be implemented.

Highlights

In the fields of petroleum drilling and production engineering, flow rates of oil, gas and water in produced fluids could reflect real-time changes in single well capacity in oilfields, which can provide support data for reservoir management and production decisions (API 2005)
The multi-phase flow nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurement method and hardware development scheme proposed in this paper can quantitatively analyze multi-phase flow; it can be used as a set of analytical instruments for on-site fluid property
Multi-phase flow in oil and gas wells and pipelines, is significantly affected by the “state of fluid motion” and a “poor working environment,” which makes it hard for the existing laboratory NMR technology and method to be directly applied to the quantitative detection of oil and gas multi-phase flow

Summary

Introduction

In the fields of petroleum drilling and production engineering, flow rates of oil, gas and water in produced fluids could reflect real-time changes in single well capacity in oilfields, which can provide support data for reservoir management and production decisions (API 2005). Multi-phase flow in oil and gas wells and pipelines, is significantly affected by the “state of fluid motion” and a “poor working environment,” which makes it hard for the existing laboratory NMR technology and method to be directly applied to the quantitative detection of oil and gas multi-phase flow. Aiming at this problem, this paper proposes a multi-phase flow NMR online detection system based on previous research results

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