In situ fluid typing and quantification with 1D and 2D NMR logging

Abstract

In situ nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) fluid typing has recently gained momentum due to data acquisition and inversion algorithm enhancement of NMR logging tools. T(2) distributions derived from NMR logging contain information on bulk fluids and pore size distributions. However, the accuracy of fluid typing is greatly overshadowed by the overlap between T(2) peaks arising from different fluids with similar apparent T(2) relaxation times. Nevertheless, the shapes of T(2) distributions from different fluid components are often different and can be predetermined. Inversion with predetermined T(2) distributions allows us to perform fluid component decomposition to yield individual fluid volume ratios. Another effective method for in situ fluid typing is two-dimensional (2D) NMR logging, which results in proton population distribution as a function of T(2) relaxation time and fluid diffusion coefficient (or T(1) relaxation time). Since diffusion coefficients (or T(1) relaxation time) for different fluid components can be very different, it is relatively easy to separate oil (especially heavy oil) from water signal in a 2D NMR map and to perform accurate fluid typing. Combining NMR logging with resistivity and/or neutron/density logs provides a third method for in situ fluid typing. We shall describe these techniques with field examples.