Challenges for Everyday NMR: An Operator's Perspective (2006)

Challenges for Everyday-NMR: An Operator's Perspective Ridvan Akkurt; Ridvan Akkurt Saudi Aramco Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar David G. Kersey; David G. Kersey Saudi Aramco Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Khalid Ahmed Zainalabedin Khalid Ahmed Zainalabedin Saudi Aramco Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Paper presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, San Antonio, Texas, USA, September 2006. Paper Number: SPE-102247-MS https://doi.org/10.2118/102247-MS Published: September 24 2006 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Get Permissions Search Site Citation Akkurt, Ridvan, Kersey, David G., and Khalid Ahmed Zainalabedin. "Challenges for Everyday-NMR: An Operator's Perspective." Paper presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, San Antonio, Texas, USA, September 2006. doi: https://doi.org/10.2118/102247-MS Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAll ProceedingsSociety of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition Search Advanced Search AbstractState-of-the-art Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) applications can be classified into two categories:basic applications designed for total porosity, bound water and permeability,advanced applications that address hydrocarbon type, viscosity and flushed zone hydrocarbon saturation, amongst some others.An NMR log designed for basic applications - especially a T1 log - can provide accurate porosity information in shaly sands and complex carbonates; answer questions related to reservoir quality and producibility; and easily identify gas or tar zones. Given the obvious benefits of such information for routine petrophysical analysis and timely business decisions, one would assume that NMR logging would already be an everyday phenomenon in formation evaluation. Unfortunately, NMR has yet to enter the main stream of everyday logging: it is still considered a specialty, requiring the involvement of experts from the planning to the interpretation stages.Partially due to historical reasons, but more so for cost justification and product differentiation, service companies have traditionally focused on advanced applications. Hence, despite significant advances made in all phases of the technology, concentrating on sophisticated methodologies has resulted in slow logging speeds and high costs, in addition to complex data acquisition, processing and interpretation procedures.Turning the everyday-NMR concept into a reality will require standardization of the service and proper hardware that is free of the limitations of the existing tools. The main objective of this paper is to discuss specific strategies to achieve the everyday-NMR goal for wireline and LWD logging. The proposed strategies include not only the technical requirements, but also the initiatives required from both the operators and service companies.IntroductionNMR was discovered in 1946 independently by two different research groups1,2, and it took only a little bit more than a decade to build the first NMR wireline logging tool. Although this tool was not used for commercial purposes3, it was nevertheless used to log some eighty wells before the end of 1962. The first truly commercial NMR tool, NMT-CA4, was introduced in 1978; followed by NMT-CB, an updated version, almost a decade later5. The technology never caught on, mostly due to instrumentation limitations.The introduction of MRIL-B in 1992 marks the beginning of modern pulsed NMR logging6. MRIL-B, unlike the earlier attempts based on earth's magnetic field, employed permanent magnets and used radio-frequency electromagnetic pulses to manipulate the hydrogen nuclei in the reservoir fluids. MRIL-B was followed by MRIL-C, the first multi-frequency NMR logging tool7; then later by CMR, the first truly combinable NMR logging tool8. Overall, the progress in wireline logging technology has been dazzling: the latest generation wireline logging tools, such as MRIL-Prime9, MRX10 and MREX11, are all capable of making very complex measurements designed for advanced applications.Nor has LWD NMR been left out of this rapid technology development. MRIL-WD12, the first LWD NMR logging tool, was introduced into service in 2001; only a decade after the MRIL-B. Such a short development time, from wireline to LWD, is truly remarkable by historical standards, considering the typical lag time of the LWD implementations of other wireline measurements. With the introduction of PROVISION13 in 2003, and MAGTRAK14 in 2005, all major service companies now offer LWD NMR logging services in the range of 8½ to 10 ¼ inch hole sizes. Keywords: log analysis, interecho time, porosity, sequence, Upstream Oil & Gas, information, operation, polarization, well logging, total porosity Subjects: Formation Evaluation & Management, Open hole/cased hole log analysis This content is only available via PDF. 2006. Society of Petroleum Engineers You can access this article if you purchase or spend a download.