Patent ID: 7392138

Claim:
A method of determining a content of a given gas in a drilling mud, comprising: initially extracting and collecting a first portion of the given gas from a calibration sample of the drilling mud under predetermined conditions; subsequently extracting and collecting a second portion of the given gas from the same calibration sample of the drilling mud under the predetermined conditions; measuring the extracted first portion and the extracted second portion of the given gas to obtain data representing a quantity of the first portion of the given gas and a quantity of the second portion of the given gas extracted from the calibration sample of drilling mud; establishing a family of calibration curves representing the given gas extracted from the calibration sample of the drilling mud, said establishing of the family of calibration curves being based on the data obtained during said measuring of the extracted first portion and the extracted second portion of the given gas; measuring the given gas extracted from an analysis sample of the drilling mud to obtain data representing a quantity of the given gas extracted from the analysis sample of the drilling mud, the given gas being extracted from the analysis sample under the predetermined conditions; and computing a content of the given gas in the drilling mud based on the data representing the quantity of the given gas extracted from the analysis sample and based on an applicable curve of the established family of calibration curves.