NMR characterization of modified drilling fluids
AssigneeSchlumberger Technology Corporation
InventorsReda Karoum, Adam Colbourne, Benjamin Merceron, Jerry Thomas Connaughton, Timothy Lesko, Brian Ligertwood, Chemsseddine Bouguetta
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Abstract
A method for evaluating a multiphase drilling fluid includes receiving a sample of the multiphase drilling fluid and modifying the sample to enhance a separation of a first NMR peak corresponding to a first fluid phase component and a second NMR peak corresponding to a second fluid phase component. A nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurement is made of the modified sample and evaluated to compute a property of the drilling fluid.
Claims26
A method for evaluating a multiphase drilling fluid, the method comprising
- (a) receiving a sample of the multiphase drilling fluid;
- (b) modifying the sample to enhance a separation of a first NMR peak corresponding to a first fluid phase component and a second NMR peak corresponding to a second fluid phase component;
- (c) causing a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) instrument to make an NMR measurement of the modified sample;
- and
- (d) processing the NMR measurement to compute a property of the multiphase drilling fluid.
A method for evaluating drilling fluid, the method comprising:
- (a) receiving a sample of the drilling fluid, the sample including a water phase and an oil phase;
- (b) causing a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) instrument to make an NMR measurement of the received sample;
- (c) evaluating a peak separation between a first NMR peak and a second NMR peak, the first NMR peak corresponding to the water phase and the second NMR peak corresponding to the oil phase;
- (d) modifying the sample to enhance the peak separation when the peak separation in (c) is less than a threshold;
- and
- (e) processing the NMR measurement to compute a property of the drilling fluid when the peak separation in (c) is greater than the threshold.
A system for evaluating a multiphase drilling fluid, the system comprising:
- a port configured for receiving the drilling fluid;
- hardware configured to modify the received drilling fluid;
- an NMR instrument configured to make NMR measurements on the modified drilling fluid;
- and
- a processor configured to process the NMR measurements to compute at least one property of the drilling fluid.
An apparatus for evaluating a multiphase drilling fluid, the apparatus comprising:
- a fluid inlet channel configured to receive a drilling fluid sample;
- a density measurement cell in fluid communication with the fluid inlet channel and configured to make a density measurement of the drilling fluid sample;
- an NMR measurement cell in fluid communication with the fluid inlet channel and configured to make an NMR measurement of the drilling fluid sample;
- a rheology measurement cell in fluid communication with the fluid inlet channel and configured to make a rheology measurement of the drilling fluid sample;
- a temperature control module configured to control a temperature of the drilling fluid sample in the rheology measurement cell;
- and
- a metering pump configured to inject a modifying agent into the rheology measurement cell to modify the drilling fluid sample.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.