Researchers at
the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) are focusing on new techniques
for enhanced oil & gas recovery. In particular, they are utilizing nuclear
magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy as a tool to characterize and quantify
reservoir fluids in subsurface cores.
According to Interesting
Engineering:
“Primary recovery from hydraulic fracturing in these
unconventional formations is typically between 3% and 10% of oil in place and
5% to 30% of natural gas in place,” said NETL researcher Angela Goodman, a
world-renowned expert in geological systems.
NMR can be used to determine
the porosity and pore size distribution for pores as small as 1 nanometer. NMR
can differentiate what fluids are present and in what quantities. It can also
help determine how the reservoir would react to water flooding or CO2 flooding.
They begin by saturating the
cores in hydrocarbon oil, which makes the hydrogen nuclei line up. Then they
apply a radiofrequency pulse, which knocks the hydrogen nuclei out of
alignment, and as the pulse is switched off, the nuclei then “relax” back into
an aligned state.
“NMR relaxation times provide information about in-situ
porosity (percentage of void space within a rock indicating how much water,
oil, or gas it can hold), pore size distribution (size of pores within a rock),
permeability (a measure of how easily fluids can flow through the
interconnected pore spaces within the rock), and fluid saturation of the rock.”
The researchers are also able
to simulate reservoir conditions up to 10,000 psi and temperatures of 100
degrees Celsius. This is important because it allows simulations to be much
closer to actual reservoir conditions.
“Such analyses enable the measurement of initial
multiphase fluid saturation (water, hydrocarbons, etc.) and monitor fluid
saturation changes throughout injection of new fluid such as CO2, natural gas,
water, and surfactants intended to initiate oil recovery” said NETL researcher
Lauren Burrows.
The NMR technology will be
used for experiments in which the oil-saturated rock core is held at high
pressure and injected with natural gas, water, surfactant, or CO2 to complete a
technique known as “huff-and-puff.” After digital scanning, they end up with a
3D map of the reservoir and fluid movements through it. With the resolution to
study fluid movement through extremely small nanopores, the researchers are
able to predict how effective secondary recovery will be in the formation. As
noted from the NETL post below, the information gained can also help determine
if surfactants will improve secondary recovery.
“Other benefits of undertaking NMR studies include
tracking the ability of surfactants to change the wettability of oil-bearing
rock. Wettability is the tendency of a fluid to spread on or adhere to a solid
surface. Surfactants increase EOR by changing the wetting properties of the
rock, allowing oil to flow more freely from pores.”
NMR is not new in the oil
& gas industry. I remember NMR being used in wireline logging to indicate
reservoir fluids. A 2020 paper in the International Journal of Geosciences
explores the use of NMR in the oil & gas industry. As indicated in the more
recent studies, the rock is subjected to or is naturally abundant in hydrogen
atoms, which align to a magnetic field, and when it is removed, switch back to
a relaxed state and can provide information about reservoir fluids, as shown
below in the graph. Some of the oil & gas uses of NMR are also described in
the paper’s abstract.
A 2022 paper in the Journal
of Petroleum Exploration and Production Technology goes into more detail about
the use of NMR in the oil & gas industry, including its use in
logging-while-drilling and geosteering. Below are some “relaxation maps” for
different reservoir fluids, followed by a depiction of one of the early
developed NMR logging-while-drilling tools.
The paper’s conclusions on
the potential of NMR technology for oil & gas exploration and production
are given below.
References:
US'
oil, natural gas production could be maximized with highly advanced lab's new
method. Prabhat Ranjan Mishra. Interesting Engineering. May 31, 2026. US' oil, natural gas production could
be maximized with highly advanced lab's new method
NETL
Research To Boost Oil and Gas Production by Maximizing Production in Tight
Formations. National Energy Technology Laboratory. May 19, 2026. NETL Research To Boost Oil and Gas Production by Maximizing
Production in Tight Formations | netl.doe.gov
A
review on the applications of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in the oil and
gas industry: laboratory and field-scale measurements. Journal of Petroleum
Exploration and Production Technology. Volume 12, pages 2747–2784. March 14,
2022. Mahmoud Elsayed, Abubakar Isah, Moaz Hiba, Amjed Hassan, Karem Al-Garadi,
Mohamed Mahmoud, Ammar El-Husseiny & Ahmed E. Radwan. A review on the applications of nuclear
magnetic resonance (NMR) in the oil and gas industry: laboratory and
field-scale measurements | Journal of Petroleum Exploration and Production
Technology | Springer Nature Link
A
Review of the Application of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance in Petroleum Industry. Ayorinde
Janet Olaide, Ehinola Olugbenga, and Durogbitan Abimbola. International Journal
of Geosciences > Vol.11 No.4, April 2020. A Review of the Application of
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance in Petroleum Industry
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