Chapter 3E: Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Applications in Petrophysics and Formation Evaluation

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) has been, and continues to be, widely used in chemistry, physics, and biomedicine and, more recently, in clinical diagnosis for imaging the internal structure of the human body. The same physical principles involved in clinical imaging also apply to imaging any fluid-saturated porous media, including reservoir rocks. The petroleum industry quickly adapted this technology to petrophysical laboratory research and subsequently developed downhole logging tools for in-situ reservoir evaluation (see the next section of this chapter).

NMR logging, a subcategory of electromagnetic logging, measures the induced magnet moment of hydrogen nuclei (protons) contained within the fluid-filled pore space of porous media (reservoir rocks). Unlike conventional logging measurements (e.g., acoustic, density, neutron, and resistivity), which respond to both the rock matrix and fluid properties and are strongly dependent on mineralogy, NMR-logging measurements respond to the presence of hydrogen protons. Because these protons primarily occur in pore fluids, NMR effectively responds to the volume, composition, viscosity, and distribution of these fluids (i.e., oil, gas, and water). NMR logs provide information about the quantities of fluids present, the properties of these fluids, and the sizes of the pores containing these fluids. From this information, it is possible to infer or estimate the volume (porosity) and distribution (permeability) of the rock pore space, rock composition, type and quantity of fluid hydrocarbons, and hydrocarbon producibility ( Fig. 3E.1 ).