Abstract: Application of Short Wave Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy in Reservoir Analysis

Louis H. Taylor, Robert J. Vinopal

Operators often need to know whether or not a reservoir contains potentially damaging mineralogies, or mineralogies that will affect log interpretation. At the present time, these needs may be addressed, given enough time and money, by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and petrographic analyses. The economic constraints of the operation may preclude the possibility of addressing these needs. A common situation encountered by an operator is the one of having cut a core or collected a set of cuttings through a reservoir and having to make decisions about how to best use the samples to get data about clays or other minerals that might cause damage during completion or drilling or that might affect the wireline logs about to be run. Many operators, given today' economic environment, cannot afford to have expensive analyses conducted. Some operators choose to analyze a single sample and extrapolate the results to the entire reservoir. Short wave infrared microscopy provides real time mineralogical analysis of clays, carbonates, and sulfates in drill cuttings and cores. This analytical technique is rapid, low-cost, and can be conducted at the wellsite. Heterogenieties in the type and distribution of clay minerals in a reservoir can be quickly delineated. The availability of low-cost analytical data from cuttings and core will allow engineers and geologists to make more decisions based on sound technical data.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90952©1996 AAPG Rocky Mountain Section Meeting, Billings, Montana