Measurements of hydrocarbons and their interactions using low field NMR

Canada contains vast reserves of heavy oil and bitumen, which are characterized by high viscosities and densities. The efficient production of this oil is becoming important to the petroleum industry. Low field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is already an established tool for measuring oil viscosity and phase volumes in conventional oil reservoirs. This work investigates NMR technology for heavy oil and bitumen formations.; An NMR based viscosity model that can provide order of magnitude viscosity estimates for a wide range of oils and temperatures is presented. By measuring the emulsified water fraction, NMR can also predict emulsion viscosities. When this model is tuned for individual oils, it can predict viscosities accurately. NMR based viscosity predictions can also be made in-situ. NMR can predict three phase fluid fractions accurately, and can also measure changes in oil properties with dissolved gas or solvent. These applications show NMR to be valuable as a logging tool or an online instrument for fluid characterization.