Patent · US Active

In-situ heavy-oil reservoir evaluation with artificial temperature elevation

US7753119B2 · kind B2 · utility

14Cited by
11References
15Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateApr 6, 2004
Grant dateJul 13, 2010
Priority date—
Expiry dateMay 13, 2029

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01V3/32
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

Many reservoirs of interest include heavy oil. In such reservoirs, partly at normal temperatures, many instruments commonly used for formation evaluation may not be able to distinguish between heavy oil and bound water in the formation. Passive or active heating is used to elevate the temperature of the fluids in the formation. At elevated temperatures, distinguishing between heavy oil and bound water is easier. Of particular interest is the increase in the resolvability of the transverse relaxation time T2 of NMR spin echo measurements. Additionally, the dielectric constant and the loss tangents of water and heavy oil show different temperature and frequency dependence.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.