U.S. Department of EnergyOffice of Scientific and Technical Information
Use of Earthfield Spin Echo NMR to Search for Oil: Project Accomplishments Summary CRADA No. TSV-1468-97
Abstract
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) is based upon the fact that an atom will oscillate when subjected to electromagnetic waves of a given frequency in conjunction with a constant magnetic field. When the electromagnetic waves cease, the atoms will spin or flip back to their original orientation while emitting a detectable "echo" of the same frequency. The oil industry currently applies NMR in oil fields by injecting a high-Gauss magnetic field and using microwaves of high frequency. However, these microwaves penetrate only a few inches beyond the borehole. Instead of injecting a magnetic field, our technology uses the earth's own magnetic field, which is very weak and thus enables us to use low-frequency signals that can penetrate the earth for several meters. We tune the signal for hydrogen atoms, which occur in both hydrocarbons and water, but the atoms in oil flip much more quickly than those in water-one-hundredth of a second compared to a tenth of a second. By working at a certain depth within a borehole and then detecting the timing and location of the echoes, we can determine if there is oil present and how far it is from the borehole. Triangulating this data from multiple boreholes willmore »
- Authors:
-
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- BP Exploration & Oil Inc., Houston, TX (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); BP Exploration & Oil Inc., Houston, TX (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1410064
- Report Number(s):
- LLNL-TR-741654; UCRL-ID-143714
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC52-07NA27344
- Resource Type:
- Technical Report
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 58 GEOSCIENCES; 02 PETROLEUM
Citation Formats
Hunter, Steven, and Stoessel, Ed. Use of Earthfield Spin Echo NMR to Search for Oil: Project Accomplishments Summary CRADA No. TSV-1468-97. United States: N. p., 2001.
Web. doi:10.2172/1410064.
Hunter, Steven, & Stoessel, Ed. Use of Earthfield Spin Echo NMR to Search for Oil: Project Accomplishments Summary CRADA No. TSV-1468-97. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1410064
Hunter, Steven, and Stoessel, Ed. 2001.
"Use of Earthfield Spin Echo NMR to Search for Oil: Project Accomplishments Summary CRADA No. TSV-1468-97". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1410064. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1410064.
@article{osti_1410064,
title = {Use of Earthfield Spin Echo NMR to Search for Oil: Project Accomplishments Summary CRADA No. TSV-1468-97},
author = {Hunter, Steven and Stoessel, Ed},
abstractNote = {Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) is based upon the fact that an atom will oscillate when subjected to electromagnetic waves of a given frequency in conjunction with a constant magnetic field. When the electromagnetic waves cease, the atoms will spin or flip back to their original orientation while emitting a detectable "echo" of the same frequency. The oil industry currently applies NMR in oil fields by injecting a high-Gauss magnetic field and using microwaves of high frequency. However, these microwaves penetrate only a few inches beyond the borehole. Instead of injecting a magnetic field, our technology uses the earth's own magnetic field, which is very weak and thus enables us to use low-frequency signals that can penetrate the earth for several meters. We tune the signal for hydrogen atoms, which occur in both hydrocarbons and water, but the atoms in oil flip much more quickly than those in water-one-hundredth of a second compared to a tenth of a second. By working at a certain depth within a borehole and then detecting the timing and location of the echoes, we can determine if there is oil present and how far it is from the borehole. Triangulating this data from multiple boreholes will determine the oil's location.},
doi = {10.2172/1410064},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1410064},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Feb 21 00:00:00 EST 2001},
month = {Wed Feb 21 00:00:00 EST 2001}
}