GeoSpec (Rock Core Analysers)

The GeoSpec range of Rock Core Analysers is designed specifically for studies of core samples from oilfield reservoirs.

Studies on rock cores are important because they can determine the amount of hydrocarbon as well as ease with which it can be recovered from the oilfield reservoir’s porous rock. 

Rock Core Analysers are typically used to obtain information on the fluids in oil and water saturated rock, in particular: porosity and fluid distributions; permeability; free fluid porosity; oil viscosity; and, clay bound water. Since low resolution NMR / MRI is non-invasive it also enables studies of rock cores at high pressures and temperatures with ease. Configurations are available for diffusion and imaging studies.

GeoSpec is the industry standard with installations in almost every major oil producer and SCAL laboratory world-wide. The standard operating frequency is 2MHz to minimise the effect of high magnetic susceptibility gradients present in some rocks, and to complement the operating frequency of down-hole well logging tools.

Two software configurations are available to cover research applications and routine core analysis. For expert users, RI-NMR software allows full user control of the instrument, with interactive set-up and data acquisition, parameter setting, pulse sequence programming, and the ability to automate a series of measurements with different parameters using Visual Basic scripting. WinDXP allows multi-exponential analysis of signal decay curves for prediction of bound and producible fluid volumes.

For routine core analysis, a new software package, LithoMetrix, takes full control of the instrument hardware and automatically generates BVI, FFI, CBW, effective porosity, T1 and T2 cut-off values and NMR permeability. This new package is available exclusively on the GeoSpec range, through a technical and commercial collaboration between Oxford Instruments and Green Imaging Technologies Inc., of New Brunswick, Canada.

Green Imaging Technologies also offers GIT Systems software, which utilises the MRI instrument to measure capillary pressure using the patented GIT-CAP technique. The software also allows the user to model such reservoir parameters as NMR permeability, wettability, and relative permeability. The GIT Systems package is compatible with Oxford Instruments’ GeoSpec range of NMR instruments.