Multinuclear NMR microscopy of two-phase fluid systems in porous rock

The high-field magnetic resonance (MR) characteristics of fluids in porous reservoir rock exhibit short T2 relaxation times and broad natural line widths. These characteristics severely restrict which MR imaging (MRI) methodology can be used to obtain high-resolution porescale images of fluids in porous rock. An MR microscopy protocol based on 3D backprojection using strong imaging gradients was developed to overcome many of these constraints. To improve the image quality of two-phase systems, multinuclear MRI using proton MR to image the brine phase and 19F MR of a fluorinated hydrocarbon to image the oil phase was used. Resolution as high as 25 microns per pixel has been obtained for fluid systems in Bentheim and Fontainebleau sandstones. Separate proton and 19F images of brine and oil phases show good agreement with total saturation images. Software has been developed to perform 3D erosion/dilations and to extract the pore size distribution from binarized 3D images of fluid filled porosity. Results from pore size measurements show significant differences in the nature of the pore network in Fontainebleau and Bentheim sandstones.