The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 27, 1990
Filed:
Mar. 23, 1989
William B Nelligan, North Bay Village, FL (US);
Schlumberger Technology Corporation, New York, NY (US);
Abstract
The nature of hydrogenous fluids filling the pore spaces in formations surrounding a well bore are determined by irradiating the formation with bursts of high energy neutrons and using the ratio of time-dependent parameters related to the decay of epithermal neutron populations above two different energy levels to provide values indicative of the kind of fluid present, independent of porosity. The measurement above the higher of these energy levels, approximately 0.4 eV, indicates the existence of hydrogenous fluid, water and hydrocarbons, in the formations; the lower threshold measurement, above approximately 0.15 eV, is indicative of the structure of the molecule in which the hydrogen molecule is bound and the porosity. A pulsed neutron generator in a sonde irradiates the formations with 14 meV neutrons and a pair of detectors, one shielded by cadmium to establish the 0.4 eV threshold energy level and the other, shielded by gadolinium to establish the 0.15 eV threshold energy level, respond to epithermal neutron populations created by irradiation to provide count rate information. Time related parameters of the count rate information, e.g. the decay constants, provided by each detector are derived. The ratio of the respective parameters is used to identify the type of fluid in the formation, independent of porosity. The method and apparatus can determine water saturation, i.e. percentage of water in the formation fluid and can identify specific types of hydrocarbons under 100% hydrocarbon saturation conditions.