Characterising oil and water in porous media using decay due to diffusion in the internal field

Abstract In the method Decay due to Diffusion in the Internal Field (DDIF), the diffusion behaviour of water molecules in the internal magnetic field makes it possible to determine a distribution of pore sizes in a sample. The DDIF experiment can also be extended to a DDIF-Carr–Purcell–Meiboom–Gill (DDIF-CPMG) experiment to measure correlations between the pore size and the transverse relaxation time, T 2 . In this study we have for the first time applied the DDIF experiment and the DDIF-CPMG experiment to porous materials saturated with both water and oil. Because of the large difference in diffusion rates between water and oil molecules, the DDIF experiment will act as a filter for the signal from oil, and we are left with the DDIF-signal from water only. This has been verified in model systems consisting of glass beads immersed in separate layers of water and oil, and in a sandstone sample saturated with water and oil. The results show that the DDIF and DDIF-CPMG experiments enable the determination of the confining geometry of the water phase, and how this geometry is correlated to T 2 . Data obtained in the sandstone sample saturated with water and oil also show that with the exception of the smallest pores there is no clear correlation between pore size and the relaxation time of water.