Testing oil saturation distribution in migration paths using MRI

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) method allows to observe the distribution of different fluids in situ in porous media, and to measure oil and water saturation. Although this technique has great advantages compared to others, there remains large space for assessing the method and improving the accuracy of measurement. Using MRI, the oil secondary migration paths are scanned to measure the saturation distribution during the laboratory experiments. The resulting map can be calibrated using a device with the same pore structure as the probed sample and fully saturated with oil. This device is scanned with the probed sample at the same time in order to calibrate the saturation. The Spin-echo multi-slices sequence (SEMS) is adopted for MRI to ensure that the oil saturation in migration paths is accurately measured. The relevant spatial resolution of the mapping is defined according to the concept of REV (representative elementary volume). The oil saturation resulting from data obtained using different image formats are compared and the resulting saturation evaluation is compared to direct bulk saturation measurements. This comparison demonstrates that the calculated MRI oil saturation using DICOM image format is quite accurate, with a relative error less than 2%. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.