Grant: Alliance Grants

The economy of Canada, and that of other industrialized nations, remains critically dependent on petroleum resources as the fuel for economic growth and prosperity. While there is wide-spread agreement that we must decarbonize our energy supply, national economies require decades to transition between energy sources, and our dependence on petroleum will continue for many years. This project features three partners including the UNB MRI Centre, well known for developing magnetic resonance (MR) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods for non-medical applications. Local company Green Imaging Technologies (GIT) is the dominant vendor of commercial MR/MRI measurement software for core analysis in the petroleum industry. TotalEnergies, the third partner, is a vertically integrated French multinational petroleum company. One of the world's largest petroleum companies, TotalEnergies is an industry leader in the employment of rock core MR/MRI technology. They have a close relationship with GIT, and they are one of their most important customers. This NSERC Alliance project will develop existing, and create new, MR/MRI measurements for rock core analysis, through collaboration with GIT and TotalEnergies. GIT will incorporate promising techniques and methodologies into their software products for commercial sale. TotalEnergies will benefit by early access to the new methodologies, and their advice will help guide work in areas of interest. MR/MRI is advantageous for core analysis since measurements are non-invasive and typically require less sample handling and preparation than other techniques. The MR phenomena directly probes fluid behaviour (water, oil and gas) and fluid environment. This project will introduce new MR/MRI measurements of pore size and pore size distribution, wettability and relative permeability. New hardware platforms will be exploited for measurement of spatially resolved porosity and saturation under reservoir conditions.