Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology, Vol.46, No.11, 47-55, 2007
In situ viscosity of heavy oil: Core and log calibrations
Having knowledge of oil viscosity variation within reservoirs would be of considerable benefit when producing from heavy oil fields. Previous work has demonstrated that low field NMR bench-top instruments can be used to perform measurements of in situ viscosity. Ideally, if these measurements could be performed on NMR logging tools, viscosity characterization studies could be carried out using fewer core samples. In this paper, data is presented for a heavy oil reservoir in northern Alberta. A methodology is presented for tuning NMR viscosity estimates to the field in question, and core analysis results are collected, showing that in situ viscosity predictions are possible in the laboratory., NMR spectra measured in the laboratory are compared to NMR logging tool spectra, in order to determine if results obtained using bench-top instruments can be extrapolated to logging tool data.