X-ray micro-tomography applications of relevance to the petroleum industry

X-ray micro-tomography is an accurate and non-invasive technique that measures the internal three dimensional structure and composition of materials. To enhance and add predictive power to the measured structure, various analysis techniques have been developed. Of direct relevance to the petroleum industry are calculating transport, mechanical and structural properties directly from the pore space morphology, for both granular and carbonate systems. From the image data, numerical predictions for permeability, elasticity, conductivity and capillary pressure are shown to be in excellent agreement with experimental measurements on the same core material. These results could greatly reduce the cost of sampling and analysis of core material for oil exploration and production. To further enhance this new numerical laboratory approach to the study of complex porous materials, a portable synchrotron source would allow for vast improvements in imaging capability. Such a source would allow for faster acquisition times, the potential for better volume resolution, the ability to measure mineralogy and the exciting prospect of dynamic imaging of three dimensional fluid flow within these granular and carbonate systems, all within the confines of a laboratory based system. Aspects of this proposition are discussed.