Limits of 2D NMR Interpretation Techniques to Quantify Pore Size, Wettability, and Fluid Type: A Numerical Sensitivity Study

Two-dimensional (2D) NMR techniques have been proposed as efficient methods to infer a variety of petrophysical parameters, including mixed fluid saturation, in-situ oil viscosity, wettability, and pore structure. However, no study has been presented to quantify the petrophysical limitations of such methods. We address this problem by introducing a pore-scale framework to accurately simulate suites of NMR measurements acquired in complex rock/ fluid models. The general pore-scale framework considered in this paper is based on NMR random walks for multiphase fluid diffusion and relaxations, combined with Kovscek’s pore-scale model for two-phase fluid saturation and wettability alteration. We use standard 2D NMR methods to interpret synthetic data sets for diverse petrophysical configurations, including two-phase saturations with different oil grades, mixed wettability, or carbonate pore heterogeneity. Results from our study indicate that for both water-wet and mixed-wet rocks, T2 (transverse relaxation)/D (diffusion) maps are reliable for fluid typing without the need for independently determined cutoffs. However, significant uncertainty exists in the estimation of fluid type, wettability, and pore structure with 2D NMR methods in cases of mixed-wettability states. Only light oil wettability can be reliably detected with 2D NMR interpretation methods. Diffusion coupling in carbonate rocks introduces additional problems that cannot be circumvented with current 2D NMR techniques.