ARMIS Automated RealTime Methane Isotope System

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ARMIS - Automated Real-Time Methane Isotope
System
Real-Time Gas Characterization and Automated
Intelligent Gas Sampling at the Well Site

• Presented By
• Louis W. Elrod, Ph.D.
• Chris Jones, Ray Collins and Frank Morales

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Significance of Gas Characterization

• Occurrence and wetness
• Biogenic vs. thermogenic
• Association with liquids
• Maturity of thermogenic source
• Proportion of thermogenic gas in mixtures
• Recognizing gases from the same source
• Correlating reservoirs
• Defining reservoir continuity

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Remote Well
Biogenic Gas Should Skip Test
Oil Associated Gas Should Test
Oil Associated Gas Test
Mature Gas, Associated with Condensate (?)
Should Test
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Remote Well Outcome

• Analysis of samples done after the well was
  completed.
• Advanced testing (isotopes) needed as well as gas
  composition for a complex geological and
  reservoir situation.

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What Will ARMIS Accomplish?

• Deploy a real-time gas isotope system to the rig
  to provide
• Results that impact customer drilling and testing
  decisions.
• Results that indicate reservoir continuity
  vertically between intervals in the same well,
  and between horizons in adjacent wells.
• Results which suggest the quality of the trap
  seal
• Results which suggest how petroleum migrated into
  (and out of) the trap.

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Current Analytical Technology

• Gas Chromatography
• Measures gas composition
• Performed at well site
• Isotope Ratio Measurement
• Measures abundance of 13C and 2H(D)
• Performed at offsite lab by GC-CI-IRMS

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Current Well Site Gas Interpretation (GC only)

• Extended Study (days to weeks delay)
  
• Biogenic vs. thermogenic origin
• Association with liquids
• Maturity of thermogenic source
• Proportion of thermogenic gas in mixtures
• Thermogenic source correlation
• Correlating reservoirs (inter-well correlation)
• Defining reservoir continuity

• Real-time
• Gas occurrence and wetness

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Current TechnologyGas Chromatography
Combustion Interface- Isotope Ratio Mass
Spectrometry (GC-CI-IRMS)
He Enters
CI
Poroplot Q Col.
Nafion Tube
CuO, NiO, Pt - 950oC
Helium Carrier Gas
50 210oC
CH4 CO2 H2O
He and water exit
GC
3 Mass Detectors 46 45 44
Sample injector
IRMS
Computer Calculations
Operating Range
Ion Source
Magnetic Analyzer
Ref -45 -32 -27 d13C
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Disadvantages of GC-CI-IRMS for Well Site
Application

• Multiple instruments
• Expensive and complex
• Heavy (about 150 lbs rotary vacuum pump)
• Requires infrastructure
• Helium, oxygen, reference gas
• High vacuum
• Substantial maintenance and tuning
• Oxidizer regeneration
• Gas flows, columns, interfaces, MS source tuning
• Vacuum leaks
• Requires multiple runs for a gas sample
• Concentration range limited
• About 5 min per sample with 2 runs
• No deuterium analysis

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Near-IR of 12CH3D and 13CH4
Clean CH3D line
Clean 13CH4 line
0.25
CH3D
0.2
13CH4
0.15
Absorbance
0.1
0.05
0
Frequency (cm-1)
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Automated Real-Time Methane Isotope System
One laser for each species measured
Same laser measures reference and sample
Reference gas sealed, not consumed
Multiplexing lasers allows use of single detector
per side
Measurement of d13C dD of Methane
12CH4
Lasers
Reference
13CH4
12CDH3
Sample
Mud gas In
Mud gas Out
Produces real-time isotope log in INSITE or
stand-alone software
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Advantages of ARMIS

• Simultaneous measurement of methane
• Concentration
• Carbon isotope ratio (d13C)
• Deuterium isotope ratio (d2H)
• Can operate in presence of mud gases (no GC)
• Can analyze methane directly (no combustion)
• High precision and sensitivity
• Three orders of magnitude linearity (large
  concentration range)
• Simple apparatus compared to GC-CI-IRMS
• Laser based analysis (rugged, small, inexpensive)
• No consumables
• Minimal maintenance or tuning required
• Rapid analysis (lt 1 min per analysis)

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Comparison GC-CI-IRMS vs ARMIS
GC-CI-IRMS
ARMIS
200 lbs, may be delicate 60 lbs, rugged
(in field already)
He, O2, Reference Gas
No consumables
CuO regeneration Little or no
maintenance Flow Adjustments Source
tuning Column, filament replacements
5 min per measurement lt 1
min per measurement (if 2 runs required)
Measurements simultaneous
Expert, dedicated operator Trained
operator/multiple duties
No deuterium analysis Ethane propane as module
later
Lab precision?
Precision equivalent to lab
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ARMIS
ARMIS
ARMIS
Methane Type
Methane Carbon Isotopes ppt vs PDB
Thermal Methane Source Maturity Equivalent Ro
Mixed
Thermo- genic
Depth Feet
Biogenic
Thermogenic 75 50 25
Interpretation
-20 -30 -40 -50
-60 -70
0.6 0.8 1.0 2
3 4
Methane Deuterium Isotopes ppt vs VSMOW
Thermal Methane Association
Methane Concentration - ppm
Dry Oil Condensate
Dry Biogenic Assoc. Assoc.
Hot
-100 -200
-300
10 100 1K 10K
100K 1MM
MD
Real-time methane concentration data
Real-time classification of methane type
10100
Biogenic Gas
Real-time maturity of thermal methane source
Real-time association of gas with liquids
10200
10300
Thermogenic Gas
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Rapid Data for Extended StudiesIdentifying
Permeability Barriers in Gas Fields
Gas Field
Gas isotope wetness data
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C2
0
-55
-35
d13C Methane
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Rapid Data for Extended Studies Identifying
Source Families Reservoir Compartments
-70
Biogenic
-65
Characterization of gas with Real-time data
-60
Mixed
-55
Thermal
-50
Oil Associated
-45
d13C Methane
-40
Thermal
Condensate
-35
Associated
DRY
-30
-25
-20
-300
-250
-200
-150
-100
dD Methane
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ARMIS Onsite Advantages

• Real-time gas characterization
• Concentration and wetness
• Biogenic vs. thermogenic origin
• Association with liquids
• Maturity of thermogenic source
• Proportion of thermogenic gas in mixtures
• Rapid data for extended gas studies
• Thermogenic source correlation
• Inter-well correlation
• Reservoir communication/compartmentalization

• With ARMIS onsite you can get

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Availability of ARMIS

• First unit under construction
• Field test in April 2004
• Units available in Summer 2004

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Still need samples?

• YES!
• C2 Isotope analysis
• More detailed gas composition analysis
• Archival

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Mud Gas Sampling Technology

• Gas Bags
• Isotubes

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Disadvantages of Current Mud Gas Sampling Systems

• Operator dependent
• Require significant manipulation
• No integration into well site information system
• No ability to sample only thermal gas
• No ability to optimize sampling

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Mudgas Onsite Sampling and Transport System -
MOST

• Rugged construction
• 6-sample racks
• Integration into well site data system
• Automated sampling
• Automated label generation
• Pre-labeled shipping container

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MOST Operation
Status
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Advantages with MOST

• Automated sampling
• Manual sampling when needed
• Data constrained sampling
• Only thermogenic gas above a threshold
  concentration
• Maximizes concentration of gas
• Sample at the maximum concentration
• Minimizes unneeded samples
• Duplicate samples when necessary
• Automatic label generation
• Automatic notation of sampling in logs
• Easily packed and shipped

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Get the MOST with ARMIS!

• Real-time gas characterization
• Occurrence, type and source maturity
• Rapid data for extended gas studies
• Correlation and reservoir continuity
• Optimized sampling of gases for further analysis
• Automated, intelligent, optimized