ARTICLE
Petrophysical Principles of Applications of NMR Loggingl
Schlumberger-Doll Research, Ridgefield, Connecticut
INTRODUCTION
This paper reviews the physical principles that underlie
the applications ofNMR logging.
NMR logging is sensitive to some important fonnation
properties to which classical logs have no sensitivity. As a
result, it has a wide range of potential applications. Getting
the most from it requires an understanding of how NMR
properties are related to those important fonnation proper-
ties.
This paper explains these relations briefly. It provides
references to fuller explanations and to the published labo-
ratory petrophysical studies that constitute the scientific
basis of field applications such as the estimation of penne-
ability.
We emphasize the assumptions that are used in connect-
ing NMR properties with petrophysical properties of rocks.
Our intention is not to make the user pessimistic, but to help
him or her cope with a variety of rocks and applications.
FIVE IMPORTANT PRINCIPLES
IN APPLICATIONS OF NMR LOGGING
Applications of NMR logging are given in the left col-
umn of Table 1. They depend on a small number of impor-
tant principles given in the right column and identified by
abbreviations in parentheses. (Some background infonna-
tion about NMR and important details ofNMR logging tool
operation are given in Appendix B. In particular, either
longitudinal - Tl - or transverse - T2 - relaxation can
be measured).
The five important physical principles are explained
briefly in Table 2.
JThe paper presented here is an extensively revised version of a paper
originally published as "Nuclear Magnetic Resonance as a Petro-
physical Measurement" in Nuclear Geophysics, v. 6, no. 2, p.
153-171, 1992. Figures are reproduced by permission.
March-April 1997
W. E. Kenyon
Relaxation Effects Constitute the New Information
Brought by NMR Logging
Table 1 shows that it is the NMR relaxation effects (RW,
RBV, RDG) that provide new infonnation not available in
other kinds of logging. In particular, the wall relaxation
effects provide the physics connecting NMR and penne-
ability.
This physics connection contrasts with past methods of
estimating penneability in which porosity was the main
input. It was well recognized that unlogged factors such as
grain size and packing affected permeability as strongly as
did porosity. As a result, laboratory measurements on a
particular set of rocks couldn't be expected to apply to a
different set of rocks. The pore-size infonnation to which
NMR is sensitive should provide a much more solid foun-
dation.
Individual Relaxation Effects Add
NMR relaxation mechanisms contribute in parallel to
relaxation, and therefore the relaxation rates add.
For transverse relaxation T2 , all three mechanisms con-
tribute:
1 1 1 1
-=-+-+--. (1)
I; I;s I;b I;DG
For longitudinal relaxation TJ, only two mechanisms
contribute; TJ is unaffected by diffusion in a gradient field
(RDG):
1 1 1
-=-+-. (2)
11 lIs lIb
These two equations are fundamental NMR equations
governing Tl and T2 (Bloembergen et al., 1948).
Equation (1), and similarly Equation (2), can be stated in
tenns of the recorded sequence of spin-echo amplitudes
M(t) instead of relaxation times as
M(t):= Mo exp(-tIT2s ) exp( -tIT2b ) exp(-tIT2DG) , (3)
The Log Analyst 21
 Kenyon

Table 1: Applications of NMR logging and the underlying principles.

Potential Application Underlying Physical Principles

Pore size, permeability,
irreducible water volume
Oil viscosity; distinguishing tar
and bitumen from movable oil
Distinguishing gas from oil
Total porosity
Clay content for application
in saturation equation
Wettability
Distinguishing oil from water
Residual oil saturation
The NMR relaxation of water is strongly enhanced by contact with grain material
(Relaxation from contact with the pore Wall- RW)
1. The bulk relaxation time of oil (and water) not in contact with the pore wall is inversely
proportional to viscosity (Relaxation of the Bulk fluid is inversely related to its Viscosity - RBV).
2. T2 relaxation in an inhomogeneous static magnetic field is faster for fluids with a higher
effective self-diffusion coefficient, hence lower viscosity (Relaxation caused by molecular
Diffusion in a magnetic field Gradient - RDG)
1. Gas has a much higher self-diffusion coefficient than oil or water and thus can be distinguished
a) by long times required for polarization (T1) (RBV) andlor b) by the enhanced T2 decay result-
ing from rapid diffusion in an inhomogeneous (gradient) magnetic field (RDG).
2. As with neutron logging, NMR is sensitive to the hydrogen density, which for gas is lower than
water or oil (Amplitude ofNMR waveform is proportional to Hydrogen Density - AHD).
The initial amplitude of the NMR waveform is proportional to hydrogen density (ARD); hydrogen
in the crystal lattice (OH in clays, or water of hydration in gypsum) has too short a relaxation time
to be detected.
Water adsorbed at the surface of clays and not in good diffusive coupling with bulk water has a
decay time in the millisecond region (RW).
Water or oil in contact with the grain material has a relaxation time shorter than the bulk value
(RW); fluids not in contact with the grain material will have their bulk relaxation time (if
diffusion-in-gradient effects (RDG) are negligible).
Light oil that does not contact the grain material will have a long relaxation time (REV), while
water in small pores and in contact with the grain material will have a short relaxation time (RW).
The initial amplitude of the NMR signal is proportional to hydrogen concentration (AHD); the
water signal can be separated from the oil signal when it has a short enough Relaxation time,
which can be achieved by injecting Paramagnetic relaxation agents (RP).

Table 2: Brief explanation of key physical principles.

Principle Relaxation Time

RW - Relaxation resulting from Wall (grain) contact; the relaxation of water saturating a pore of Ts (s for surface;
typical size is greatly shortened by contact with the rock solid at the adjacent pore walls. These we reserve w for water)
wall effects provide the sensitivity ofNMR to pore size and hence to permeability and the volume
of capillary-bound (irreducible) water.
RBV - The term Bulk Relaxation is applied to the relaxation measured in a fluid when wall and Tb (b for bulk)
gradient effects are eliminated. The Bulk Relaxation time Tb is usually inversely proportional to
Viscosity.
RDG - Relaxation is shortened by molecular Diffusion in an inhomogeneous (Gradient) static TDG
magnetic field. Inhomogeneity at the meter-centimeter scale arises from the configuration of the
permanent magnet within the tool and arises at the micron scale from contrast in magnetic
susceptibility between grain and fluid.
RP - Relaxation is shortened by the presence of Paramagnetic materials such as manganese and iron.
Paramagnetic materials in the grain material are the main contributors to wall relaxation, decreasing
Ts; paramagnetic molecules in fluids will shorten their bulk relaxation time Tb.
AHD - Initial Amplitude is proportional to Hydrogen Density. NMR logging tools are calibrated to
obtain porosity from the amplitude of the NMR signal.

22 The Log Analyst March-April 1997

 Petrophysical Principles of Applications of NMR Logging
where Mo is the initial amplitude that reflects porosity
(AHD).
In the above equations, Ts and the other relaxation times
are a shorthand; usually the relaxation is not a single expo-
nential with one relaxation time, but rather has a spectrum
of relaxation times.
When only one source of relaxation dominates (wall
relaxation for permeability and irreducible water), petro-
physical interpretation ofNMR is generally more straight-
forward. When more than one relaxation effect is
important, strategies to separate them become important.
These strategies are discussed later.
Relevance of Tl and T2 in Logging; Historical Importance
of Tt Laboratory Measurements
Both T2 and Tl are important in logging. In continuous
logging, it is more practical to measure T2 relaxation, for
reasons explained in Appendix B. Even so, Tl is important
because it is the time constant with which magnetization in
the formation builds up in response to the static magnetic
field of the sonde. If the formation is exposed to the static
field for a time short compared with Tb its magnetization
will not build up to the equilibrium value, and measured
porosities will be incorrectly low. Deliberate incomplete
polarization is a strategy that has been used to distinguish
gas from oil on the basis of its longer Tl .
In addition, Tj can be measured in station measurements
to provide another method of taking advantage of (or com-
pensating for) the differences between Tj and T2 .
In spite of the fact that continuous logging is almost
always T2 logging, much of the laboratory data discussed
here is Tl data. This is because in the past, laboratory rock
measurements were performed mainly on Tb in large part
to minimize the effects of magnetic field inhomogeneities.
Only recently, when the importance (both positive and
negative) of these effects was realized, have laboratory T2
measurements on rocks been published. More recently,
laboratory T2 measurements have been used to determine T2
cutoffs and permeability estimators.
Wall-relaxation effects have been found to be quite simi-
lar between Tl and T2 in water-saturated rocks (Kleinberg
et al., 1993); typically Tj ~ 1.5 h Therefore, in discussing
wall relaxation, we talk about Tj and T2 more or less inter-
changeably. However, diffusion-in-gradient effects can
make T2 much smaller than Tj •
Laboratory Studies Provide the Scientific Basis for NMR
Log Applications
This paper emphasizes laboratory studies on rocks. It
also emphasizes the assumptions and approximations used
in standard NMR petrophysics. We hope the development
March-April 1997 The Log Analyst
=r.
NMR
relaxation~
re-size
surface permeability
relaxivlty
throat{ _ movable &
opening irreducible water
ratio volumes
Figure 1: Schematic relation between NMR relaxation
properties, pore size, and fluid flow properties - permeability
and irreducible fluid volume. The two key parameters are NMR
surface relaxivity and the ratio of throat size to opening size.
This figure applies to water-saturated rocks.
of successful applications of NMR logging will be faster
and less troublesome if both are known by the user.
Organization
This paper is organized about clusters of applications
that share the same principles of application:
• wall relaxation effect (RW)
• applications of estimating permeability, pore size, and
capillary-bound water estimation, which depend upon
wall relaxation
• surface relaxivity, the parameter that describes the
strength of wall relaxation
• clays and fast-relaxing components
• bulk relaxation (RBV) and wettability effects
• diffusion-in-gradient effects (RDG)
• NMR logging strategies
WALL RELAXATION (RW) - THE KEY TO PORE
SIZE, PERMEABILITY, AND
CAPILLARY-BOUND WATER
Wall Relaxation <=> Pore Size
Wall relaxation provides the sensitivity ofNMR to pore
size and, hence, to permeability and capillary-bound water
volume. This is a two-link chain in which two parameters
are important (Figure 1): surface relaxivity and the ratio of
throat size to pore-body size.
Figure 2 illustrates the wall effect. It shows longitudinal
relaxation (Tl ) curves of water in a test tube and water
occupying the pore space of Berea, a sandstone often used
in laboratory studies (Howard et al., 1993). The latter curve
relaxes much faster (0.2 s compared with 3.9 s to reach the
lie point of the relaxation curve) and more gradually than
the curve for bulk water (Le., water in a test tube), which is
a single exponential,
(4)
where M,(t) is the measured longitudinal magnetization as
a function oftime t. The water evidently is not permanently
23
 Kenyon

Equilibrium IJ\Oo;Mtlratlon

0.8
surface;
relaxivity p,
areaS

-0.8
time
increases
-t.. L..U.lllIlL--1-J..J..JJ..1I.I1-.J...L.UJ..UJII.-l..L.UJ.J.llL-J...JCJ.W.Il1-..L..J..1.UlW-..l-,,--_ _

I I
J )(

2*10. 1 10·' 1cP 10 to' H" 10'

¥
'
Recovery time (msl
Longitudinal
magnetization 1-----.,;.-----1
Figure 2: Longitudinal relaxation curves of proton
magnetization for water and for water-saturated Berea
sandstone (Howard et aI., 1993). At t < 0, magnetization is at
.
position in pore
,.
its equilibrium value of +1 (arbitrary units); at t :::: 0, the
Figure 3: Proton magnetization decay in a pore is modeled
magnetization is quickly rotated 180° by a radio-frequency
as occurring mainly at the water-grain interface, with molecular
pulse, becoming -1 (still longitudinal), and subsequently
self-diffusion of the water keeping the proton magnetization
relaxes back to the + 1 value. The Larmor frequency is 10 MHz,
uniform across the pore as it decays in time.
and the sample has reached thermal equilibrium with the NMR
instrument, which is maintained at 40°C. The relaxation of
water occupying the pores of Berea is much faster;
furthermore, its relaxation is more stretched out than bulk the relaxation in the pore is found to be a single exponential
water-it is faster at short times and slower at long times. with a relaxation time constant Ts (s for surface) given by
(5)
changed by contact with Berea, since it regains its 3.9-s (Brownstein and Tarr, 1979; Loren and Robinson, 1970).
value of T] when removed from the Berea and remeasured The bulk relaxation is considered either to be insignificant
in a test tube. Accordingly, the faster relaxation in Berea or to have been removed by subtraction; see Equations (1
must be the result ofa fast relaxation of net proton magneti- and 2). Vp is the volume of the pore. S is the surface area of
zation at the grain-water interface. the pore and (in the assumed situation of fast diffusion) is
the relevant parameter because all parts of the surface are
The Connection Between Wall Relaxation Time and Pore Size: exposed to the same intensity of magnetization and thus
l/T.~ = P S/Vp contribute equally to the relaxation process.
Wall relaxation connects relaxation time and pore size in The parameter P is the NMR surface relaxivity (i.e., the
the following way (Kenyon, 1992) (Figure 3). ability of the surface to cause relaxation of proton magneti-
Consider a single water-filled pore with some net mag- zation) and has dimensions of length/time; it parameterizes
netization of water protons. Protons close to the grain sur- the strength of the wall relaxation. Equation (5) applies to
face undergo magnetic relaxation with a high probability. both T] and Tz, provided an appropriate P value is used; for
The cause of the fast relaxation is the presence of the very water-saturated rocks, pz is approximately 1.5 PI (Klein-
large magnetic fields of unpaired electrons in paramagnetic berg et al., 1993). The value of surface relaxivity P also
atoms such as manganese and iron - RP, relaxation result- depends on the fluid, although the notation we use doesn't
ing from paramagnetics (Kleinberg et al., 1994). At the emphasize this (we don't use Pw or Poil); surface relaxivity
same time, self-diffusion of water molecules constantly P is smaller for hydrocarbons than for water.
brings sOl11e nonrelaxed protons to the grain surface and Equation (5) shows that Ts responds to pore size since the
moves some relaxed protons to the interior of the pore. dimensions of SIVp are inverse length, essentially pore size.
In the limit when this diffusion is very fast compared Small pores exhibit small values of Ts , and large pores have
with surface-induced relaxation, it keeps the magnetization large values of Ts. When surface relaxivity is known, NMR
uniform across a pore as relaxation progresses. In this limit, T] can be converted to pore size through Equation (5).

24 The Log Analyst March-April 1997

 Petrophysical Principles of Applications of NMR Logging

The Mosquito/Fly-Paper Analogy
Other physical relaxation phenomena (such as transient
conduction of heat) would also exhibit the relationship of
Equation (5) between pore size and relaxation time, pro-
vided most of the relaxation occurs at the grain-pore inter-
face.
A very helpful analogue to NMR wall relaxation is pro-
vided by one such relaxation phenomenon, which exactly
fits Equation (5). Instead of a pore surrounded by pore
walls, consider a room whose walls are lined with fly paper
that is not very sticky. Instead of hydrogen nuclei in water
or hydrocarbon molecules undergoing molecular diffusion,
consider mosquitoes flying around the room. Because the
fly paper is not very sticky, a mosquito may bounce off the
walls several times before it finally sticks to the fly paper.
The time evolution of the density of mosquitoes flying
around the room is then described by Equations (4 and 5).
The stickiness of the fly paper corresponds to the surface
relaxivity p.
The Fast-Diffusion Assumption
Equation (5) is based on an important assumption: diffu-
sion within the pore is in the fast-diffusion limit; more
specifically, the wall relaxation time Ts in Equation (5) is
much longer than the time for a particle to diffuse across the
pore, Td == "J-ID. Thus, relaxation is in the fast-diffusion
limit when the ratio of the two times is much less than 1;
i.e.,
T r2 / D pr
i == - - == - « 1 <=> fast diffusion (6)
T.s rip D

NMR Cut Bank

2-16A
~!"':""""""""""""'"
••• I ".~.... l.. ......~~ • • •• 2-16A

3N-28
3N-28

~'!!."""""~""""""U"""":
3N-2C
.......~....l...................~l ....!.~.~.~ I •• 3N-2C

2-16G

2-168

2-4C

2-160

3N-2A

2-48

3N-20
Species decay time constant. ms

3N-2E

Figure 4: Tl distribution curves (left) and thin-section images for sandstones with abundant microporosity in chert grains. The
multiple Tl curves for each sample were obtained from replicate plugs and demonstrate good repeatability. Microporosity is
coded in the thin-section images as hatched or cross-hatched areas; large pores are black. The order of the thin section images
zigzagging down the page corresponds to the order of the Tl distributions (Kenyon et aI., 1989).

March-April 1997 The Log Analyst 25

 Kenyon
(Brownstein and Tarr, 1979). Thus, a pore leaves the fast-
diffusion limit as pore size or surface relaxivity becomes
large or as molecular self-diffusion D decreases. A later
section will discuss important effects when pores are not in
the fast-diffusion limit.
Distributions ofPore Sizes Correspond
to Distributions ofT2 Values
In rocks there is not a single typical pore size, but a
distribution of pore sizes. The wall relaxation Mit) is then
the sum of the decaying signals for all pore sizes i:
(7)
where Ai is the number of protons in pores of the ith size,
and Ti is the corresponding decay time constant, given by
Equation (5).
Thus theslower..:than-single-exponential magnetization
decay observed in the Berea example of Figure 2 is, in fact,
a multiexponential decay resulting from a distribution of
pore sizes.
An important conclusion is this: if Ai' in Equation (7), is
plotted versus Ti , we should then be able to rescale it,
according to Equation (5), to obtain the pore size distribu-
tion. The set (or curve) of Ai versus T; is called a relaxation-
time distribution curve or spectrum. It is a very useful way
to present NMR relaxation data because it is more meaning-
ful to most kinds of oilfield users petrophysicists, geolo-
gists, reservoir engineers.
Equation (7) incorporates two approximations: 1) in
each pore, magnetization decays as a single exponential; 2)
each pore decays independently of other pores.
An alternative phrasing is this: each pore is in the fast-
diffusion limit, but there is no diffusion between pores.
Later we'll discuss when this self-contradiction creates
problems.
Computing Robust T2 Distributions by Using Regularization
Computing the T2 spectrum from MsCt) in Equation (7) is
not straightforward. The challenge is to compute a T2 spec-
trum that is robust; i.e., in which Ai is not sensitive to noise
in the measured CPMG sequence MsCt). The challenge is
met by a technique called regularization (Kenyon et aI.,
1989; Freedman and Morriss, 1995).
In regularization, a second term, the regularization term,
is added to the fit error (first term); the spectral amplitudes
Ai are found by minimizing the sum of the two terms:
where M(t) is the sequence of echo amplitudes recorded in
26 The Log Analyst
a CPMG measurement. The Ti are selected a priori to cover
the range of interest, and there are typically a large number,
30 or 50.
The robustness of the computed distributions has been
demonstrated by measurements of replicate rock samples
(Figure 4) and by numerical experiments with synthetic
data (Kenyon et al., 1989; Dunn et al., 1994).
The downside of regularization is that it suppresses sharp
peaks present in the T, distribution. More specifically,
when the regularization parameter a is increased, the regu-
larization term tries to make all the Ai equal, at the cost of
an increased fit error (since LA, is essentially fixed, by the
requirement of fitting the measured relaxation curve). Con-
versely, when a is small, the fit error is made small. It is
adjusted automatically in typical logging computations.
The automatic adjustment accommodates the fact that
measurements with a higher signal-to-noise ratio can legiti-
mately have sharp features in the T2 spectrum, while meas-
urements with low signal-to-noise ratio should be presented
as T2 spectra that are relatively smooth. Said another way,
automatic regularization incorporates the reality that low
signal-to-noise measurements provide less detailed infor..
mation about the spectrum.
One result of automatic regularization is that slower
logging (or station logging) can lead to sharper T2 spectra,
because of the higher signal-to-noise ratio. Conversely, if
the displayed T2 spectrum is smooth, it is not obvious
whether the underlying true spectrum is smooth, or whether
the smoothness is just the result of a low signal-to-noise
ratio.
T2 or T, spectra are a very useful way to present the M(t)
data (the recorded sequence of spin echo amplitudes), be-
cause they permit much clearer thinking. They basically
collapse the 'unit' response, a single exponential, into the
shortest possible space in the time axis.
Because the spectra aid in clear thinking, we will con-
tinue to use this language even when we leave wall relaxa-
tion to discuss the other two relaxation sources (bulk and
diffusion/inhomogeneity).
However, T2 distributions are not necessarily the best
way to extract every important parameter from the meas-
ured sequence of CPMG echo amplitudes; for example,
extracting the best value for the initial amplitude (for quan-
tifying water closely associated with clay) calls for different
signal processing.
Laboratory Studies Verifying
NMR-Derived Pore-Size Distributions
A number of papers have directly compared NMR T, or
T2 spectra with pore-size distributions obtained by other
methods to verify the equivalence claimed above.
March ..April1997
 Petrophysical Principles of Applications of NMR Logging
NMR T1 distribution
Decay time constant T, i. ms 103 101
Mercury pressure. psi
Fig ure 5: T1 distributions compared with throat-size
distributions obtained from mercury injection for four
conglomeratic sandstones (Straley et aI., 1995).
Qualitative Thin-Section Images
Figure 4 uses thin section images to confirm qualita-
tively the expected relation between NMR Tj distributions
and pore-size distributions (Kenyon et al., 1989). These
samples contain both large open pores (black) and micro-
pores (hatched) that occur in chert grains. The samples at
the top of Figure 4 have porosity mainly in the form of
micropores, with only a few large open pores present. The
Tj distributions are in qualitative agreement, showing large
Ai values at short Tj values, which correspond to small
pores (10 ms), and smaller Ai values at long T J values,
which correspond to large pores (several hundred millisec-
onds). The converse behavior is seen in the samples shown
near the bottom of Figure 4.
Quantitative Thin-Section Analysis
The correspondence between NMR relaxation-time dis-
tributions and pore sizes determined from petrographic
analysis of digitized thin-section micrographs has also been
demonstrated in some sandstone samples (Howard et al.,
1993).
Mercury Injection
Mercury injection provides a size-distribution measure-
ment. A comparison of NMR- and mercury-derived pore
size curves is shown in Figure 5 (Loren and Robinson,
1970; Straley, 1995).
In any comparison of mercury injection with NMR re-
laxation, an important issue is that throat or constriction
size governs mercury pressures, while pore-body size gov-
erns NMR. In fact, the pore-throat!pore-body ratio is impor-
tant in relating any flow property to NMR relaxation. The
good agreement in Figure 5 is probably because throat!
March-April 1997
opening ratio doesn't vary much in clastics unless extensive
diagenesis has occurred.
The converse is that mercury injection curves can, under
good conditions, be estimated from NMR T2 or Tl spectra.
This provides a potential application for NMR logging.
Limits for Verifying NMR-Derived Pore-Size Distributions
All the size measurements used for comparison with
NMR have their shortcomings. Mercury senses the size of
the throats rather than the size of the pores; microscopy of
thin sections misses the micropores, since low magnifica- .
tions and large pixel sizes are used to keep the quantity of
data manageably small. In addition, the boundary between
one pore and another cannot be rigorously defined in prac-
tice. As a result, it's impossible to make a really solid
quantitative verification of NMR-derived pore-size distri-
butions. In tum, this makes it difficult to test the assumption
associated with Equation (7); namely, that NMR decay in
one pore is always totally independent of other pores
(McCall et aL, 1991; Kenyon et aI., 1995a).
Permeability from NMR Relaxation Time
There are two widely used estimators of permeability
from NMR logging: 1) of the form <jJ4/Sw? (Timur, 1968,
1969a, 1969b) and 2) of the form <jJ4(T2)mean2 (Kenyon,
1988).
We will discuss the <jJ4(T2)mean 2 estimator in this section,
since it follows directly from the pore-size discussion of the
preceding section. The <jJ4/Sw? permeability estimator will
be discussed after the estimation of irreducible water Swi
from NMR, which follows our discussion ofNMRproper-
ties of partially saturated rocks.
Historically, Seevers (1966) estimated permeability
from <jJT(, where <jJ is porosity. Subsequently, Timur (1968,
1969a, 1969b) showed that a short-relaxation-time porosity
called FFI3 extracted from laboratory NMR measurements
provided a good approximation of the water volume that
could be removed from a sample by centrifuging; he also
showed (separately) the volume of water not removed by
centrifuging provided a good basis for estimating perme-
ability. Timur's work is used not only in the interpretation
of NMR logs (Logan, 1989), but it also provided the basis
for the commonly used method of estimating permeability
from irreducible water saturation determined in other ways.
The Central Principle: Permeability Is Controlled by (Throat)
Size, and NMR Provides (Body) Size
Permeability has dimensions of length squared:
1 md ~ 1 micron-squared. (9)
Therefore, to estimate permeability, a logging measure-
The Log Analyst 27
 Kenyon

estimation only a little, while similarly changing the expo-

...... 10 4 nent of T] causes a larger degradation. On the average, the
'1:1

--
E
>-
:!:
:0
ca
10 3

10 2

10 1
m AU
+ CO
a LL
• BR
BE
~
Sam
.• estimated permeability is within a factor of three of the
measured permeability (Figure 6). Similar results were ob-
tained by others (Bi1ardo et al., 1991).

CI)
" a .+.. Physical Principles Applied to Laboratory Results
E
...
CI)
D.
10 0
• •
D

aa
< The exponent of 2 for T] obtained by the data-fitting of
Equation (12) agrees with the dimensional argument that
'1:1
...::s
CI)

10· a led to Equation (11). This agreement supports Equation

tI)
ca
CI) 10·
• •
~
10· 4 10· 2 10 0 10 2
Estimated Permeability (md)
Figure 6: Measured brine permeability (ordinate) versus
permeability estimated from ¢4T12 for a col/ection of
sandstones from several different wells (Howard et a/., 1990).
ment sensitive to size is needed. More specifically, a throat
size is needed; visualize a rock like an oomoldic or vuggy
carbonate, where permeability can be very low because the
large pores (vugs) are connected only through narrow
pores. Thus, we need to be cautious, since NMR is primarily
sensitive to the size of pore bodies and is insensitive to the
size of pore throats.
The sensitivity of NMR to pore size, seen in Equation
(5), makes it a candidate for estimating permeability. Spe-
cifically, use pore size LNMR from Equation (5),
LNMR = VJS=p T],
and square to get an estimate of permeability which is at
least dimensionally correct (Kenyon et al., 1988):
Thus, changes in surface relaxivity p will affect the
estimation of permeability. From Figure 1, we expect that
the ratio pore-throat-size/pore-body-size will also be im-
portant.
A LaboratOlY Study ofPermeability and Tl
A laboratory comparison ofNMR and brine permeability
was performed on a group of sandstones (Kenyon et al.,
1988). Permeability was estimated by an expression of the
form
The best permeability estimation for these samples was
obtained by taking the exponent a of porosity to be approxi-
mately 4 and the exponent b of T] to be approximately 2.
Changing the exponent of porosity degrades permeability
(5)'s assumption that pores are not far from the fast-diffil-
sion limit, in which relaxation time is proportional to pore
size. (Things would be different in the slow-diffusion limit,
in which relaxation time is proportional to pore-size
squared.)
The porosity factor ¢4, which resulted from the experi-
mental study, improved permeability estimation compared
with the factor 1>] used by Seevers (1966). This factor
probably accounts for average variations in the throat/open-
ing ratio with porosity (Kenyon et al., 1988).
Permeability can be estimated slightly better by replac-
ing ¢4 with lIF2 (Wyllie and Spangler, 1952; Sen et al.,
1990). This is because information about throat/opening
ratio is carried by the electrical formation factor F. How-
ever, this is most appropriate when the cross section of
throats is approximately equiaxial; if, in contrast, pore
throats have a slit-shaped cross section, permeability will
be very low even though the value of F may not be large.
Relaxation Time Provides a Better Permeability Estimation
(to) than Porosity Alone
Specifically, the error in estimating permeability from TJ
alone is much smaller than from porosity alone in typical
(11) sets of sandstone samples (Kenyon et al., 1988; Bi1ardo et
aI., 1991). This is in agreement with the underlying physical
principle: permeability is controlled by the size of throats
rather than by the bulk volume fraction of pores.
Good Estimation ofPermeability Means Surface Relaxivity
Must Not be Varying Much
Equation (11) shows that permeability is proportional to
the square of NMR surface relaxivity p. The relatively
small amount of scatter shown in the data of Figure 6
implies that the surface relaxivity is approximately constant
from sample to sample. This constancy is very convenient.
(12) However, it is also surprising, as discussed briefly in the
section on Surface Relaxivity.
T2 Studies
More recent work has shown that sandstone permeability

28 The Log Analyst March-April 1997

 Petrophysical Principles of Applications of NMR Logging
can be estimated equally well by using T2 rather than Tb
without significant change in exponents:
k (md) = 4.5 <jJ 4 Tf ,
where <jJ is in fractional units, and <T2>logmean is the logarith-
mic mean of T2 in milliseconds (Latorraca et al., 1993;
Straley et al., 1995b; Kubica, 1995).
The above-mentioned sensitivity to surface relaxivity is
probably a contributing factor to smaller premultipliers for
carbonates: e.g.,
k (md) = 0.1 <jJ4Tf
(Kenyon et al., 1995a).
Carbonates - Know How Your Pores Are Connected
In a study of the carbonate ClearforkiGlorieta formation,
Chang et al. (1994) showed from laboratory measurements
on water-saturated samples that
• long T2 peaks corresponded to vugs clearly visible in
photos of the plugs.
• the best estimation of permeability from NMR T2 was
obtained by omitting the long T2 components from the
porosity and mean T2 used in Equation (12), with a cutoff
of750 ms.
• vug porosity could be estimated from the NMR T2 spec-
trum, as demonstrated by the fact that cementation expo-
nent estimated using these vug porosity values agreed
well with measured cementation exponents.
Evidently, the vugs contribute less to permeability than
do other kinds of porosity; this is consistent with mathe-
matical models of vugs as dilute inclusions in a host rock
containing connected nonvug porosity (Brie et al., 1985;
Rasmus and Kenyon, 1985).
A second carbonate example is the Thamama, 20- to
30-p.u. carbonate rocks that contain large amounts of mi-
croporosity internal to peloidal grains (Kenyon et aI.,
1995a). In such rocks, using mean T2 values in permeabil-
ity estimation clearly puts too much weight on the micro-
pores, which contribute little to permeability; permeability
is dominated by the intergranular pores. The remedy is to
put more weight on the intergranular pores.
Thus, opposite strategies are required for permeability
estimation for the Clearfork and for the Thamama. In the
former, ignore the big pores because they are vugs and
contribute little to permeability; in the latter, emphasize the
big pores because they are well connected intergranular
pores and contribute all the permeability. Choosing the
correct strategy for permeability estimation requires an ex-
ternal source of information on how the pores are con-
nected.
March-April 1997
The Future: Making Better Use of the Pore-Size Distribution
These two carbonate examples show that better perme-
(13) ability estimation can be obtained by moving beyond using
an average T2 and using the additional information NMR
provides about the pore-size distribution - if it is known
how the pores are connected. This is an important direction
for the future. This should lead away from "universal"
estimators such as Equation (12) and bring us to equations
that are tailored to particular rock microgeometries. (The
limiting factor is the noise content of the signal and there-
(14) fore of the T2 distribution; only a few parameters can be
extracted from M(t) at realistic downhole signal-to-noise
ratios.)
The Fine Print
The constants in Equation (13) (particularly the premul-
tiplier) are based on direct comparison of laboratory NMR
and laboratory permeability measurements. Therefore,
Equation (13) provides a permeability that reflects the labo-
ratory measurements - small plugs, plugged parallel to
bedding planes, fully water saturated, without repre-
sentative temperatures and pressures. The presence of hy-
drocarbon will change the T2 distribution and the mean h
as discussed in a later section.
Capillary-Bound Water from NMR
An important application ofNMR logging is estimating
the irreducible water volume. This estimate is obtained by
taking the fast-decaying part of the NMR signal, as was
shown first by Timur. The laboratory measurements that
provide the basis for this application use centrifuging to
obtain the desired capillary pressures.
We use the phrase capillary-bound water as a more spe-
cific name for irreducible water volume. Capillary-bound
water is the water that remains in the sample when the
capillary pressure is raised to some specified high value.
(For the authors' convenience, we assume that we can
flip casually between talking either about capillary-bound
water and fast-relaxing components or about centrifugeable
water and long-relaxing components.)
AirlWater Partial Saturations
NMR laboratory measurements on a sandstone sample
with various partial air/water saturations are shown in Fig-
ure 7a (Straley et al., 1995a). Centrifuging removes the
long-TJ components from the water-saturated sample and
leaves almost undisturbed any TJ components shorter than
a TJ threshold. The TJ threshold moves to shorter values of
TJ at higher centrifuging speeds.
These results are readily understood as the combination
The Log Analyst 29
 Kenyon

(0)
(b)
1.2

0.25 Water saturation, %:

1.0
----34.% Water saturation, %:
- - - - - - - 57'*l. 0
·······_-····-75;% c:
0.20 0 0.8
------100% ~
:s
Q.
0
0.15 0. 0.6
Q)
.2:
iU 57
0.10 (j) 0.4
a:

0.05 0.2 ~
0.0
10. 1 100 10 1 102 103 104
10-1 100 101 102 103 104
Decay time constant T1i' ms
Decay time constant T1I' ms
Figure 7: T1 distributions measured in a sandstone sample at various partial water saturations; the numbers represent the
fraction of pore space occupied by water (Straley et aI., 1995a). a) The nonwetting phase is air. b) The nonwetting phase is
kerosene. The top curve is for bulk kerosene, and the curve immediately below it is for kerosene that fully saturates the
sandstone sample.

of two effects: 1) TJ is proportional to pore size for water-
saturated pores [see Equation (5)] and 2) the nonwetting
fluid (air) enters the pores with the largest throats first.
The long-Tl components disappear because air displaces
water and has no NMR signal. The Tj threshold corresponds
to the size(s) of the pore bodies just emptied, while the size
of the pore throats determines which pores empty. Thus, the
throat/opening ratio is just as important in estimating capil-
lary-bound water from NMR as it is in estimating perme-
ability.
KerosenelWater Partial Saturations
Figure 7b shows similar results for partial kero-
sene/water saturations. When kerosene saturation is suffi-
ciently high, a kerosene peak is observed. It has the same
value of Tj as bulk kerosene, rather than the shorter Tj of
kerosene that fully saturates a previously dried sandstone
(Straley et aI., 1995a). The explanation is that at partial
kerosene saturation, the rock surface is still covered by a
thin layer of water (since normal laboratory procedures for
cleaning rocks leave them water wet). The thin layer of
water prevents kerosene molecules from coming into direct
contact with the grain surface where they would experience
its relaxation effect.
The situation just discussed is the situation under which
NMR log interpretation is best understood:
• Because water is in contact with the solid, wall relaxa-
tion (RW) shortens the water relaxation and provides its
sensitivity to pore size.
• Oil is not in contact with the pore wall and exhibits its
bulk relaxation time, which is longer in less viscous
liquids (RBV).
The water and oil signals will be separated if the water
relaxation time is sufficiently short and the oil bulk-relaxa-
tion time is sufficiently long. The oil bulk-relaxation time
for light crude oils is expected to be almost as long as that
of kerosene, at least several hundred milliseconds, unless
they contain a high concentration of paramagnetic material
such as vanadium (RP).
Capillary-Bound Water Is Estimated Using a T2 Cutoff
Figure 7 leads to an important conclusion - the amount
of water that can be removed from a sample by centrifuging
can be predicted from the NMR measurement on the fully
water saturated sample if the threshold Tj value for the

30 The Log Analyst March-April 1997

 Petrophysical Principles of Applications ofNMR Logging
capillary pressure is known (Straley et al., 1995a). This is
done simply by integrating the area under the Tl (or T2)
distribution curve for Tl values greater than the threshold Tl
value. The same holds true in an oil- or water-saturated rock
if the oil bulk relaxation, Tboi/, is longer than the threshold
value.
By the same reasoning, integrating the short T2 compo-
nents gives the volume of noncentrifugeable water or, in
other words, the volume of irreducible water. The new
generation ofNMR logging tools can measure this quantity
directly because of their short dead time.
A threshold value of 35 ms has been established as
reasonable for T2 in sandstones (Morriss et a1., 1993;
Straley et a1., 1995b). Longer values have been found In
carbonates (Chang, 1994; Kenyon, 1995a).
Predicting Oil Versus Water Production - Based on
Centrifuging
An important application ofNMR logging is to estimate
whether water in the formation will flow on production or
will remain in the formation. The strategy is to compare the
NMR estimate of capillary-bound water Vcbw (according to
the discussion above) with the water volume interpreted
from deep resistivity V w' If Vw is greater than Vcbw , then
some water is likely to flow. If Vw is not greater than V cbw ,
then the water is assumed to be capillary bound and unlikely
to flow.
This is particularly important in finding formations that
produce dry oil, although they have high electrical conduc-
tivity as a result of water in microporosity. This application
of NMR logging is calibrated against laboratory centrifug-
ing to distinguish between water that will flow and water
that will not flow. To actually predict the water production
rate of the reservoir, the relative permeability to water
should be known in addition to the capillary pressure. In
future laboratory work relating NMR to capillary-bound
water, it would be highly desirable to measure relative
permeability to water at the known capillary pressure.
In principle, the formation can have a water volume less
than the capillary-bound water indicated from NMR - if
the reservoir capillary pressure (at a particular height above
the free water level) is higher than the air/water capillary
pressure used in laboratory centrifuging (after correction
for the difference in interfacial tension between reservoir
and laboratory fluids). Most laboratory measurements on
sandstones have used an air/water capillary pressure of 100
psi (Straley et al., 1995b). Simple physics says that the T2
cutoff value Tc should be inversely proportional to the
capillary pressure used:
_ ~ _ rb _ rb 'i _ 1 rb Y cose
Tc - - - - - - - - - - - - - (15)
pS 2p 2p 'i 2p 'i 2P" ,
March-April 1997 The Log Analyst
where rt is the radius of pore throats, rb is the radius of pore
bodies, cylindrical pores are assumed, Pc is capillary pres-
sure, y is interfacial tension, and () is contact angle (Kenyon,
1995a).
Estimating Permeability from Capillary-Bound Water
Timur's classic papers showed that good permeability
estimation can be obtained from
• the volume of capillary-bound fluid, which he measured
by air/water centrifuging
• an NMR estimate of the volume of capillary-bound fluid
using a TI discriminator of 12 ms (FFI3) (Timur used a
3-exponential representation for the measured longitudi-
nal relaxation curve).
Estimating permeability this way can thus be considered
either a two-step process,
NMR + cutoff - > capillary-bound water
and
capillary-bound water -> permeability,
or a one-step process,
NMR + cutoff - > permeability.
Since Timur's work, additional publications have con-
firmed the two-step process, as noted in the preceding
section. However, very little additional work has been pub-
lished on the one-step process.
Estimating permeability using a T2 cutoff in this manner
meets the basic physics requirement of permeability estima-
tion a connection with pore size - because of the pore
size associated with the T2 cutoff value.
A key aspect of these methods is that they make a binary
division of the NMR signal into long-relaxing and fast-re-
laxing porosity components. This is an advantage in that
Vcbw is usually unaffected by the presence of oil in the
formation because light oils will have long relaxation times
typically longer than the cutoff T2 value used and will not
affect the estimation of capillary-bound water.
But it's a disadvantage in rocks where the long compo-
nents contain the information about the pores that control
permeability; microporolls peloidal carbonates are an im-
portant example. A family of such rocks could all contain
the same amount of short- T2 porosity, while the permeabil-
ity could vary widely with changes in the size of the inter-
granular pores.
The cutoff method is also subject to the same concerns
about changes in surface relaxivity and in pore-throat/pore-
body ratio as is permeability estimation from mean T2 •
NMR Surface Relaxivity
The concept of surface relaxivity is a very convenient
31
 Kenyon

What Permeability Correlations Tell Us About Surface

Relaxivity
For NMR permeability estimators to work as well as they
do, the effective surface relaxivity of sandstones must be
relatively constant; see Equation (11). This is fortunate but
surprising; the concentration of paramagnetic atoms at the
pore wall that controls surface relaxivity probably varies by
orders of magnitude from one sample to another. In carbon-
ates, smaller premultipliers have been found than for sand-
stones (Kenyon et al., 1995). One possible reason for this is
lower surface relaxivity in carbonates, which is consistent
with other results in the literature.
Since permeability estimation depends on surface re-
laxivity [Equation (11)], it would be very nice to have a
solid, unambiguous way to measure surface relaxivity at
Figure 8: Mean T1 (obtained as the 1/e point ofthe relaxation least in the laboratory. Unfortunately, life is not so simple.
curve) versus pore diameter determined from digitized Laboratory determination of surface relaxivity using Equa-
thin-section images for the same samples plotted in Figure 6 tion (5) depends on how you measure SIVp-
(Howard et aI., 1990). The only technique available for determining surface
relaxivity is to independently measure NMR relaxation
time and surface-to-pore-volume ratio SIVp , and then use
way of hiding the messy atomic-level details of magnetic Equation (5) to solve for surface relaxivity p. Practical ways
relaxation of hydrogen nuclei at the solid surface and rep- to measure S/Vp include quantitative microscopy (image
resenting them as one parameter. analysis), nitrogen BET adsorption, and mercury injection.
The fundamental problem is that each of these methods has
The Atomic-Level View a/Surface Relaxivity a different sensitivity to the very fine nooks and crannies of
the mineral surface (down to the nanometer level) - differ-
At the atomic level, the picture is that a water molecule
ent from each other, and different from NMR. The value of
approaches the pore wall, feels the strong fluctuations re-
surface relaxivity thus obtained will vary widely depending
sulting from its motion relative to a strong paramagnetic
on the method of measuring SIVp . Nitrogen adsorption
magnetic field, and thereby has a high probability of relax-
(BET) and integration of high-pressure (50,OOO-psi) mer-
ing. It then leaves the surface and diffuses away from the
cury injection curves will yield surface relaxivity values
wall. Note that the diffusion is assumed to be fast enough
about one-tenth or less of those obtained from using micros-
that only one relaxation time is observed; this is fundamen-
copy on thin sections. If the NMR T2 distribution is wide,
tal to Equation (5).
indicating not one but a range of relaxation times, the
Paramagnetic ions enhance the relaxation of proton mag-
problem is particularly obvious.
netization, either through the much larger magnetic dipole
Laboratory calibration ofNMR against anyone of these
of the electron compared to the proton or through the fluc-
yardsticks is of great practical use, but it may not be gener-
tuations of the electron magnetic moment caused by its own
ally translatable to another yardstick because of these dif-
longitudinal and transverse relaxations (Kleinberg et aI.,
ferent sensitivities.
1994).
There is very little published quantitative evidence on
the role of paramagnetics in surface relaxivity. Very pure Example: Surface Relaxivity From Pore Diameter
Measurements
specimens of calcite or quartz have very low values of
surface relaxivity. In rocks, surface relaxivity correlates In Figure 8, surface relaxivity values are obtained by
broadly with bulk iron or manganese contents. The broad- comparing TJ with mean pore diameter from analysis of
ness of the correlations is probably because the relevant digitized thin-section images. TJ values are obtained from
parameter is not bulk iron or manganese concentration, but the lie point on the longitudinal relaxation curve. Effective
a quantity that is more difficult to measure: their concentra- surface relaxivity Peff is given by the ratio
tion in the outer atomic layer of the solid. In an interesting
study, manganese was found to adsorb readily onto the Peff = d/(6 T\) , (16)
surface of calcite and to produce a large increase in the assuming a spherical pore of diameter d.
surface relaxivity (Kenyon and Kolleeny, 1995). The surface relaxivity values thus obtained show a sig-

32 The Log Analyst March-April 1997

 Petrophysical Principles of Applications of NMR Logging

1.0
extremely high wall relaxivity), relaxation becomes inde-
e c c pendent of surface reJaxivity p.
c
?: e Cc Expressions for relaxation in arbitrarily large simple-
0.8
..
iii
0
0
c
a
e
• rl'e
•• shaped (e.g., spherical) pores are in the literature (Brown-
stein and Tarr, 1979) and have been applied to cases of
..
a.
0
u
0.6 +i+
m
J!J •"
interest to well logging (Kenyon et aI., 1989). However, in
many practical cases of large pores, it is likely that the
i am 'If. I!I AU
0.4 + III longer surface relaxation will be swamped by the T2b term
C
rJil..p- + CO
0 +I!II!I in Equation (1).
illlliJm
a LL
U 0.2 e BR
...
(Q

U.
F A
0.0 ~A
0.00 0.01 0.02
Surface Relaxlvlty (em/s)
Figure 9: Effective surface relaxivity for the data of Figure 8
versus the volume fraction of microporosity (Howard et aI.,
1993).
nificant variation. Figure 9 shows that the samples of Figure
8 with high surface relaxivities have a high clay content
(more precisely, a high microporosity, which is computed
as the difference between the amount of water required to
saturate the dried sample and the "optical porosity" ob-
tained from analyzing the digitized thin sections; the micro-
porosity is assumed to be proportional to the volume of
clay).
However, permeability can still be estimated fairly well
in these samples without taking into account variations in
surface relaxivity; i.e., just by taking
k = ¢4Tt.
BB When Diffusion Between Pores Is Important - Microporosity
in Clay Lining Sandstone Pores
0.03
In Equation (7), the equivalence between T2 spectra and
pore-size distribution was based on the assumption that
each pore relaxed independently of other pores. This as-
sumption is probably untrue when there is a large amount
of microporosity close to the large pores. A particularly
important case is where authigenic clay particles line the
interior of pores in sandstone rocks. The following discus-
sion helps to explain some observations made above; for
example, in Figure 9 an increase of surface relaxivity with
increase in clay content.
Stylized Model of Clay Lining Sandstone Pore
To understand this increase, consider Figure 10, which is
a stylization of authigenic clay flakes lining a sandstone
(Neasham, 1977) as channels connected to a central large
pore. The NMR relaxation in the pore (big central pore plus
micropores in channels) must lie somewhere between the
limits found in Table 3.

Evidently, some sort of compensation is taking place.
An explanation for these observations is discussed in the
next section.
Reexamining Two Key Approximations
The two key assumptions of Equation (7) were that each
pore is in the fast diffusion limit and that the decay in each
pore is not affected by diffusive coupling with other pores.
Large Pores Not in the Fast-Diffusion Limit
The most fundamental definition of the fast-diffusion
limit is that diffusion is fast enough to keep magnetization
uniform across space as the magnetization decays in time.
When pores are large enough, diffusion is not fast - the
time for a hydrogenous molecule to diffuse to the pore wall
becomes significant. Refer to Equation (6). Overall, relaxa-
tion takes longer. Magnetization is not uniform; magnetiza-
tion in the center of the large pore decays slower than
magnetization near the wall. Decay is not single exponen-
tial, and Equation (5) no longer applies. In the limit (say, of
Crossover Between No Diffusive Coupling and Effective
Diffusive Coupling
The behavior crosses between these two extreme cases
when the diffusion time Td increases to (some) wall relaxa-
tion time Ts. In the channel-shaped micropores of Figure 9,
these times are Td = L 2JD and Ts = Wlp. Their ratio is
T
-iL:::= L2 I_
_ D =_
pL2
_
(17)
T,; W Ip DW'
where L is the length of the channel and W is its width.
Therefore, in channels that are sufficiently deep and narrow
2
(i.e., L 1W is large compared to Dip), magnetization decays
faster than in the central opening of the pore so that the pore
as a whole is no longer in the fast-diffusion limit. The
slower decaying NMR components then reflect primarily
the central opening, both in porosity and size.
Intermediate Situation
In between the two limits, the picture is as follows.

March-April 1997 The Log Analyst 33


• Magnetization in the remote ends of the channels decays
quickly.
• Magnetization from the large pore has a net diffusion
into the channels because of the lower magnetization
there.
• As this magnetization diffuses down the channel, it un-
dergoes relaxation because of the locally small dimen-
sion.
• Only a small fraction of the magnetization from the large
pore reaches the remote end of the channel.
In this intermediate situation, the surface area in the
remote end of the channels contributes relatively little to the
decay of large-pore magnetization because the magnetiza-
tion is lower there most of the time.
A Mathematical Model
An exact analogy is the flow of heat in radiator fins
(Carslaw and Jaeger, 1959). The profile of magnetization
along the length x ofa deep channel (fin) is approximately
exponential (cosh xIL). The large pore sees an effective
surface relaxivity PejJ' which is proportional not to the mi-
croscopic surface relaxivity Pmicro but to its square root,
Peff
::::e ~PmicroD
W'
when the channels are deep and narrow.
Comparison with Experimental Data
The behavior just described bears some resemblance to
what was observed in Figure 9. More clay provides more
surface, shortening the relaxation time of the large pore.
Because the remote ends of the channels contribute rela-
tively little to relaxation, the total surface area from BET
(say) is not the right parameter to use in determining the
surface relaxivity.
Permeability also is insensitive to the remote ends of the
channels. Consider Figure 10 to represent the cross section
of a large cylindrical pore, to which the (authigenic clay)
Table 3: Limits of relaxation behavior.
Degree of Diffusive Coupling
Negligible diffusive coupling of magnetization between
big pore and channels
Excellent diffusive coupling between big pore and channel
(i.e., pore as a whole is in the fast-diffusion limit)
34
Kenyon
~lt
,.
··•·.
•
.
"
Pmicro
-" ..............
Figure 10: Stylized picture of authigenic clay flakes lining a
'sandstone pore.
channels are added. The main effect of adding the channels
is to reduce permeability according to the reduction in the
diameter of the open center. The surface area, however, is
greatly increased so that a Kozeny-Carmen permeability
estimator will predict an incorrectly large reduction of per-
meability.
In contrast, NMR measurements (in the intermediate
(18) case) don't reflect the full addition of surface area, and this
allowed the permeability to be fairly well estimated from
the mean Tl as we noted above.
Earlier we noted that empirical correlations between
permeability and T2 gave a best T2 exponent of 2, and we
said that this supported the assumption of being in the
fast-diffusion limit. This does not contradict the present
discussion of nonfast diffusion for the large pore lined with
microporosity. This is because the central open part of the
pore is close to the fast-diffusion limit, seeing an effective
surface relaxivity at an effective decay surface defined by
the near end of the 'microchannels (Figure 10), while faster
decay occurs inside the microchannels.
The microchannels also offer a possible explanation for
the small degree of variation in surface relaxivity inferred
above from comparison of NMR with permeability or pore
Relaxation Behavior
We observe two relaxation times: a short one in the micropores
because of the small dimension (width) of the channel and a
longer one in the central pore.
Diffusion keeps the magnetization uniform, identical (at any time)
in central pore and channel. Then there will be one relaxation
time, given by Equation (5), but S will now be the total surface
area in the sample.
The Log Analyst March-April 1997
 Petrophysical Principles of Applications ofNMR Logging
diameter measurements. Specifically, the effective surface
relaxivity varies with the square root of the microscopic
surface relaxivity, a much weaker dependence than a linear
proportionality .
Clays and Clay-Bound Water - Fast Components
It is important in many petrophysical evaluations to ob-
tain an accurate value for the clay content - particularly for
obtaining the clay contribution to conductivity in determin-
ing water/oil saturation from formation resistivity.
NMR can provide some information about the clay con-
tent, based on very short relaxation times of water associ-
ated with clay. In laboratory measurements, water adsorbed
on clay (one monolayer) has relaxation times of about 1 ms.
For this approach to work in rocks, the effect of diffusion to
give a single relaxation time has to be weakened. This will
be the case for water in the interlamellar spaces of the clay
and in pores so small that their width is not much more than
two monolayers of water (i.e., no bulk water). Straley et al.
(1995b) demonstrated a correlation between clay content
determined from cation exchange and the < 3 ms T2 compo-
nent measured in laboratory NMR on sandstone samples.
To apply this in logging, the NMR logging tool must be
sensitive to these short components. In the borehole, it is
much more difficult to create the very fast rf pulses and
receiver sensitivity to fast pulses than in the laboratory.
IfNMR is insensitive to short components, one can take
the difference between an NMR porosity and a neutron-
density porosity. This is subject to discrepancies in what the
tools measure, such as their volume of investigation.
BULK RELAXATION EFFECTS (RBV)
Viscosity is Inversely Related to Relaxation Time (Usually)
Table I discussed the inverse relationship between oil
viscosity and its bulk relaxation time (RBV). Fluid proper-
ties are discussed in depth in another article in this series.
Two particularly important applications of this relationship
are
• distinguishing tar and bitumen from low-viscosity oils
through short versus long relaxation times
• distinguishing oil from gas.
Gas has both a long polarization time (RBV) and very
fast diffusion-in-gradient relaxation (RDG) as a result of its
high diffusivity. Crude oils can have a shorter relaxation
than their viscosity would predict if they contain paramag-
netics. Crude oils can also have broad multicomponent
relaxations instead of single exponential relaxation. This
behavior is seen in the Belridge diatomite paper (Morriss et
aI., 1994) which appears in this volume.
March-April 1997 The Log Analyst
Paramagnetic Atoms in Oil or Water (RP)
An important bulk effect is the effect of paramagnetics
in water or oil to shorten bulk relaxation time. Paramagnet-
ics in water are important either as a nuisance or as a doping
agent to deliberately shorten the relaxation time in measur-
ing residual oil saturation. In the classical NMR logging
application of measuring residual oil saturation, manganese
EDTA is used to shorten the water signal; the point of the
EDTA is to prevent the manganese from being adsorbed
onto the rock surface. In a paper in this volume, manganese
is used to shorten the relaxation time of water.
When the bulk relaxation time of mud filtrate T2bw (in a
water-base mud) is short, then the surface component of
relaxation Ts cannot be seen as clearly [Equation (l) or (2)].
In consequence, the ability to extract pore-size information
and estimate permeability and capillary-bound water is re-
duced.
For example, if T2bw is 0.5 s, then T2s of 0.5 sand 1 s yield
values of 0.25 and 0.33 s in the measured quantity T2, yield
barely different according to Equation (1) or (2). Since
neither T2 or T2b is known with certainty, the T2s obtained
by subtraction is more uncertain. A short T2b "turns down
the lights" on our ability to determine T2s'
Accordingly, for quantitative use of wall relaxation ef-
fects, it is important to make a wellsite measurement of T2mf
Paramagnetic mud additives, such as chromium in lignosul-
fonate muds, can shorten T2/1ifsignificantly.
Sometimes oils are found to have a T\ less than the value
expected from their viscosity; this is probably due to the
presence of paramagnetics, particularly vanadium.
WETTABILITY: STANDARD INTERPRETATION IS
FOR WATER-WET ROCKS
Everything we have discussed so far was for water-wet
rocks:
• The shortening of water relaxation resulting from con-
tact with the solid material is what makes relaxation
sensitive to pore size.
• The lack of contact between oil and grain allows the oil
to take its bulk relaxation time, which for low-viscosity
oils will generally be longer than the shortened water
relaxation.
What happens to NMR in rocks in which the oil is in
direct contact with the mineral surface and the water is not?
Only a little information is available. In laboratory experi-
ments in which rocks were saturated with oil, it was found
that the oil preserves its bulk relaxation time unless the rock
has been carefully (vacuum-oven) dried (Straley et aI.,
1995a). The conclusion is that oil must be in direct contact
with the rock to have its relaxation time shortened.
35
 Kenyon
Table 4: Observation relaxation times of water and decane in chalk samples, with and without treatment by oil-base
mud.
Water-wet (before treatment by oil-base mud)
Tj value of water peak lOms
Tj value of decane peak 1,400 ms (equal to bulk decane T1)
Surface Relaxivity for Oils is Lower than for Water
In the same set of experiments, it was found that when
the rock was carefully dried, the oil relaxation was faster
than for bulk oil but not shortened nearly as much as water
in contact with the solid; the surface relaxivity for oil was
very roughly one-third that of water. Howard and SpinIer
(1994) similarly found that surface relaxivity for decane (in
chalk) was one-fourth to one-fifth the value for water.
Experiments with Artificially Induced Oil-Wetness of
Minerals
A number of experiments have been performed using
organic chemicals to create hydrophobic mineral surfaces.
Brown and Fatt's (1956) pioneering article of this type
found that the relaxation time of water was proportional to
the volume fraction of oil-wet sand grains relative to the
total number of grains. It is widely quoted as indicating the
potential of NMR to sense wettability. Subsequent articles
using the same technique have been published.
What is needed is a study in which actual crude compo-
nents are used to change the wettability, since synthetic
wettability-altering chemicals may not have the same re-
laxation properties as the wettability-altering components
of crudes. The latter are likely to contain paramagnetics and
thereby may not increase the relaxation time of water as
much as synthetic chemicals do.
Experiments on Wettability in Chalks
Howard (1994) and Howard and SpinIer (1994) publish-
ed measurements in which the effect of wettability was
investigated in chalk samples from important North Sea
reservoirs. In one set of experiments, the samples were
exposed to an oil-based mud drilling fluid in order to make
them oil wet. The results are summarized in Table 4 and fit
the general picture just presented.
DIFFUSION-IN-GRADIENT EFFECTS (RDG)
Equation for Infinite Medium
As noted earlier [Equation (1)], there is an additional
decay of the sequence of echo amplitudes when molecular
36 The Log Analyst
After treatment by oil-base mud
40ms
900ms
diffusion is taking place and the static magnetic field is not
homogeneous. The time constant of this additional decay
when diffusion takes place in an infinite medium is
2
TDG = 121 y dD Ti .
An alternative form of this statement is that the addi-
tional decay can be expressed as a multiplicative factor:
exp (_y 2G2D ri t/12), (19)
where t is time, D is the molecular self-diffusion coefficient
of the fluid, y is the ratio of the Larmor frequency to the
magnetic field intensity (which for hydrogen is 42.58
MHz/Tesla), G is the spatial gradient of the magnetic field
intensity, TE is the spacing of the echoes.
Thus, NMR relaxation is
• faster as echoes are spaced more widely.
• faster as the molecular self-diffusion D increases. This is
a means of distinguishing oil from gas; gas signal can
decay much more quickly in the presence of a large
gradient G.
• faster when the size of gradients in the static magnetic
field is larger.
Effect of Restricted Diffusion
Equation (19) applies to unrestricted diffusion, but pore
walls and oil-water interfaces can greatly reduce the dis-
tance a proton can diffuse. When this distance approaches
zero, the diffusion-in-gradient effect becomes zero, because
the molecules cannot diffuse far enough to experience a
different static magnetic-field strength and hence dephase.
The difference between the two. situations is large, and the
uncertainty in how well (say) the gas phase is connected
from one pore to another can lead to a large uncertainty in
modeling the effect of diffusion in gradient.
Gradients from Tool Design
In the commercial MRIL I Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Logging tool design, the static field intensity falls inversely
with radial distance from the borehole; thus, the gradient is
approximately constant and is about 20 gauss/cm.
IRegistered trademark ofNUMAR
March-April 1997
 Petrophysical Principles of Applications of NMR Logging
In the commercial CMR 1 Combinable Magnetic Reso-
nance tool design, the static magnetic field passes through
a stationary point (actually a saddle point) at the center of
the tool's sensitive region, and the gradient at this point is
zero. However, the stationary point contributes only a small
fraction of the signal; in fact, it has been found that the
average gradient in the region contributing tool signal is
about 20 gauss/cm (Flaum et aI., 1996). Both logging tools
therefore will have a diffusion-in-gradient effect.
Gradients from Grain:Fluid Contrast
in Magnetic Susceptibility
Gradients are also present when there is a contrast in
magnetic susceptibility between fluid and grain material.
These gradients can be called internal gradients (internal to
the formation) or induced gradients, since they exist only
IMark of Schlumberger
Table 5: Three parameters in NMR logging and their effects.
Shorten the Echo Spacing
NMR logging tools are usually run at the shortest echo
spacing the hardware can accommodate.
Lengthen Echo Spacing
Lengthen Polarizing or Wait Time
Polarizing time is the time between the end of one
echo collection and the beginning of the next. During
this time, the magnetization of the formation protons
is building up with time constant T I .
Shorten Polarizing or Wait Time
Increase Total Number of Echoes: i.e., Total Time
for Acquisition of One CPMG Sequence
Decrease Total Number of Echoes
March-April 1997 The Log Analyst
when the static magnetic field is present.
Such internal gradients are very evident in laboratory
measurements as a faster T2 relaxation when echo spacings
are increased (Drain, 1962; Bendel, 1990). This is not due
to tool gradients, since most standard NMR laboratory
equipment is carefully built to minimize inhomogeneities of
the static magnetic field.
The internal gradients are proportional to the product of
magnetic susceptibility contrast and the intensity of the
static magnetic field. This is particularly noted in laboratory
equipment with large static magnetic fields of 85 MHz or
more, where echoes will decay extremely rapidly or be
invisible. Laboratory measurements on rocks should be
done at low static magnetic field strengths comparable to
those of logging tools (lor 2 MHz) (Straley et aI., 1995b).
The internal gradient effect increases as pore size de-
creases, because the spatial scale of the gradients is the
same as that of the pores and grains (Latorraca et aI., 1995).
This can be understood by picturing a pore surrounded by
More echoes can be collected in the same amount of time. This
provides more signal energy to work with and provides a higher
level of statistical certainty in parameters extracted from the signal.
Diffusion-in-gradient effects are reduced to smaller levels. Wall-
relaxation or bulk-relaxation effects will predominate and inter-
pretation may be simpler.
More information is obtained about fast-relaxing signal components
usually associated with clays. Porosities can be determined more
certainly.
Increase the diffusion-in-gradient effects to distinguish gas from oil.
Obtain the full porosity response of even the long-T1 components
of the formation.
Vugs in carbonates are important. In the invaded zone, most vugs
may be filled by mud filtrate, and the mud-filtrate Tl (at formation
temperature) is an important parameter even in setting logging
parameters.
Discriminate against long-relaxing components by incomplete
polarization, particularly for distinguishing gas from oil.
Log faster or with better vertical resolution. Longer polarizing times
require slower logging speeds if sampling interval is kept constant.
Obtain more accurate information on long-relaxation components.
Log faster.
37
 Kenyon
Table 6: Strategies for distinguishing gas from oil.
Distinguishing Property Strategy
Low hydrogen density of Compare with any full-porosity
gas compared with oil measurement such as density.
Longer TI of gas than oil Reduce gas amplitude even fur-
ther by incomplete polarization by
using carefully chosen short
polarizing time; compare with re-
ference porosity measurement.
Shorter TDG (faster Use larger echo spacing to shorten
relaxation for diffusion gas component ofNMR signal.
in gradient) with gas
than oil
grains and mentally computing the magnetic field configu-
ration by analogy with the electrical conduction problem,
although the contrast in magnetic susceptibility is much
smaller that the contrast in electrical conductivity.
Internal or induced gradients can interfere with the use
of gradient effects for sensitivity to molecular self-diffu-
sion, of which detecting gas is the most important. They
will be biggest when
• pores are small, since the pore size sets the length scale
that appears in the denominator of the magnetic field
gradient expression.
• clays are present in large quantities. In sandstones, clays
typically carry most of the iron, which is primarily re-
sponsible for high magnetic susceptibility of the solid.
• iron-bearing minerals are present; fear the siderite sand!
NMR LOGGING STRATEGIES
Effect of NMR Logging Parameters
Three NMR logging parameters can be controlled in
each logging run: echo spacing, polarizing time or wait
time, and total number (or total time) of echoes acquired.
Table 5 shows how these parameters can be varied in
different application strategies by their effect on the main
principles for interpreting NMR logs.
Choice of polarizing time is important even in straight-
forward applications.
To make a proper correction for incomplete polarization,
the TI of the component to be corrected must be known.
Since continuous logging measures T2 but not TJ, TI is
estimated by assuming the ratio of TI :T2 is constant, usually
1.5. This value may be inappropriate; an obvious example
is gas when the diffusion-in-gradient effect has shortened
T2 well beyond the value expected from 'wall and bulk
relaxation.
The need for a large incomplete-polarization correction
38 The Log Analyst
may go unnoticed if only the mean T2 (or mean logarithmic
T2) is monitored. An example is a carbonate formation with
both micropores and vugs. The vugs will have a long TI (if
the fluid has a long bulk TI ) and may require a large
incomplete-polarization correction, but the mean T2 may be
quite short as a result of the short T2 value of the micro-
pores.
Strategies for Gas Detection
Gas detection using NMR logging has been successfully
demonstrated (Akkurt et al., 1995; Flaum et aL, 1996). Gas
has two attributes that set its NMR response apart from oil:
1) low hydrocarbon density (same attribute used in den-
sity/neutron differentiation of oil from gas), and 2) much
higher molecular self-diffusion coefficient D. This means
• longer Tlb values and polarization times
• much larger diffusion-in-gradient shortening of relaxa-
tion times TDG
In practice, the TI and TDG strategies are usually imple-
mented with two runs so that the differential between the
two directly indicates the gas volume; two runs with differ-
ent echo spacings, or two runs with different polarizing
times.
An important consideration is the volume of gas in the
zone investigated by the NMR logging tool. This zone is not
deep - varying anywhere from 6 to 1 in. (or less, for a
mandrel tool in a large hole). A gas volume of 10 p.u. yields
a maximum NMR signal of 3 or 4 p.u. as the basic ingredi-
ent for differential NMR measurements (Flaum et al.,
1996).
CONCLUSIONS
We have presented the principles underlying the applica-
tions ofNMR logging and have deemphasized details such
as constants for permeability estimation. Since these con-
stants may differ from formation to formation, studies spe-
cific to a formation are most valuable for that purpose.
NOMENCLATURE
a,b exponents of porosity and T2 in fitting
laboratory NMR to permeability
Ai amplitude of ith component of T2 spectrum
e,C constants
d diamter of pore
D molecular self-diffusion coefficient
F formation factor
G gradient of static magnetic field
ke estimated permeability
LNMR pore size obtained from NMR relaxation
L length of channel in model of clay-lined pore
M(t) proton magnetization as function of time
March-April 1997
 Petrophysical Principles of Applications of NMR Logging
proton magnetization at time zero of a
measurement
longitudinal proton magnetization as a function
of time
relaxation of proton magnetization caused by
wall relaxation
r radius of spherical pore
S surface area of a pore
SWi irreducible water saturation
t time
TI time constant for longitudinal relaxation
T2 time constant for transverse relaxation
Ts, TIs' T2s time constant for surface-induced relaxation
Tb , Tlb , T2b time constant for relaxation of bulk fluid
T2bw , T2boil transverse relaxation time constants of bulk
water and oil
transverse relaxation time constant of mud
filtrate
time for a proton to diffuse from the center of
a pore to the pore wall
time interval between spin echoes
relaxation time constant for pores of size i
time constant of decay of transverse magneti-
zation due to diffusion in gradient
volume of a pore
volume of capillary-bound water
width of channel in model of clay-lined pore
regularization parameter
gyro magnetic ratio; i.e., ratio of angular fre-
quency of precession to magnetic field
strength
¢ porosity
P surface relaxivity, which describes the
strength of wall relaxation
PejJ effective surface relaxivity
Pmicro surface relaxivity of a flat surface
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Kenyon, W. E., Day, P. 1., Straley, C., and Willemsen, J. F., 1988,
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 Kenyon
sitional texture and petrophysical properties - carbonate
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ciety of Petroleum Engineers, Richardson, Texas.
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APPENDIX A - PETROPHYSICAL PRINCIPLES
CHECKLISTS
The material discussed in the text is summarized as a set
of four checklists. See Tables A.I-A.4 and Table 5 of the
text.
APPENDIX B - IMPORTANT PRINCIPLES OF
NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE LOGGING
Hydrogen Relaxometry
Hydrogen nuclei (protons) possess a magnetic moment
and, when exposed to an externally applied steady magnetic
field, their net magnetization will gradually relax toward
and eventually reach some equilibrium state of magnetiza-
tion. Relaxometry, the analysis of such relaxation curves, is
the basis ofNMR logging.
NMR logging signals come from the hydrogen nuclei in
water, oil, and gas that saturate porous rocks. Most other
hydrogen in rocks has an NMR signal that relaxes so
quickly it is not visible even in laboratory NMR measure-
ments. This is particularly the case for hydrogen in the
crystal lattice of the rock - as hydroxyls in clays or as
water of hydration as in gypsum.
Relaxation curves can be measured for either longitudi-
nal or transverse proton magnetization. These are, respec-
tively, the components of net proton magnetization either in
the direction of the externally applied static magnetic field
or transverse to it. In the established nomenclature, TJ is the
March-April 1997
 Petrophysical Principles of Applications of NMR Logging

Table A.1 : Checklist 1 - fluid properties.

Wettability
Mud type: water-base
or oil-base
Invasion depth
Borehole salinity
Formation temperature
Mud filtrate T2mf
Formation T2w
Normal NMR interpretation assumes water relaxation is shortened by contact with solid, while oil has
bulk relaxation because it does not contact solid.
Oil-wetness is more likely to occur in carbonates than in sandstones and at greater height in the
reservoir above free water level.
Water-base is assumed for straightforward interpretation. Oil-base mud can make, the formation oil
wet in the invaded zone that NMR logging sees.
If clay particles invade deep into the zone sensed by the tool, they can drastically reduce relaxation
time [Equation (5)] even if their fractional volume is small and they have a negligible effect on
porosity. Particle invasion can be deep in formations of very high permeability.
Mandrel tools may require lower logging speed with high borehole salinities and large borehole size.
If formation temperature is high, TJ and T2 values measured at surface may require large extrapolation;
similarly, laboratory NMR measurements on rocks may not be representative.
Signal-to-noise ratio is lower at high formation temperatures because NMR signal amplitude is
inversely proportional to formation temperature.
A short T2mj is usually bad because it compresses sensitivity to pore size through wall relaxation
effect. Watch out for paramagnetics leading to short T2mj. e.g., chrome in lignosulfonate muds.
However, a short T2mj is good if separating water signal from oil signal is important. Dope mud to
shorten water relaxation times, to determine residual oil saturation, or to see oil signal more
unambiguously.
Measure T2mj at wellsite for quantitative applications.
If T2w is very short and invasion is very shallow,it can cause the same effects as short T 2mj. measure
T2w from produced water in critical cases.

T20il is usually inversely proportional to viscosity and therefore is longer at higher temperature.
Dissolved gas can make T20il much different downhole than in a surface measurement. The presence
of paramagnetics such as vanadium can shorten T20il below the value predicted from viscosity.
Measure T20il on produced oil if possible. Determine how much of the T20il spectrum is shorter than
the T2cuto./Tvalue used for determining capillary bound water and how much the oil will affect
permeability estimate through its effect on mean T2.

Table A.2: Checklist 2 - rock type.

Mineralogy Carbonates have smaller prefactors in T2 permeability estimators; 0.1 versus 4.5.
Carbonates have longer T2 cutoff values.
Unusual minerals may have very different surface relaxivities, drastically altering wall relaxation effect
- tripolitic cherts, glauconite.
Texture Unusual rock textures may need to be taken into account, especially if they affect throat-size/body size
ratios; e.g., vugs in carbonates or pore-bridging clays in sandstones may make standard permeability
estimators overly optimistic. Microporosity in carbonates affects interpretation of relaxation times and
estimation of permeability.
Height in reservoir Oil-wetness is more likely to occur at greater heights.
above free water level
Capillary pressure in reservoir is greater at greater heights - a smaller T2cuto./Tvalue may be
appropriate.
High-permeability High-permeability formations may have deep invasion of clay particles that shortens relaxation times.
formations

March-April 1997 The Log Analyst 41

 Kenyon

Table A.3: Checklist 3 - permeability and T2cutoff pa-
rameters.
T2cutojJ 35 ms for average sandstone, based on 100
psi air/water capillary pressure in laboratory
measurements.
100 ms for carbonates at 100 psi, 200 ms for
carbonates at 25 psi capillary pressure.
Simple physics says T2 cutojJis inversely
proportional to capiIIary pressure.
Permeability Generic sandstone premuItiplier is 4.5;
estimation from carbonate premultip1ier is 0.1.
mean T2
time constant for longitudinal relaxation and T2 is the sym-
bol for transverse relaxation. For reasons that will be ex-
plained, in continuous logging it is more practical to
measure T2; however, T] is unaffected by some factors that
affect T2 , particularly the inhomogeneity of the static mag-
netic field.
Permanent-Magnet Sondes, rjPulses, and Precession
Two basic things are required to measure nuclear mag-
netization. The first is that there must be some net nuclear
magnetization. In modem NMR logging, a permanent mag-
net in the sonde imposes a static magnetic field on the
formation. In response, the formation's longitudinal nu-
clear magnetization builds up, not instantaneously, but with
time constant T]. To reach the equilibrium value of mag-
netization, the formation must be exposed to the static field
for a time equal to several TI .
The second basic requirement is to be able to convert
longitudinal magnetization into transverse magnetization,
because only transverse nuclear magnetization yields a sig-
nal that can be measured. Transverse magnetization will
precess, as a result of the torque the static magnetic field
exerts on the net transverse nuclear magnetization, com-
bined with the angular momentum of the hydrogen nuclei.
It is this precession signal that is actually measured.
Converting longitudinal to transverse magnetization is
accomplished by irradiating the formation with a radio-fre-
quency pulse. If the pulse is at the resonant frequency of the
nuclear magnetic moments, it will cause a pure rotation
without changing the magnitude of net proton magnetiza-
tion. If the pulse has an appropriate length and amplitude,
the rotation will be 90° (in some particular set of locations
in the formation). In this way, longitudinal magnetization
can be rotated to be transverse to the static magnetic field
and a measurement can be made. The combination of static
magnetic field with a radio-frequency magnetic field at
right angles to it gives modem NMR logging tools most of
the same basic capabilities as laboratory pulsed NMR.
Selectivity for hydrogen is obtained in the following
way. The frequency of precession of hydrogen nuclei is
proportional to the static magnetic field: for a static mag-
netic field intensity Bo, the precession frequency is
(1)L =yBo,
where the gyromagnetic ratio y is 42.58 MHzIT for hydro-
gen (and less for other nuclear species). Selectivity for
hydrogen is achieved by selecting the appropriate fre-
quency for pulse transmission and for detecting the preces-
sion signal.
However, the precession frequency will vary widely
from point to point in the formation, because the static
magnetic field in the formation is very inhomogeneous
owing to the constraint of keeping the permanent magnet
inside the borehole. As a result, the precession of hydrogen
nuclei in different parts of the formation will be at some-
what different frequencies; they will quickly dephase, and
the observed precession signal will decay very quickly.
Thus, the signal obtained from a single 90° pulse is inade-
quate: it is very short and conveys information mainly about
the inhomogeneity of the static field.

Table A.4: Checklist 4 - applications.

Estimation of permeability
Estimation of capillary-
bound water
Predict water versus
oil production
Distinguish gas from oil
Find benchmark laboratory measurements in this or similar formations. If the oil T2 is long and
residual oil saturations are high, the oil will seriously affect T2-based permeability estimators. Large
microporosity will affect Swrbased permeability estimates. Unusual mineralogy or texture may mean
unusual surface relaxivities or pore-throat/pore-body ratios (e.g., vugs).
T2 cutoff should be appropriate to mineralogy or pore-throat/pore-body ratios. Laboratory capiIIary
pressures used to determine the T2 cutoff should be appropriate to the reservoir capillary pressure and
height above free-water level. Water-wet formation is assumed.
Compare water saturation to capillary-bound fluid volume. The water saturation from resistivity must
be accurate (e.g., benchmark laboratory resistivity measurements).
The volume of gas in the sensitive zone of the NMR logging tool must be large.

42 The Log Analyst March-April 1997

 Petrophysical Principles of Applications of NMR Logging
Spin Echoes and the Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill Sequence
Accordingly, a more complex measurement is used as
the basic measurement in NMR logging. It increases the
signal available and reduces the effect of inhomogeneity of
the static magnetic field (with the important exception of
molecular diffusion, as will be seen later). The initial part
of the measurement is the same as before: a 90° radio-fre-
quency pulse to rotate longitudinal magnetization into the
transverse plane. Subsequent 180 0 pulses are then peri-
odically transmitted; each 180 0 pulse causes a spin-echo
signal (see next paragraph) to be emitted by the formation.
The sequence of received spin echo amplitudes (called a
Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill (CPMG) sequence) is recorded
and provides the outputs ofNMR logging.
Spin echoes and CPMG sequences are standard fare in
laboratory NMR (Fukushima, 1981). The key element is
that the 180 0 rotation of the proton magnetization allows the
dephasing effect to be reversed, producing a subsequent
rephasing and a signal from the formation a spin echo. A
good analogy for the spin echo is the way a group of
weekend foot racers will return to the starting line simulta-
neously if they start the race normally, and then simultane-
ously reverse direction at a given signal (corresponding to
the 180 0 pulse). All runners will return to the starting line
at exactly the same time, or in NMR language, the effect of
dephasing resulting from an inhomogeneous field will be
removed - provided the runners return at their original
speed. However, when the hydrogenous molecules are dif-
fusing in the nonuniform magnetic field, this proviso is not
met - the static field experienced by each hydrogen nu-
cleus varies with time owing to its motion in the nonhomo-
geneous field.
The CPMG measurement is a measurement of the relaxa-
tion of transverse magnetization, or T2 for short. Longitudi-
nal relaxation (T]) can also be measured, but it requires a
March-April 1997 The Log Analyst
composite measurement. The longitudinal magnetization is
measured at one relaxation time of interest by rotating it
into the transverse plane; points for each additional relaxa-
tion time of interest can only be obtained by starting another
relaxation, waiting for a relaxation time, and then perform-
ing anotherrotation. Accordingly, T2 can be obtained much
more quickly than h and it is much more suitable for
continuous logging where it provides smaller bed boundary
effects, better vertical resolution, and higher measurement
repetition rates to build up the low signal-to-noise ratio
inherent in any NMR measurement.
NMR Porosity Measurements
The amplitude is calibrated as a porosity; as in neutron
logging, the calibration assumes that the hydrogen index of
the fluid is 1. In principle, the NMR porosity responds
directly to the hydrogen content of the formation and thus
is unaffected by the lithology effects in density or neutron
logging.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bill Kenyon is scientific advisor in the Interpretation Science
Department at Schlumberger-Doll Research, Ridgefield, Con-
necticut, USA. Now working in the carbonate reservoirs program,
he has been deeply involved in nuclear magnetic resonance petro-
physics for some years, and in dielectric petrophysics before that.
Bill was previously program leader in rock physics and department
head ofthe software engineering group. He joined Schlumberger's
Engineering group in 1968 in Houston, Texas, USA, where he
worked on the development of computerized surface instrumenta-
tion and mechanical properties interpretation software. He has a
BASe degree in engineering physics from the University of
Toronto, Ontario, Canada and MA and PhD degrees in electrical
engineering from Princeton University in New Jersey, USA.
43