NMR STANDS TO REVISE EVERY ISOPACH KNOWN TO GEOLOGISTS
Every geologist, every oil company, and every geological survey relies on isopachs, which are based entirely on subsurface elevation knowledge developed from prior drilling. After days and weeks of laboriously detailing elevations, circular lines are drawn in best efforts to define contours as precisely as possible, leading to conventional drilling decisions. Then, someone drills a new well, and the isopachs get revised. When it comes down to it, geologists and operators simply want the most accurate view of the underground they can get, both for oil and gas potential and oil/gas/water contact potential.
When Thomas Wiley began drilling in Kentucky and Indiana, reliable isopachs were unavailable. His first wells were drilled by “close-ology” and geo-chem survey, which provides its own isopachal recommendations based on test spacing. It has been our experience utilizing Nuclear Magnetic Resonance on our leases and examining leases all over the United States that many reservoirs which we have examined have not followed a charted isopach. Admittedly in many cases our oil findings have been in smaller reservoirs which cannot compare in size to the giant fields. Nevertheless, many of our findings have followed long pathways, rather than round, and have hugged faults, many of which have never been charted. In some cases we call them “pipelines” of oil, because of their elongated deposition. Our largest well was drilled 400 feet from its predecessor as a twin, and the producing zone had risen thirteen feet, which could not be found on any existing isopach. If we had not drilled that well, much of the Mississippian O’Hara limestone oil would never have been recovered on our most prolific lease. Every oilman has had the experience of seeing his horizons rise and fall unexpectedly and is often left at a loss as to the cause, leaving much of his potential behind. One of the major advantages of NMR is the ability to locate your petroleum “high” within your zone, regardless of charted elevations or educated guesses.
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance stands to provide the industry a sharper view of the underground. It is the intention of Numatex, Inc, to provide assistance to the industry for the highest petroleum recovery potential and maximum return on investment, while at the same time re-charting the underground for future reference.