Probing Wettability in Carbonate Rocks by Multi-Frequency NMR Relaxation.

We present a new method for probing wettability of rock/oil/brine systems using nuclear magnetic relaxation dispersion (NMRD). Unlike conventional transverse relaxation studies, this approach gives a direct probe of the dynamical surface affinity of fluids, thus allowing the separation of wetting from non-wetting fluids through their typical NMRD features. To quantify these features we introduce a microscopic dynamical surface affinity index which measures the dynamical correlation (i.e. microscopic wettability) between a diffusive fluid and fixed paramagnetic relaxation sources at the pore surfaces. We apply this technique to carbonate reservoir rocks of bimodal porosity saturated with oil (Sw = 0%), brine (Sw = 100%) and mixture of oil/brine (Swirr). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]