Ipex has developed a new technology that can be used to obtain almost on site data and information such as API gravity, viscosity, chemical composition, waxiness, oil saturation, oil origin, and mixing and oil quality from well-cuttings or core. These fast analyses include extract color, gas chromatography, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and carbon isotopes of extracts. They can be used to log a well to determine reservoir zones, bypass, oil-water contact or oil properties, before testing and even while drilling. The use of GC-MS can, in many cases, give information from cuttings from wells drilled using oil-based mud. If such information is applied in a thorough well survey it can provide data for stochastic 3-dimensional models to help predict oil zones and their communication and the properties of oil in those zones. In order to set up the transform models, oil samples throughout the field are first analyzed by geochemical techniques, and the transforms and mode of analysis to be performed on the cuttings are determined.
In the last years IPEX has been applying this technology in a number of wells drilled in the Brazilian Margin Basins with tremendous success. The application of this technology has demonstrated the effectiveness of the technique to discriminate and characterize reservoir zones, oil type, oil quality and also identification of the source rock types of light oil and condensate samples.