There are described methods and apparatus for determining the condition of a barrier in a well infrastructure, for example. In some examples, sensor data that has been derived from a sensor arrangement at a barrier positioned at a location in a well infrastructure in received. That sensor data may be associated with measured conditions at the barrier, or the like. Composition data derived from measurements of fluid composition within the well may also be received. Such composition data may be indicative of the location at which fluid has been in the well. Analyzing such received sensor data and composition data may help determine the condition of the barrier. In some examples, there is described well apparatus comprising a barrier for zonal isolation, a sensor arrangement configured to monitor conditions at the location of the barrier; and one or more tracer elements configured to interact with fluid at the location of the barrier so as to impart identifiable properties to the composition of fluid.

A downhole fluid sampling system includes a tool body to attach to a tubing string, and multiple probe pads having a curved shape and disposed circumferentially about a section of the tool body in a helical gear pattern about a central longitudinal axis of the tool body. Each probe pad includes probes on an external surface of the respective probe pad, and each probe can contact and engage a wall of a wellbore and receive a flow of formation fluid from the wall of the wellbore. An outer surface of the tool body includes multiple channels disposed circumferentially about the section of the tool body and between the probe pads. The channels direct fluid flow along the tool body.

Methods and apparatuses are provided for analyzing a composition of a hydrocarbon-containing fluid. The methods include using a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) tool to conduct NMR measurements on the hydrocarbon-containing fluid to obtain NMR data. A non-NMR tool, such as an optical tool, is used to conduct additional measurements and to obtain non-NMR data on the fluid. The methods further include determining an indication of the composition of the fluid by using the NMR data and normalizing the indication of the composition of the fluid using the non-NMR data.

A method for evaluating drilling fluid includes making an NMR measurement of a sample of the drilling fluid and inverting the measurements to compute a corresponding T1T2 plot. The T1T2 plot is in turn evaluated to characterize the drilling fluid. In one embodiment, a stability index of the fluid may be computed from multiple NMR measurements made while aging the sample.

A corrective product addition treatment or surface treatment to a wellbore fluid is based on performing an artificial intelligence technique and/or a closed form solution with respect to one or more fluid properties. Pilot testing and operational testing to operatively dose a fluid at a drilling site may be integrated into the corrective product addition treatment or surface treatment to a wellbore fluid.

A formation tester places an isolation device, preferably a probe, in fluid communication with a formation to determine formation pressures. The tester's controller uses a pressure pre-test process to autonomously control operation. The controller measures drawdown pressure and interval as the tester draws down pressure in flowline coupled to the probe. If the drawdown pressure indicates a dry test has occurred, the process is aborted. Otherwise, the controller measures buildup pressure and interval by allowing buildup of pressure of the flowline. The controller permits this to continue until the interval is longer than the drawdown interval and/or until a rate of the buildup falls below a predetermined rate. If the buildup pressure is too tight relative to the drawdown pressure, the controller aborts the test. Eventually, the controller measures a final buildup pressure when the buildup terminates. A new drawdown rate and volume can be determined for subsequent formation tests.

An in-well type sampling system including a sampling chamber actuable to receive a fluid sample and a pressure source coupled to the sampling chamber to supply pressure to the sampling chamber after the sampling chamber actuating. A pressure sensor is provided in communication with the pressure source to measure the pressure of the pressure source. A telemetry communicator is coupled to the pressure sensor to send a signal from the pressure sensor away from the sampling system.

An analytical method that establishes a thermodynamic equilibrium or known dynamic relationship between the concentrations of gases, natural gas liquids and oils or pressures of gasses in an isolated zone of a shale, or group of distinct shale gas intervals, with the concentrations of fluids or pressures of gasses in a wellbore penetrating the shale interval or intervals. An analytical method for identifying the chemical composition of gas, natural gas liquids and oils and determining their origin in an isolated zone of a shale, or group of distinct shale gas intervals with the identification of chemical composition of gas, natural gas liquids and oils in a wellbore penetrating the shale interval or intervals. A surface measurement apparatus capable of performing the measurement ex-situ. A downhole measurement apparatus capable of reliably performing the measurement in-situ and a downhole straddle-packer assembly capable of isolating part of, or an entire shale interval.

Embodiments herein relate to a method for recovering hydrocarbons from a formation including collecting and analyzing a formation sample, drilling operation data, and wellbore pressure measurement, estimating a reservoir and completion quality, and performing an oil field service in a region of the formation comprising the quality. In some embodiments, the formation sample is a solid collected from the drilling operation or includes cuttings or a core sample.

The present invention is a method of monitoring recovery site hydrocarbons (HC) using an unconventional method which permits quantifying the HC present in zones above the exploration and development zone. The method according to the invention is based on the adjustment of a model describing the gas concentration as a function of time, using in-situ geochemical analyzes of rare gases and, when appropriate, of injected gas used for fracturing, contained in fluid phases of subsoil samples. By use of rare gas analysis, the method according to the invention allows anticipation of hydrocarbon leakage above the exploration/development site.