PDQ-XRF Automated X-Ray Fluorescence Elemental Analysis | SLB

PDQ-XRF

Automated X-ray fluorescence elemental analysis

Coal under white light.

PDQ-XRF automated X-ray fluorescence elemental analysis provides elemental analysis of cuttings to be compared with fluid inclusion stratigraphy, petrography, and photography. This insight enables you to evaluate rock and cement types and interpolate spot trends defined by petrography to other portions of the dataset. It can also serve as a stratigraphic tool for well-to-well correlation and for retrospective horizontal wellbore mapping.

Worker in Fluid Inclusion Technologies lab.

Profile

  • Provides lithologic & stratigraphic framework
  • Can be used in conjunction with FIS fluid inclusion stratigraphy analysis
  • Evaluates more than 30 major, minor, and trace elements
  • Estimates mineralogical and chemical markers between wells
  • Is applicable to rocks of any age and type
  • Effectively integrates with biostratigraphic information

Applications

  • Chemical stratigraphy for correlation in monotonous vertical or horizontal sections
  • Depositional environment, diagenesis, facies, and provenance
  • Distribution and relative abundance of cements
  • Rock behavior relevant to completion (e.g., siliceous vs. clay-rich)
In-depth information about mineral and chemical facies can be easily integrated with wireline logs, providing guidance for more advanced mineralogical or geochemical studies.

Unique one-viewer approach

This integrated approach places the entire wellbore history into one viewer that includes

Benefits

  • Analysis of same sample of rock at each step, preserving the interrelationships among rock type, rock chemistry, and fluid type
  • Analysis of entire borehole, from first returns to TD
  • Lithology profiles in the absence of, or in place of, wellsite lithology descriptions
  • Distribution and relative abundance of cements
  • Cuttings volatile analysis for hydrocarbons and nonhydrocarbons
  • High-resolution photography in both white light and under UV excitation
  • Elemental analysis of rock material via X-ray fluorescence

Features

  • Automated process
  • Small sample requirements: 2–5 g, washed
  • All analyses conducted on the same sample; up to 575 samples per well
  • Fast response—analytical cycle of 4 d from preparation (washing, loading, etc.)