Wellsite Geology

Mass Spec Chemical Profiling was first introduced commercially to the oil and gas industry by Fluid Inclusion Technologies in the third quarter of 2003. Through an R&D effort spanning more than 10 years, involving several dozens of actual well tests and untold financial resources, FIT has developed the DQ1000 Divining Quad – a stand-alone mass spectrometer system designed especially for the analysis of formation fluids at the well head in real time during drilling operations.

Mass Spec Chemical Profiling technology is a natural outgrowth of FIT’s main technological service - “Fluid Inclusion Stratigraphy” (FIS) – an analytical procedure whereby cuttings samples from an entire well are introduced into a laboratory-based automated mass spectrometer system and mechanically crushed thereby releasing formation fluids trapped as “Fluid Inclusions” within the individual mineral grains. The liberated fluids are analyzed and correlated with depth revealing a wealth of information about Petroleun type and quality, charge, migration, seal integrity, compartmentalization, reservoir connectivity, bypassed pay zones and a wealth of other information.

Mass Spec Chemical Profiling represents a variation of this technology in real time. The DQ1000 analyzes many of the same fluid species as FIS and in fact, to a first approximation, the geological significance of the presence and behavior of these species in petroleum systems can be inferred from FIT’s massive FIS experience base derived from the analysis of several thousand oil and gas well cuttings samples.