Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry and Shale Gas - What Is Possible with Current Technology?

Abstract:

With ever increasing exploration and exploitation of ‘unconventional’ hydrocarbon resources, the drive to understand the origins, history and importance of these resources and their effects on the surrounding environment (i.e. ground waters) has never been more important. High-throughput, high-precision isotopic measurements are therefore a key tool in this industry to both understand the gas generated and monitor the development and stability of wells through time. With the advent of cavity ringdown spectroscopy (CRDS) instrumentation, there has been a push in some applications – environmental & atmospheric – to gather more and more data directly at the location of collection or at dedicated field stations. Furthermore, CRDS has resulted in users seeking greater autonomy of instrumentation and so-called black box technology. Traditionally IRMS technology has not met any of these demands, requiring very specific and extensive footprint, power and environmental requirements. This has meant that the ‘Oil & Gas’ sector, which for natural gases measurements requires GC-IRMS technology – not possible via CRDS - loses time, money and manpower as samples get sent to central facility or contract labs with potentially long lee times. However, recent developments in technology mean that IRMS systems exist which are benchtop, have much lower power requirements, standard power connections and as long as housed in a temperature controlled field stations can be deployed anywhere. Furthermore, with advances in electronics and software IRMS systems are approaching the black box level of newer instrumentation while maintaining the flexibility and abilities of isotope ratio mass spectrometry. This presentation will outline changes in IRMS technology applicable to the Oil & Gas industry, discuss the feasibility of true ‘field’ deployability and present results from a range of Oil & Gas samples.