• Analytical Services
• Equipment Available

Permeability measurements using the MICROPERMEAMETER

It is used to measure permeability of core plugs samples. Specifically used to measure air permeability of a sample. Air permeability is generally used by the petroleum industry as a correlator of the flow capability of a rock formation.
The permeameter uses compressed dry air (40 psi minimum) as a fluid to flow through a core sample at a flow rate regulated by a calibrated orifice.

The permeameter measures permeabilities in three approximate ranges:

Low Permeability                      0.01 md                         to                     1.00 md
Medium Permeability                1.00 md                         to                    420.00 md
High Permeability                     420.00 md                     to                   37000.00 md

The Micropermeameter

 

Thin Section Preparation

Thin Section Preparation is used to prepare samples for petrographic analysis. NOCK's equipment prepares standard thin section of rock samples to final thickness of 30 micros. that can be examined under a microscope. The thin sections are polished and can be stained for carbonates and feldspars.

• Impregnation with low viscosity dyed epoxy resin is done to enhance visualization of pore space in potential reservoir

Thin Section Cutting Equipment

Thin Section Grinder and Polisher

Research grade petrographic microscope with Camera for thin section photomicrographs

A polarizing microscope used for analysis of petrographic thin sections, which help in identifying the origin, occurence, accumulation & exploration of hydrocarbon fuel in rocks.

SR Analyser Equipment with computer accessories

The SR Analyser is used for basic geochemical screening to assess source rock potential and characteristics.

Porosity measurements using the HELIUM POROSIMETER

Porosity is a rock property defined as the ratio of the void (pore space) to the bulk volume of a material and is usually expressed as a percentage.
The Helium porosimeter is a volume-measuring device, which can be used to determine the volume of grains or the volume of the pores in a sample.

Helium Porosimeter

Drill press

The Drill press machine is used for cutting plug samples from cores.

End Face Grinder

The End Face Grinder is used for trimming plug samples.

Humidity Oven

The Humidity oven is used for drying water-sensitive samples.

Retort Extractor

The retort extractor is designed to extract water and oil from core samples through a heating and distillation process. Ten stainless steel heat-resistant cups are filled with 100 grams of core each, then placed in the retort and simultaneously heated slowly to the desired temperature.
During distillation, water is removed and passes through a cooling bath of water and is trapped in graduated receiving tubes. Later oil is distilled and trapped on top of the water.

Dean-Stark Distillation Assembly

The 10 - unit Dean-Stark distillation assembly is used to directly determine the water content of a sample and to indirectly determine the oil content of the same sample. It is equipped with individual heaters for convenience of operation and has drying tubes, condensers and receiving tubes. The receiving tubes are calibrated and can be read to the nearest 0.1 cc. The assembly employs a solvent refluxing method where the most commonly used solvent is toluene.
The water removed from the sample is collected in a calibrated trap below the condenser where the water volume is indicated by the graduated markings on the receiving tubes. Oil removed from the sample remains in solution in the solvent and the oil content is calculated by the difference between the water recovered and total weight loss after extraction and drying.

Centrifugal Extractor

The centrifugal extractor is a high-speed rotating device used to extract oil and /or water from consolidated permeability plugs to a degree of completeness not possible by other means in a reasonable length of time. Its extraction rate is considerably faster than that of any other conventional extraction techniques.
The extractor consists of two units - a solvent still and a centrifuge. The still heats, vaporizes an condenses the solvent which is piped into the rotating centrifuge and sprayed onto the core sample plugs in a fine mist, saturating the plugs. Then the flow of solvent stops and the plugs lose a considerable amount of the now dirty solvent by centrifugal force. This alternate saturating and partially drying repeats every few minutes as long as the still and centrifuge are both operating. The spray cycles every few minutes for about 20 or 30 minutes to sufficiently extract most sample plugs.

Centrifugal extractor for fast cleaning of consolidated samples.

Soxhlet Extractor

The Soxhlet extractor is used to remove hydrocarbons present in a core sample.

Determination of Total Organic Carbon (TOC)

Measurement of Total Organic Carbon content of sedimentary rocks enables the classification of these rocks source richness and thus provides an index that is used to determine whether a given sedimentary rock is a potential source rock or not.

National Oil Corporation of Kenya uses the following parameters for Total Organic Carbon as pertains to source rock richness content.

Total Organic Carbon (TOC) content (TOC wt%) Richness

<0.5                                            Poor, non-source
0.5 - 1.0                                      Marginal source richness
1.0 - 2.0                                      Good source richness
>2.0                                            Excellent source richness

Leco IR 212 Carbon Determinator (TOC Machine)

Varian Gas Chromatograph

Gas Chromatography; used for fingerprinting of hydrocarbons.

Gas Chromatography is accomplished by means of a long capillary column through which the vaporized hydrocarbons from the extract or oil are passed by means of a carrier gas. As the rate of travel of any compound through the capillary column depends on its molecular weight, fractionation results and the lighter compounds arrrive at the end of the column before the heavier ones.  The arrival times of the various components and amount of each component measured by a flame ionization detector coupled to a recorder, which plots a graph of the run. The information collected is then analysed for complex mixtures of volatile organic and inorganic compounds.

Liquid Chromatograph

LC is used for separating the bitumen extracted from source rocks. Oils extracted from source and reservoir rocks are separated into whole oil components, saturated, aromatic and asphaltene components using liquid chromatography.

Nitrogen Evaporator

Concentration of the extracted oil components (aliquots) are archived using a nitrogen evaporator.

To contact National Oil Corporation for Laboratory Services e-mail: lab@nockenya.co.ke or contact Florence Gaturu on telephone number +254-020-601572.