PETROLEUM SECTOR

• Chemical and radiochemical analysis of petroleum products.
• Non-destructive imaging and chemical profiling techniques for cores etc.
• Over 10 years of experience in serving the petroleum industry.

NORM Analysis
The analysis of naturally occurring radioactive materials (e.g. ²²⁶Ra, ²¹⁰Pb and ²¹⁰Po) is carried out for pipeline condensates and production waters for a number of clients in the petroleum sector.

Analysis of catalyst residues from marine fuel oils
Refractory element residues can occur in fuel oils which when combusted can lead to significant wear of engine parts (piston liners etc). GAU has carried out analysis of heavy fuel oils for silicon and aluminium using X-ray fluorescence analysis which is the technique of choice owing to its extreme rapidity and sensitivity.

Core logging and interpretation
(X-radiography, non-destructive XRF analysis)
The examination of drill core and sediment core can be carried out using a variety of non-destructive methods to provide insights into some geochemical properties, heterogeneity, down-core chemical composition variations etc. GAU has undertaken support work for major geotechnical companies to investigate evidence for historical slope instability (e.g. existence of turbidites).

ItraX combined radiography and XRF core logger
This instrument was conceived at NOCS and co-developed with Cox Analytical of Sweden. It can analyse sediment cores and other samples non-destructively producing high resolution digital X-radiograph and multi-elemental profiles. The instrument has been used to characterise many hundreds of rock and sediment cores but it can also be adapted to investigate other samples.