SPE 16

62985
A New
w Analytic
cal Metho
od for Pre
edicting D
Dew Poin
nt Pressures for Gas
Conde
ensate Re
eservoirs
Okpo Nna
adozie Godwiin, University of Ibadan
Copyright 2012, Society of Petroleum Engineers
This paper was prepared for presentattion at the 2012 SPE Nigerian
N
Annual Interna
ational Conference andd Exhibition held in Ab
buja, Nigeria, 6-8 August 2012.
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m committee following review of information ccontained in an abstra ct submitted by the au
uthor(s). Contents of the paper have not
been reviewed by
b the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction
n by the author(s). Thee material does not neccessarily reflect any po
osition of the Society o
of Petroleum
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e of any part of this paaper without the written
n consent of the Societty of Petroleum Engine
eers is prohibited.
Permission to re
eproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of
o not more than 300 words;
w
illustrations mayy not be copied. The ab
bstract must contain co
onspicuous acknowledgment of SPE
copyright.

Abstract
This study
dy presents a new
n
analytical method for predicting
p
dew
w point pressuures for gas ccondensate resservoir as a
function of routinely measured
m
gas analysis and reservoir tempperature. The proposed moodel was developed using
ntally measureed and collecteed data of 259 gas condensatte sample coveering a wide raange of gas prooperties and
experimen
reservoir temperatures obtained from the literature.. The proposedd correlation hhas an averagee relative deviaation (ARD)
AD) of 0.099%
%.
of 0.0488% and absolutte deviation (AA
m
was tessted with 14 data
d
sets that w
were not usedd in developingg the correlatiion, and the
The accuracy of this model
accuracy of the new mo
odel was comp
pared to orderr existing correelations from tthe literature. The result shoows that the
oposed model performed
p
bettter than popullar, and presenntly being usedd in the oil andd gas industry such as the
newly pro
Nemeth and Kennedy, and
a A.M. El-sha
arkawy correla
ations.

Introduction
The dew point pressure of a hydrocarb
bon system is defined
d
as the pressure at whhich an infiniteesimal quantityy of liquid is
brium with a larrge quantity off gas. The dew
w point of a gass condensate reeservoir fluid ooccurs when a gas mixture
in equilib
containing
g heavy hydroccarbon is depreessed to the po
oint where liquiid is formed.
There arre two types off dew point off the hydrocarb
bon mixtures4. The first typee is the normal dew point, whhich usually
occur at low
l
pressure as
a dry gas is co
ompressed to the
t point wherre liquid first fforms. The seccond type is knnown as the
retrogradee dew point, which
w
occurs when
w
a gas mixtture containingg heavy hydroccarbons in a soolution is depreessed until a
liquid is formed. Hence, the retrograade dew point will have greeat significancce in predictingg reservoir beehavior. The
determinaation of dew point pressure is essential for fluid chaaracterization of condensatee behavior, gaas reservoir
performan
nce calculation
ns, and for desiign of production system.
Tradition
nally, the dew
w point pressurre of a gas co
ondensate fluidd is determinedd experimentaally in the labooratory, this
laboratory
y measuremen
nt provides th
he most accu
urate and reliiable determinnation. Quite often, the eexperimental
determinaation of dew po
oint pressure iss expensive, time consumingg, difficult to oobtain a represeentative samples and most

SPE 162985

time subject to many errrors. However, it is necessaary for the Enggineers to makke an estimate of this crude oil property
r
availab
ble measured prroducing param
meters. One off the methods oof predicting thhe dew point ppressure is to
from the readily
employ a set of equilibrrium ratios (K
K-values). The use of K- valuues is a trial annd error methood of analyzingg dew point
pressure; however, the K-value
K
adds nothing
n
to the accuracy
a
of preedicting the dew
w point pressuure.
LITERAT
TURE REVIEW
W
The prop
posed dew poiint pressure correlations in the literaturee are very few
w. In additionn, these correlations were
developed
d based on gass condensate fluid samples which
w
were obtaained from cerrtain reservoirss of specific reegions in the
world.
ND OLDS3 CORRELATIO
C
ON: In 1947, Saage and Olds sstudied the labboratory behavvior of five paiired samples
SAGE AN
of oil and
d gas obtained from
f
wells in San
S Joaquin fieelds in Californnia. Their investigations resuulted in developping a rough
correlatio
on relating the retrograde deew point pressu
ure to the GO
OR, temperaturre, and stock-ttank API oil ggravity. The
results off this correlatio
on were presen
nted in tabularr and graphicaal forms. This correlation is applicable onnly for GOR
between 15,0001
40,000
0 SCF/STB, 10
00-220 OF, and
d for oil API grravity of 52o-64o. A chart deepicting sage correlation is
shown in figure 1.

R AND SAGE
ES4 CORRELA
ATION: In 195
50, Reamer annd Sage conducted some expperiments on fiive different
REAMER
pairs of oil
o and gas sam
mples obtained
d from a field in Louisiana. They attemptted to extend tthe existing coorrelation to
higher GO
ORs. The meaasurements weere made at GO
OR which variied from approoximately 200 to over 40,0000 SCF/STB,
temperatu
ures between 40
4 o and 250oF,, and the oil API
A gravities vvaried 38o and 55.8o. They concluded thaat due to the
complexitty of retrograd
de systems, and
d the influencee of compositiion on the voluumetric phase behavior, it w
was doubtful
that a useful correlation relating these variables could
d be establisheed.
AGE AND LA
ACEY11 also stu
udied the behaavior of fluids ffrom Paloma ffield in 1944. T
They studied thhe properties
OLDS, SA
of seven mixtures at th
he temperature ranging from 100 to 250 0F and at pressures up to 5,0000 psia. The iinfluence of
he dew point was
w determineed using the innformation obttained from thhe studies of
compositiion and tempeerature upon th
these fielld properties. It
I also found that removing
g the intermeddiate molecularr weight compponents from the mixture
resulted in
n considerablee increase in the dew point prressures. The aaccuracy of thee experimental observations w
was difficult
to evaluatte.

SPE 162985

ORGANICK AND GOLDINGS5 CORRELATION: Organick and Golding presented a correlation for the prediction of
saturation pressures. The saturation pressures of a system is directly related to its chemical composition by means of two
generalized composition characteristics TB, the molal average boiling point, and Wm, a modified weight average
equivalent molecular weight. The saturation pressure may be either bubble point, dew point pressure, or the very special
case of critical pressure. Though, it has limited usefulness as a bubble point pressure correlation because it covers
primarily high volatility systems.
The correlation was given in form of a set of 14 working charts in which the saturation pressures, either retrograde dew
points or the bubble points were plotted against the temperatures, forming partial phase envelopes for mixtures having
discrete values of the composition parameters, TB and Wm. These charts are shown below in figure 2. The accuracy of
Organick and Goldings correlation is such that, about 50% of the 214 points that form the basis for the correlation have
recorded error less than 5%, and 82% were also in error less than 10%. The standard deviation of all point is about 7.0%.
NEMETH AND KENNEDYS6 CORRELATION: In 1967, Nemeth and Kennedy developed a correlation which relates
the dew point pressure of a gas condensate fluid to its chemical composition, temperature and characteristics of C7+. This
correlation was developed based on the 579 data points obtained experimentally from 480 different gas condensate
systems. The dew point pressure and temperature ranges varied from 1,270-10,790 psi, and from 40-320oF respectively.
The proposed correlation has the following form:
In Pd = A1 [xC2 + xCO2 + xH2S + xC6 + 2(xC3 + xC4) +xC5 + 0.4 xC1 + 0.2 xN2 ] + A2 c7+ + A3[x C1/ (xC7+ + 0.002)] + A4
T + A5 (x C7+ . Mc7+) + A6 (xC7+ . Mc7+ )2 + A7 (x C7+ . Mc7+ )3 + A8 [Mc7+/c7+ + 0.0001) + A9 [Mc7+/ (c7+ + 0.0001)]2 + A10
[Mc7+/(c7+ + 0.0001)]3 + A11 (1)
Where A1 through A11 are:
A1 = -2.0623054,
A3 = -4.4670559x10-3

A2 = 6.6259728,
A4 = 1.0448346x10-4,
A7 = 7.4299951x10-5,

A5 = 3.2673714x10-2,
A8 = -1.1381195x10-1,

A10 = -1.0716866x10-6,

A6 = -3.6453277x10-3
A9 = 6.2476497x10-4

A11 = 1.0746622x10
7

POTSCH AND BRAEUERS CORRELATION:

Potsch and Braeuer presented a graphical method for determining

the dew point pressure in 1996. The correlation was developed as a backup for the laboratory visual reading of the total
volume (gas and liquid) during a constant composition expansion. The key idea of this method is to plot the number of
moles, calculated as a function of single phase compressibility factor (Z-factor), versus pressure. Above dew point
pressure plot yields a straight line, and below dew point pressure plot shows a curve, while the point of intersection
marks the dew point pressure as shown in figure 3.

SPE 162985

Figure 3: Neew technique for determination

d
of th
he dewpoint via mo
ole versus pressurre7

(7)

(8)

S AND SMITH
H also develop
ped four correlaations relating dew point presssure to temperrature, compossition, molal
EILERTS
average boiling
b
point and
a oil to gass volume ratio
o. The study was based onn measurements made on eight natural
condensatte fluids.
HUMOUD AND AL-M
MARHOUN10 presented a new
n
empirical correlation too predict the ddew point presssure of gas
m readily availaable field dataa. This correlaation simply rrelates the dew
w point pressuure of a gas
condensatte fluids from
condensatte fluid directly
y to its reservo
oir temperaturee, and relative densities of seeparator gas annd heptanes- plus fraction.
The correelation was dev
veloped using several gas co
ondensate fluidd samples reppresenting diffeerent gas reserrvoirs in the
Middle East.
RKAWY12 Dev
veloped a new empirical mod
del to predict dew point pressure for gas ccondensate resservoirs as a
ELSHAR
function of routinely measured
m
gas analysis and reservoir tempperature. The proposed model was develloped using
ntal data from
m 340 gas co
ondensate sam
mples that covvered a wide range of gas properties annd reservoir
experimen
temperatu
ure. This modeel correlates dew point pressu
ure with reservvoir temperaturre, reservoir coomposition of hhydrocarbon
and a non
n hydrocarbon expressed
e
as mole
m fraction, molecular
m
weigght of C7+ and w
with specific gravity of C7+.
Elsharkaw
wys correlation is given by;
Pd = A0 + A1Tf + A2XH
H2S + A3XCO
O2 + A4XN2 + A5XC1 + A6X C2 + A7XC3 + A8XC4 + A9X
XC5 + A10XC6 + A11XC7+
+A12MWC7+ + A13c7+ + A14 (XC7+MW
WC7+) + A15
(2)
gh A18 are calcu
ulated as:
A0 throug
A0 = 4268
8.85, A1 = 0.094056, A2 = -71
157.87,
A3 = -454
40.58, A4 = -46
663.55,A5 = -13
357.56,
A6 = -777
76.10, A7 = -9967.99, A8 = -42
257.10,
A9 = -1417.10, A10 = 691.5298, A11 = 40660.36,
4
60.32, A14 = -352.413
A12 = 205.26, A13 = -726
A15 = -114.519, A16 = 8.133, A17 = 94.916 and
8.252.
A18 = 238

+ A16

+ A17

+ A18

SPE 162985

EISSA M.EL-M.SHOKIR13 presented a correlation for predicting dew point pressure using the application of Genetic
Programming (GP)- orthogonal least squares algorithm as a function of reservoir fluid composition (in terms of mol
fractions of methane through heptanes plus, nitrogen, carbon-dioxide and hydrogen sulfide, and the molecular weight of
heptanes-plus fraction and reservoir temperature.

DEVELOPMENT OF NEW ANALYTICAL MODEL

In order to develop a simple and working analytical model, it is necessary to study the effect of all the variables such as
the condensate composition, the reservoir temperature and the properties of the plus fraction on the dew point pressure.
According to A.M. Elsharkawy12, the effect of these variables on the dew point pressure is such that;
Dew point pressure increases as the molecular weight of the heptanes plus fraction increases, and as the density
of the plus fraction increases.
Dew point pressure strongly decreases if the amount of intermediate molecular weight is increased. The ratio of
the light to heavy components (C1/C7+) also controls the shape of the phase envelop.
The effect of temperature is minor when compared with the effect of changing the amount of intermediate
fraction (propane to hexane). But the dew point pressure may increase or decrease as a function of temperature
for any gas condensate sample.
The intermediate molecular weight fractions (propane through hexane) have much more contribution to the dew
point pressure than the light molecular weight fraction (methane and ethane) and the non hydrocarbon.
The non-hydrocarbons are the least important components in controlling the dew point pressures.

DATA USED

The data used for this study was obtained from published literature. It consists of condensate composition, the reservoir
temperature and the properties of the plus fraction. The selection is based on the input requirement for most of the
published correlations. A total of 273 data points were used for this study, of which 259 data points were used to propose
a New Correlation, while 14 data20, 12 was used for testing the accuracy in comparison to other existing correlations.

,..,

(4)

We defined Pd as;

Where;
,

and

SPE 162985

The consttants

are co
omputed in succh a manner thhat the averagee relative deviaation (ARD) is minimized.

ARD is defined mathem

matically as

ARD =

(6)

Where;
ure,
Pdmeasured = Measured deew point pressu
Pdpredicted = predicted dew
w point pressurre,
N = Number of data poiint.
The objecctive of the model derivation is to find a fun
nction (f) that m
minimizes the aaverage relativve deviation (A
ARD).
8.5,

1,

9.4,

9.9,

11,

19.08 ,
19.09,
19.12,
1

19.1,

19.1,

19.35,

22.35 ,

2
22.3,

1
19.1,

19.1,

=5

RESULT
TS PRESENTA
ATION
The evalu
uations of the dew point prressures were implemented w
with the correelations listed above. In arriiving at the
calculated
d results, meassure quantities were used as input
i
into the vvarious correlaations. The devveloped correllation model
was comp
pared with the best
b existing correlation and statistical accuuracy was show
wn.
Table1.0:Statisticalaccuracyofd
dewpointpressure

NEMETH

&

EL-

UDY
THIS STU

KENNEDY
Y

SHARKAW
WY

ARD %

-23.17

-24.597

0.049

AAD%

27.309

27.773

0.099

Table 1.1: Co
omparison of calculatted to the measured dew
d point pressures.

SPE 162985

Estimated Vs
Measured dew

PERFORMANCE

Fig 4: Performance plot

The table above has shown that the calculated dew point pressure in this study is in excellent agreement with the
experimentally determined dew point pressures.

CONCLUSIONS
A new but simple analytical method for predicting dew point pressures for gas condensate samples as a function of fluid
composition, the reservoir temperature and the properties of the plus fraction have been developed. The accuracy of this
was compared to Nemeth and Kennedy, and A.M. Elsharkawy correlations. The results indicate that the new correlation
has the best overall accuracy for the gas condensate samples considered for this study.
The correlation developed in this study was validated by data, which were not used in the development of this
correlation, and the model provided a better accuracy than the existing correlations.
NOMENCLATURE
Pd = Dew point pressure,
Tf = Reservoir temperature, (0F),

gas

,
,
,

SPE 162985

MWC7+ = Molecular weight of the C7+

C7+ = Specific gravity of the C7+
ARD = Average relative deviation
AAD = Absolute relative deviation
REFERENCES
1.

Phase Behavior, Reprint series, SPE, Dallas (1981) 15.

2.

Ahmed, T. Hydrocarbon Phase Behavior, Vol. 7 Gulf Publishing Company: Houston, 1989.

3.

Sage, B.H, and Olds, R.H Volumetric Behavior of Oil & Gas from several San Joaquin valley fields
Trans., AIME (1947) 170, 156-173.

4.

Reamer H.H. and Sage, B.H Volumetric Behavior of Oil and Gas from a Louisiana Field, Trans.,
AIME (1950) Vol. 189, 261-268.

5.

Organick, E.I and Golding, B.H Prediction of saturation pressure for condensate gas and volatile oil
mixture, Trans., AIME (1952) Vol. 195, 135-148.

6.

Nemeth, L.K. and Kennedy, H.T A correlation of Dew point Pressure with Fluid Composition and
Temperature, paper SPE 1477 presented at SPE 41st Annual Fall Meeting held in Dalla, Tex., 1966.

7.

Potsch, K.T. and Braeuer, L., A Noval Graphical Method for Determining Dew point Pressures of
Gas Condensates, Paper SPE 36919 presented at the 1996 SPE European Conference held in Italy,
October 22-24,1996.

8.

Kurata, F. and Katz, D.L., Critical properties of volatile hydrocarbon mixtures, Trans., Alche, 1942,
Vol. 38, No.6, 995-1021.

9.

Eilert, K., and Smith, R.V., Specific volumes and phase boundary properties of separator-gas and
liquid-hydrocarbon mixtures, U.S Bureau of Mines, Report of investigation 3642, April 1942.

10. Humoud, A.A., and Al-Marhoun, M.A., A new correlation for gas-condensate dewpoint pressure
prediction.
11. Olds, R.H., Sage, B.H. and Lacey, W.N.: Volumetric and phase Behavior of Oil and Gas from
Paloma Field, Trans., AIME (1995) Vol. 160, 77-99.

SPE 162985

12. Elsharkawy, A., Predicting the dew point pressure for gas condensate reservoir; empirical models
and equations of state, fluid phase Equilib., 193, 2002, pp. 147-165.
13. Eissa M. El-M. Shokir, Dew point Pressure for Gas Condensate Reservoir Based on Genetic
Programming. SPE paper 114454. Alberta, Canada. (2008).
14. ILsis Marruffo, PDVSA, Jose. M, Jesus. H, Gonzalo .R, Correlations To Determine Retrograde Dew
Pressure and C7+ Percentage of Gas Condensate Reservoirs on Basis of Production Test Data of
Eastern Venezuelan Fields. SPE paper75686. Alberta, Canada, 30 April-2 May, 2002.
15. Grieves, R. B., and Thodos, G., The Cricondentherm and Cricondenbar of Multicomponent
Hydrocarbon Mixture, Soc. Pet. Eng. J., Dec. 1963, pp 287-292.
16. Fevang and Whitson CH: Modeling Gas Condensate Well Deliverability SPE Reservoir Engr 11,
no.4 (Novembr, 1996): 221-230.
17. Selected values of physical and thermodynamic properties of hydrocarbon and related compounds,
API Research Project 44, Carnegie Press (1953) 332.
18. Davis P.C., Bertuzzi, A.F., Gore, T.L. and Kurata, F.: The phase and Volumetric Behavior of Natural
Gases at Low Temperature and High Pressures. Trans AIME (1954) Vol. 210, 245-251.
Appendix statistical Error Analysis
There are two main statistical parameters that are being considered in this study. These parameters helps to estimate the
accuracy of the predicted fluid properties obtained from oil correlations.
Average Percent Relative Deviation: This is an indication of the relative deviation from the experimental values and it
is given as:

ARD=

X100%

Where Pdcalculated and Pdmeasured represent the experimental and estimated values respectively for any fluid property. The
lower the value of ARD, the more equally distributed is the error between positive and negative values.
Average Absolute Percent Relative Deviation: This parameter measures the average value of the absolute relative
deviation of the measured value for the experimental data. The value of the percent average absolute relative error is
expressed in percent. The parameter can be defined as:

ARD =

AAD =

10

SPE 162985

SPE 16298
85

11

Figure2:Saturationpre
essureversustem
mperature