Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
A unit volume of stock tank oil to surface with its associated gas
will occupy at reservoir conditions a volume greater than unity.
bo=1/Bo
+
Stock Tank Oil
1 stb. oil
Gas
Bo res. Bbl. oil & dissolved gas/stb
Oil
Oil Reservoir
B t = B o + B g ( R sb − R s )
Rsb = the solution gas to oil ratio at the bubble point.
Bt = Bo + Bg ( R sb − R s )
P = Pb P < Pb
GAS Bg(Rsb-Rs)
Bob OIL
Bt
OIL Bo
Hg
Hg
Pb, Bt = Bo
Flash Expansion
Experiment
After recombining the oil and
gas in the correct proportions, the
fluid is charged to the PV cell
which is maintained at constant
temperature, the measured
reservoir temperature, throughout
the experiments.
The pressure is subsequently reduced in stages, and on each occasion the total volume vt
of the cell contents is recorded.
As soon as the bubble point pressure is reached, gas is liberated from the oil and the
overall compressibility of the system increases significantly.
Thereafter, small changes in pressure will result in large changes in the total fluid volume
contained in the PV cell.
In this manner, the flash expansion experiment can be used to "feel" the bubble point.
Since the cell used is usually opaque the separate volumes of oil and gas, below bubble
point pressure, cannot be measured in the experiment and therefore, only total fluid volumes
are recorded.
In the laboratory analysis the basic unit of volume, against which all others are compared,
is the volume of saturated oil at the bubble point, irrespective of its magnitude.
Results of isothermal flash expansion
The bubble point pressure for this sample is determined from the flash expansion
as 3330 psia, for which the saturated oil is assigned the unit volume. The relative
total fluid volumes listed are volumes measured in relation to this bubble point
volume.
Differential Liberation
Experiment
In contrast to the flash expansion, after each stage of the differential liberation,
the total amount of gas liberated during the latest pressure drop is removed from
the PV cell by injecting mercury at constant pressure.
Results of isothermal differential liberation
Difference Between FE and DLE
In the flash expansion no gas is removed from the PV cell but instead
remains in equilibrium with the oil. As a result, the overall hydrocarbon
composition in the cell remains unchanged.
5000
4500
4000
Pressure, psig
3500
Volume at bubble point=63.316 cc
3000 Pressure at this point is 2620 psig
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
Total volume, cc
Table: Pressure vs. Relative Volume
Pressure Total Relative
Psig volume(V
volume(Vt) volume
cc (Vt/Vb)
At 5000 psig
reservoil, oil, volume, cc
BoDb =
residual, oil, volume, cc
63.316
= = 1.6res − bbl / resi − bbl
39.572
Problem: Solution Gas-
Gas-Oil Ratio Calculation
At or above bubble Below bubble [point pressure
point pressure
Problem: Total formation volume factor
Calculation
Problem
Table-1 below gives the results for a volume/pressure investigation of
a reservoir fluid at reservoir temperature. The system composition
remained constant throughout the test.
Intersection of oil and
‘oil and gas’ slope
occurs at p = 1595 psi
and a volume of
168.08cc.
Pressure, psig
Bubble point = 1595 psig
Volume,
cc
In another test on the fluid a sample of oil at its bubble point pressure and
reservoir temperature in a PVT cell were passed through a two stage
separator at 100 psig and 75oF and 0 psig and 60oF. 34 cc of oil were
displaced from the PVT cell and 27.4 cc of oil were collected from the last
separator stage. 4976 cc of gas were collected at standard conditions during
the test.
From separator test
Bob = 34/27.4 = 1.241 bbl/stb
Below Bp need
differential result
(a) Determine the bubble point pressure of the reservoir fluid at reservoir temperature.
(b) The oil formation volume factor at 3650 psig
(c) The solution gas-oil ratio at 3650 psig and 2700 psig
(d) The solution gas-oil ratio at 1200 psig
(e) The total formation volume factors at 3650 psig and 1200 psig.
From graph-1
A laboratory cell initially contained oil at its bubble point of 2000 psia at
180oF and the mercury level was at 280.0 cc. 18.8 cc of mercury were
removed from the cell and the pressure dropped to 1600 psia. Mercury was
then re-injected at constant pressure and temperature and 0.129 scf of gas
were removed leaving 263.5 cc of liquid. Some more quantity was removed
from the cell until the pressure was reduced to 14.7 psia and the temperature
was reduced to 60oF. At that condition 0.388 scf of gas were removed and
205.9 cc of liquid (oil) remained in the cell.
Determine
a) The oil formation volume factor Bo and the solution gas-oil-ratio Rs at the
bubble point pressure.
b) Determine Bo, Bt, Bg, Rs and z at 1,600 psia and 180oF.
c) What is the value of Bt at 2000 psia and 180oF?
Problem
The dew point pressure of a condensate gas field is 6250 psia. The
initial reservoir conditions are 240oF and 8500 psia. When the
reservoir was initially tested, a condensate to gas ratio of 80 stock
tank barrels per million SCF of gas was obtained. The produced
gas and condensate compositions were as follows:
For low volatility oils, in which the dissolved gas consists mainly of methane and
ethane, the resulting oil volumes from either experiment are practically the same.
For higher volatility oils, containing a relatively high proportion of the intermediate
hydrocarbons such as butane and pentane, the volumes can be significantly
different. Generally, in this latter case, more gas escapes from solution in the flash
expansion than in the differential liberation, resulting in a smaller final oil volume
after the flash process.
This may be explained by the fact that in the flash expansion the intermediate
hydrocarbon molecules find it somewhat easier to escape into the large gas volume
in contact with the oil than in the case of the differential liberation, in which the
volume of liberated gas in equilibrium with the oil, at any stage in the depletion, is
significantly smaller.
Question
Which type of experiment will provide the most realistic values of PVT
parameters at the current reservoir pressure and fixed temperature?
Answer
Combination of both flash and differential liberation is required for an
adequate description of the overall volume changes.
It is considered that the differential liberation experiment provides the better
description of how the oil and gas separate in the reservoir since, because of
their different flow velocities, they will not remain together in equilibrium once
gas is liberated from the oil.
The one exception to this is during the brief period after the bubble point has
been reached, when the liberated gas is fairly uniformly distributed throughout
the reservoir and remains immobile until the critical gas saturation is exceeded.
Question: Why multi-stage separation is
commonly used in the field?
Answer
Within any single separator the liberation of gas from the oil may be considered
as a flash expansion in which, for a time, the gas stays in equilibrium with the oil.
If two or more separators are used then the gas is physically removed from the
oil leaving the first separator and the oil is again flashed in the second separator.
This physical isolation of the fluids after each stage of separation corresponds
to differential liberation. In fact, the overall effect of multi-stage separation
corresponds to the differential liberation, only in this case it is not conducted at
constant temperature.
It is for this reason that multi-stage separation is commonly used in the field
because, as already mentioned, differential liberation will normally yield a larger
final volume of equilibrium oil than the corresponding flash expansion.
Question: Which mechanism is followed
for the following cases?
Production of a crude oil at reservoir pressures below the bubble point pressure
occurs by a process which is neither flash or differential vaporization.
Once enough gas is present for the gas to move toward the wellbore the gas
tends to move faster than the oil. The gas formed in a particular pore tends to
leave the liquid from which it was formed thus approximating differential
vaporization, however, the gas is in contact with liquid throughout the path
through the reservoir. The gas will also migrate vertically as a result of its lower
density than the oil and could form a secondary gas cap.
1 ∂V
co = −
V ∂P T
Pb
1 ∂Bo
In terms of Bo co = −
Bo ∂P T
V2
Assuming compressibility
does not change with co ( P2 − P1 ) = − ln
pressure, between V1
conditions 1 & 2.
Viscosity of oil at reservoir conditions less than dead oil because
of dissolved gases.
The estimation of the density of a reservoir liquid is important
to the petroleum engineer.
Specific Gravity of a Liquid
141.5
API Gravity: Degrees. API = o
−131.5
SpecificGravity @60 F
Specific gravity relative to water @ 60oF
Several methods of estimating density at reservoir conditions.
Methods depend on the availability and nature of data.
When compositional data available Ideal Solution Principle can
be used.
When we have produced gas and oil data empirical methods can
be used.
An ideal solution is a hypothetical liquid
No change in characteristics of liquids is caused by mixing.
The properties of the mixture are strictly additive.
Ideal solution principles can be applied to petroleum mixtures to
determine density.
Calculate density at 14.7 psia and 60oF of the following HC liquid mixture.
74.69 lb.
ρo = = 39.73
1.88 cu.ft.