DEPARTMENTS

LAIP -GEOLAB

Innovative PVT-Geochemical workflow

This technical note presents the first application of an innovative workflow of not-traditional
Thermodynamic simulations (by PVTSimNOVA) whose results are integrated in the Geochemical
model PHREEQC, designed to perform aqueous and mineralogical geochemical calculations.

This specific integrated LAIP-GEOLAB simulations process, based on oil-water and water-rock
equilibria at reservoir conditions, could provide a strong support to exploration department in evaluation
of origin of fluid samples when only few and not-coherent information were available.

Case study: CO2 content evaluation in surface gas

Scope of work was evaluation of the representativeness of CO2 content (about 44%mol) in a gas,
mentioned in old documents as “separator gas”, which is anomalous if compared to the typical CO2
contents of the other gas of the Field (about 5%mol).

In the innovative workflow developed specifically to solve this problem, the reservoir oil composition
and the expected CO2 contents in different gas evolved at surface conditions were determined. A double
check of the robustness of the methodology and of the results was performed determining water-oil
equilibrium at reservoir conditions as input for water-rocks equilibrium in the geochemical model.

As only few information about reservoir fluids and collected samples were available, the simulations
were carried out by the following main steps:

RESERVOIR OIL COMPOSITION AND PHASE BEHAVIUOR:

- reservoir oil composition estimation, based on flashed gas composition (containing CO2 and H2S),
flashed oil distillation and GOR;
- Equation of State (EOS) tuning to reproduce the few experimental PVT properties available (flash
GOR, ST oil density, reservoir oil viscosity and density at reservoir conditions);
- evolved gas compositions simulations at surface conditions to verify their CO2 contents.

OIL-WATER-ROCK EQUILIBRIA AT RESERVOIR CONDITIONS:

- molar water composition determination, based on water sample analysis;
- proper mix of reservoir oil and formation water in order to reproduce the water-cut determined during
the field test;
- determination of oil and water (containing dissolved gas) phases in equilibrium at reservoir conditions;
- determinations of CO2 contents of evolved gas from formation water at surface conditions;

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 DEPARTMENTS
LAIP -GEOLAB

- check of the thermodynamic equilibrium of the simulated pressurized formation water with the
carbonatic reservoir rock;
- sensitivity of thermodynamic equilibrium at the reservoir conditions of reservoir rocks and formation
water with different dissolved CO2 / H2S concentrations.

The results of the integrated simulations workflow allowed to determine both the expected reservoir
fluid composition and the origin of the gas having 44%CO2: this gas sample is not a “separator gas”
evolved from reservoir oil or from separator oil, but resulted to be the gas evolved from water at surface
conditions. This conclusion was also supported by geochemical model showing that the pressurized
formation water is at equilibrium with reservoir rock only if it contains the dissolved gas resulting from
PVT simulations.
In the following two pictures PVT workflow is presented graphically.

PVT simulation and resulting CO2 contents in different gas.

Oil-water equilibrium workflow and resulting CO2 contents evolved from water.

G.M.Ragazzini (LAIP) – C.Geloni (GEOLAB)