LECTURE – 8

LAB MEASUREMENT OF CRUDE OIL PROPERTIES

PVT Cell

PVT cell Pressure Gauge Mercury reservoir

Thermal jacket
Mercury pump

 PVT cell maintained at constant temperature

 Pressure controlled by positive displacement Hg-pump
 Plunger movement calibrated for volume of Hg injected or
withdrawn
 PVT cell is opaque and so volume of individual fractions
not known. Total fluid volume and change with pressure
 Bubble point established by “feel” – small change in
pressure results in large change in volume

 Two types of experiments performed:

- Flash liberation
- Differential liberation

Flash liberation
v oil gas
v =vb oil
Vt=v/vb oil
Vt=v/vb Vt=1
Hg
Hg Hg

P > Pb P = Pb P < Pb
  No gas removed from the PVT cell – gas remains in
equilibrium with oil
 Overall hydrocarbon composition remains same
(components are re-distributed between the gas and liquid
phase)
 vb is known (established by “feel”)
 Vt expressed with respect to the volume at bubble point
pressure. Hence at bp pressure Vt=1 (reservoir barrel)
 Experiment starts with pressure far above bp pressure and
then is gradually reduced.
 Typical data:
Pressure Relative total vol.
(psia) Vt = v/vb (rb/rbb)
5000 0.9810
4000 0.9925 Initial res. pressure
3500 0.9975
3330 1.0000 Bubble point
3000 1.0270
2400 1.1060
Differential Liberation gas
Vto = 1 oil Vto=vo/vb oil
vvgo oil
Hg
Hg
Hg

P = Pb
 gas

P < Pb
 At each stage of depletion gas is physically removed
from contact with oil by injecting Hg at constant
pressure (by keeping the valve downstream of cell
open)
 There is continual change of fluid composition in cell
 Remaining hydrocarbons in cell progressively become
heavier (mol. wt. continually increases)
 Experiment starts at bubble point (since for P>Pb flash
and differential liberation are the same)
 Vtg=vg/vb typically measured relative to the unit volume
of bubble point oil (bbl/bblb). Typical data:
Pressure Vtg at p and T Vtsc, at sc Vto at P and T
3330 0.0460 8.5211 1.0000
2400 0.0535 6.9457 0.9449
1500 0.0687 6.2333 0.9022
300 0.3728 6.2297 0.8459
14.7 (200oF) 0.8296
14.7 (60oF) 0.7794
Calculation using differential liberation data
 Gas formation volume factor Bg:
Bg is the ratio of gas volume at P and T to the
equivalent volume at standard conditions
Vt g 0.0535
At 2400 psia: Bg    0.0077 bbl./STB or
Vt sc 6.9457
0.0077 cuft./SCF
 Gas deviation factor z:
 zT 0.0077  2400
Bg  0.02829  z  0.99
p 0.02829  660
 Oil formation volume factor Bo:
Bo is the ratio of oil volume at reservoir P and T to the
volume at stock tank conditions
From the table, at stock tank conditions Vt o  0.7794
Vto press 0.9449
At 2400 psia: Bo 
Vto ST

0.7794
 1.212 bbl/STB
 Solution gas ratio Rso:
Cummulative gas liberated at the end of the experiment:
Vtcum g = 8.5211 + 6.9457 + 6.2333 + 6.2297 = 27.9298
Cummulative gas produced to 2400 psia:
Vt2400 g = 8.5211 + 6.9457 = 15.4668
(Vtcum g Vt 2400 g )
Therefore: R so 
VtoST
( 27.9298  15.4668)

0.7794
 15.99 stb/stb
or 89.78 SCF/STB
From laboratory data to field conditions

 From above, computation of fluid properties hinges on

oil at stock tank conditions being invariant no matter
what the liberation process.
 For volatile oils that contain higher fraction of
intermediate hydrocarbons (butane + pentane),
components partition between gas and liquid differently
depending on separation process.
 In general, the volume of oil remaining at the lowest
pressure will be smaller for flash process.
  So which type of lab. data to use for calculating field
values – a combination of both type of data required.
 In the reservoir, close to the well, process similar to
differential liberation, since liberated gas is more
mobile and quickly moves away from contact with oil
 At locations away from well, process similar to flash
liberation
 In surface separator, however, there is flash expansion
of oil i.e. gas stays in equilibrium with oil.
 If multi-stage separation, then gas is physically
removed from the first stage separator, before the oil
enters the second stage separator at different P and T
conditions non-isothermal differential liberation

Combining lab. data with separator tests

 Robust oil properties obtained by combining flash and
differential liberation data
 Oil at bubble point pressure and reservoir T introduced into
separators at different fixed pressure and temperature.
Separator Formation Vol. Separator GOR
factor, Bofb Rsif
P T (bblb/stb) (scf/stb)
200 80 1.253 512
150 80 1.251 510
100 80 1.261 515
50 80 1.276 526
  Optimum separator pressure gives the smallest formation
volume factor (since then you lose the least due to shrinkage)
and correspondingly one with smallest GOR (maximizing
volume of oil)
 Earlier Vto was the relative volume at P and T w.r.t to
bubble point volume (bbl/bblb). Therefore field Bo
v v v
Bo  oil  oil  b  Vto  Bof
equals: voil ST vb voil ST bbl/STB b

 Previously we calculated cumulative gas liberated at

any pressure: Vt press g (STB/bblb). Therefore:
Volume of gas evolved
( Rsi f  Rso ) SCF/STB 
v oil ST
vb
 Vt press g   5.615 Vt press g  Bofb  5.615
voil ST scf/stb

Oil PVT Calculations

Given the following differential data:
Pressure Vtg at P and T Vtsc, at sc Vto at P and T
3330 0.0460 8.5211 1.0000
2400 0.0535 6.9457 0.9449
1500 0.0687 6.2333 0.9022
300 0.3728 6.2297 0.8459
14.7 (200oF) 0.8296
o
14.7 (60 F) 0.7794
 Oil formation volume factor Bo:
0.9449
At 2400 psia: Bo  0.7794 1.212 bbl/STB (1)
Designate this oil FVF as Bod – from differential test
Given the following separator data:
 Separator Formation Vol. Separator GOR
factor, Bofb Rsif
P T (bblb/stb) (scf/stb)
150 80 1.251 510
We calculated: At 2400 psia:
Bo  Bof Vt o = 1.251*0.9449 = 1.182 bbl/STB
b

voil d
Vto = vb d where voil is the volume at P-T and subscript d
indicates differential test data
voil d
v ST d Bod
Therefore, Bo  Bof b 
vb d
 Bofb 
Bbd
bbl/STB
v ST d

Oil PVT Calculations

From the differential liberation data:

Solution gas ratio Rso:
Vt cum g = 8.5211 + 6.9457 + 6.2333 + 6.2297 = 27.9298
Vt 2400 g = 8.5211 + 6.9457 = 15.4668
( 27.9298  15.4668)  5.615
Therefore: Rso d  0.7794
 89.78 STB/STB
vcum g
Remember Vt cum g  vb , therefore
vcum g
vb V2400
Rso d   5.615   5.615  Rsid V2400  Bbd  5.615 where
v ST d v ST d
vb vb
vcum
Rsid   5.615
vr
From the separator data , we calculated
( Rsi  Rso ) SCF/STB  V2400  5.615 Bof
f SCF/STB b
 Bofb
Therefore Rso  Rsi f  V2400  5.615 Bofb  Rsi f  ( Rsid  Rsod ) 
Bbd