Prof. T. Kumar
Dept. of Petroleum Engg.
IIT(ISM) Dhanbad 826004
Introduction
There is probably no other technical field in which so many major questions
remain unanswered and yet which functions as efficiently as the oil industry.
For example, geologists have yet to agree completely on the origin and
accumulation of petroleum, geophysicists have no tool which searches
directly for oil, petroleum engineers are still leaving unrecoverable oil in the
ground, and chemists and chemical engineers must still evaluate crude oils
on the basis of empirical tests rather than by precise analyses. In short, we
don't know what it is, how it originates and accumulates, how to find it, or
how to get it all out of the ground.
Fortunately, there are a few things we do know and others about which we
have workable ideas. The purpose of this book is to present a fundamental
treatment of the techniques employed in the drilling phase of the oil industry.
We will first consider the basic physical and chemical properties of
petroleum.
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Note that iso-butane differs from normal by the manner in which the carbon
atoms are arranged. This is the only isomer possible with C 4; the possible
atomic combinations increase, however, with the length of the chain, as
illustrated in Table 1.1.
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2. Cycloparaffins (naphthenes) having the general formula CnH2n. These
compounds have a ring structure, the simplest member being cyclopropane.
Typical members of this group are:
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In addition to hydrocarbons, petroleum may contain numerous impurities
such as carbon dioxide (C02), hydrogen sulphide (H2S), and other complex
compounds of nitrogen, sulphur, and oxygen. When it is considered that any
particular crude oil may contain a portion of each of the listed hydrocarbon
series plus numerous impurities, and that its composition therefore is unique,
it becomes obvious that precise chemical analysis is impossible.
Consequently, petroleum is often classified by a base designation - as either a
paraffin base, asphalt base, or mixed base crude.
A paraffin base crude is an oil whose chief components are paraffins, and
which, when completely distilled, leaves a solid residue of wax. An asphalt
base crude is an oil composed primarily of cyclic compounds (mostly
naphthenes) which, when distilled, leaves a solid residue of asphalt. Oils
which fall in the middle of these categories are classified as mixed base. In
general, the crudes of California and the Gulf Coast are asphaltic, the
Pennsylvanian and other Appalachian crudes are paraffinic, and the bulk of
mid-continent crudes are mixed base. It should be recognized that these com-
position-by-locality statements are general and that any type crude oil may
be found in some areas.
Crude petroleum yields a large number of products. The simplest refining
process is fractional distillation whereby the constituents in the oil are
separated by utilizing their differences in boiling points. A few of these
products are shown schematically in Figure 1.1.
Normally, the price which a producer receives for his oil depends on its
gravity, the less dense oils (higher API gravity) being the most valuable.
This price schedule is based on the premise that the lighter oils contain
higher percentages of the more valuable products such as gasoline. It is
quite possible, however, that a particular 30° oil may be more valuable than
some 40° oil, due to a particularly high yield of a desirable product.
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Evidently, the refiners feel that these discrepancies average out; it appears
probable that crude oil will always be sold on a gravity basis. Current price-
gravity schedules may be found in a number of the trade journals.
The surface or tank oil as finally sold by the producer is not the same
liquid which existed underground. The differences between tank oil and
reservoir oil are of fundamental importance, and to cover them completely
is beyond the present treatment. There are, however, certain basic concepts
which can be discussed at this time.
A reservoir oil always contains in solution some components which
would be gases at standard temperature and pressure. Their solubility is due
to the elevated pressure and temperature existing underground.
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As oil is produced (brought from underground to the surface), the pressure is
decreased until it reaches substantially atmospheric conditions in the stock tanks.
This pressure reduction causes certain changes in the reservoir fluid properties:
a. Some of the volatile fractions vaporize, causing b. the liquid volume to shrink,
and c. the liquid viscosity to increase. These effects are shown in Figures 1.2 and
1.3. Also illustrated in these are a number of fundamental ideas which must be
thoroughly defined:
2. Formation Volume Factor: This is the quantity denoted by Bo, the reservoir
volume occupied per volume of tank oil (oil reduced to standard conditions - 14.7
psia and 60°F) and its dissolved gas. As defined, this quantity is always greater
than 1.0 because of (a) thermal expansion [shown as ΔVT in Figure 1.2(D)] and
(b) swelling as gas is dissolved at the higher pressures [shown by increasing
values of vro, in Figure 1.2 (A), (B), (C), (D)]. Note that Bo increases as the
pressure is decreased from Pi to Pb, due to the liquid's expansion. This effect is
exaggerated for clarity.
3. The solution gas-oil ratio, denoted by Rs, is the number of standard cubic feet
of gas dissolved per barrel of tank oil.
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4. The oil viscosity (μo) behaviour shown in Figure 1.3 (C) is typical and is found
by stepwise determinations in a high pressure viscometer. This behaviour may be
explained as follows:
(a) Viscosity decreases as pressure is reduced from Pi to Pb due to the liquid's
expansion; greater intermolecular freedom of motion is possible, and internal
friction is reduced.
(b) Viscosity increases with pressure reduction below Pb because the low
viscosity fractions are lost; this more than compensates for the effect of liquid
expansion.
The process depicted in Figure 1.2 is defined as a flash vaporization, since the
composition of the system remained constant. If the cell pressure had been
reduced by removing liberated gas while holding cell volume constant, the
process would have been a differential vaporization. The actual process taking
place in the underground petroleum reservoir more nearly fits the differential
process, and it is commonly used in laboratory analyses.
The various fluid properties just discussed are commonly spoken of as PVT
(Pressure-Volume-Temperature) relationships and are of fundamental
importance to the solution of many petroleum engineering problems. These
values are normally obtained from analyses of subsurface or recombined surface
fluid samples. However, there are correlations in the literature which enable these
factors to be estimated from readily available field data.
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3. As gas from condensate wells. Condensate wells produce from reservoirs in
which the hydrocarbons (gas and liquid) originally existed as a single fluid (or
phase), the reservoir temperature and pressure being above the critical point of
the hydrocarbon mixture.
Each natural gas, like each crude oil, is a unique mixture of hydrocarbons. All
are, however, composed primarily of the light members of the paraffin series and
are predominantly methane. Numerous impurities are found in petroleum gases,
some of the more common being carbon dioxide (C02), hydrogen sulphide (H2S),
water vapour, nitrogen, and helium. These impurities detract from the value of a
natural gas by raising the costs of processing it to pipe line and consumer
standards.
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Determination of z
Briefly, the values of z for natural gas mixtures have been experimentally
correlated as functions of pressure, temperature, and composition. This
correlation is based on the well-known Theorem of Corresponding States
which proposes that the ratio of the volume of a particular substance to its
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volume at its critical point is the same for all substances at the same ratio of
absolute pressure to critical pressure, and absolute temperature to critical
temperature. This theorem is not completely true but may satisfactorily be
applied to compounds of similar molecular structure such as the light
paraffins and natural gases. In preparing a correlation for hydrocarbon
mixtures, the ratios of actual pressure and temperature to the molal average
critical or pseudo-critical pressure and temperature have been used. These
ratios are called reduced pressures and reduced temperatures. Figure 1.4 is
a correlation of z as a function of these quantities.
The chemical analysis of a natural gas is not always available and an
alternate method is needed for determination of the pseudo-critical
properties. Correlations of these as functions of gas gravity, (a factor which
is always readily obtainable), have been found to be sufficiently accurate for
engineering purposes. Figure 1.5 shows this correlation as an example. This
approach is recommended only if a chemical analysis is not available.
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