Fluid (Oil, Gas and Formation

Water) Properties
 Why study fluid behavior?
• Consider a sealed 2- Seal

liter bottle of Pepsi Straw

with a straw as
shown.
• Remove the seal.
Pepsi
• What happens?
 Why study fluid behavior?
• Pepsi and gas spout Pepsi and
Gas
out of the straw.
• Why?
Gas
– Expansion of “free Expands
gas”
– Evolution of dissolved
gas Gas
Evolves
– Flow of mixture of gas
and liquid up straw
 Fluid Behavior
• Amount of Pepsi that is removed through the
straw depends on:

– Amount of dissolved CO2, and the way it changes

with pressure
– The manner in which gas volume changes with
pressure
– The viscosity of the Pepsi-CO2 mixture; (the ease with
which it flows)
– The density of the produced mixture; (how easy it is to
lift up the straw)
 Analogy with Petroleum
• Reservoir crude oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons
that are formed when organic matter is
subjected to great heat and pressure over long
periods of time.
• The mixture behavior is similar to that of gas
dissolved in liquid under pressure.
• Petroleum recovery (flow through the reservoir
and pipelines) is critically dependent on fluid
properties.
 Chemical Nature of Petroleum
• In Petroleum Engineering, we are most
interested in the behavior of hydrocarbons:
compounds made up of combinations of carbon
and hydrogen atoms bound together by covalent
bonds.
– A covalent bond is formed when atoms share
electrons to obtain an outer electron shell that
contains either 2 or 8 electrons.
 Chemical Bonds in
Hydrocarbons
• Since a Carbon atom has 4 electrons in its
outer shell, it shares its electrons with up
to 4 other atoms to form compounds.

H.
H . ..C. .
H ..
H
. ..
..
..
H C H

H . H
Hydrocarbon Families
Alkanes
 Alkanes
• Paraffins, Saturated Hydrocarbons
• Unreactive
• Boiling points increase monotonically with
number of carbon atoms
• Waxes at high molecular weights (e.g.,
candle wax).
Physical Properties - Alkanes
 Alkenes
• Olefins, unsaturated hydrocarbons
• Contain double bonded carbon atoms
• More reactive than Alkanes
• Boiling points and specific gravity increase
with number of carbon atoms
 Alkynes
• Contain triple bonded carbon atoms
• More reactive than Alkanes
• Properties similar to Alkanes and Alkenes.
 Aromatics

• Benzene and compounds that resemble

benzene in chemical behavior.
– Flat molecule with 6 carbon atoms in a
hexagonal ring
– Pleasant smell
Natural Gas
Separator Gas
Crude Fractions
 Value of Crude Oil
• Based on
– Specific gravity
– Gasoline and Kerosene content
– Sulfur content
– Asphalt content
– Pour point (multiple of 5 oF, liquid is observed
to flow when cooled)
– Cloud Point (temperature at which paraffin
wax begins to solidify)
Phase Behavior
 Phase Behavior
• Study of phase behavior is important because
we need to know the conditions under which
vapor (gas) will be present in the system.

– Vapor (gas) is very compressible so it provides extra

energy to push fluids through the reservoir.

– The density of vapor (gas) is small compared to

liquids, so it aids in lifting fluids to the surface.
 Phase - definition
• Any homogeneous and physically distinct
part of a system that is separated from
other parts of the system by definite
bounding surfaces.

– Example: in a glass of water containing ice

cubes, three phases are present: liquid water,
solid ice and gaseous air.
 Phase Properties
Depend on P, T, and Intermolecular Forces.
• Pressure (P) measures how closely
molecules are packed together, and how
often they strike a bounding surface.
• Temperature (T) measures the average
kinetic energy (or speed) of the molecules.
• Intermolecular Forces – attractive if
molecules are far apart, repulsive if they are
close together.
 Phase Diagram
• A graph of P versus T showing the conditions under which various
phases will be present.
– Pressure-Temperature (or P-T) diagrams.
• Petroleum is a mixture of hydrocarbons with complex phase
behavior.
• Steps in understanding this behavior
– Pure component
– Two-component mixtures
– Multicomponent Mixtures
Definitions: Pure Substance
• Vapor-pressure line: separates
P-T conditions where the
substance is a gas from
conditions where it is a liquid.
•Critical Point: Temperature and
pressure at which liquid and gas
become indistinguishable; above
the critical temperature, a pure gas
cannot be liquefied, regardless of Sublimation line

the pressure.
 A Few Basic Definitions
• The number of moles (n) is the ratio of mass
of a substance (m) divided by its molecular
weight (M):
m
n
M
– 1 lbm-mole equals to the molecular weight of a
specie. For example:
• 1 lbm-mole C1H4 is 16.043 lb, which is the
molecular weight of C1H4.
 Definitions
• Mole fraction (or percent) is the ratio of the
mole of a specie i in a mixture consisting of N
species to the total number of moles:
nj N
yj  N   yj 1
in j 1

j 1
j Specie nj , lb-mole yj yj

1 C1 18.0 18.0 / 20.0 0.9000

2 C2 1.6 1.6 / 20.0 0.0800

3 C3 0.4 0.4 / 20.0 0.0200

N=3 S 20.0 20.0 / 20.0 1.0000

 Definitions
• Specific volume is the volume of a substance
divided by the mass of substance:

V cuft
V  
m lbm

which is inverse of density of a substance

1 m lbm
  
V V cuft
 Pure Substance
800

Critical

Pressure, psia
700 Point

600 Liquid

Gas (Vapor)
500

Sublimation line
400
40 60 80 100 120
Temperature, F

Ethane
 Definitions
• Vapor-pressure line: separates P-T conditions
where the substance is a gas from conditions
where it is a liquid.
• Melting-point line: separates P-T conditions
where the substance is a solid from conditions
where it is a liquid.
• Sublimation line: separates P-T conditions
where the substance is a solid from conditions
where it is a gas.
 Definitions
• Critical Point: Temperature and pressure
at which liquid and gas become
indistinguishable; above the critical
temperature, a pure gas cannot be
liquefied, regardless of the pressure.
• Triple point: the pressure and
temperature at which solid, liquid and gas
coexist at equilibrium.
Pure Substance Phase Diagram
Vaporization at constant T (volume increases)
Pure Substance Phase Diagram
Vaporization at constant P (volume increases)
 Two-Component Mixtures
• Not practical, but provide a good basis for
understanding multi-component mixtures.
• Unlike pure components, there is a broad
range of pressures and temperatures
where two phases coexist.
• Unlike pure components, there are
additional variables related to composition:
– composition of overall mixture
– composition of the equilibrium liquid
– composition of the equilibrium gas
Two-component Phase
Diagram
Constant composition

A broad region in which

two phases coexist.

Saturation of phase
Envelope.
 Definitions
• Bubble Point Curve – (P,T) where the first
bubble of vapor forms.

• Dew Point Curve – (P,T) where the first droplet

of liquid condenses.

• Critical Point – point at which properties of liquid

and vapor become identical. In contrast to pure
substances, 2-phases can coexist at
temperatures above the critical temperature.
 Phase Diagram – 2 components

vapor
line for
pure comp.
vapor B
line for
pure comp.
A Critical temp. of
mixture is in between
the two pure
components.
Critical pressure of
mix. is above.
Critical Locus
Composition effect.
 Definitions
• Cricondentherm – the
highest temperature at
which two phases can
coexist. (The temperature
above which the gaseous
mixture cannot be
liquefied.)

• Cricondenbar – the
highest pressure at which
two phases can coexist.
 Retrograde Condensation
• If mixture temperature is Gas
between the critical
temperature and the
cricondentherm, and
pressure is higher than the
dew point pressure, the
mixture is a retrograde
condensate gas.
– As pressure is reduced, first
liquid condenses. Then, the
opposite occurs; i.e., as
pressure is further reduced,
liquid revaporizes.
Pressure-Volume Diagram
2-component mixture
Isotherm of 350o
unlike pure component,
isotherm is not straight line
due to changes
in the compositions of
the liquid and gas phases)

P
L Pure comp.

L+G Dp
Bp G

Specific volume
Pressure-Composition
2-component Mixture
Point 2: Composition of equilibrium liquid at bubble point
Point 3: Composition of equilibrium gas at dew point
 ng  L
Constant T    12
 nt at point1 L23
 nl  L
   13
 nt at point1 L23
 Pressure-Composition

• Composition-pressure combinations
– above the envelope - liquid
– below the envelope - gas
– Within the envelope - 2-phase
• A 2-phase condition will cause the
mixture to split into a gas and a liquid
phase with different compositions.
 Pressure-Composition
• Tie lines connect the original composition
with those of the liquid and gas. For 2-
component systems, tie lines are
horizontal.
• The ratio of the length of the line segment
from the original composition to the liquid
composition to the total tie line length is
the mole fraction of gas. (i.e., L12/L23 in
previous slide)
 3-Component Mixtures
• Phase behavior usually plotted using
ternary diagrams.
– Equilateral triangles
– 100% of lightest component at the top vertex
– 100% of heaviest component at the lower left
vertex
• Composition is usually plotted in terms of
mole fraction or mole percent
• For single plot, constant P,T, only
composition changes
 Ternary Diagram

50%A, 30%B, 20%C

70%C, 30%A

100%B
3-Component Phase Diagram
 3-Component Phase Diagram
• Dew point line along the top of the phase
envelope
• Bubble point line along the bottom
• Equilibrium tie lines are straight but not
horizontal
• The ratio of the length of the line segment from
the original composition to the liquid composition
to the total tie line length is the mole fraction of
gas.
Ternary phase diagrams
of C1-C3-C5 at 160 oF
The Five Reservoir Fluids
 The Reservoir Fluids
Multicomponent Mixtures

* Phase behavior * Types

- Similar to 2-component mixtures - Black Oil
- Determined by shape of phase - Volatile Oil
diagram and position of critical - Retrograde Gas
point - Wet Gas
• Reservoir gases have small phase - Dry Gas
diagrams with critical temperatures * Type influences
slightly higher than methane - Surface equipment
• Oil phase diagrams are large and - Reserve Calculation
cover a wide range of temperatures. - Depletion strategy
 Black Oil
• Reservoir temperature far
left of critical
• Undersaturated if pressure
is above the bubble point
– More gas could
dissolve if gas were
available
• Saturated if pressure is
below the bubble point
– All gas that could be
dissolved is already in
Identification solution
• Initial Producing GOR  2000 scf/STB – Gas and Oil at
• GOR increases below the bubble point equilibrium
• Stock Tank Oil Gravity  45 oAPI • Iso-vols evenly spaced
• Stock Tank Oil API gravity decreases slightly with time until late in
the reservoir’s life when it increases.
• Stock Tank Oil very dark - black, greenish or brown
• Mole fraction of C7+ > 20% (Low shrinkage crude oil or ordinary oil)
 Black Oil Identification
• Initial Producing GOR  2000 scf/STB
• GOR increases below the bubble point
– Why?
• Stock Tank Oil Gravity  45 oAPI
– Specific Gravity, go = Oil Density/Water
Density at same (P,T)
– API Gravity

141.5
API   131.5
go
 Volatile Oil
• Contain less heavy
components and more
intermediates
• Critical temperature lower
than Black Oil
• Reservoir Temperature close
to critical
• Iso-vols not evenly spaced
– Close together near
bubble point Identification
• Initial Producing GOR between 2000
and 3300 scf/STB
• High Shrinkage Crude
• GOR increases as reservoir
• Gas associated with oil very pressure falls below bubble point
rich • Stock Tank Gravity  40o API
– High liquid recovery – Increases during production
• Large percentage of Stock • Color – brown, orange or green
Tank Liquid enters the well in • Mole fraction of C7+ between 12.5
the gas stream and 20%
 Retrograde Gas
• Critical point far down left side
of phase envelope
• Contain less heavy
hydrocarbons than oils
• Reservoir temperature
between critical temperature
and cricondentherm
• Gas at initial condition
– Liquid condenses but does
not flow during production
Identification
• Producing GOR  3300 scf/STB: Up to about 150000 scf/STB,
– GOR > 50000 scf/STB can be treated as wet gas
• GOR increases below dew point
• Stock Tank Liquid gravity between 40-60 oAPI. Increases below dew
point
• Light colored – brown, orange, greenish or clear.
• Mole fraction of C7+ < 12.5%
 Comments
• Also called
– Retrograde gas-condensate
– Retrograde Condensate Gas
– Gas Condensate
• Liquid called “condensate”
 Wet Gas
• Reservoir temperature
greater than
cricondentherm
– Liquid never
condenses in
reservoir
– Condensation in
wellbore
• Surface liquid called
“condensate”
• “Wet” refers to
hydrocarbon liquid, not
water
Identification
• Liquids with same range of properties as condensate gas
reservoirs
• GOR remains constant
– > 50000 scf/STB
• Liquid API gravity remains constant
 Dry Gas

• Primarily methane with some intermediates

• Reservoir, flowline and separator conditions are outside of two-
phase envelope
• No hydrocarbon liquids “dry”
• Water is produced with gas
Flow Path from Reservoir to Stock
Tank for Oil Reservoir
Separator Gas

Stock
Crude Oil
Surface Tank
Water

Well

Oil, or
Oil+Gas, or RESERVOIR
Oil+Gas+Water
Flow Path from Reservoir to Stock
Tank for Gas Reservoir
Gas
Condensate ?
Surface Water

Well

Gas, or RESERVOIR
Gas+Water

* Condensate:A liquid resulting from condensation of a vapor phase. It is the liquid (crude oil)
obtained from hydrocarbon systems existing in the vapor phase in the reservoir.
Summary of Reservoir Fluid Types