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Viscosity
nikpoor_1985@yahoo.com
hadi.parvizi@gmail.com
javad.naseryan@gmail.com
Mohammad Hossain Nikpoor, PUT, Hadi Parvizi, PUT
Javad Naseryan, PUT
Abstract
Viscosity is one of the most important governing parameters of the fluid flow,
either in the porous media or in pipelines. Whenever laboratory data are obtained,
efforts are made to find a best-fit correlation, because demand for mathematical
equation of fluid flow for reservoir simulation, pressure traverse calculation and so on
compel the person to use empirical and semi-empirical correlations to find viscosity at
various points of the flow path (along which T, P, Rs and other parameters may vary).
This paper reviews the most widely used oil viscosity correlations and proposes a new
correlation to predict undersaturated light oil viscosity based on experimental data and
computer manipulations.
Keywords: viscosity; undersaturated, saturated and dead oil; API gravity
1. Introduction
Crude oil viscosity is an important physical property that controls and influences
the flow of oil through porous media and pipes. The viscosity, in general, is defined as
the internal resistance of the fluid to flow. Oil viscosity is a strong function of the
temperature, pressure, oil gravity, gas gravity, and gas solubility. Whenever possible,
oil viscosity should be determined by laboratory measurements at in situ temperature
and pressure. Viscosity is usually reported in standard PVT analyses. If such
laboratory data are not available, engineers may refer to published correlations, which
usually vary in complexity and accuracy depending upon the available data on the
crude oil.
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(1)
Where:
a1=0.05601
a2=0.47557
b1=1.45198 b2=0.35997
Error % =2.583%
a3 =-0.2257
b3=0.86389
a4 =-0.29598
b4 =-0.41866
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a5 =-0.07734
b5 =-0.29981
a6 =-0.42436
b6=-0.1946
a7 =-1.64149
b7 =-0.31339
20
18
16
14
(cp)
12
Measured
10
Calculated
8
6
4
2
0
0
1000
2000
5000
6000
7000
P Pb )(0.024
ob 1.6 + 0.038 ob
0.56
(2)
25
20
(cp)
15
10
Measured
Calculated
0
0
1000
2000
5000
6000
Figure 2. Measured values compared with calculated values calculated by Beal correlation.
Average error is 4.21%.
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7000
p
o = ob
pb
m = 2 . 6 p 1 . 187 10
a = 3 . 9 10 5 p 5
(4)
25
20
(cp)
15
Measured
Calculated
10
0
0
1000
2000
3000
P (psia)
4000
5000
6000
7000
Figure 3. Measured values compared with calculated values calculated based on the Vasquez-Beggs
Correlation. Average error is 9.13%.
= ob exp( 9 . 6 10 5 ( P Pb ))
(5 )
Like the previous case, this correlation ignores the effect of ob on the coefficient
which is multiplied by ob to predict o.
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25
20
(cp)
15
Measured
Calculated
10
0
0
1000
2000
5000
6000
7000
Figure 4. Measured values compared with calculated values calculated based on the Khan Correlation
Average error is 4.65%.
4. Conclusions
We presented a new viscosity correlation derived based on Iranian field data which
does not require compositional information and can be used for black oil type fluids.
The correlation can be used in black oil reservoir simulators, it can be easily tuned,
and it provides better estimates of oil viscosity than the previous existing correlations.
This is shown in the figure 5.
Comparison between all methods
25
Measured
20
Beal
Vasquez
(cp)
15
Khan
New corr.
10
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
No. of measurement
70
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80
90
100
List of symbols
API
P
Rs
T
Greek letters
o
ob
List of subscripts
b
at bubble point
References
[1] Beal, C., 1946. The viscosity of air, water, natural gas, crude oil and its associated gases at oil field
temperature and pressures. Trans. AIME (Am. Inst. Min. Metall.) 165, 94 112.
[2] Beggs, H.D., Robinson, J.R., 1975. Estimating the viscosity of crude oil system. J. Pet. Technol.
9, 1140 1149.
[3] Glaso, O., 1980. Generalized pressure volume temperature correlations. J. Pet. Technol. 32 (5),
785 795.
[4] Ng, J.T.H., Egbogah, E.O., 1983. An improved temperature viscosity correlation for a crude oil
system. Presented at the Pet. Soc., Can. Inst. Min. Metall., Annu. Tech. Meet., Banff, Alta., May 10
13, 1983, Pap. CIM 83-34-32.
[5] Labedi, R., 1992. Improved correlations for predicting the viscosity of light crudes. J. Pet. Sci.
Eng. 8, 221 234.
[6] Petrosky Jr., G.E., Farshad, F.F., 1993. Pressure volume temperature correlation for the Gulf of
Mexico. Presented at 68th Soc. Pet. Eng. Annu. Tech. Conf., Houston, TX, Oct. 3 6, 1993, Pap. SPE
26644.
[7] J. Lohrenz, B.G Bray, C.R. Clark, J. Petr. Technol., 19641171.Calculating viscosities of reservoir
fluids having their compositions. Journal of Petroleum Technology, October 1966, p 1171.
[8] Little, .J. E. and Kennedy, H.T. A Correlation of the Viscosity of Hydrocarbon systems with
Pressure, Temperature and Composition. SPE 41st annual fall meeting June l968
[9] Khalaf, A.A.El.Emam, Y.Saeedi, Jawaid Viscosity correlations for compositional reservoir
simulators. SPE 9643. March 9-12. 1981.
[10] Vasquez, M. and Beggs, H.D., Correlations for Fluid Physical Property Prediction, JPT, June
1980, pp.968-970
[11] Khan, S. A., et al., Viscosity Correlations for Saudi Arabian Crude Oils, SPE Paper 15720,
Presented at the Fifth SPE Middle East Conference held in Manama, Bahrain, March 7-10, 1987.
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