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PVT Analysis
Nguyen Le Anh Tu
9th April 2018

1
Why PVT?

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2
Why PVT?
We need to know
1. Composition of the production well stream and its temporal variation
2. Separator specifications including LPG

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3. Design of the completions by identifying the spatial fluid distribution in
the vicinity of the wellbore
4. Gas injection/re-injection
• Identifying gas composition
3
• The interaction of injected gas and reservoir fluid
Why PVT?
5. Ultimate recoveries of components, under different drives, mixing/no
mixing, single depletion, etc.

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6. Amounts and composition of liquids left in the reservoir not recovered
(especially in gas condensate reservoirs) and its properties: density,
Surface Tension, viscosity.

7. Detect spatial variation of PVT properties.

8. Identify and adjust data inconsistencies.

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Why PVT?
True Objective of gathering and analyzing PVT data

Calibrate Equations of State (EOS)

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Reason:
• We cannot measure all characteristic of hydrocarbon fluids. EOS provides
one consistent source of PVT data

• Experiment problems (cost, reliability, accuracy and precision)

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Reservoir Fluid Composition
• Hydrocarbon components can be expressed by the general
formula:

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𝑪𝒏 𝑯𝟐𝒏+𝒉 𝑺𝒂 𝑵𝒃 𝑶𝒄

dependent of
hydrocarbon classes

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Reservoir Fluid Composition
The major classes of hydrocarbon are:

• Alkanes or Paraffins (h=2) have completely saturated hydrocarbon chains

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that are chemically very stable.

• Alkenes or Olefins (h=0) have unstable straight chains (unstable nature) and
rarely found in reservoir but an important part in downstream business.

• Naphthenes or Cycloparaffins (h=0) saturated ring or cyclic compounds

rarely found in crude oil.

• Aromatics or Benzene series (h=6) are unsaturated cyclic compound.

• Asphaltenes and Resins (increasingly negative h) are aromatics and

polycyclic hydrocarbon with fuse rings contain N,S,O and metals such as 7
Nickel and Vanadium.
Alkanes or Paraffins
• What are Waxes?

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Long chain paraffins (carbon no >15)
forming solids at surface but will remain in
solution at reservoir condition

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Naphthenes or Cycloparaffins

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• At low carbon numbers (below 5) Cycloparaffins are less stable than normal
Paraffins, hence rarely found in the reservoir.
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Aromatics
• Aromatics contain one or more
Benzene rings

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Asphaltenes and Resins
• Fused rings means two or
more rings which have two
carbon atoms in common.

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• The polar nature of
asphaltenes can affect the
properties of reservoir
fluids, particularly the rock
fluid behavior.

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Non-hydrocarbon components
• Sulfur and its products such as H2S which is highly toxic and corrosive.

• Nitrogen (N2) which reduce the calorific value and hence sale price of gas.

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• Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a source of corrosion problem and occurs at points
where there is turbulent flow such as in producing tubing, piping and
separators.

• Metals such as Vanadium, Nickel, Copper, Zinc and iron.

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Reservoir Fluid Composition
Test method to determine components within a reservoir fluid.

Gas Chromatography / distillation

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Reservoir Fluid Composition
The common test methods to determine hydrocarbon classes are:

• PNA test: measure the concentration of Paraffins, Naphthenes and

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Aromatics

• SARA test: measure the concentration of Saturates, Aromatics, Resins and

Asphaltenes

• Strieter test: measure the concentration of asphaltenes, Resins and Oils.

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Classification of reservoir fluid
How many type of reservoir fluids are there?

• Dry Gas

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• Wet Gas

• Retrograde Condensate

• Black Oil

• Volatile Oil

Phase behavior of main types of

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hydrocarbon reservoir (from IFP book)
Classification of reservoir fluid

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The API and GOR are not absolute indicators of reservoir fluid type, and are a 16
function of separator conditions.
Dry Gas
• Mainly composed of methane and
non-hydrocarbon such as N2 and
CO2.

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• Dry not only in reservoir but also on
surface.

• Normal material balance equation

(P/Z vs. gas cumulative production)
can be applied.

• Water may condense at surface

condition due to the gas cooling

• PVT test in the laboratory are limited

to the gas compressibility 17
measurements (Z factor) and
viscosity.
Dry Gas Properties
• The composition of the gas is equal to the gas composition in the reservoir,
and the specific gas gravity of the gas is also equal to the specific gravity of
the reservoir gas . Hence specific gravity of the surface gas can be used to

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determine the properties od the gas in the reservoir.

• Gas Formation Volume Factor (Bg): is defined as the volume of gas at

reservoir conditions required to produce one standard cubic foot of gas at
surface:

• Gas Expansion Factor: is the reciprocal of the formation volume factor and
is in the order of hundred. 18
Dry Gas Properties
The value of Z-factor or gas compressibility factor may be obtained by several
methods as:

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1. If an experimental value of Z-factor at reservoir temperature and pressure
is available for the gas of interest , it should be used.

2. If an experimental value is unavailable but the composition of the gas in

known, the pseudo reduced temperature and pressure can be computed
and then Z-factor.

3. If only the specific gravity of the gas is known, the pseudocritical

properties can be computed then Standing –Katz Z-factor can be used to
estimate Z-factor.
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Dry Gas Properties

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Dry Gas Properties
The coefficient of isothermal Compressibility of Gas (Cg): or gas
compressibility is defined as the fractional change of volume as pressure is
changed at constant temperature and the unit is (1/psi). It must not be

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confused with compressibility factor of Z-factor. Although both are related to
the effect of pressure on the volume of a gas.

Compressibility of real gases are as:

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Dry Gas Properties
Gas Viscosity: viscosity of gases generally ranges from 0.01 to 0.03 cp at
standard reservoir conditions, reaching up to 0.1 cp for near critical
condensate. Experimental determination of gas viscosity is difficult, thus the

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prediction of gas viscosity is important.

• Most PVT laboratories use the Lee et al or Carr et al correlations when

reporting gas viscosity.

• The accuracy of Lee- Gonzalez correlation is generally at 2-4% but might rich
as high as 20% for rich gas condensate while Carr et all is around 3%.

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Wet Gas
• Mainly composed of methane and
other light components.

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• Dry only in reservoir but producing
condensate at the surface.

• Wet gas will not drop-out condensate

in the reservoir during depletion.

• Material balance equation for dry gas

can still be used as no condensate is
formed in the reservoir.

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Wet Gas (cont.)
• Gas compressibility (Z factor) an
viscosity are the PVT test required at
the reservoir condition in addition to

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separator test at surface condition to
determine the amount of condensate

• Producing GOR’s are typically below

20 stb/mmscf and remain constant
during production.

• Condensate color is usually water-

white with high API and remain
unchanged during depletion.

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Wet Gas Properties
For wet gas , the key is to identify the reservoir gas composition. Once the
composition of the reservoir gas has been calculated, its physical properties
can be calculated as for a dry gas.

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Wet Gas Properties
Gas Formation Volume Factor (Bgw &Bgd):
Wet gas FVF (Bgw): The surface volume is a hypothetical wet-gas volume
consisting of the dry surface gas and the surface condensate converted to an

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equivalent surface gas .

Dry gas FVF (Bgd): is defined as volume of reservoir gas divided by the volume
of surface gas resulting after separation of the reservoir gas .

rs is initial produced condensate ratio in stb/scf 26

Retrograde Condensate
• Present of heavy hydrocarbons expands
the phase envelope, the reservoir
temperature lies between the critical
point and the cricondentherm.

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• The gas will drop-out liquid by
retrograde condensation in the
reservoir, when the pressure falls below
the dew point.

• Further condensate from the produced

gas also occur at separator condition
due to cooling.

• The producing CGR remains constant till

the reservoir pressure fall below the
dew point and decreases thereafter. 27
Retrograde Condensate (cont.)
• The concentration of heptane plus is
generally less than 12.5%.

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• Condensate color is generally yellowish
to water-white. Dark condensate
usually have relatively low API and are
associated with high dew point gases.

• API of producing condensate range

between 60 to 40 and decrease after
reservoir condition pass dew point.

• The amount of potentially condensate

hydrocarbons in the reservoir increases
with the richness of the gas, as heavy
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compound shift the critical temperature
towards the reservoir temperature.
Retrograde Condensate (cont.)
• By the time pressure fall below dew
point , the original phase diagram is no
longer valid as the system composition
change during the production period.

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• Gas recycling can be used to avoid or
minimize the loss of valuable
compounds or heavy compounds
(condensate ) in reservoir.

• The condensation in reservoir has

negligible effect on the properties of
produced gas , but can reduce the well
productivity due to condensate
blockage around the wellbore.

• Condensate blockage is more likely at 29

kh<~1000md-ft and not significant
when kh>~10000 md-ft.
Retrograde Condensate
Properties
So far, formula for wet gases is applicable to retrograde condensate as long as
the reservoir pressure is above the dew point pressure. When reservoir
pressure below the dew point, none of the component determination valid.

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Dew point Pressure (Pdew):
Nemeth & Kennedy have proposed a dew point correlation based on
composition and C7+ properties. The range of data used in development of
this correlation was 106<MWC7+<235 and 0.733<𝛾C7+<0.8681 and T<780 R.

This correlation have an accuracy of 10% for fluid that do not contain large
amount of non-hydrocarbons.

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Black Oil
• The name black oil, does not reflect
the color but to distinguish from the
volatile oil.

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• The oil is generally composed of
more than 20% of C7+. Hence its
phase envelop is the widest of all
types of reservoir fluids, with its
critical temperature well above the
reservoir temperature.

• Quality lines are broadly spaced at

reservoir conditions with separator
conditions lying on relatively high
quality lines, this characteristics lead
to a low shrinkage of oil when it is
produced (Bo<2). 31
Black Oil (cont.)
• Initial GOR’s are less than 1750 scf/stb.
When reservoir fall below the bubble
point, GOR may increase or decrease
depends on the reservoir

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characteristics.

• Liquid is black to light green color with

API below 40.

• Saturation pressure of black oil is

relatively low.

• Contribution of heavy compound

present in evolved gases in reservoir to
the total liquid recovery is not
significant. Hence volumetric material
balance equations, which treat the 32
reservoir fluid as two component
system, may be sufficient for some
reservoir studies.
Black Oil (cont.)

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Black Oil Properties
Oil Formation Volume Factor (Bo): Volume of oil measured at reservoir
conditions required to produce one unit volume of oil at stock tank conditions.
The reciprocal oil the FVF is called the shrinkage factor.

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Black Oil Properties
Total Formation Volume Factor (Bt): also know two phase formation volume
factor.

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Black Oil Properties
The Coefficient of isothermal Compressibility of Oil (Co):

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Black Oil Properties
Oil Viscosity: like gas, oil viscosity dependent on pressure, temperature and
composition of oil and normally range from 0.2 to 100cp. Oil containing trace
of elements such as Vn can reach extremely high viscosities (up to 100,000cp).

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Black Oil Properties
Correlation: When a reservoir fluid study is unavailable, correlation must be
relied to estimate values of physical properties of interest.

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Black Oil Properties
Correlation: Also, there is no superiority order amongst the oil PVT
correlations, the following table gives the parameter that can be predicted by
each correlation.

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Volatile Oil
• Similar features with gas condensate
but behave liquid like at the reservoir
condition due to higher amount of

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heavy compounds.

• The reservoir temperature is near

critical temperature, hence called
near critical oil s well.

• Iso-volume or quality lines are tighter

and closer near the critical point or
bubble point, so a small reduction of
pressure below the bubble point,
vaporizes a significant fraction of the
oil. 40
Volatile Oil (cont.)
• Initial GOR’s typically range between
1750-3200 scf/stb

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• GOR increases when the reservoir
pressure falls below the bubble point
during the production life.

• Liquid is colored with an API higher

than 40.

• Gas produced below the bubble

point as quite rich and behave as
retrograde gases so the amount of
liquid recovered from the gas
constitutes a significant portion f the
total oil recovery. 41
Volatile Oil (cont.)
• During production below the bubble
point, API increases particularly at
high producing GOR. A significant

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liquid production is due to
condensation of the rich associated
gases.

• Saturation pressure of volatile oils are

high.

• Compositional material balance

methods should be applied generally
to study volatile oil reservoirs.

• Accurate measurement of
temperature is of particular 42
importance when dealing with near
critical fluid.
Volatile Oil (cont.)

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Volatile Oil Properties
All the properties are the same as black oil.

Formation volume factors and solution gas oil ratios normally are not

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measured for volatiles oils. These quantities are primary used in material
balance calculations which don’t apply to volatiles oil.

If FVF and Rs are measured for volatiles oils, a sharp decline is observed in
both measurements just the below bubble point due to the evolution of large
quantities of gas in the reservoir. This is indicated by the close spacing of the
iso-volume lines just below the bubble point.

The coefficient of isothermal compressibility is important.

Viscosity of volatile oils are much lower than oils. Value of 0.1cp are common 44
at the bubble point and value above 0.2cp are rare.
Equation of States

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QC Lab Data
PVT Analysis depending on type of fluid

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 QC Lab Data
Composition & Flash Data

1. Simple summation of all compositions to ensure no typewritten &

typographical errors.
2. Apply material Balance tests:
• Evaluate compositional consistency between feed composition and separator vapor
& liquid compositions.
• Useful when feed compositions is measured separately from separator vapor &
Liquid Composition.
• Deviation from straight line indicative of errors or uncertainty in the measurements
𝑦 𝐹 𝐿 𝑥
• 𝑖= − ∗ 𝑖
𝑧𝑖 𝑉 𝑉 𝑧𝑖
Where:
F = Total moles of feed
L = Total moles of separator liquid
V = Total moles of separator vapor
𝑧𝑖 = mole fraction of component i in the feed
𝑥𝑖 = mole fraction of component i in the liquid
𝑦𝑖 = mole fraction of component i in the vapor

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 QC Lab Data
Composition & Flash Data (cont.)

3. Apply Hoffman Plots:

• Evaluate consistency of K-value (y/x)
• Note: Hoffman plot is not a pass or fail check, just a checking of consistency
• log(K) vs. F should be straight line with possible curvature at heavier components
• Extreme curvature, however, indicates potential data issue.
1 1 1 1
• 𝐹 = (log 𝑃𝑐 − log 14.7 )( − )/( − )
𝑇𝑏 𝑇 𝑇𝑏 𝑇𝑐
Where:
K = K-value (y/x)
P = separator pressure (psia)
T = separator temperature (R)
Tb = boiling temperature (R)
Tc = critical temperature (R)
Pc = critical pressure (psia)

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 QC Lab Data
Consistency Test for Gas Data (CCE & CVD)

Much have been focused on evaluating compositional data using Whitson 1983
(Material Balance & Composite Hoffman plot).
Focusing on bulk properties of both CCE & CVD:
Liquid dropout data
• Check dew point (both should be identical)
• CVD liquid dropout should be greater than CCE (on total volume basis)
• CVD maximum liquid dropout should occur at lower pressure than CCE
• This only a consistency between CCE and CVD, not the accuracy of the tests.
• To bring CCE value to same level as CVD:
Liq (% of V) = liq (% of Vsat)/(V/Vsat)

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 QC Lab Data
Consistency Test for Gas Data (CCE & CVD)

Cont.
Z-factor or/and vapor phase density
• A vapor phase density from both CCE & CVD should show agreements
• In case of no vapor phase density ideal gas law is in used with available z-factor
• 𝜌 = 𝑃/𝑧𝑅𝑇
Where:
𝜌 = Molar density
P = Pressure
Z = z-factor
R = Gas constant
T = Temperature (absolute)

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 QC Lab Data
Consistency Test for Gas Data (CCE & CVD)

Apply material balance & Hoffman plot

• A backward calculation applying material balance to determine consistency in each
stage of CVD
• A Hoffman plot is apply in which a plot should show parallel trend without deviation
or bumps (Note: Hoffman plot is not a pass or fail check, just a checking of
consistency).

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 QC Lab Data
Consistency Test for Oil Data (CCE & DL)

A visual check:
• Plotting report properties as a function of pressure
 Compressibility decrease with increasing pressure
 ρ & Vis increase with increasing pressure
 Note: A subtle change might mean a lot. Understanding the issue helps determining the
accuracy of tuned EOS SCN at later stage.
• Comparison of the residual API gravity at sock tank cond. between DL and
Flash/SEP for consistency checking
 API in DL < API in flash/SEP because of denser liquid, due to higher temperature
condition of the DL test.

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 QC Lab Data
Consistency Test for Oil Data (CCE & DL)

2. Y-functions commonly used for smoothing CCE data and predicting bubble
point pressure:
• Calculate Y-function for all pressure below the saturation pressure
• Plot the Y-function vs. pressure on a Cartesian
𝑃 −𝑃
𝑌 = 𝑠𝑎𝑡
𝑃(𝑉𝑟𝑒𝑙 −1)
Where:
𝑃𝑠𝑎𝑡 = saturation pressure (psia)
P = pressure (psia)
𝑉𝑟𝑒𝑙 = relative volume at pressure P
• Determine the coefficients of the best straight fit of the data
𝑌 = 𝑎 + 𝑏𝑃
Where a & b are intercept and slope of the line, respectively
• Recalculate the relative volume at all pressure below Psat
𝑃 −𝑃
𝑉𝑟𝑒𝑙 = 1 + 𝑠𝑎𝑡
𝑃(𝑎+𝑏𝑃)

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 QC Lab Data
Consistency Test for Oil Data (CCE & DL)

3. Conversion of solution GOR to cumulative GOR in DL to eliminate the errors

in measurements while performing EOS tuning (matching)
• The conversion of the propagation of these errors are as follow:
𝑟𝑐𝑏𝑝−𝑅𝑠
 𝑅𝑐𝑏𝑝 =
𝐵𝑜𝑏𝑝
𝑉 𝐵𝑜
 =
𝑉𝑠𝑎𝑡 𝐵𝑜𝑏𝑝
Where:
Rcbp = cumulative GOR referenced to bub-point volume
Rsbp = Solution GOR from DL at bub-point
Rs = solution GOR from DL
V/Vsat = liquid shrinkage
Bo = FVF from DL
Bobp = FVF from DL at bub-point

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 QC Lab Data
Contamination Level Determination

1. The approach assume linear declination of component C10 to Cn+ using log
wt% vs MW. The decontaminated composition can be calculated as follow:
• Decontaminated component wt% = (X-Y*(Z/100)))/((100-Z)/100)
Where:
X = measured component wt% composition of contaminated reservoir fluid.
Y = measured component wt% composition of OBM.
Z = Level of contaminate expressed as a percentage of the weight of the whole fluid.
• It is also useful to plot mud composition on the same plot for reference.
• Note: initially Z = 0

Calculated 'pure' fluid composition Mud B

100.00

10.00

1.00
Wt% (Log scale)

0.00 50.00 100.00 150.00 200.00 250.00 300.00 350.00 400.00 450.00 500.00

0.10

0.01

0.00
Component MW (g mole-1)

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