Reservoir

Engineering П
Reservoir fluid properties

By
Assist lect. Farah N. Almohmmad
 Properties Of Crude Oil
Physical properties of primary interest in petroleum
engineering studies include:

• Fluid gravity
• Bubble-point pressure
• Gas solubility
• Oil formation volume factor
• Isothermal compressibility coefficient of undersaturated
crude oils
• Oil density
• Total formation volume factor
• Crude oil viscosity
Oil Properties
Farah N. Almohammad
 Oil Gravity
The specific gravity of a crude oil is defined as the
ratio of the density of the oil to that of water. Both
densities are measured at 60°F and atmospheric
pressure:
ρ𝑜 ρ𝑜
γ𝑜𝑖𝑙 = = ....(1)
ρ𝑤 62.4

γo = specific gravity of the oil

ρo = density of the crude oil, lb/ft3
ρw = density of the water, lb/ft3= 62.4 lb/ft3
Oil Properties
Farah N. Almohammad
 Oil Gravity
• It should be pointed out that the liquid
specific gravity is dimensionless, but
traditionally is given the units 60°/60° to
emphasize the fact that both densities are
measured at standard conditions.

• Generally, the specific gravity of crude oil

varies between 0.8 and 0.97 in most
instances.
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Farah N. Almohammad
 The API Gravity Of Crude Oil
• API (American Petroleum Institute) gravity,
expressed in degrees, is more prevalent in
petroleum industry.

• API gravity is also a measure of oil density, and

is related to specific gravity by the following
equation

141.5
• 𝐴𝑃𝐼 = − 131.5…..(2)
γ𝑜

Oil Properties
Farah N. Almohammad
 The API Gravity Of Crude Oil
• The API gravity of a crude oil is inversely
proportional to its specific gravity.

• The API gravities of crude oils usually range

from 47° API for the lighter crude oils to 10°
API for the heavier asphaltic crude oils.

• Normally, the price of the crude oil depends on

its gravity, the less dense (higher API) being the
most valuable.
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Farah N. Almohammad
 The API Gravity Of Crude Oil
Example

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 Bubble-Point Pressure
• The bubble-point pressure pb of a hydrocarbon system is defined
as the highest pressure at which a bubble of gas is first liberated
from the oil.

• This important property can be measured experimentally for a

crude oil system by conducting a constant-composition expansion
test.

• In the absence of the experimentally measured bubble-point

pressure, It should be estimated by correlations.

• correlations are essentially based on the assumption that the

bubble-point pressure is a strong function of gas solubility Rs, gas
gravity γg, oil gravity API, and temperature T, or:

• Pb = f (RS, γg, API, T) Oil Properties

Farah N. Almohammad
 Bubble-Point Pressure
• Standing’s Correlation
Standing’s correlation should be used with caution if
nonhydrocarbon components are known to be present in the
system.
……(3)

……(4)

Oil Properties
Farah N. Almohammad
 Gas Solubility
• Gas solubility means the amount of a gas that dissolves in a unit
liquid at certain temperature and pressure. Gas solubility varies
with temperature and pressure.

• The solubility of a natural gas in a crude oil is astrong function of

the pressure, temperature, API gravity, and gas gravity.

• Solubility factor relates with both gas and liquid properties. At

given temperature, the solubility factor of a gas in a given liquid
depends on the properties of the gas.

• Figure 1 shows several solubility curves of pure gases. It can be

seen that the gases with large molecular weights have large
solubility factor, and thus dissolve more easily in a liquid.

Oil Properties
Farah N. Almohammad
 Gas Solubility
• Figure 1 Solubility curves of pure gases

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 Gas Solubility
• For a particular gas and crude oil to
exist at a constant temperature, the
solubility increases with pressure until
the saturation pressure is reached.

• At the saturation pressure (bubble-

point pressure) all the available gases
are dissolved in the oil and the gas
solubility reaches its maximum value.

• As the pressure is reduced from the

initial reservoir pressure pi to the
bubble-point pressure pb, no gas
evolves from the oil and consequently
the gas solubility remains constant at
its maximum value of Rsb

Oil Properties
Farah N. Almohammad
 Oil Formation Volume Factor
• The oil formation volume factor, Bo, is defined as the
ratio of the volume of oil (plus the gas in solution) at
the prevailing reservoir temperature and pressure to the
volume of oil at standard conditions.

• Bo is always greater than or equal to unity.

• The oil formation volume factor can be expressed

mathematically as:

(𝑉𝑜 ) 𝑃,𝑇
• 𝐵𝑜 =
(𝑉𝑜 ) 𝑠𝑐
Oil Properties
Farah N. Almohammad
 Oil Formation Volume Factor
where Bo = oil formation volume factor, bbl/STB
(Vo)p,T = volume of oil under reservoir pressure p and
temperature T,bbl
(Vo)sc = volume of oil is measured under standard
conditions, STB

62.4 γ𝑜 + 0.0136 γ𝑔 𝑅𝑠
𝐵𝑜 =
ρ𝑜

Oil Properties
Farah N. Almohammad
 Oil Formation Volume Factor
• As the pressure is reduced below the initial
reservoir pressure pi, the oil volume
increases due to the oil expansion. This
behavior results in an increase in the oil
formation volume factor and will continue
until the bubble-point pressure is reached

• At pb, the oil reaches its maximum

expansion and consequently attains a
maximum value of Bob for the oil formation
volume factor.

• As the pressure is reduced below pb, volume

of the oil and Bo are decreased as the
solution gas is liberated.

• When the pressure is reduced to atmospheric

pressure and the temperature to 60°F, the
14.7
value of Bo is equal to one.
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Farah N. Almohammad
 Isothermal Compressibility
• Oil, gas and water are the fluids produced from
petroleum reservoirs. These fluids can be classified as
incompressible, slightly compressible, or compressible,
depending on how they behave when subjected to
external pressure.

• An incompressible fluid, as the name implies, has zero

compressibility, a slightly compressible fluid has a
small but constant compressibility that usually ranges
from 10−5 to 10−6 𝑝𝑠𝑖 −1 .

• A compressible f1uid has a higher compressibility than

a slightly compressible fluid, usually approximately
10−4 to 10−3 𝑝𝑠𝑖 −1 . Oil Properties
Farah N. Almohammad
 Isothermal Compressibility
• For a crude oil system, the isothermal compressibility coefficient of the oil phase co
is defined for pressures above the bubble-point by one of the following equivalent
expressions

𝟏 𝝏𝑽
𝒄𝒐 = −
𝑽 𝝏𝒑 𝑻

𝟏 𝝏𝑩𝒐
𝒄𝒐 = −
𝑩𝒐 𝝏𝒑 𝑻

where co = isothermal compressibility, psi−1

ρo = oil density lb/ft3
Bo = oil formation volume factor, bbl/STB

• At pressures below the bubble-point pressure, the oil compressibility is defined as:

𝟏 𝝏𝑩𝒐 𝑩𝒈 𝝏𝑹𝒔
𝒄𝒐 = − +
𝑩𝒐 𝝏𝒑 𝑩𝒐 𝝏𝒑

Oil Properties
Farah N. Almohammad
 Crude Oil Density
• An incompressible fluid has zero compressibility
therefore, it has constant density regardless of pressure.
This type of fluid is an idealization for gas-free (or
dead) oil and water.

• Under reservoir conditions, dead oil, undersaturated oil,

and water behave as slightly compressible fluids.

• The density of a compressible fluid increases as

pressure increases but tends to level off at high
pressures.

• At reservoir pressures and temperatures, gas is a good

example of a compressible fluid.
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Farah N. Almohammad
 Crude Oil Density
• Oil and its solution gas are
treated as slightly
compressible when reservoir
pressure is higher than the oil
bubble point pressure.

• As the pressure gradually

decreases below bubble point
pressure the soluble gas in the
oil phase liberated, which
cause increase in oil density.

Oil Properties
Farah N. Almohammad
 Total Formation Volume Factor
• To describe the pressure-volume relationship of hydrocarbon
systems below their bubble-point pressure, it is convenient to
express this relationship in terms of the total formation volume
factor as a function of pressure.

• This property defines the total volume of a system regardless of the

number of phases present. The total formation volume factor,
denoted Bt, is defined as the ratio of the total volume of the
hydrocarbon mixture (i.e., oil and gas, if present), at the prevailing
pressure and temperature per unit volume of the stock-tank oil.

• Because naturally occurring hydrocarbon systems usually exist in

either one or two phases, the term two-phase formation volume
factor has become synonymous with the total formation volume.

Oil Properties
Farah N. Almohammad
 Total Formation Volume Factor

• above the bubble point pressure, no free gas exists and the
expression is reduced to the equation that describes the oil
formation volume factor, that is:

Oil Properties
Farah N. Almohammad
 Total Formation Volume Factor
• Bo and Bt are identical at
pressures above or equal to
the bubble-point pressure
because only one phase, the
oil phase, exists at these
pressures. It should also be
noted that at pressures below
the bubble-point pressure, the
difference in the values of the
two oil properties represents
the volume of the evolved
solution gas as measured at
system conditions per stock-
tank barrel of oil.
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Farah N. Almohammad
 Total Formation Volume Factor

• the term (Rsb – Rs) represents the volume of the free gas as
measured in scf perstock-tank barrel of oil

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 Total Formation Volume Factor
Example

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Total Formation Volume Factor

Oil Properties
Farah N. Almohammad
 Oil viscosity
• Fluid viscosity is a measure of the ease with which the fluid flows
as a result of an applied pressure gradient.

• For a gaseous fluid, the molecules are far apart and offer low
resistance to flow.

• In contrast, a dense fluid offers high resistance to flow because the

fluid molecules are close to each other and their random motions
retard flow.

• Fluid viscosity is a function of both pressure and temperature;

however, we are only interested in the pressure dependence of
viscosity in isothermal reservoirs.

Oil Properties
Farah N. Almohammad
 Oil viscosity
• One can analyze the variation of water and gas viscosities
with pressure by considering the effect of pressure on their
densities.

• Water is slightly compressible at reservoir conditions;

therefore, as pressure increases, water viscosity increases
slightly or remains almost constant.

• Gas is a compressible fluid, and its viscosity is low at low

pressures. Gas viscosity increases as pressure increases but
tends to level off at high pressures because gas under high
pressure begins to behave as if it is a liquid.

Oil Properties
Farah N. Almohammad
Oil viscosity

Oil Properties
Farah N. Almohammad
 Oil viscosity
• The pressure/viscosity relationship for
gas-free (dead) oil is analogous to that
of water.

• Pressure effects on oil-phase density

and solution-gas/oil ratio on oil-phase
dilution.

• In the undersaturated oil region (p >

Pb), oil dilution remains unchanged
because Rs is constant.

• Only the oil density decreases as

pressure decreases from Pi to Pb. As a
result, the oil-phase viscosity in this
region decreases as pressure
decreases.

Oil Properties
Farah N. Almohammad
 Oil viscosity
• In the saturated oil region (p <= Pb)
both oil-phase dilution and density
change in response to pressure changes.

• As pressure decreases, gas evolves

from the oil phase, leaving it less
diluted by gas; more dense.

• On the other hand, the oil component

and the associated solution gas expand
as pressure drops; less dense.

• The effect of gas liberation on viscosity

dominates the effect of oil expansion;
therefore, the oil phase becomes more
viscous as the reservoir pressure drops.

Oil Properties
Farah N. Almohammad