PVT Publications

Muhammad Ali Al-Marhoun, SPE, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals

SPE Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering online - August 2006

Abstract:

This article presents a new correlation for the coefficient of isothermal compressibility of black oils at pressures above the bubblepoint.  The correlation is expressed as an empirical function of oil relative density at bubblepoint pressure, reservoir temperature, bubblepoint pressure and the reservoir pressure. The current empirical correlations give different results depending on the conditions of the separator test that depend on the number of separator stages and separator pressure and temperature. The new correlation is a function of oil properties that do not depend on separator test data. Therefore, the new correlation gives a unique result regardless of the separator conditions. 

A total of 3412 data points from 186 laboratory PVT analyses from Middle East fields were used to develop the oil compressibility correlation.  The data encompassed a wide range of gas-oil ratios, oil and gas relative densities, reservoir pressure, and reservoir temperature.

The correlation is validated by using three different data sets from other geographical region of the world not used in the development of the correlation.

The newly developed correlation outperforms the existing correlations for oil compressibility based on low value of average absolute percent relative error.

Note

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