Production Technology - Prediction of Saturation Pressures for Condensate-Gas and Volatile-Oil Mixtures

A simple correlation is presented for the prediction of saturation pressures in condensate-gas and volatile-oil mixtures. Saturation pressure is related directly to the composition of the mixture with the aid of two generalized composition characteristics, B, the molal average boiling point, and W, the modified weight average equivalent molecular weight. The need for hydrocarbon equilibrium constants is entirely eliminated. Only the values of the two conlposition parameters need be obtained, and these are calculated in a simple and reproducible manner from the stream analysis of the mixture and the ASTM distillation for the heavy ends. The correlation is given .in the form of a set of 14 working charts in which saturation pressures, either retrograde dew points or bubble points, are plotted cs temperature, forming partial phase envelopes for mixtures having discrete values of the composition parameters, B and Wul. A locus of critical states on each chart intersects the partial phase envelopes, distinguishing retrograde dew point pressures from bubble pressures. A comparison Between experimental and predicted saturation pressures reveals that: the probable error of the predicted values, when considering the data as a whole (214 experimental points), is five per cent; for high gasjoil ratio condensate fluids (approximately 40.000 or more cu ft/bbl) the probable error is about 8 per cent. In either case, however, the probable error is comparable with the overall uncertainty of the data from which the correlation is derived. INTRODUCTION There is a present need for a simplified, yet reasonably accurate method for predicting upper phase boundaries of reservoir fluids. In the case of high gas/oil ratio fluids, namely the so-called highly volatile oils and the condensate gases, no simple method, accurate within 5 to 10 per cent, is now available by which bubble point and retrograde dew point pressures may be predicted. In order to calculate the upper phase boundary of a volatile reservoir fluid, using correlations now available, it is necessary to find and employ the proper K-values (equilibrium volatility ratios of the hydrocarbons in that fluid). This process of finding the Proper K-values usually involves a double trial and error computation. Since the K-values are in themselves dependent upon the composition of the fluid, their use in the calculation of a saturation pressure actually represents an unnecessary complication. The correlation described in this paper relates saturation pressure directly to the stream composition, entirely eliminating the need for K-values. The only data required to calculate the Stream composition are obtained from the customary low temperature fractional analyses of separator gas and liquidt and from the ASTM distillation of the c,+ fraction of the separator liquid. A considerable simplification in the procedure for predicting saturation pressures is thereby effected without significant loss in accuracy. BASIS FOR A CORRELATION Empirical relationships between the saturation pressure and the composition of the fluid in question have already been partially explored by one of the authors.V n particular, a relationship between the critical pressure for a hydrocarbon mixture and its composition was developed. The critical pressure is in reality a saturation pressure, as it repregents a limiting case either of a dew point or of a buhhle point pressure for any given mixture. It was found that the critical pressure may be correlated as a function of two generalized composition characteristics or variables. One characteristic expressed a molal average prop-erty, the other a weight average property of the mixture. Specifically, the molal average boiling point (MABP, or B as it