PVT Data - Volumetric Behavior of Oil and Gas from a Louisiana Field-I

An experimental investigation was conducted upon five different paired samples of oil and gas from a field in Louisiana. The study, with each pair of samples, included the measurement of the formation volume and the volume of the liquid phase for three mixtures of the oil and gas. The gas-oil ratio varied from approximately 200 to over 40,000 cu ft per bbl and measurements were made at temperatures between 40" and 250°F. The gravity of the tank oil for the five samples under investigation varied between 38.0" and 55.8" API. The composition of the oil and gas samples and their mixtures is submitted 'References given at end of paper. Manuscript received at the office of the Petroleum Branch February 21, 1950. in tabular form. A number of diagrams depicting the effect of temperature and gas-oil ratio upon retrograde dew-point pressure are presented. INTRODUCTION During the past two decades a fairly large number of investigations were made of the volumetric behavior of naturally occurring hydrocarbon mixtures. The earlier work of Beecher and Park-hurst' and a more recent report on samples from Dominguez Field2 are typical of research of this nature. Such studies have been used in estimating the volumetric behavior of fluids in producing fields other than those from which samples were taken. Progress has been made3.4.5 in correlating the influence of pressure, temperature, and composition upon the specific and formation volume of hydrocarbon mixtures of relatively low gas-oil ratios, but attempts to extend this correlation to higher ratios have not been particularly successful. The influence of composition upon the volumetric behavior of such systems cannot be simply related to a single parameter such as gas-oil ratio. In order to aid in the extension of the correlation of the volumetric behavior of mixtures of oil and gas to higher ratios, a rather complete study was made of five different pairs of samples from a Louisiana field. The complexity of the influence of composition upon the volumetric and phase behavior of such systems in the regions of retrograde condensation was indicated by earlier Work,6,7,8,9,10 and it is doubtful if simple correlations can be established in these regions with the information currently available. The terminology employed in this paper is identical to that utilized earlier."