Reservoir Engineering - The Phase Behavior of a Natural Hydrocarbon System

The phase behavior of a naturally occurring hydrocarbon system whose critical temperature is near the reservoir temperature has been described. The same volume per cent liquid was observed for the firkt time at three different pressures for isotherms immediately below the critical temperature. The shapes of the isothermal equilibrium constant curves necessary to predict this phenomena are discussed and illustrated. INTRODUCTION The phase behavior of a number of hydrocarbon systems has been reported; however, very little data are available on natural occurring hydrocarbon systems whose critical temperature is near the reservoir temperature. This appeared to be the case for the fluid studied here; therefore the pressure-volume-temperature data for this system were determined for preqentation. METHOD The PVT data were obtained with equipment similar to hat described by Weinaug and Katz,1 consisting principally of a two-section, double-windowed gauge mounted in a conktant temperature air bath. The procedure followed was essentially that used by Katz and Kurata5 except that a cathetom-eter, reading direct to 0.01 cm, was used to determine the height of each extreme phase limit. The system studied was formed by recombining -.vapor and liquid samples from the first stage separator of the well. Portions of these samples were displaced with mercury into the cell which had previously been filled with mercury. A predetermined amount of the liquid sample was introduced, while an excess of vapor was admitted. The resulting mixture was brought to equilibrium at the condition of the separator during sampling. By adding mercury to maintain the pressure, enough vapor was displaced to give a gas/oil ratio within the cell equal to that produced by the separator at the time of sampling. The remaining material was then considered to be equivalent to the reservoir fluid. An analysis of material in the cell, computed from analysis of vapor and liquid samples and the separator gas/oil ratio. is given in Table I. Table I — Composition of Hydrocarbon System Component Mole Per Cent Carbon Dioxide 0.13 Nitrogen 0.76 Methane 53.91 Ethane 14.20 Propane 9.64 Iso Butane 1.25 Normal Butane 4.29 Iso Pentane 1.12 Normal Pentane 1.87 Hexane 2.72 Heptanes + 10.11 hloleculal. Weight of Heptanes + 178.50