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SPE SY 3V

jpt forum

Estimating

the Viscosity

of Crude Oil Systems

Viscosity values of crude oils and crude oils containing dissolved natural gas are required in various petroleum engineering calculations. In evaluation of fluid flow in a reservoir, the viscosity of the liquid is required at various values of reservoir pressure and at resewoir temperature. This information can be obtained from a standard laboratory PVT analysis that is mn at reservoir temperature. There are cases, however, when the viscosity is needed at other temperatures. The most common situation requiring viscosities at various pressures and temperatures occurs in the calculation of two-phase, gas-liquid flowing pressure traverses. These pressure traverses are required in tubing-string design, gas-lift design, and pipeline design. Calculation of these pressure traverses involves dividing the flow string into a number of length increments and calculating the pressure gradient at average conditions of pressure and temperature in the increment, Calculation of pressure gradients requires knowledge of oil viscosity. In many cases, the only information available on the fluid properties me the separator gas gravity and stock-tank oil gravity; therefore, correlations requiring a knowledge of crude oil composition are not applicable. The most popular methods presently used for predicting oil viscosity are those of Beal 1for dead oil and Chew and Connally for live or saturated oil. Beal correlated dead oil viscosity as a function of API gravity and temperature. Chew and Connally presented a correlation for the effect of dissolved gas on the oil viscosity. The dead oil viscosity and the amount of dissolved gas at the temperature and pressure of interest must be known. When these correlations were applied to data collected for a study of dissolved gas and formation volume factor, considerable errors and scatter were obse~wed. These data, therefore, were used to develop new empirical corre-

lations for dead or gas-free crude oil as a function of API gravity and temperature, and for live oil viscosity as a function of dissolved gas and dead oil viscosity, A description of the data used, which were obtained from Core Laboratories, Inc., is given in Table 1. The correlation for dead oil viscosity was developed by pIotting log10(T) vs logIOlog,0 (WD + 1) on cartesian coordinates. The plots revealed a series of straight lines of constant slope, It was found that each line represented oils of a particul~ API gravity. The equation developed is *D= where -x =Y loxT-1.163

1, . . . . . . . . . . . ...!...

. . .(1)

Y = 10Z Z = 3,0324 0.02023 YO. The correction of the dead oil viscosity for dissolved gas was developed by taking advantage of the fact that a linear relationship exists between log10WD and lOg,OPfor a particular value of dissolved gas, Rs. Live oil viscosity may be calculated from /L= A~DB, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(2)

TABLE1 DESCRIPTIONOFDATAUSED

Variable Solution GOR, scf/STB

Oil gravity, API Pressure, psig Temperature, F

Range
20 to 2,070 16 to 58 O to 5,250 70 to 295

Number of oil systems = 600 Number of dead oil observations = 460 Number of live oil observations = 2,073

JPT Forum articles are Iikited to 1,500 words including 250 words for each table and figure, or a maximum of two pages in JPT. A Forum article may present preliminary results or conclusions of an investigation that the author wishes to publish before completing a full study it may impart general technical information that does not warrant publication as a full-length paper. All Forum articles are subject to approval by an editorial committee. Letters to the editor are published under Dialogue, and may cover technical or nontechnical topics, SPE-AIME reserves the right to edit letters for style and content. 1140 JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY

TABLE2 STATISTICALCOMPARISONOFCORRELATIONS Average Error Standard Deviation of Percent Errors (percent) Dead oil data used to develop this correlation Beal This study Dead oil data collected from literature (93 cases) Beal This study Liveoil data used to develop this correlation Chew and Connally This study

presents a statistical comparison of the correlations of Beal, Chew and Connally, and our findings.

Nomenclature
-19,64 -0.64 21.86 13.53

378.46 114.27

1,568.09

R,= dissolved GOR, scf/STB T = temperature, F ~~ = viscosity of gas-free oil at T, cp p = viscosity of gas-saturated oil at T, cp % = oil gravity, API References
1. Beal, C.. Viscosity of Air, Water, Natural Gas, Crude Oil and Its Associated Gases at 011-FieldTempemnm?s and Pressures, Trans., AIME (1946) 165, 94-115. 2. Chew, J. and Connally, C. A.: A Viscosity Correlation for GasSaturated Crude Oils, Trans., AIME (1959) 216, 23-25. Viscoshks 3. Lohrenz, J., Bray, B. G., and Clark, C. R.:Calculating of Reservoir Fluids From Their Compositions,. J. Pet. Tech. (Oct. 1964) 1171-1176 Tram., AIME, 231. 4. Houpemt,A. H. andllrelliez, M. B.: PredictingtheViscosityof Hydrocarbon Liquid Phases From Their Composition,. paper SPE 5057 presented at the SPE-AIME 49th Annual Fall Meeting, Houston, Oct. 6-9, 1974. 5. Little. J. E. and Kennedy, H. T.: A Correlation of the Viscosity of Hydr&arbon Systems With Pressure, Temperature and Composition, Sot. Pet. Errg. J. (June 1968) 157-162; Trans., AIME, 243.

530.00
35.70 27.25

25.35 - 1.83

where A = 10.715 (RS + 100)-0515 B = 5.44 (Z?~+ 150)-0338 Development of these correlations neglec~ the dependence of oil viscosity on composition, since oils of widely varying compositions can have the same gravity. Viscosity does depend on composition, and if the composition is available other correlations3-5 exist that should be used for greater accuracy. However, the correlations presented here are easy to use and give fair accuracy and precision over a wide range of oil gravity, temperature, and dissolved gas. As is the case with any empirical study, extrapolation outside the range of the data used to develop the correlations should be done with caution. Table 2

H. D. Beggs, SPE-AIME J. R. Robinson, *sPE-AIME U. of Tulsa

Tulsa, Okla. Now withMarathonOilCo.,Littleton,Colo.

Solids Control in Weighted

Drilling Fluids

Introduction
The need for solids controlfor drilling mud systems has been widely discussed in the literaturel-e and is gaining acceptance in drilling operations. tie of the major advantages of reduced drill-solids contei<in drilling muds are lower plastic viscosity, improved filtir.cakes, longer bit bearing and pump life, and improved pertqtration rate. Increases in the drill-solids content of mu&.generally lead to higher filtration ratm and increased falter-cake thickness. TMck falter cakes aggravate the proble of differential-pressure sticking and cause increases \in torque and drag on the &lMring. Field observations\ indicate that filter-cake properties can be cont@lled by controlling the amount and types of solids in the mud. Surprisingly, drill solids cause a drastic reduction in bit-bearing life. King performed a series of experiments using an 8%-in. blt with 50,000 lb weight and rotating at
SEPTEMBER, 1975

60 rpm. K en water was the circulating fluid, the bear36 hours. The addition of formation cuttings ings his decre 2 ed the bearing life to 26 hours. When the mud was treated with caustic and quebracho, the bearing life was reduced to 12 hours. When the same experiment was donducted using bentonite instead of formation clays, the bearing life increased from 36 to 38 hours. Additions of caustic and quebracho to tlds system did not reduce the bearing life, but when drill solids were added to this mud the bearing life decreased to 15 hours.

~ew Mud-Treating System (Mud Cleaner)

To b ercome many of the limitations of current solidsremov lmiques, a new mud-treating system was deL vekqxd f~ eighted muds. This new system, called the Mud Cleaner, moves most of the drilled solids while \
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