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Prediction of Bubble Point Pressure From

Composition of Black Oils Using Artificial
Neural Network
a

M. A. Al-Marhoun , S. S. Ali , A. Abdulraheem , S. Nizamuddin & A.

a

Muhammadain
a

King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi

Arabia
Published online: 06 May 2014.

To cite this article: M. A. Al-Marhoun, S. S. Ali, A. Abdulraheem, S. Nizamuddin & A. Muhammadain

(2014) Prediction of Bubble Point Pressure From Composition of Black Oils Using Artificial Neural
Network, Petroleum Science and Technology, 32:14, 1720-1728
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10916466.2012.707267

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Petroleum Science and Technology, 32:17201728, 2014

C Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Copyright 
ISSN: 1091-6466 print / 1532-2459 online
DOI: 10.1080/10916466.2012.707267

Prediction of Bubble Point Pressure From Composition

of Black Oils Using Artificial Neural Network
M. A. Al-Marhoun,1 S. S. Ali,1 A. Abdulraheem,1 S. Nizamuddin,1 and A. Muhammadain1

Downloaded by [Syed Shujath Ali] at 22:10 07 May 2014

King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

In the present study, an artificial neural network (ANN) constitutive model was developed to predict
bubble point pressure for the case of Canadian data. The accuracy of prediction of bubble point pressure
was compared using two sets of inputs to the model. One was based on composition of the oil and
the other based on easily available parameters such as solution gas-oil ratio, reservoir temperature, oil
gravity, and gas relative density. The performance of bubble point pressure prediction with ANN was
compared with that of equation of state (EOS) and other available empirical correlations. It was found
that ANN models can produce a more accurate prediction of bubble point pressure than the existing
empirical correlations and EOS calculations.
Keywords: artificial neural networks, black oil, bubble point pressure, correlations

1. INTRODUCTION
The calculation of reserves in an oil reservoir or the determination of its performance and economics
require good knowledge of the fluids physical properties. The pressure/volume/temperature (PVT)
properties for reservoir hydrocarbon mixtures are usually obtained from laboratory analysis of preserved or recombined reservoir fluid samples. As experimental facilities are not always available, this
led to the development of alternative techniques for estimating these PVT properties. Two methods
widely used for this purpose are equation of state (EOS) and empirically derived correlations. The
equation of state is based on the knowledge of composition of the reservoir fluids. EOS, although,
an accurate and reliable method in determination of fluid properties (Soave, 1972; Peng and Robinson, 1976; Stein, 1982), the high computation cost associated with EOS can render compositional
simulation prohibitive for systems with a large number of components.
On the other hand, PVT correlations are based on easily measured field data such as reservoir
pressure, reservoir temperature, and oil and gas specific gravities. The advantage of a correlation is
that it may be used to predict properties for which very little experimental information is available.
However, the accuracy of the information retrieved through these correlations depends mainly on
the representation of the model for fluid mixture under specific conditions and is restricted to the
characteristic set of fluid mixtures used for developing it.
In recent years, soft computing techniques such as artificial neural networks (ANNs) have made
solid impacts toward becoming more and more acceptable in all fields of human endeavor including
the main stream oil and gas industry, due to higher accuracy and low computation cost. Much of
the literature already exists in the prediction of PVT properties using ANN. Gharbi and Elsharkawy
Address correspondence to S. S. Ali, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, P. O. Box 1048, Dhahran 31261,
Saudi Arabia. E-mail: shujaths@kfupm.edu.sa

1720

PREDICTION OF BUBBLE POINT PRESSURE

1721

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(1997) presented an ANN model to predict the bubble point pressure (Pb ) for Middle East crude
oils. Formation volume factor at bubble point pressure was predicted using ANN for the Middle
East, Malaysian, Columbian, and Gulf of Mexico oil fields, by Osman et al. (2001). Goda et al.
(2003) predicted Pb and formation volume factor through two linked neural networks. Al-Marhoun
and Osman (2002) presented new ANN models to predict Pb using data from Saudi reservoirs. In the
previously mentioned studies that involve prediction of Pb using ANN, the input parameters mainly
used were solution gas-oil ratio (Rs ), reservoir temperature (Tres ), oil gravity ( o ), and gas relative
density ( g ). To our knowledge, no attempt has been made to predict the bubble point pressure using
black oil composition as an input parameter to ANN. The objective of the present study is to predict
Pb based on the knowledge of composition of black oil and compare the accuracy with predictions
obtained from empirical correlations and EOS.

2. NEURAL NETWORK ARCHITECTURE

An ANN is a computational method that can realize an input-output mapping even when the exact
relationship between the input and output is not known (Hagan et al., 1996). An ANN usually
consists of an input layer, hidden layers, and an output layer, interconnected by modifiable weights,
represented by links between layers. Each layer can have different number of neural elements called
neurons.
Each neuron multiplies its specific input value by the corresponding weight and then sums all
the weighted inputs. The final output from the node is calculated by applying an activation function
(transfer function) to the sum of the weighted inputs. The output ajk from a neuron j in layer k can
be obtained by the following equation:

The coefficients wijk and bjk are called the connection weights and bias of the network, respectively
and are adapted with the training data. There exists several type of ANNs that are classified based
TABLE 1
List of Compositional Input Parameters (Set1)
S. No.

Inputs (Mole Fraction%)

Min

Max

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
S. No.
1

N2
CO2
H2 S
C1
C2
C3
iC4
nC4
iC5
nC5
C6
C7+
Output
Bubble point pressure, psi

0
0.43
0
13.94
9.51
3.66
0.36
1
0.2
0.27
0.1
0
Min
405

18.04
24.97
12.57
83.81
33.25
33.59
4.81
12.26
2.86
2.95
3.17
1.19
Max
3808

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M. A. AL-MARHOUN ET AL.

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TABLE 2
List of Parameters Used in Correlations (Set2)
S. No.

Inputs

Min

Max

1
2
3
4
S. No.
1

Solution gas oil ratio (Rs ), scf/STB

Specific gas gravity ( g ), air = 1
Relative density of oil ( o ), water = 1
Reservoir temperature (Tres ), F
Output
Bubble point pressure, psi

82
0.75
0.78
102
Min
405

3113
1.43
0.93
230
Max
3808

on the type of training algorithm being implemented. The aim of these training algorithms is to
reduce the error between the predicted and the observed (actual) values and thereby improving the
performance of the model. A more detailed description of neural networks in itself and feed forward
ANNs in specific is abundantly available in literature (Wasserman, 1989; Haykin, 1999).
Feed forward back-propagation ANN is one of the most popular neural networks, which has also
been used in the present study. The number of neurons in the hidden layer is a key parameter to be
determined in the development of ANN models. The number of neurons in the hidden layer has a
direct effect on the accuracy of the model. Unfortunately, there is no general rule (or algorithm) to
determine this number. In practice, a trial-and-error process is used.
During training, the dataset is divided into three sets of 70%, 10%, and 20% for training,
validation, and testing, respectively. PVT data from Canadian oil fields was used in the present
study. Two separate sets of input parameters were used to predict bubble point pressure, one being
the composition of the black oils named as set1 and the other was the set of parameters used in
existing correlations, labeled as set2. The purpose was to compare the effectiveness of these two input
sets in predicting bubble point pressure. Table 1 lists the first set of input compositional parameters.
The second set of input parameters, which are mostly used in developing correlations, are shown in
Table 2. Also, the ranges of the experimental data used are indicated in these tables. Figure 1 shows
a schematic of the steps followed in predicting bubble point pressure using ANN.
The number of neurons in the input layer depends on the number of input parameters. Hence,
12 neurons were used in the input layer while predicting bubble point pressure using composition
and 4 neurons when using second set of parameters. A total of 48 PVT reports were available for
developing the neural network model. A number of trails were made to select the optimal number
of neurons in the hidden layer for the neural network structure used in this particular study. A total
of 15 neurons in the hidden layer, were found to give the optimal performance for network, which
used 12 input compositional parameters (set1) and 20 neurons for the network using set2 input
parameters.

FIGURE 1

Schematic of ANN model to predict bubble point pressure.

PREDICTION OF BUBBLE POINT PRESSURE

1723

3. BUBBLE POINT PRESSURE CORRELATIONS

During the last five decades many empirical correlations have been developed to predict bubble point
pressure (Pb ) and other PVT properties in order to get a first-hand approximation. Correlations of the
bubble point pressure commonly use solution gas/oil ratio (Rs ), separator gas specific gravity ( g ),
stock tank oil gravity ( API ), and reservoir temperature (Tres ) as independent variables as these are the
only data easily available from field observations. In this study, correlations developed by Standing
(1947), Vasquez and Beggs (1980), Al-Marhoun (1988), Al-Shammasi (2001), and most recently
by Nikpoor and Khanamiri (2011) were utilized to predict the bubble point pressure and compare it
with the predictions from ANN. The correlations are listed in Eqs. (1)(5). The coefficients of the
correlation were modified according to the current data.

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Standing (1947)

(1)

Vasquez and Beggs (1980)

(2)
Al-Marhoun (1988)
(3)
Al-Shammasi (2001)
(4)
Nikpoor and Khanamiri (2011)

(5)

3.1 EOS Calculations

In this paper bubble point calculations using Peng-Robinson (PR) EOS (Peng and Robinson, 1976)
have been used to predict bubble point for the present data. The PR EOS is a tool often used to
predict the vapor-liquid equilibrium in petroleum systems. Thus, it was selected for this work. The
equation is only briefly described here.
(6)

1724

M. A. AL-MARHOUN ET AL.

The following mixing rules were used:

The critical properties and eccentric factors for the black oil components were calculated after
splitting the plus fraction as discussed by Al-Meshari and McCain (2006).

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4. RESULTS
The generalization capability of the trained ANN model was tested by presenting the unseen data
set that was excluded prior to network training. The performance of the neural network model for
prediction of bubble point pressure using set1 and set2 as input is demonstrated in Figures 2 and
3, respectively. Each figure shows the network response in the form of linear regression analysis
between the network output (predictions) and the corresponding targets (experiment value) for the
training and testing dataset. The correlation coefficients, during the testing phase, between the actual
and predicted bubble point pressures, were found to be 0.87 and 0.96 using set1 and set2 as input
to ANN, respectively. It is obvious from these figures, that the predicted values from the trained
neural network tracks the target very well and the performance is higher when set2 is used as input
to ANN. To validate the results, two of the most common statistical parameters used to determine
model accuracy and performance are used. These parameters are average absolute percentage error
(AAPE) and root mean square error (RMSE).
Table 3 shows the AAPEs and RMSEs obtained for the following cases of bubble point pressure
prediction:
1. Using set1 as input to ANN and predicting bubble point pressure.

FIGURE 2

Bubble point pressure prediction using set1 as input (CC = 0.87).

Downloaded by [Syed Shujath Ali] at 22:10 07 May 2014

PREDICTION OF BUBBLE POINT PRESSURE

FIGURE 3

1725

Bubble point pressure prediction using set2 as input to ANN (CC = 0.96).

2. Bubble point pressure prediction with equation EOS that also uses set1 as independent
variables.
3. Using set2 as input to ANN and predicting bubble point pressure.
4. Bubble point pressure predictions from correlations by Standing (1947), Vasquez and Beggs
(1980), Al-Marhoun (1988), Al-Shammasi (2001), and Nikpoor and Khanamiri (2011) using
set2 as independent variables.
Among all, the lowest value of AAPE (5.22) was obtained in the case where bubble point pressure
was predicted using ANN with set2 as input parameters. For the same input parameters, either set1
and set2, ANN performed much better when compared to EOS or other correlations. Thus, a good
performance of the neural network has been achieved and the network can be used for further
simulations and prediction of bubble point within the range of data set used in training the present
model. Among the five Pb correlations used in this study, Nikpoor and Khanamiris (2011) correlation
proved to be most efficient with an AAPE of 9.18, but inferior to ANN. Table 1 indicates the range
TABLE 3
Error Statistics in Predicting Bubble Point Pressure
Input

Model

AAPE

RMSE

Set1

ANN
EOS
ANN
Correlations

12.78
51.31
5.22
11.82
14.56
11.62
11.56
9.18

328.74
1143
202.02
281.54
331.5
276.3
359.72
316.65

Set2

Standing
Vasquez and Beggs
Al-Marhoun
Al-Shammasi
Nikpoor and Khanamiri

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1726

M. A. AL-MARHOUN ET AL.

FIGURE 4

Histogram of oil API.

of components of black oil used in this study. A high percentage of oil was composed of c1 to c3 and
nonhydrocarbons. Heavier components above c3 had very low percentage compositions indicating a
volatile oil. Results indicate a low performance of bubble point prediction by EOS for a volatile oil.
EOS, generally utilize Pb for tuning parameters such as C7+ molecular weight, eccentric factor and
binary interaction parameters, but their capacity to estimate Pb is limited (Al-Meshari and McCain,
2006).
The scale of error obtained through correlations is lower for a volatile oil when compared to
a normal black oil reported in the literature. Al-Shammasi (2001) compared the performance of
different correlations for a data set of around 1700 points with oil API ranging from 6 to 64. The
AAPE he reported for similar correlations used in this study was in the range of 19 to 22, while in
this study the range of AAPE obtained was around 9 to 12 as shown in Table 3. Figure 4 shows a
histogram of the oil API used in this study. Most of the data points fall in an API range of 3050,
indicating that the correlations used in this study are more reliable for API range above 30. This
is also indicated by Al-Marhoun (2002), wherein he conducted a study of performance of different
correlations in various API ranges.

TABLE 4
Comparison of AAPE in Pb Prediction, Obtained Using ANN and Other Correlations Reported in the Literature
Author

ANN

Al-Marhoun

Standing

Glaso

Vasquez and Beggs

Gharbi and Elsharkawy (1997) (API range: 19.3550.14)

Osman et al. (2001) (API range: 1163.7)
Goda et al. (2003) (API range: 19.444.6)
Al-Marhoun and Osman (2002) (API range: 17.544.6)

7.02
1.79
3.07
5.89

12.29
2.2
3.27
8.1

17.64
2.72
12.42
10.45

22.11
3.37
30.57
20.75

2.97
11.62
10.97

PREDICTION OF BUBBLE POINT PRESSURE

1727

In the present study, ANN, which yielded the least error, seems to recognize a pattern from almost
any type of oil. Similar results of better performance using ANN was reported in the literature, as
shown in Table 4. For the four case studies mentioned in Table 4, ANN outperformed all the
other correlations with a considerable margin, with only correlation by Al-Marhoun (1988) closely
matching the performance of ANN.

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5. CONCLUSIONS
The objective of the present study was to compare the predictive capability of ANN constitutive
model for the determination of Pb with the existing empirical correlations and EOS calculations.
Also the capability of oil composition and other easily available field parameters (set1) in predicting
Pb was evaluated. ANN with back propagation algorithm was shown to provide accurate predictions
of bubble point pressure when compared to PR-EOS and empirical correlations (Standing, 1947;
Vasquez and Beggs, 1980; Al-Marhoun, 1988; Al-Shammasi, 2001; Nikpoor and Khanamiri, 2011).
Nikpoor and Khanamiris correlation gave better prediction of bubble point pressure when compared
to other correlations used in this study. Pb predictions were more accurate when Rs , g , API and
Tres were used as input to ANN, rather than black oil composition.
The findings in this work clearly demonstrates the capacity of the ANN method. Its accuracy and
efficiency are superior to conventional regression analysis and physical thermodynamic equations.
Nevertheless, optimization of ANN structure involves determining appropriate activation function,
number of neurons in the hidden layer, data dimensionality, data sampling, and other operational
parameters related to specific training algorithm, which could be the subject of further research in
this area.

FUNDING
The authors thankfully acknowledge Research Institute at King Fahd University of Petroleum and
Minerals for supporting this research.

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