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Bubble Point Pressure Correlation
seactasarer | MAGNOUA PETROLEUM co.
DALLAS, TE
ABSTRACT tern and Mid-Continental United ny “a
Slates, and South America > me w
A correlation of the bubble point
pressure for black oil systems is de- eI EN’
eloped using the standard physical. CORRELATION DEVELOPMENT
The number of mols of tank oil
per barrel is a function of the "mo-
chemical equations of soiulions. The The basic assumption used in this lecular weight” of the tank oil. Al-
correlation is: based on 158 experi- development is the same as employed though the tank oil is a complex mix-
‘mentally measured bubble point pres- by Standing’, ture, it was assumed for the purposes
sures. of 137 independent systems p= f(R, yy 61) (1) of this correlation that » unigue mo-
land is expressed in terms of the There is a wide variety of ways to leeular weight could be assigned to a
usually measured field parameters— combine these parameters; however, given oil. This was designated as the
fash separation gavoil ratio, tank oil in this instance the combination was “effective molecular weight”, and was
‘gravity, foal gas gravity, and reser- made on the basis of Henry’s law’. elated to the oil gravity,
voir temperature. Accordingly, the relationship prow M. = f(0), >
The data were obtained on sys- posed is ‘This empirical relationship was
tems. produced in Canada, Western Pe = 3.Ft (2) developed simultaneously with the
and Mid-Continental United States, Although Eq. 2 defines an individual correlation by assuming values of M.
dand South America. The average er~ system, itis of limited value since H’ and working to obtain a smooth
ror (algebraic) in the representation is 2 function of gas-phase composi- curve for both the correlation and
is 38 per cent, and the maximum er- tion and the system temperature. _ the effective molecular weight. The
vor encountered is 14.7 per cent. Te was observed that for the sys- relationship between the oil gravity
tems where the bubble point was and the effective molecular weight
INTRODUCTION ‘measured at several temperatures that used in this correlation is shown in
the ratio of the bubble point pres- Fig. 1
In the absence of experimentally sures and the ratio of the correspond- The effective molecular weight is
‘measured properties of reservoir ing absolute temperatures (°R) were somewhat higher than the molecular
fluids, it is often necessary for the practically identical, Thus, for cor weight of the C,, fraction. The dif-
field engineer to make estimates re- relation purposes the bubble point ference between these values is larg-
garding the fluid properties based on pressure may he taken as a direct est for the low-gravity systems. It is
the usually measured producing pa- function of the absolute temperature. noted that this effective molecular
rameters, To aid in these estimations, This relation is valid only for those
various correlations have appeared in systems that are not near the critical
the literature in recent yeats. Among point. Accordingly, this correlation
the pertinent properties of interest is will be inadequate for systems in the
the bubble point pressure. A correla- region of the critical point,
tion for this parameter has been re- The solubility of the various hy-
ported by Standing’. However, this drocarbons found in the gas phase
correlation was based essentially on increases with the molecular weight.
California produced crudes and this Thus, the saturation pressure should
tation was pointed out with its be inversely related 10 the gas grav-
presentation. The correlation pre- ity.
sented in this paper utilized data on Applying these principles to Fa, 2
i
Grade oil stems from Canada, Wese ond rearanging erm Bs
——— (wn)
Cece see ee ae ”
Gelcetitte seste AS 2 BAC The variables on the left side of von ota
ESHER Petcin Stes tine gees Bq, 3 were designated as the “bub- ye, 1 Evescne Mouacosan Water
‘iekeeoce piven at end of paper. ble point pressure factor”. Retarep to Tank Ott Caaviny
MAY. 1980 SPE 957-Gweight relationship corresponds
closely to that given for crude oil
systems with a UOP characterization
factor’ of 11.8,
‘The relationship between the bub-
ble point pressure factors calculated
from the experimental data and the
{gas mol fraction is shown graphically
in Fig. 2. Representative values of
the curve are given in Table 1. Since
the representation of Fig. 2 is not a
linear function of the variables,
is not a constant. Thus, simple
analytical expression was not ob
tained, and itis necessary to rely on
the graphical representation of Fig
2 to obtain p, from 3%.
The bubble point pressure for @
agiven gas-oil system may be obtained
from the correlation by the utili
tion of Figs. 1 and 2. The effective
molecular weight is established from
the crude oil gravity, Fig. 1, and the
ga5 mol fraction is obtained from the
following equation,
ene vout rn ne = [
tt ccoye
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‘Prussune Factor
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‘The value of the gas mol fraction
is applied in Fig. 2 to obtain the
bubble point pressure factor. The
bubble point pressure is calculated
by use of the following equation
po = PME 859.6) yy
w
The 158 experimentally deter-
‘mined bubble point pressures of the
137 independent crude oil systems
were compared with the values pre-
dicted by the correlation. This com-
parison showed an algebraic devia
tion of 3.8 per cent. Approximately
21 per cent of the data points show
4 deviation of 0.5 per cent, and 80
per cent have a deviation of less
than 6.5 per cent, The maximum er-
ror encountered was 14,7 per cent.
‘The ranges of the field measured
parameters covered in this correla
tion were as follows
‘This correlation was based on sys-
tems essentially free of non-hydro-
carbon material. The presence of
Jarge amounts of nitrogen, carbon
ionide, hydrogen sulfide, ete., will
result in the predicted bubble point
being low. The following is given as
a guide to the effect of the presence
(of non-hydrocarbon materials,
earaatt
A ealculation chart has been pre-
pared based on this correlation that
permits rapid graphical evaluation of
the predicted bubble point. This cal-
culation chart is shown in Fig. 3.
‘The error distribution using the eal-
culation chart is essentially the same
as found for the correlation.
CONCLUSION
‘The correlation is generally appli-
cable to a large number of producing
areas and provides a rapid method of
estimating the bubble point pressure
of crude systems with a reasonable
degree of accuracy.
NOMENCLATURE
t
‘ye = total gas gravity (air
function
19)
‘yo = tank oil specific gravity
Y
‘H = specific Henry's law constant
(independent of gas com-
position and temperature)
reneral Henry’s Jew constant
fective molecular weight of
tank oil
rn, = mols of gas
1, = mols of tank oil
ol fraction of gas
bubble point pressure, psia
ps
>; = bubble point pressure, factor
R= total flash separation gas-oil
ratio, eu F/bbl (measured
at 60°F)
tank oil gravity, “APL (cor-
rected to 60°F)
1 = temperature, °F
T= absolute temperature, *R
,
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author is indebted to C. A.
Connally and L. G. Sharp for their
many helpful suggestions pertaining
to the phase behavior of fluids, and
to the Magnolia Petroleum Co, for
permission to publish this work
REFERENCES
1 Standing, M. Bs Drill, and Prod,
Prac, APL (1987) 25
Hoougen, 0. A, and, Watson, K. M.
Chemical Process Principles, John
Wiley & Sons, Ine, N.Y. (1943) 1,
M6.
3. Watson, KM, and Murphy, 6, F.
Ind. Engr. Chem. (1938) 27, 1460
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