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1
Components of Naturally
Occurring Petroleum Fluids

The naturally occurring petroleum deposits which the petroleum

engineer encounters are composed of organic chemicals. When the
chemical mixture is composed of small molecules, it is a gas at normal
temperatures and pressures. Table 1-1 gives the composition of typical
naturally occurring hydrocarbon gases.
When the mixture contains larger molecules, it is a liquid at normal
temperatures and pressures. A typical crude oil contains thousands of
different chemical compounds, and trying to separate it into different
chemicals is impractical. Therefore, the crude oil normally is separated
into crude fractions according to the range of boiling points of the
compounds included in each fraction. Table 1-2 gives a list of the typical
fractions which are separated from crude oil.
Crude oils are classified chemically according to the structures of the
larger molecules in the mixture. Classification methods use combinations
of the words paraffinic, naphthenic, aromatic, and asphaltic. For
instance, crude oil which contains a predominance of paraffmic mole-
cules will yield very fine lubricating oils from the gas-oil fraction and
paraffm wax from the residuum. On the other hand, if the larger
molecules are aromatic and asphaltic, the heavier fractions of the crude
oil are useful for pitch, roofing compounds, paving asphalts, and other
such applications.
Liquids obtained from different petroleum reservoirs have widely
different characteristics. Some are black, heavy, and thick, like tar,
while others are brown or nearly clear with low viscosity and low
specific gravity. However, nearly all naturally occurring petroleum
liquids have elemental analyses within the limits given in Table 1-3.