Marhoun’s Correlation

Marhoun (1988) used 160 experimentally determined bubble-point pressures from the
PVT analysis of 69 Middle Eastern hydrocarbon mixtures to develop a correlation for
estimating pb. The author correlated the bubble-point pressure with the gas solubility Rs,
temperature T, and specific gravity of the oil and the gas. Marhoun proposed the
following expression:

𝑝𝑏 = 𝑎 ∗ 𝑅𝑠𝑏 ∗ 𝛾𝑔𝑐 ∗ 𝛾𝑜𝑑 𝑇 𝑒

where T = temperature, °R
γo = stock-tank oil specific gravity
γg = gas specific gravity
a–e = coefficients of the correlation having the following values:
a = 5.38088 × 10^(−3) b = 0.715082
c =−1.87784 d = 3.1437
e = 1.32657

The reported average absolute relative error for the correlation is 3.66% when compared
with the experimental data used to develop the correlation.
 Petrosky-Farshad

Petrosky and Farshad (1993) used a nonlinear multiple regression software to develop a
gas solubility correlation. The authors constructed a PVT database from 81 laboratory
analyses from the Gulf of Mexico crude oil system. Petrosky and Farshad proposed the
following expression:

112.727 ∗ 𝑅𝑠0.577421
𝑝𝑏 = − 1391.051
𝛾𝑔0.8439 ∗ 10𝑥
With
𝑥 = 7.916 ∗ 10−4 ∗ 𝐴𝑃𝐼1.5410 − 4.561 ∗ 10−5 ∗ 𝑇 1.3911

Where pb is the bubble point pressure in psia, and T the temperature in °F

The authors concluded that the correlation predicts measured bubblepoint pressures
with an average absolute error of 3.28%.
 Assignment

For data in the file PVT data chap 4 :

1. Calculate Bubblepoint pressure for each sample using the 5 known correlations
(Standing, Vasquez-Beggs, Glaso, Marhoun and Perosky-Farshad
2. For each sample, calculate the relative error and format the value in percentage (Error
= (Correlation’s value – Measured value)/Measured value
3. Calculate the average error on the 6 samples (In EXCEL use the function AVERAGE if
english version or MOYENNE if french version)
4. Interpreting this values, what is in your opinion the correlation with the best
accuracy? Do you think that correlation will always have the best accuracy no matter
what is the oil sample?