Description
In reservoir studies, from material balance calculations to simulation, fluid properties are always required to estimate in place volumes, EOR (Enhanced Oil Recovery) potential, and the transport parameters that interact with the flow. The variations of PVT (Pressure-Volume-Temperature) properties during depletion phase are also needed to evaluate the reservoir performance and to design surface and subsurface facilities. In general fluid properties are central to almost all the applications in the form of input.
In recent years, rising number of offshore projects has made the modeling of reservoir fluid properties even more important. In addition to behavior of the fluids at reservoir/wellbore conditions, behavior of the fluids at sub-sea conditions is also needed for modeling/flow assurance. Some of the frequently encountered key issues are:
1. Sampling issues (near-saturated fluids, contamination and quality)
2. Laboratory and measurement related issues
3. Modeling issues (Equation of State, lean condensates, near critical fluids and integrated fluid characterization)
Fluid properties (or PVT properties) play important role in petroleum engineering applications. In field-wide modeling, near-critical fluids, compositional variations from well to well/cluster to cluster, and EOR applications pose challenging problems for fluid property modeling. The final goal of a successful “PVT program” is to represent/model the reservoir fluid from reservoir to refinery with a single set of adjustable parameters (modeling consistency).
