This chapter discusses the fundamentals of the phase behavior of hydrocarbon fluids. Real reservoir fluids contain many more than two, three, or four components; therefore, phase-composition data can no longer be represented with two, three or four coordinates. Instead, phase diagrams that give more limited information are used. The behavior of reservoir of a reservoir fluid during producing is determined by the shape of its phase diagram and the position of its critical point. Many of producing characteristic of each type of fluid will be discussed. Ensuing chapters will address the physical properties of these three natural gas reservoir fluids, with emphasis on retrograde gas condensate gas, dry gas, and wet gas.
Part of the book: Oil and Gas Wells
The enhanced oil recovery phase of oil reservoirs production usually comes after the water/gas injection (secondary recovery) phase. The main objective of EOR application is to mobilize the remaining oil through enhancing the oil displacement and volumetric sweep efficiency. The oil displacement efficiency enhances by reducing the oil viscosity and/or by reducing the interfacial tension, while the volumetric sweep efficiency improves by developing a favorable mobility ratio between the displacing fluid and the remaining oil. It is important to identify remaining oil and the production mechanisms that are necessary to improve oil recovery prior to implementing an EOR phase. Chemical enhanced oil recovery is one of the major EOR methods that reduces the residual oil saturation by lowering water-oil interfacial tension (surfactant/alkaline) and increases the volumetric sweep efficiency by reducing the water-oil mobility ratio (polymer). In this chapter, the basic mechanisms of different chemical methods have been discussed including the interactions of different chemicals with the reservoir rocks and fluids. In addition, an up-to-date status of chemical flooding at the laboratory scale, pilot projects and field applications have been reported.
Part of the book: Geophysics and Ocean Waves Studies
An equation of state (EOS) is a thermodynamic expression that relates pressure (P), temperature (T), and volume (V). This equation is used to describe the state of reservoir fluids at given conditions. The cubic equations of state (CEOS) such as Van der Waals, Redlich-Kwong, Soave, and Peng-Robinson are simple models that have been widely used in the oil industry. This chapter expressed literature for EOS that varies from simple expressions to multiple constant and convoluted types of equations. Many attempts have been made to describe the thermodynamic behavior of fluids to predict their physical properties at given conditions. So, several forms of the equation of state have been presented to the oil industry in order to calculate reservoir fluid properties. The heat exchanger is important in wildly fields as in aerospace, petrochemical industry, refrigeration, and other fields. The optimization design of the heat exchanger is a great significance to industry process to reduce production cost, realize energy conservation, and reduce energy consumption.
Part of the book: Inverse Heat Conduction and Heat Exchangers
One of the essential parameters in carbon dioxide (CO2) miscible flooding is the minimum miscibility pressure (MMP). Minimum miscibility pressure (MMP) is defined as the lowest pressure at which recovery of oil is (90–92%) at injection (1.2 PV) of carbon dioxide (CO2). The injected gas and oil become a multi-contact miscible at a fixed temperature. Before any field trial, minimum miscibility pressure (MMP) must be determined. This parameter must be determined before any field trial because any engineer needs a suitable plan to develop an injection and surface facilities environment. Estimation of reliable (MMP) maybe by traditional laboratory techniques, but it is very costly and time-consuming. Also, it can rely on various literature (MMP) empirical correlations, but this is not a good strategy because each minimum miscibility pressure (MMP) correlation relates to a unique formation condition.
Part of the book: Enhanced Oil Recovery