Abstract
Crude oil viscosity is one of the most important fluid properties that affects fluid flow behavior; either in pipeline hydraulics or in the porous media (reservoir). Viscosity is a vital physical property that plays a major role in the petroleum industry, the production processing and transportation of oil due to influence on the flow through porous rock, oil wells, multiphase flow through tubing and piping system. Therefore, the need for accurate determination of viscosity for oil and gas applications cannot be overemphasized. Numerous empirical correlations exist in literature for predicting crude oil viscosity but their accuracy is limited based on range of conditions of application, composition of the crude used in developing the correlation, specific range of data and experimental conditions. In the present work, experimental data of oil viscosity from different samples of Nigerian oil reservoirs were statistically compared with correlation predicted viscosity using the most common viscosity empirical correlations. Validity and accuracy of these empirical models has been confirmed for both saturated and under-saturated Niger Delta oil samples. It was observed that for under-saturated oil viscosities, Elshawarky & Alikhan’s correlation gave a better prediction based on the Absolute average percentage error and standard deviation while for the case of saturated oil viscosities Chew and Connally proved to be the closest to the experimental results.
Highlights
Fluid sampling is a vital aspect of the petroleum engineering
The purpose of this study is to provide a comparative analysis of existing saturated and under-saturated oil viscosity correlations to determine an accurate oil viscosity correlation that can best fit the oil viscosity conditions in the Niger Delta
Correlations within the range of coefficient of determination between 0.9-1 and correlations developed for Niger Delta were selected for further evaluation using statistical tools. 10 correlations were selected for under-saturated oil viscosity and 9 were selected for saturated oil viscosity
Summary
Fluid sampling is a vital aspect of the petroleum engineering. Fluid sampling enables the understanding of the behaviour of various reservoir fluids as they exhibit distinct behaviour based on their composition/properties. Viscosity is an important aspect of fluid sampling as it affects the fluid flow behaviour. Viscosity is generally known as an intensive property of a fluid that causes an internal resistance of the fluid to flow[1]. A Newtonian fluid is a vital physical property that plays a major role in the petroleum industry, the production processing and transportation of oil due to its influence on the flow through porous rock, oil wells, multiphase flow through tubing and piping system[12]. Crude oil viscosity plays a major controlling and determining role in the successful implementation of secondary recovery process, EOR processes and reservoir simulation modeling. Optimum reservoir management and sound design facilities is hinged on reliable evaluation of viscosity data[1]
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