Study of the effect of temperature and gas condensate addition on the viscosity of heavy oils

Abstract

Abstract Heavy and extra heavy oils have been the focus of attention since the conventional oil reserves are becoming more scarce in the world. To explore and process these oils is a challenging task because of their high viscosity and high density, which can lead to many problems during their flow and processing. In this study, the effect of temperature and gas condensate addition over the dynamic viscosity of four Brazilian heavy oils was analyzed with API density varying from 13.7 to 21.6. In addition, the effect of gas condensate addition over the densities of these samples was studied. The elevation of temperature around 20 °C led to levels from 70 to 77% of oil dynamic viscosity reduction. Condensate addition significantly reduced oil viscosities by as much as 98% (in comparison to the crude oil viscosities) in the concentration of 32% (v/v) of condensate. At a condensate concentration of 14% (v/v) the percent viscosity reduction was about 90% for the studied oils, meaning that condensate addition over this value may be unnecessary to reach the desirable objective of reducing the oil viscosity. Additionally, models that represent the influence of temperature and condensate addition over the studied oils were built.