Volumetric Behavior of Condensate and Gas From a Louisiana Field - II

The formation volume and the relative volume of the liquid phase of mixturesof condensate and gas from five different parts of a field in the Louisianaarea have been established experimentally. These studies includedgas-condensate ratios as high as 25,000 cu ft/bbl at pressures up to 5,000 psi.The gravities of the tank condensates were between 53.9' and 63.9' API. The compositions of the condensate and gas samples investigated arepresented in tabular form. The formation volume, the relative volume of theliquid phase, and the specific volume of the mixtures are available. A roughcorrelation of the formation volume as a function of pressure, temperature, andgas-condensate ratio has been presented. This correlation is consideredapplicable only to the range of conditions covered in this investigation forsystems of similar nature and composition. Introduction Often a knowledge of the influence of temperature, pressure, and relativequantities of condensate and gas upon the volumetric behavior of fluids from agiven field has been employed in estimating the conditions existing in thereservoir. The early work of Beecher and Parkhurst and the more recent studiesof the Dominguez and San Joaquin Valley Fields are examples of experimentalstudies of this character. Correlation of the volumetric behavior of naturallyoccurring hydrocarbon mixtures has proved to be feasible at low gas-condensateratios for fluids from a single geographic area. Progress is being made in theprediction of the volumetric behavior of distillate systems at highgas-condensate ratios and pressures. However, the estimation of the retrogradedew-point pressure still remains uncertain and probably can best be establishedby experiment. For this reason it appears of interest to make availableexperimental information about the volumetric behavior of mixtures ofcondensate and gas from five different parts of a single field. This materialshows a rough similarity to data for mixtures of condensate and gas from SanJoaquin Valley Fields. In the present paper, no attempt has been made to coordinate the availableinformation on the volumetric behavior of fluids from condensate fields. Itappears hopeful that progress can be realized by the utilization of recentlydeveloped equations of state. However, the primary problem in any suchcorrelation is the proper identification of the components and constituents ofnaturally occurring systems. T.P. 3233