Gas Condensate PVT

A worked example to estimate

1. Condensate and gas recovery
from a gas condensate reservoir
produced by depletion
2. CGR as a function of reservoir
pressure

The calculations use results from CCE and

CVD experiments.
The results assume no aquifer influx and
ignore the effect of rock and water
compressibility.
They also assume that the condensate phase
is immobile in the reservoir. This is a
reasonable assumption for almost all gas
condensate fluids (except in the near-well
region, and this does not affect ultimate
recovery).
 Statement of problem
Initial reservoir pressure = 5000 psig
Estimate the fractional recovery of oil
and condensate, assuming that the
reservoir pressure at abandonment =
1200 psig.
Define recoveries in terms of
volumes at standard conditions.
Assume that the condensate is
the C6+ fraction of the reservoir
fluid.
Which data have the most impact on
liquid recovery and gas recovery?
Estimate the producing CGR as a
function of reservoir pressure.
PVT data for this problem are taken
from the 3rd SPE Comparative Solution
Project
 PVT Data - CCE

Dew point pressure = 3428 psig

Pressure Relative Z-factor

psig volume
6000 0.8045 1.129
5500 0.8266 1.063
5000 0.853 0.998
4500 0.8856 0.933
4000 0.9284 0.869
3600 0.9745 0.822
3428 1 0.803
 PVT Data - CVD
Pressure (psig) 3428 3000 2400 1800 1200

Wellstream produced
(cumulative %) 0 9.095 24.702 42.026 59.687
Liquid volume (%) 0 15 19.9 19.2 17.1
Equilibrium gas Z-factor 0.803 0.798 0.802 0.83 0.877

Equilibrium gas composition

N2 1.21 1.24 1.27 1.31 1.33
CO2 1.94 2.13 2.24 2.27 2.2
H2S
C1 65.99 69.78 72.72 73.98 73.68
C2 8.69 8.66 8.63 8.79 9.12
C3 5.91 5.67 5.46 5.38 5.61
iC4 2.39 2.2 2.01 1.93 2.01
nC4 2.78 2.54 2.31 2.18 2.27
iC5 1.57 1.39 1.2 1.09 1.09
nC5 1.12 0.96 0.82 0.73 0.72
C6 1.81 1.43 1.08 0.88 0.83
C7+ 6.59 4 2.26 1.46 1.14

C7+ molecular weight 140 127 118 111 106

C7+ specific gravity 0.774 0.761 0.752 0.745 0.74

Assume that C6 MW = 86, and C6 SG = 0.659

 Calculating recovery
factors above Pdew
First consider depletion from initial
reservoir pressure (5000 psig) to dew
point pressure (3428 psig), using the
CCE data.
The reservoir fluid will be single phase
gas during this period.
The CCE data shows that the relative
volume at 5000 psig is 0.853 times the
volume at dew point.
1 res.bbl. of reservoir fluid at 5000 psi
expands to 1/0.853 = 1.172 bbl at 3428
psig.
At 5000 psig, the fractional recovery is
0.172 / 1.172 = 14.7%. This figure
applies to all components in the
reservoir fluid.
 Calculating recovery
factors below Pdew
Now consider depletion from dew point
pressure (3428 psig) to abandonment
pressure (1200 psig), using the CVD
data.
The reservoir fluid will be two- phase
during this period.
The recoveries need to be calculated by
summing over each step in the CVD
analysis.
Calculating gas recovery
factors below Pdew
For gas, we can base the recovery
factors on the number of lb moles, as
this is proportional to the volume at
standard conditions.
CVD data are based on 1 lb mole of
reservoir fluid at Pdew. This contains
(1-0.0181-0.0657) = 0.9162 lb moles of
surface gas. (i.e. all components except
C6 and C7+)
The number of lb moles of surface gas
produced during the depletion from
3428 psi to 3000 psi is
Dnp{1-yC6+}= 0.09095(1-0.0143-0.0400)
And during the depletion from 3000 psig
to 2440 psig it is
(0.24702-0.09095)(1-0.0108-0.0226)
 Calculating gas recovery
factors
Starting with 1 lb mole of reservoir fluid
at Pdew, the amount of surface gas
produced during the depletion from 3428
psi to 1200 psi is
Dnp{1-yC6+}= 0.5792 lb moles

The fractional recovery of surface gas by

depletion from 5000 psig to 1200 psig is
then
0.147 + 0.853 * 0.5792 / 0.9162 = 68.6%

below Pdew

Above Pdew
Calculating condensate recovery
factors below Pdew
Need to convert CVD composition data (in
lb moles) to surface volumes. This volume
is given by (no of lb moles) * MW /
density.
CVD data are based on 1 lb mole of
reservoir fluid at Pdew. This contains
Dnp{yC6 MWC6 / rC6 + yC7+ MWC7+ /rC7+}=
0.0181*86/(62.5*0.659) +
0.0659*140(62.5*0.774) = 0.229
cu ft of surface condensate.
The amount of surface condensate
produced during the depletion from 3428
psi to 3000 psi is
Dnp{yC6 MWC6 / rC6 + yC7+ MWC7+ /rC7+}
= 0.0125 cu ft.
 Calculating condensate
recovery factors

Starting with 1 lb mole of reservoir

fluid at Pdew, the surface condensate
produced during the depletion from
3428 psi to 1200 psi is
Dnp{yC6 MWC6 / rC6 + yC7+ MWC7+ /rC7+}
= 0.0418 cu ft.

The fractional recovery of surface

condensate by depletion from 5000 psig
to 1200 psig is then
0.147 + 0.853 * 0.0418 / 0.229 = 30.3%

Above Pdew
below Pdew
 Depletion recoveries

Recovery factors from depletion, no water influx

100%
Surface gas (volume)
90%
Surface oil (volume)
80%
C1
Recovery factors

70% C2
60% C3
C4's
50%
C5's
40%
C6
30% C7+ (moles)
20%
10%
0%
6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0
abandonment pressure (psig)
Which PVT data affect gas
and condensate recovery
factors?
Key data for gas recovery are the
relative volumes above dew point, and
the wellstream produced data from the
CVD.
Condensate recovery depends on the
gas recovery, and also on the C6+ mole
fractions in the produced gas.
The liquid saturations during the CVD
(liquid drop out curve) are not relevant
they are not used in the recovery
calculations.
 CGR calculation

The CGR can be estimated from the

equilibrium gas compositions in the CVD.
From 1 lb mole of equilibrium gas, the
surface gas volume is
(1-yC6 -yC7+)RTstd/Pstd cu ft
The surface condensate volume is
(yC6 MWC6 / rC6 + yC7+ MWC7+ /rC7+) cu ft

At a reservoir pressure of 3428 psig,

Surface gas volume =
0.916*10.732*520/14.7 = 347.74 cu ft
Surface oil volume = 0.229 cu ft
CGR = 117 stb/MMscf
 Condensate Gas ratio of
equilibrium gas

Calculated oil gas ratio - assumes surface oil = C6+

140

120

100
OGR (bbl/MMscf)

80

60

40

20

0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000
pressure (psia)