SCI和EI收录∣中国化工学会会刊

›› 2017, Vol. 25 ›› Issue (7): 976-982.DOI: 10.1016/j.cjche.2016.11.014

• Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics • Previous Articles    

Viscosity profile prediction of a heavy crude oil during lifting in two deep artesian wells

Yibo Li1, Hao Gao1, Wanfen Pu1, Bing Wei1, Yafei Chen1, Dong Li1, Qiang Luo2   

  1. 1 State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China;
    2 Research Institute of Experiment and Detection, Xinjiang Oilfield Company, PetroChina, Karamy 834000, China
  • Received:2016-04-05 Revised:2016-11-28 Online:2017-08-17 Published:2017-07-28
  • Supported by:
    Supported by the National Key Science & Technology Projects during 13th Five-Year Plan (2016ZX05053-003) and Young Scholars Development fund of SWPU (201499010121).

Viscosity profile prediction of a heavy crude oil during lifting in two deep artesian wells

Yibo Li1, Hao Gao1, Wanfen Pu1, Bing Wei1, Yafei Chen1, Dong Li1, Qiang Luo2   

  1. 1 State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China;
    2 Research Institute of Experiment and Detection, Xinjiang Oilfield Company, PetroChina, Karamy 834000, China
  • 通讯作者: Wanfen Pu,E-mail address:pwf58@163.com;Bing Wei,E-mail address:wei@swpu.edu.cn
  • 基金资助:
    Supported by the National Key Science & Technology Projects during 13th Five-Year Plan (2016ZX05053-003) and Young Scholars Development fund of SWPU (201499010121).

Abstract: It has been known that the productivity of artesian wells is strongly dependent on the rheological properties of crude oils. This work targets two deep artesian wells (>5000 m) that are producing heavy crude oil. The impacts of well conditions including temperature, pressure and shear rate, on the crude oil rheology were comprehensively investigated and correlated using several empirical rheological models. The experimental data indicate that this heavy oil is very sensitive to temperature as result of microstructure change caused by hydrogen bonding. The rheological behavior of the heavy oil is also significantly impacted by the imposed pressure, i.e., the viscosity flow activation energy (Eμ) gently increases with the increasing pressure. The viscosity-shear rate data are well fitted to the power law model at low temperature. However, due to the transition of fluid feature at high temperature (Newtonian fluid), the measured viscosity was found to slightly deviate from the fitting data. Combining the evaluated correlations, the viscosity profile of the heavy crude oil in these two deep artesian wells as a function of well depth was predicted using the oilfield producing data.

Key words: Heavy oil, Rheological properties, Empirical correlation, Viscosity profile predication, Lifting process, Artesian well

摘要: It has been known that the productivity of artesian wells is strongly dependent on the rheological properties of crude oils. This work targets two deep artesian wells (>5000 m) that are producing heavy crude oil. The impacts of well conditions including temperature, pressure and shear rate, on the crude oil rheology were comprehensively investigated and correlated using several empirical rheological models. The experimental data indicate that this heavy oil is very sensitive to temperature as result of microstructure change caused by hydrogen bonding. The rheological behavior of the heavy oil is also significantly impacted by the imposed pressure, i.e., the viscosity flow activation energy (Eμ) gently increases with the increasing pressure. The viscosity-shear rate data are well fitted to the power law model at low temperature. However, due to the transition of fluid feature at high temperature (Newtonian fluid), the measured viscosity was found to slightly deviate from the fitting data. Combining the evaluated correlations, the viscosity profile of the heavy crude oil in these two deep artesian wells as a function of well depth was predicted using the oilfield producing data.

关键词: Heavy oil, Rheological properties, Empirical correlation, Viscosity profile predication, Lifting process, Artesian well