High Precision Fluid Sampling for Gas Condensate Reservoirs and Facilities Concept Development

Abstract

Fluid sampling and accurate PVT characterization is an important part of any field development planning and its long term management. Accurate characterization of the fluid gives confidence to project economics and can help avoid big losses due to improper facilities design and forecasting. In the oil & gas industry there is a lack of understanding in the requirements for high precision sampling for impurities and analytical methodologies to accurately characterize gas condensate for facilities design. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the current industry sampling best practices and define a new workflow for reliable gas condensate and impurities characterization for facilities development during the exploration/delineation phase of a field's life. The proposed methodology is significantly impacted by reservoir fluid saturation pressure relative to the static reservoir and flowing bottomhole pressures. It allows better profiling of complex gas condensate impurities such as H2S, and its sulfur intermediate species like polysulfides and elemental sulfur, volatile organic sulfur species such as mercaptans and carbonyl sulfides, and as well as Mercury, Arsenic, Benzene Toluene, Ethylbenzene and Xylene (BTEX), water, solids, N2, CO2, He, Radon. The application of the new proposed workflow provides accurate and reproducible PVT data sets for reservoir studies and facilities design.