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Measurement of Waxy Crude Properties Using Novel Laboratory Techniques

2000; Linguagem: Inglês

10.2118/62945-ms

Kunal Karan, John Ratulowski, Philip German,

Phase Equilibria and Thermodynamics

Abstract Transportation and production of waxy crude oils poses a variety of challenges including wax deposition, increased viscosity and pressure drop at temperatures below the cloud point, and high re-start pressure for gelled oil in the pipeline at temperatures below the pour point. The driving force for this study is an investigation of live oil transportation through a 600 km long sub-sea pipeline where ambient temperatures range from 0 to 5°C and pressures up to 3000 psia. The design and operation of such a system warrants unique set of input data. Measurement of such data involves the development of novel experimental techniques. In this paper, newly developed experimental techniques and apparatus used for measuring key waxy crude properties is presented. A novel experimental apparatus was used to visually determine live oil pour points at pressures up to 3000 psi. The gel strength measurements for pipeline restart pressures for both dead and live oils were conducted using a model pipeline test (MPT) apparatus. Measurements of the live oil wax appearance temperature (WAT) were performed using a state-of-the-art High Pressure Cross Polar Microscope (HP-CPM) and a laser-based solids detection system.