Review of Bubble Point Pressure and Oil Formation Volume Factor Correlations for Libyan Crude Oils

Abstract

Accurate determination of the crude oil PVT properties is essential for solving many reservoir engineering, production engineering, and surface production and operational problems. This paper attempts to evaluate several well-known empirical PVT correlations for Libyan crude oils and to define the most suitable correlations to estimate bubble point pressure and formation volume factor. Sixty-three individual crude oil samples representing 478 PVT data points from different Libyan oil fields were used in this study. Although no correlation provides a perfect answer all over the range, a few of them can be considered as giving a reasonably good bubble point pressure and oil formation volume factor estimation for our database. The PVT correlations can be placed in the following order with respect to their accuracy: (1) for bubble point pressure, Khazam (1995), Standing (1947) and Valkó and McCain (2003); (2) for FVF at bubble point pressure, Khazam, Shalk and Alkhaboli (2016), Vasquez and Beggs (1980), Farshad, Leblanc and Garber (1996) and Khazam (1995); 3) for FVF below bubble point pressure, Khazam (1995), Khazam, Shalk and Alkhaboli (2016) and Glaso (1980). The effective use of these correlations lies in the understanding of their development and the knowledge of their limitations.