Abstract
Over the past decade, heavy oil has been the focus of some important high-level activity in exploration and EOR research. In the practice of this industry, we are often faced with the problem of how to produce and transport heavy oil more effectively. This study presents an experimental technique in measuring heavy oils at high pressures and high temperatures, followed by analysis of the existing correlations and application of mixing rules technique in predicting the viscosities. This study is divided into two categories. The first part was done by using a mercury capillary viscometer. A heavy oil sample (over 2,000 cp at standard condition) and three synthetic oil samples were analyzed at a range of temperatures up to about 350°F. The results were compared to the existing correlations. This effort showed that all correlations' constants have to be tuned to match the experimental results. Our further analysis examined how to apply mixing rules in predicting viscosity of heavy oil and its mixtures. The second part of this study evaluated the same heavy oil sample with water mixtures. This research was done to predict the in-situ rheological behavior of heavy oil emulsions that always occurs in water or steam flooding processes. It is shown that there is no existing correlation or even mixing rule method that can predict the rheological behavior of these types of emulsions.
Setiadarma, Agustinus (2002). Rheological behavior of heavy oil and water mixtures at high pressures and high temperatures. Master's thesis, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /ETD -TAMU -2002 -THESIS -S48.