Quality Assessment and Consistency Evaluation of Hydrocarbon PVT Data

摘要

Hydrocarbon PVT data are used for a wide range of reservoir engineering applications including early volumetric assessment, well test evaluation, material balance calculations, and equation of state fluid characterization. High quality, accurate PVT data can reduce uncertainty in reservoir fluid properties, provide a sound foundation for reservoir engineering studies, and improve investment efficiency. Poor quality PVT data can result in lost time due to rework and additional studies, inadequate or overly aggressive development plans, and inefficient investment. While acquiring sufficient volumes of representative reservoir fluid samples is the first step in obtaining reliable PVT data(1), understanding and identifying the quality of the PVT data once obtained from the laboratory is essential to ensuring that data are applied appropriately. A number of techniques exist that can be applied to evaluate PVT data quality and significant experience in using these techniques has been gained over the years. Examples and illustrations of evaluating data quality for fluid compositions and flash data, oil PVT data, and gas condensate PVT data are provided.