Phase Envelope Calculations for Reservoir Fluids in the Presence of Capillary Pressure

Abstract

Abstract Reservoir fluids are multicomponent mixtures in confined spaces, where the role of capillary force becomes important when the average pore size is on the order of tens of nanometers, such as in tight rocks and shale. We present an algorithm for calculating the phase envelope of multicomponent mixtures in the presence of capillary pressure. The algorithm uses a rigorous equation of state (EoS) model, such as the Soave-Redlich-Kwong EoS, for phase equilibrium, and the Young-Lapace equation for the capillary pressure. The interfacial tension is calculated using a parachor based model. A full Newton method is employed to solve the governing equations of the vapor-liquid equilibria coupled with the capillary pressure equation. For a stable and automatic construction of the phase envelope sensitivity analysis is used in each step. The developed algorithm can reliably generate not just the bubble and dew point curves but also other quality lines with vapor fractions between 0 and 1. The algorithm has been used to calculate the phase envelopes of binary, multicomponent and reservoir fluid systems for pore radius from 10 to 50 nm. The presence of capillary pressure changes the saturation pressures in the whole phase envelope except at the critical point. The bubble point curve shows a negative change while the dew point curve shows positive and negative changes in the upper dew point branch and the lower dew point branch, respectively. In particular, the cricondentherm is also shifted towards a higher temperature. The change in the phase envelope becomes larger as the pore size decreases. The effects of composition and gas oil ratios are also discussed.