Viscosity measurement and correlation for oil and its emulsion from Fang oilfield.

Abstract

In petroleum industry, emulsion, a mixture of oil and produced water can be formed from oil recovery. It is found in many processes such as production, pipeline transportation and separation. This emulsion can result in several problems in handling facilities and separation. Viscosity and stability of emulsion are the key parameters to transport and separate oil and water to meet sales specification. Therefore, the objectives of this work are to measure the viscosity of emulsion and to evaluate the stability of emulsion of light oil from Fang oilfield in Thailand. The parameters of this study are temperature, shear rate and water cut ranging from 50 to 80 °C, 3.75 to 60 s-1and 0 to 60%, respectively. Also, the droplets of oil and water are investigated to evaluate the stablity of emulsion. These effects of parameters on viscosity and stability of emulsion are required to design the process and to increase oil production. The results shows that viscosity decreases as temperature and shear rate increase and water cut becomes lower. Droplet sizes at different shear rates are also investigated. Droplet sizes become smaller when high shear rate applies and emulsion becomes more stable. Furthermore, correlations are developed to predict the visocisty and stability of the oil and emulsion from Thailand.