The Viscosity of Air, Water, Natural Gas, Crude Oil and Its

Associated Gases at Oil Field Temperatures and Pressures

BY CARLTON BEAL, * JUNIOR MENEBER

(Los Angeles Meeting, October 5945; Chicago Meeting, February 1946)

ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION

THIS paper presents useful charts for con- Viscosity is a measure of flow resistance;
version of various viscosimeter units into common units are in centipoises (cp.). The
centipoises and graphically summarizes pub- object of this report is to present conversion
lished investigations of the viscosity of air, charts and simplified correlation charts
water and natural gas at high temperatures showing the viscosity behavior of air, water,
and pressures. Where possible, charts and gas and crude oil and gas-saturated crude
correlations were constructed to cover a range oil under oil field temperatures and pres-
of temperature (60 ° F. to 3oo°F.) and pressure sures, which have been known to be as
(14.7 lb. per sq. in. abs. to 8000 lb. per sq. in. high as 3oo°F. and 8000 lb. per sq. in.
gauge) encountered in oil fields. gauge under subsurface conditions.
Correlation charts, for the purpose of pre-
dicting crude oil viscosity and solubility The viscosity of a liquid or gas is impor-
behavior at oil field temperatures and pres - tant because it is a measure of its fluidity,
sures, were constructed from an analysis and or its ability to flow through pipe lines or
correlation of 1332 viscosity and solubility
observations from 953 crude oil samples taken
oil sands. Viscosity of air has become
from 747 oil fields. Of these fields, 5o1 are important because it is being used in
secondary' , ' recovery projects. The vis-
in the United States, including 75 in California.
Of the 5332 observations, 1215 were viscosity cosity of natural gas and water at reservoir
values, including 786 of gas-free crude oil, conditions is useful because they are almost
351 of oil saturated with gas, and 78 under- universally associated and produced with
saturated with gas at pressures above the crude oil. The viscosity of gas-saturated
bubble point. crude oil at reservoir pressures and tem
peratures is of particular value in making
Results show that crude oil viscosity at estimates of oil reserves' and rate of oil
various reservoir conditions can be predicted recovery from flush pools when production
with average deviations varying from 24.2 per decline data are limited.
cent for gas-free crude oil to as little as 2.7 per
cent for undersaturated crude oil "above the
bubble point." The solubility of crude oil INSTRUMENTS USED T O MEASURE
may be predicted from oil gravity and saturation
V IS C O SI T Y
pressure with an average deviation of 22.0
per cent from observed values. In conc l u s i o n ,
There are many types of viscosimeters, 4
i t i s s h o w n t ha t t he v i s c o s i t y o f a gas and
gas-saturated crude oil may be predicted and the instruments most commonly used
within the accuracy of most reservoir to measure the atmospheric viscosity of
computations. liquids at moderate temperatures and their
practical working ranges have been de-
Manuscript received at the office of the
Institute Nov. 16, 1 9 4 5 . Issued as T.P. 2058 in scribed5,6 in detail. Fig. x and Fig. 2 are
PET ROLE UM TECHNOL OGY, March 1946. viscosity conversion charts which have
* Consulting Petroleum Engineer, Los Ange -
les, California.
94 1
R eferences are at the end of the paper.