Early Identification of Contaminants and Flow Assurance Issues in Complex Reservoir Fluids through Thermodynamic Modeling Analysis

Reservoir fluid samples offer key information for subsurface engineers to determine the hydrocarbon in place and make a plan of field development with better reservoir management, especially for complex fluids with contaminants. It also helps surface facilities engineers design production facilities, evaluate flow assurance, asset integrity, contaminants analyses, product sales value, and most importantly health, safety, and environment. Therefore, early identification of contaminants and flow assurance issues are required to achieve efficiency in the management of reservoir fluids in oil and gas production. This paper proposes a methodology based on thermodynamic modeling analysis and a novel quality check method to identify the contaminants and flow assurance issues as early as possible.

The increasing complexity of hydrocarbon fluids requires comprehensive phase behavior analysis to identify potential issues due to the presence of complex fluid mixtures and contaminants. The approach integrates thermodynamic principles, quality checks laboratory data using novel methods, and advanced analytical techniques through PVT fluid characterization to predict and assess the behavior of complex reservoir fluids.

The results demonstrate the ability of thermodynamic modeling analysis in the early identification of contaminants and flow assurance challenges. The methodology enables proactive decision-making, optimizing production operations, and reducing downtime associated with contaminant issues.