Evaluation of Asphaltene Instability and a Chemical Control During Production of Live Oils

Abstract

In this study, the propensities of reservoir fluids sampled from South America to precipitate asphaltenes under realistic production conditions of pressure, temperature and/or composition (e.g. lift gas operation and chemical treatment) were evaluated. Novel techniques, namely a laser-based solids detection system (SDS) and a high pressure microscopy (HPM) coupled with in-house imaging software package for particle size analyses, have been simultaneously used to measure and compare the incipient conditions for precipitation of asphaltenes from live oils as well as the associated morphological and size distribution changes. The combination of qualitative information such as particle morphology and quantitative data such as particle size distribution was particularly very valuable in evaluating the effectiveness of Asphaltene Inhibitors (AI).

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Shell Global Solutions (US) Inc. and DBR Research Inc. for permission to publish the work. We would also like to thank Nick Fuex and Sheila Dubey of Shell Global Solutions, Kurt Schmidt, Craig Borman, Mark Kennedy, Terry Sopkow and Ryan Jacobsen of DBR Research Inc. for their contributions to the study. The authors especially acknowledge Dr. John Ratulowski of DBRR for his many insightful comments.