(222d) Uncertainty in Sour Gas Viscosities Estimation

Viscosity of natural gases is necessary in most petroleum engineering calculations.   Some of these calculations are design of pipeline and calculation of gas flow rate through reservoir rock.  Usually the gas properties are measured in laboratory. Occasionally, experimental data become unavailable and it is estimated from equations of state or empirical correlations.

 Natural gases containing CO₂ or H₂S the so-called acid/sour gases are often encountered in the petroleum industry.  However, reliable estimate of their thermo-physical properties in reservoir conditions, on viscosity in particular, are available.  From a modeling point of view, H₂S and carbon dioxide (CO₂) are polar compounds and as such are often considered rather difficult to model accurately.

In this project viscosity data of natural gases containing large amount of H₂S and/or CO₂ are collected.  These data are used to study the reliability and range of application of the industry standard methods and the newly published ones.    Finally the data bank is used to develop a new correlation to predict viscosity of the sour/acid gases containing considerable amounts of H2S and/or CO2.