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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database
AAPG Bulletin
Abstract
AAPG Bulletin, V.
Hydrocarbon-water interfacial tension values at reservoir conditions:
Inconsistencies in the technical literature and the impact on maximum oil and gas column
height calculations
Steven J. O'Connor1
1Diligenz Ltd., P.O. Box 148, New Plymouth, New Zealand; email: [email protected]
AUTHORS
Steven O'Connor is a petroleum consultant and director of Diligenz Limited, based in New Plymouth, New Zealand. He has more than 25 years of international industry experience with Conoco, Amoco, and Fletcher Challenge Energy. He graduated with a B.Sc. (hons) in geology from the University of Leicester in 1974, is a Chartered Geologist and Fellow of the Geological Society of London, and is a Certified Petroleum Geologist with the AAPG.
ABSTRACT
The ability to estimate the maximum possible column height of
potential
oil and gas accumulations is extremely valuable in hydrocarbon exploration. The
techniques
used
generally focus on the sealing capacity of the trap, in particular the
relationship of the capillary entry pressure of the sealing strata to the buoyancy force
of the hydrocarbons, and the resistance to seal failure by mechanical means, such as
fracturing. The study of faults as seals or conduits also incorporates these analytical
techniques, although their use is far from straightforward.
In this paper I focus on the issue of the appropriate subsurface value
of hydrocarbon-water interfacial tension, as used
in the capillary pressure
equations
that
define maximum hydrocarbon column heights. It appears from the literature on the subject
that there are major discrepancies, depending on the source, that have an extremely
important bearing on oil and gas column height calculations and the subsequent conclusions
so derived. Published models that use a widely accepted technique for calculating
interfacial tension of oil-water in the subsurface estimate, for example, that gas column
length will exceed oil column length at depths of greater than around 10,000 ft (3048 m).
Other published approaches suggest the opposite. In addition, the former technique
virtually precludes the existence of oil at reservoir temperatures in excess of 270ºF
(132ºC), yet documented fields exist at this temperature that contain significant oil
columns. The resolution of these issues is of (Begin page 1538)
paramount importance for exploration geologists, particularly as the search for
hydrocarbons is being carried out at increasingly deeper levels.
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