Journal of Petroleum Geology, vol.
26
(
4
), October
2003
, pp
479
-
488
Copyright 2003 by Scientific Press Ltd. All rights reserved.
THE DISTRIBUTION OF LIGHT HYDROCARBONS IN WESTERN NIGER DELTA OILS
C. I. Eneogwe
*1
*CTOP - NIGERIA, P.O.Box 6046, San Ramon, CA., 94583-0946, USA.
1Present address: Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited, Geochemistry Laboratory, Qua
Iboe Terminal, 3225 Gallows Road, Fairfax VA 22037-0002, USA.
email: [email protected]
Fifty-one oils from ten fields in the Western Niger Delta were analyzed for their C7
hydrocarbon contents. Hierarchical Cluster Analysis and Principal Component Analysis
were used to discriminate the oils into four sets which were distinct in all the seven variables
used in the cluster analysis. Methylcyclohexane and toluene were the most important
discriminating variables. In spite of this separation into four sets, all the oils were found
to exhibit a high six-ring preference (6RP). The distribution of C7 hydrocarbons in the oils
indicated that two of the eleven fields are homogenous in terms of oil type, whereas the
rest are not.