Abstract:

The gel point of crude oil is one of the important parameters for oil and gas field development, oil and gas storage and transportation. The conventional method can only measure the gel point of the crude oil free of gas under atmospheric pressure. A new method for measuring the crude oil with dissolved gas under high pressure based on a new measurement principle was proposed. A new instrument of gel point measurement for crude oil with dissolved gas under high pressure was designed. The result measured by the new instrument was compared with that measured by the conventional method. The effect of pressure and solution gas-oil ratio on the gel point of crude oil was studied. Experiments showed that the results measured by the new instrument coincided with that by the conventional method for crude oil free of gas under atmospheric pressure. Under the same solution gas-oil ratio, the gel point of crude oil with dissolved gas increased with pressure, the gel point increased by 0.7℃ with 2.0 MPa pressure increment in the experimental conditions.The gel point of crude oil with dissolved gas decreased with solution gas-oil ratio under the same pressure, the gel point decreased by 1.0℃ with 10.0 m³·m^-3 solution gas-oil ratio increment in the experimental conditions. The result is of importance to the management of waxy oil production and the design for oil and gas storage and transportation.