A reservoir fluid is a mixture of hundreds of components existing at conditions where its phase behaviour is highly sensitive to pressure and temperature. As it is produced, that mixture moves from reservoir conditions to separator conditions and finally to stock tank conditions, splitting into gas and liquid phases whose compositions change at every stage. The engineering description of this process is what PVT analysis provides.

The measurement chain begins with a sample, and this is where most PVT problems originate. A subsurface sample taken from a well flowing below its bubble point is not representative because the gas and liquid entering the sampler are not in the proportions present in the reservoir. Surface samples recombined at an incorrect gas-oil ratio give a fluid with the wrong bubble point. Contamination with oil-based mud alters the composition and the measured properties. A laboratory can only report the properties of the sample it received, and a great deal of PVT data in use throughout the industry was measured on samples that were not representative of the reservoir fluid.

From a validated sample the laboratory produces a set of studies that describe the fluid under the depletion and separation processes it will experience. Converting those measurements into the form engineering calculations require involves further choices: which correlation to use when laboratory data is absent, whether a black oil description is adequate or a compositional model is required, how to characterise the plus fraction, and how far an equation of state may be tuned before it stops representing physics and starts fitting numbers. Each of these choices has consequences that show up much later, usually in a material balance that will not close or a facility that produces the wrong split. This course covers the chain end to end.

By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

• Classify reservoir fluids from composition, production data and phase behaviour
• Design fluid sampling programmes and select between subsurface and surface sampling methods
• Assess sample validity, representativeness and contamination
• Interpret the standard laboratory PVT studies and quality check a laboratory report
• Apply empirical correlations for oil, gas and water properties within their valid ranges
• Calculate gas properties including pseudo-critical parameters, compressibility factor and viscosity
• Build and tune an equation of state model to laboratory measurements
• Characterise the heavy fraction and apply component lumping appropriately
• Generate black oil tables and determine when a compositional description is required
• Apply PVT data correctly in reservoir, production, facility and allocation calculations

Organisations sending participants to this training will:

• Improve the quality of fluid data underpinning reserves, forecasts and facility design
• Design sampling programmes that produce representative samples the first time
• Detect unrepresentative samples and inconsistent laboratory reports before they enter calculations
• Reduce errors in material balance, volumetrics and allocation traceable to fluid properties
• Specify laboratory programmes that deliver what the engineering actually requires
• Improve facility and separator design through better prediction of surface yields

Participants will:

• Read and quality check a PVT laboratory report with confidence
• Design and supervise a fluid sampling programme
• Select and apply correlations appropriately and know when they should not be used
• Build and tune equation of state models
• Recognise when a black oil description is inadequate
• Apply fluid properties correctly across reservoir and production engineering

• Reservoir engineers and petroleum engineers at all levels
• Production engineers dealing with well performance and separation
• Process and facilities engineers designing separation and processing systems
• Petrophysicists and geoscientists working with fluid data
• Laboratory and fluid specialists working with operating companies
• Reserves and evaluation staff relying on fluid property data
• Graduate engineers building a fluid properties foundation

Upon successful completion of this training course, delegates will be awarded an official Certificate of Completion issued by the Petroleum Engineers Association (PEA), an ISO 9001:2015 certified training organization. The certificate carries 10 Credits and formally records the total learning hours completed.

Each certificate is signed by the Course Facilitator and the CEO of the Petroleum Engineers Association, and serves as verifiable proof of professional training that delegates can present to employers and professional bodies worldwide.