SPE 64284
Compressibility Factor for Sour Gas Reservoirs
Adel M. Elsharkawy and Ali Elkamel
College of Engineering and Petroleum
Kuwait University, P.O. Box 5969, Safat 13060, Kuwait
SPE members
Copyright 2000, Society of Petroleum Engineers, Inc.
This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2000 SPE Asia Pacific Oil & Gas
Conference and Exhibition held in Brisbane, Australia, 16-18, October 2000.
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Abstract
This paper presents the initial stage of an effort aimed at
developing a new correlation to estimate pseudo critical
properties for sour gas when the exact composition is not
known. Several mixing rules and gas gravity correlations
available in the literature are first evaluated and compared.
The evaluation is performed on a large database consisting
of more than 2000 samples of sour gas compositions
collected worldwide. Several evaluation criteria are used
including the average absolute deviation (AAD), the
standard deviation (SD), the coefficient of correlation, R,
and cross plots and error histograms. The mixing rules
include: Kay’s mixing rule combined with Wichert-Aziz
correlation for the presence of non-hydrocarbons, SSBV
mixing rule with Wichert and Aziz, Corredor et al. mixing
rule, and Piper et al. mixing rule. These methods, in one
form or another, use information on gas composition. Three
different other methods that are based on gas gravity alone
were also analyzed. These are: Standing, Sutton, and
Elsharkawy et al. gas gravity correlations. While the
methods based on knowledge of composition showed
reasonable accuracy, those based on gas gravity alone
showed weak accuracy with low correlation coefficients. A
new gas gravity correlation that is based on the fraction of
non-hydrocarbons present in the sour gas was proposed.
Preliminary results indicate that a good improvement over
past gravity correlations was achieved. The compositional
correlations, still show, however, better accuracy. Research
is still going on to come up with more accurate correlations
that are based on only readily available descriptors.
Introduction
Gas compressibility factor is involved in calculating gas
properties such as formation volume factor, density,
compressibility, and viscosity. All these properties are
necessary in the oil and gas industry for evaluating newly
discovered gas reservoirs, calculating initial and gas
reserves, predicting future gas production, and designing
production tubing and pipelines.
The industry standard is to measure gas properties, Pressure-
Volume-Temperature (PVT), in laboratory using reservoir
samples1. The draw back is that these isothermally measured
PVT data is applicable at measured pressured and reservoir
temperature. Calculation methods such as correlations and
equations of state are used to predict properties at other
pressures and temperatures. Also, laboratory analyses for
PVT behavior are sometimes expensive and time
consuming. Correlations, which are used to predict gas
compressibility factor, are much easier and faster than
equations of state. Sometimes these correlations have
comparable accuracy to equations of state. Predicting
compressibility factor for sour gases is much more difficult
than that of sweet gases. Therefore, several attempts have
been made to predict compressibility factor for sweet gases2-
4
. Wichert and Aziz5 presented corrections for the presence
of hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide for determining
compressibility factor of sour gases.
Because there is no exact method for predicting the PVT
behavior of natural gases several approximations have been
proposed. The most common method is to use one of the
forms of the principle of corresponding states6,7. In this
form, gas compressibility factor is expressed as a function of
pseudo reduced pressure and temperature (Ppr,Tpr). Standing
and Katz8 (SK) presented a chart for determining gas
compressibility factor based on the principle of
corresponding states. The SK chart was prepared for binary
mixtures of low molecular weight sweet gases. Several
mathematical expressions fitting the SK chart, have been
proposed to calculate the gas compressibility factor9-15.
Evaluation of these methods by Takacs16 and Elsharkawy et
al.17 concluded that Dranchuk-Abou-Kassem12 (DK)
correlation is the most accurate representation of SK chart.
When dealing with gas mixtures, the mixture critical
pressure (Ppc) and temperature (Tpc) are required. Critical
properties of natural gas are calculated from either gas
composition or gas gravity. Several mixing rules have been
proposed to calculate mixture critical properties of natural
2 ADEL M. ELSHARKAWY AND ALI ELKAMEL
gases. Among these methods, Kay’s2 mixing rule and
Stewart-Burkhardt-Voo3 (SBV) are the most widely used.
Kay’s mixing rule is simple and provides an accurate
determination of gas compressibility factor for sweet gases
of low molecular weight. Satter and Campbell18 evaluated
several mixing rules for calculating properties of natural
gases. They concluded that Stewart-Burkhardt-Voo rule
known as SBV provided the most satisfactory results,
especially for gases of high molecular weight. Sutton4
studied the performance of several mixing rule for
calculating compressibility factor for gas condensates that
contain a large amount of heptane plus fraction. He
modified SBV mixing rule to account for the presence of
heptane plus in the natural gases.
Standard laboratory analysis gives composition of natural
gases through hexane and lump components heavier than
hexane in a heptane plus fraction known as C7+. Critical
properties of pure components are well documents, Table
(1). The critical properties of the C7+ fraction are, however,
calculated from correlations using molecular weight and
specific gravity of the heptane plus19-26. Whitson27 and
Elsharkawy et al.17 reviewed several methods for calculating
pseudo critical properties of the heptane plus fraction.
Whitson27 recommended that Kesler-Lee20 (KL) correlation
to be used to estimate critical properties of C7+. However,
Elsharkawy et al. 17 found that Lin-Choa24 (LC) and Kesler
Lee20, respectively, with SSBV mixing rule and DK
correlation are the best combination to determine gas
compressibility factor for gas condensate reservoirs.
Composition of natural gases, from which pseudo critical
properties are computed, is not always available. Therefore,
correlations relating pseudo critical pressure and
temperature to gas gravity are used. Standing1 presented
correlation of pseudo critical properties to gas gravity based
on low molecular weight California natural gases. His
correlation has the following form:
Ppc = 706 - 51.7 γg - 11.1 γg2 (1)
Tpc = 187 + 330 γg - 71.5 γg2 (2)
Standing indicated that his correlation works only when
there is no non-hydrocarbon gases present in the natural gas.
Sutton4, working with PVT reports of high molecular weight
gases which are rich in heptane plus, developed the
following correlation:
Ppc = 756.8 - 131.0 γg - 3.6 γg2 (3)
Tpc = 169.2 + 349.5 γg - 74.0 γg2 (4)
The gases that were used to develop Sutton’s gas gravity
correlation are mostly sweet gases. These gases have minor
amount of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, and no hydrogen
sulfide. Using a large data bank of retrograde gases,
Elsharkawy et al.17 presented another correlation for gas
condensates. The latter correlation covers heavier gases than
that used in Sutton’s and have a minor amount of hydrogen
sulfide. Elsharkawy et al. gas gravity correlation has the
following form:
Ppc = 787.06 - 147.34 γg - 7.916 γg2 (5)
Tpc = 149.18 + 358.14 γg - 66.976 γg2 (6)
SPE 64284
Thus there is a need for correlation relating gas gravity to
pseudo critical properties for sour gases.
This study has two objectives. The first objective is to
evaluate the previously published methods of calculating gas
compressibility factor for sour gases. The second objective
is to develop a correlation to estimate pseudo critical
properties from gas gravity for sour gas when composition is
not available.
Gas data bank
One of the main objectives of the current work is to evaluate
the previously published methods of calculating gas
compressibility factors of sour gases using either gas
composition or gas gravity. The best test to evaluate such
methods is the accuracy with which these methods
approximate reliable experimental data. The data bank used
in this study comprises measurements of two thousand and
one hundred and six gas compressibility factor for sour
gases. Some of these data have been collected from the
literature28-33. These measurements cover a pressure range
from 90 psi to 12,000 psi, a temperature range from 40 οF to
327 οF, and a wide range of molecular weights from 16.4 to
55 (gas gravities from 0.566 to 1.895). A complete
description of the data bank is reported in Table (2).
Calculating gas compressibility factor when
composition is known
When gas composition is available, pseudo critical
properties are calculated using a given mixing rule. In order
to calculate the pseudo-critical properties of natural gas
mixtures, critical properties of the heptane plus fraction
must be computed. In this study, Kesler-Lee20 (KL) method,
equations (7) and (8), are used to calculate critical properties
of the C7+.
Pc = exp [8.3634 - 0.0566/γ - ( 0.24244 + 2.2898/γ +
0.11857/γ2).10-3.Tb + (1.4685 + 3.648/γ + 0.47227/γ2)
.10-7.Tb2 - (0.42019 + 1.6977/γ2 ).10-10.Tb3 ] (7)
Tc = 341.7 +811. γ + (0.4244 + 0.1174. γ). Tb +
(0.4669 - 3.2623. γ) .105 / Tb (8)
The KL method correlates critical properties as a function of
boiling point and specific gravity. However, laboratory
reports normally provide only the specific gravity and
molecular weight of the heptane plus fraction. Whitson28
has presented an equation for estimating boiling point (Tb)
from molecular weight (M) and specific gravity (γ) of the
heptane plus fraction.
Tb = (4.5579. M0.15178 γ0.15427 )3 (9)
In this study, Kay’s mixing rule, Stewart-Burkhardt-Voo
(SBV) mixing rule as modified by Sutton (SSBV) are
considered.
Kay’s2 mixing rule, based on molar weighted average
critical properties, has the following form:
Ppc = ∑ yi Pci (10)
SPE 64284 COMPRESSIBILITY FACTOR FOR SOUR GAS RESERVOIRS 3

Tpc = ∑ yi Tci (11) + β7 (yc7+ Mc7+)2 (29)

Stewart-Burkhardt-Voo3 (SBV) proposed the following
mixing rule for high molecular weight gases.
J = (1/3) [ ∑ yi (Tc/Pc)i ] + (2/3) [ ∑ yi (Tc/Pc)i0.5 ]2
K = ∑ [yi (Tc / Pc 0.5)i]
Tpc = K2/J
Ppc = Tpc /J
If the natural gas contains heptane plus fraction, Sutton4
modification of SBV (SSBV) is used.
Where yi ∈{yH2S,yCO2 , yN2} and yj ∈{yC1,yC2 , ... ,yC6} and α
and β are constants. The difference between Corredor et al.
method and Piper et al. method is that each method has
(12) different values for α and β. To calculate the pseudo critical
(13) properties of the gas condensate, Corredor et al. and Piper et
(14) al. used the weight fraction of the C7+ rather than the critical
(15) properties. Thus, they eliminate the need to characterize the
heptane plus fraction. They also eliminated the corrections
needed for presence of acid gases, equations (23) through
(25).

Fj = (1/3)[ y (Tc/Pc) ]c7+ + (2/3)[ yi (Tc/Pc)i0.5 ]2c7+ (16) The gas compressibility factor (Z) is computed from DK
Εj = 0.6081 Fj + 1.1325 Fj 2 - 14.004 Fj yc7+ correlation using reduced pressure (Pr) and reduced
+ 64.434 Fj yc7+2 (17) temperature (Tr) as follows:
Ek = (Tc/Pc0.5)c7+ [ 0.3129 yc7+ - 4.8156 yc7+2
+ 27.3751 yc7+3 ] (18) Z = 1 + (A1 + A2/Tr + A3/Tr 3 + A4/Tr 4 + A5/Tr 5 ) ρr + (A6
J′ = J - Ej (19) + A7/Tr + A8/Tr 2 ) ρr2 - A9 (A7/Tr + A8/Tr 2 ) ρr5 + A10 (1 +
K′ = K - Ek (20) A11 ρr2 ) .( ρr2/Tr 3 ) exp (-A11 ρr2 ) (30)
Tpc = K′2/J′ (21)
Ppc = Tpc /J′ (22) Where ρr = 0.27 [Pr / ZTr ] (31)

Equations (10) and (11) or (12) through (22) provide critical The constants A1 through A11 in equation (30) are as
properties for sweet natural gas systems. For sour gases, follows:
these equations must be corrected for the presence of non-
hydrocarbon components. The method proposed by Wichert A1 = 0.3265 A2 = -1.0700 A3 = -0.5339
and Aziz5 is used to correct the pseudo critical properties of A4 = 0.01569 A5 = -0.05165 A6 = 0.5475
natural gases to the presence of these non-hydrocarbon A7 = -0.7361 A8 = 0.1844 A9 = 0.1056
components. The correction factor is given below : A10 = 0.6134 A11 = 0.7210

∈ = 120. (A0.9 - A1.6 ) + 1.5 (B0.5 - B4) (23)
Where the coefficient A is the sum of the mole fraction of
H2S and CO2 and B is the mole fraction of H2S in the gas
mixture. The corrected pseudo critical properties Ppc′ and
Tpc′ are:
Because the gas compressibility factor appears on both sides
of DK’s correlation, equation (30), an iteration solution is
necessary. Newton-Raphson method is used which has the
following iteration formula:
Zn+1 = Zn - ( fz/ f′z ) (32)

Tpc′ = Tpc - ∈ (24) Where Zn+1 and Zn are the new and old values of gas
Ppc ′ = Ppc Tpc′ / [Tpc + B (1-B) ∈ ] (25) compressibility factors, fz is the function described in
equation (30), and f′z is its derivative.
Reduced pressure (Ppr) and reduced temperature (Tpr) are
calculate from pressure (P) and temperature (T) of interest Calculating gas compressibility factor when
and critical properties of the natural gas (Ppc ′, Tpc′) by the composition is unknown
following relationship: When gas composition is not available, the compressibility
factor is computed via estimating the critical properties from
Ppr = P/ Ppc ′ (26) gravity correlations. In this section, the accuracy with
Tpr = T/ Tpc′ (27) which gas gravity correlations, equations (1) through (6),
reproduced the experimentally measured gas compressibility
Recently, Corredor et al.34 , and Piper et al.35 proposed a factor is evaluated. Although Standing gas gravity
mixing rule similar to SBV rule, equations (12) and (13). correlations, equations (1) and (2) were prepared to estimate
However, they treated the non-hydrocarbons and the C7+ critical properties of sweet low molecular gases, it is
plus fraction differently. Their mixing rule has the following important to know the magnitude of the error that results
form: from using that correlation. The accuracy of the gas gravity
correlations developed by Sutton, equations (3) and (4), and
J = α0 + ∑αi yi (Tc/Pc)i + α4∑yj (Tc/Pc)j + α5[∑ yi (Tc/Pc)i ]2 Elsharkawy et al. given in equations (5) and (6) are also
+ α6 (yc7+ Mc7+) + α7 (yc7+ Mc7+)2 (28) studied in this section.

K = β0 +∑βi yi (Tc/Pc0.5)i+ β4 ∑yj (Tc /Pc0.5)j

+ β5 [∑ yj (Tc/Pc 0.5)j]2 + β6 (yc7+ Mc7+)
4 ADEL M. ELSHARKAWY AND ALI ELKAMEL
Results and Discussion
The accuracy of four different methods for the calculation of
gas compressibility factor for sour gases is discussed in this
section. The first method is Kay’s mixing rule with Wichert-
Aziz correction for the presence of non-hydrocarbons. The
second is SSBV-Wichert and Aziz. The third is Corredor et
al. method. The last method is Piper et al. Table (3) shows
the accuracy of these methods. Piper et al. and Corridor et
al. have the best accuracy. Both of these methods account
for the presence of heptane plus and non-hydrocarbons.
Piper et al. methods has average absolute deviation (AAD)
of 1.21% and standard deviation (SD) of 1.92% and
coefficient of correlation (R) of 99.10%. SSBV-Whichert
and Aziz shows the highest errors and the lowest correlation
coefficient.
Figures (1) through (4) show the error distribution for the
four methods considered in this study. Kay-Wichert and
Aziz method, Figure (1), Coredor et al. method, Figure (2),
and Piper et al. methods, Figure (4) have comparable error
distribution. However, Piper et al. method has the smallest
error range and the highest frequency of zero error. SSBV-
Wichert and Aziz method, Figure (2) has a wider error range
and smaller frequency of error distribution around zero error
line comparing to the other methods.
The accuracy of calculating gas compressibility factor for
sour gases using gas gravity when gas composition is
unknown is shown in Table (4). Standing gas gravity
correlation, equations (1) and (2) has an average absolute
deviation (AAD) of 3.50% and standard deviation (SD) of
6.78%. Sutton gas gravity correlation, equations (3) and (4),
has AAD of 3.47% and SD of 7.14. Elsharkawy et al. gas
gravity correlation, equations (5) and (6), shows AAD of
3.48% and SD of 7.30%. All of these gas gravity
correlations have similar correlation coefficients. The reason
for the low accuracy of these correlations is that Standing
gas gravity correlation was prepared for sweet gases. Sutton
gas gravity correlation was prepared for heavy gases rich in
C7+ with minor amounts of hydrocarbons. The latter gas
gravity correlation is applicable for gases that have no
hydrogen sulfide and with a nitrogen content less than 12%
and a CO2 content less than 3%36. Elsharkawy et al. gas
gravity correlation was prepared from data on gas
condensate that has a significant portion of hydrogen sulfide
and carbon dioxide, however, the concentration of the acid
gases is not comparable with the sour gases used in this
paper.
New gas gravity correlation
One of the objectives of the this study is to start the
development of a new correlation to estimate pseudo critical
properties from gas gravity for sour gas when composition is
not available. Using large data bank of sour gas system,
inferred pseudo critical pressures and temperatures are
calculated from experimentally measured gas
compressibility factors using DK equations. The first
attempt was to correlate these inferred pseudo critical values
to gas gravity for sour gases. Figure (5) shows that pseudo-
critical pressures of sour gases are not strongly correlated to
total gas gravity. In order to improve the correlations it was
attempt to study the effect of non-hydrocarbon component
on pseudo-critical properties. Figure (6) shows that pseudo-
SPE 64284
critical pressures are highly correlated to the percentage of
non-hydrocarbon gases. The percentage of non-hydrocarbon
component is expressed as molecular weight of non-
hydrocarbon components divided by the total molecular
weight of the gas. This percentage can also be related to
non-hydrocarbon gas gravity (γ2) divided by total gas gravity
(γg). Pseudo critical temperature, however, is strongly
dependent on total gas gravity, Figure (7). Therefore, it was
found that best correlation of pseudo-critical properties to
gas gravity can be achieved by considering both the
hydrocarbon and non-hydrocarbon portions of gas gravity
as follows:
Pc = 193.941 -131.347 γg + 217.144 γ1/γg + 1060.349 γ2/γg
+344.573 (γ1/γg)2 -60.591 (γ2/γg)2 (33)
Tc = 195.958 206.121γg + 25.855 γ1/γg - 6.421 γ2/γg
+ 9.022 (γ1/γg)2 + 163.247 (γ2/γ g)2 (34)
The new gas gravity correlation presented in this study has
smaller error range than the other correlations. Correlating
critical properties to the amount of hydrocarbon and non-
hydrocarbon gases, equation (33) and (34), improves the
accuracy of the proposed correlation. Among the gas gravity
correlations considered in this study, the new correlation
shows the smallest AAD (1.69%), the least SD (3.22%), and
the highest correlation coefficient (97.66%). However, The
standard deviation is still high.
Figures (8), (9), and (10) show the absolute error percentage
in estimating gas compressibility factor from gas gravity
correlations is highly dependent on the amount of CO2 and
H2S present in the sour gas. An error as high as 50% in gas
compressibility factor occurs if these gas gravity
correlations are used to estimate the gas compressibility for
sour gases. Figure (11) shows first smaller error level in
calculating gas compressibility factor using the new gas
gravity correlation than the other correlations. Second, the
error is not dependent on the amount of CO2 and H2S
present in the sour gas. Figure (12) shows a crossplot of
measured and calculated gas compressibility factor using the
new gas gravity correlation for the sour gases used in this
study. The figure illustrates that most of the data fall on the
45o parity line. Therefore, calculating the gas
compressibility factor for sour gases from pseudo-critical
pressure and temperature estimated from total gas gravity
correlations has some limitations. The major limitation is in
the process of correlating gas gravity to pseudo critical
properties. For any gas, there could be an infinite number of
hydrocarbon and other non-hydrocarbon combination. Each
hydrocarbon and non-hydrocarbon component has a unique
pseudo critical property. However, different mixtures can
have different pseudo-critical properties and the same gas
gravity. This is the reason why calculating gas
compressibility factor using gas gravity is not as much
accurate as calculating gas compressibility factor from
composition. Correlating pseudo critical properties to
hydrocarbon portion of gas gravity and non-hydrocarbon
portion have resulted in little improvement of gas
compressibility calculations.
SPE 64284 COMPRESSIBILITY FACTOR FOR SOUR GAS RESERVOIRS
Conclusions
In this paper, several methods of calculating sour gas
compressibility factors were compared. Two classes of
methods were considered: methods that are based on
composition and those that are based on gas gravity alone.
From the methods based on composition, Piper et al. and
Corridor et al. Showed the best accuracy and correlation
coefficient. These methods account for the presence of
heptane plus and non-hydrocarbons. Of the methods based
on gas gravity Sutton and Elsharkawy et al. Methods were
the most accurate. The accuracy of these methods were,
however, poorer than those methods based on composition.
It was decided therefore to study the effect of the presence
of non-hydrocarbons on accuracy. A plot of pseudo-critical
pressure with both gas gravity and non-hydrocarbon gas
gravity was evaluated. It was found that while the
correlation with gas gravity is weak, that with the non-
hydrocarbon gas gravity is strong with a correlation
coefficient more that 0.84. The correlation of pseudo critical
temperature was rather indifferent to the presence of non-
hydrocarbons. A new correlation was then proposed to
account for the presence of non-hydrocarbons without
knowing the compositional details. This correlation is based
on two descriptors: gravity of the gas and gravity of the non-
hydrocarbon portion in the gas. The new correlation
provided a good improvement over past gas gravity
methods. Research is still going on to develop more
improvement strategies.
Acknowledgment
The first author thanks the Kuwait Foundation for the
Advancement of Science (KFAS) for providing financial
support for this study, research grant No. 99-9-09.
Nomenclature
ρr = Reduced density
∈= Wichert and Aziz pseudo-critical
γg = gas specific gravity, (air =1)
γ1 = Hydrocarbon gas specific gravity, (air =1)
γ2 = Non-hydrocarbon gas specific gravity, (air =1)
A = mole fraction (CO2 + H2S)
B = mole fraction H2S
AAPD = Average absolute error
EJ = Sutton SBV parameter, oR/psia
EK = Sutton SBV parameter, oR/psia0.5
ARE = Average relative error
FJ = Sutton adjustment parameter
temperature adjustment parameter, oR
J = SBV parameter, oR/psia
J′ = Sutton parameter, oR/psia
Jinf = Inferred value of J parameter, oR/psia
K = SBV parameter, oR/psia0.5
K′ = Sutton parameter, oR/psia0.5
Kinf = Inferred value of K parameter, oR/psia0.5
M = Molecular weight, lb-mole
MC7+ = molar mass of heptane plus fraction, lb-mole
P = pressure, psia
pc = critical pressure, psia
Ppc = pseudo-critical pressure, psia
5
Ppr = pseudo-reduced pressure
R = correlation coefficient
SD = standard deviation
T = temperature, oR
Tb = normal boiling point temperature, oR
Tc = critical temperature, oR
Tpc = pseudo-critical temperature, oR
Tpr = pseudo-reduced temperature
yC7+ = mole fraction of heptane plus fraction
yi = mole fraction of component, “i”
yi = mole fraction of the i-th component
Z = gas compressibility factor
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23- Riazi, M. R. and Daubert, T. E., Simplify Property
Prediction, Hydrocarbon Processing, March 1980, pp. 115-
116.
24- Lin, H. M. and Chao, K. C., Correlation of critical
Properties and Acentric Factor of Hydrocarbon
Derivatives, AIChE Journal, Vol. 30, No. 6, Nov. 1984, PP.
153-158..
25- Watansiri, S. , Owens, V. H., and Starling, K. E.,
Correlations for Estimating Critical Constants , Accentric
SPE 64284
Factor, and Dipole Moment for Undefined Fractions, Ind.
Eng. Chem. Process Des. Dev., 1985, Vol. 24, pp. 294-296.
26- Pedersen, K. S., Fredensland, Aa. And Thomassen, P.
Advances in Thermodynamics 1, 1989, 137.
27- Whitson, C. H. Evaluating constant-volume depletion
data, JPT, March 83, 610.-620.
28-Simon, R., and Briggs, J. E., Application of Benedict-
webb-Rubin equation of state to hydrogen sulfide mixtures,
AIChE J., Vol. 10, No. 4, July, 1964, 548-550.
29-Robinson , R. L., Jr., and Jacoby, R. H., Better
compressibility factors, Hydrocarbon Processing, Vol. 44,
No. 4, April, 1965, 141-145.
30-Buxton, T. S., and Campbell , J. M., Compressibility
factors for lean natural gas-carbon dioxide mixtures at high
pressures, SPEJ, March, 1967, 80-86.
31-McLeod, W. R., Application of Molecular refraction to
the principle of corresponding states, Ph. D. Thesis,
University of Oklahoma, 1968.
32-Wichert, E., Compressibility of sour natural gases, Ms.
Thesis, University of Calgary, Alberta, 1970.
33- Elsharkawy, A. M., and Foda, S. G.: EOS simulation
and GRNN modeling of the constant volume depletion
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1988, 12, 353-364.
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Compressibility Factors for Naturally Occurring Petroleum
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SPE 64284 DETERMINATION AND PREDICTION OF WAX DEPOSITION FROM KUWAIT CRUDE OILS 7

Table (1) Physical properties of defined components

Component Molecular Critical Critical

weight pressure temperature
psia Deg R
H2S 34.08 1300.00 672.45
CO2 44.01 1071.00 547.45
N2 28.01 493.00 227.27
C1 16.04 667.80 343.04
C2 30.07 707.80 549.76
C3 44.01 616.30 665.68
i-C4 58.12 529.10 734.65
n-C4 58.12 550.70 765.32
i-C5 72.15 490.40 828.77
n-C5 72.15 488.60 845.37
C6 86.18 436.90 913.37

Table 2-Properties of sour gas data used in the study

Min. Ave. Max.

Pressure, psi 90 2900 12,000

Reservoir temperature, F 40 190 327

Composition mole %
Methane 17.27 74.14 97.40
Ethane 0 6.00 28.67
Propane 0 2.56 13.16
iso-Butane 0 0.50 2.61
n-Butane 0 0.84 5.20
iso-Pentane 0 0.35 2.85
n-Pentane 0 0.32 2.09
Hexane 0 0.44 5.30
Heptane plus 0 1.64 17.20
Mw C7+ 98.0 127.0 253.0
γ C7+ 0.72 0.77 0.85
Z-factor 0.402 0.900 1.775
Gas gravity (air=1) 0.566 0.811 1.895
Hydrogen sulfide 0 7.45 73.85
Carbon dioxide 0 4.04 67.16
Nitrogen 0 1.72 25.15
8 ADEL M. ELSHARKAWY, TAHER AL-SHAHAF, MOHAMED A. FAHIM AND WAFAA AL-ZABBAI SPE 64284

Table-3 Accuracy of calculating Z-factor for sour gases using compositional data

Method ARE AAD SD R

Kay- Wichert & Aziz 0.69 1.38 2.13 98.57
SSVB- Wichert & Aziz 0.65 2.14 2.85 97.65
Corredor et. al 0.25 1.36 2.51 98.8
Piper et. al 0.31 1.21 1.92 99.10

Table-4 Accuracy of calculating Z-factor for sour gases using gas gravity equation

Method ARE AAD SD R

Standing -0.81 3.50 6.79 92.08
Sutton -1.72 3.47 7.14 91.43
Elsharkawy et al. -2.25 3.48 7.30 91.23
Current study -0.26 1.69 3.12 97.66

ARE : Average relative error %

AAD : Average absolute deviation %
SD : Standard deviation %
R : Coefficient of correlation
SPE 64284 DETERMINATION AND PREDICTION OF WAX DEPOSITION FROM KUWAIT CRUDE OILS 9

Figure 4–Histogram of error with normal curve (Corredor)

10 ADEL M. ELSHARKAWY, TAHER AL-SHAHAF, MOHAMED A. FAHIM AND WAFAA AL-ZABBAI SPE 64284
SPE 64284 DETERMINATION AND PREDICTION OF WAX DEPOSITION FROM KUWAIT CRUDE OILS 11
12 ADEL M. ELSHARKAWY, TAHER AL-SHAHAF, MOHAMED A. FAHIM AND WAFAA AL-ZABBAI SPE 64284