FLUID SAMPLING

Fluid sampling is the techniques to collect sample of fluid by different techniques from
subsurface or from surface to check PVT properties of fluid.

Importance:
An enormous range of reservoir fluids exists, and this means that the limited measurements of
produced oil and gas properties that can be made in the field are far from adequate to provide the
detailed characterization that modern petroleum engineering requires. In addition to PVT
analysis, of fundamental importance to reservoir management, measurements relating to
corrosion potential, solids formation, and nonhydrocarbon constituents have the potential to
produce serious effects on:

The design of production facilities

Compatibility with pipeline transport
Product sales value
Refinery maintainance costs
Reservoir asset values in general

Fluid samples are thus required to enable advanced physical and chemical analyses to be carried
out in specialized laboratories. Samples must be collected from a wide range of locations such
as:

Separators
Pipelines
Tanks
Wellbores
The formation

Reservoir fluid sampling and fluid properties measurement is a very difficult technique , which
has different errors like instrument error, human error and the performance of people, so the
scope for errors is very significant. The overriding challenge in fluid sampling is that of ensuring
that the fluid entering the sample container is representative of the bulk fluid being sampled. It is
equally important that the sample remains representative during handling and storage, until all
required measurements have been completed. Although thorough sample-checking procedures
can identify some of the most obvious problems, there is never absolute certainty that the fluid
under study is truly representative of the reservoir fluid. On occasion, laboratory measurements
can show that a fluid is definitely not representative (e.g., saturation pressure is significantly
higher than reservoir pressure), but even here the problem could lie with errors in field
measurement data rather than with the samples themselves.
Sampling activities in cased-hole wells, pressurized samples are also obtained with formationtest tools in openhole wells. Here, contamination by mud filtrate or excessive pressure decrease

(drawdown) during sampling means that it may not be possible to obtain quality PVT samples.
Contamination by oil-based mud (OBM) is especially problematic. Sampling from tanks or
pipelines also requires that care be taken to ensure that the fluid is representative of the location
or condition required to be studied.
Not only may errors in the field mean that samples are not fully representative of the reservoir
fluid, but even good fluid samples may be studied under invalid conditions. Pressure and
temperature errors can influence measurements and their interpretation, but it is especially errors
in gas/oil ratio (GOR) that can have a major influence on a PVT study.
One of the principal variables in reservoir-fluid sampling is the type of reservoir fluid present.
This is rarely known with certainty and, in exploration wells, may be completely unknown at the
start of testing. Determining the exact nature of a reservoir fluid is, of course, a key objective of
sampling and laboratory study.
Although the shape of the phase diagram is specific to the actual fluid composition, it is the
reservoir temperature compared to the temperature Tc of the critical point (Tc determines if the
fluid is an oil or a gas). When the reservoir temperature is lower than Tc, the fluid is an oil and
will exhibit a bubblepoint when pressure is reduced into the two-phase region. If the reservoirfluid temperature is above Tc, the fluid is a gas and will either show gas/condensate behavior and
a dewpoint on pressure reduction or, if the reservoir temperature is also above the
cricondenthermTt, the fluid will behave as a one-phase gas with no liquid formation in the
reservoir on pressure reduction. If the fluid exists in the reservoir at or close to its critical
temperature, it is classified as a critical or near-critical fluid. These fluids exhibit neither
bubblepoint nor dewpoint, but on pressure reduction into the two-phase region, they immediately
form a system comprising large proportions of both gas and liquid (e.g., 60% gas and 40% liquid
by volume).

Types of sampling:

Surface Sampling
Subsurface Sampling

Surface Sampling:
Sampling at surface conditions allows for exact control of sample taking from surface and does
not put any restrictions on sample volumes. If the same gas/oil ratio (GOR) value is obtained
during several or all flow rates, one has a strong indicator for representative samples. Separator
sampling is the best method for a reservoir fluid close to or at the saturation pressure (either
bubble point or dew point). A special case exists where there is a gas/oil contact in the reservoir.
Perforations across the contact will give samples at the surface that can be recombined based on
the pressure in the contact and not in agreement with the measured GOR .When sampling
downstream of the choke manifold, the well fluid has been subjected to severe conditional
changes. The Joule Thompson effect (cooling due to pressure changes) at the choke manifold
can result in a large volume of liquid drop out. This can be followed by considerable heating in a

heat exchanger. These excessive changes in conditions are not conducive to obtaining good
equilibrium and representative fluid samples.
In the test separator, there is also a temperature and pressure change that will influence the
equilibrium composition of the gas and liquid phases. Heat exchangers can be used to prevent
hydrate formation when flowing gas condensates to surface. If inhibitors need to be used, glycol
is often preferred to methanol as it has less effect on the measurement of fluid properties. The
validity of recombined separator products is dependant upon separator design and efficiency,
flow-rate measurement, and sampling technique. Low liquid flow rates are difficult to measure
and often result in a reduced GOR accuracy. Tank measurements may be more accurate than
meter readings in the case of low flow rates.

Subsurface Sampling:
Also known as downhole sampling.The most important success factor for obtaining
representative reservoir fluid samples is to maintain the fluid in single phase during sampling and
transfer. This can be accomplished by accurately controlling the sample drawdown pressure and
keeping it above the saturation pressure and as close to the reservoir conditions as possible,
eliminating the need for a lengthy and sometimes flawed transfer process on surface.
For some fluids, the saturation pressure increases with decreasing temperature and therefore,
nonrepresentative fluid samples would be collected.
Clean up of the sampled fluid is essential to remove soluble contaminants such as oil-based mud
(OBM) filtrate and hydrate inhibitors. When the reservoir is saturated, or if the pressure is close
to the saturation pressure, obtaining representative single-phase bottomhole samples is difficult if
not impossible. Any production with its associated drawdown will cause the producing reservoir
pressure to drop below the fluids saturation pressure yielding two-phase flow. During short flow
periods (such as bottomhole sampling), some liquid may remain in the reservoir, resulting in
unrepresentative fluid samples. A similar problem can occur when transferring the bottomhole
samples at surface for transportation to a laboratory for analysis. Small amounts of nonsolubilized gas or liquid can potentially adhere to the sample chamber walls (wall wetting) and
will significantly affect the volumetric properties (and measured saturation pressure). Infrared,
capacitive, and density sensors can be installed in the transfer line to verify if the sample is in
single phase. These sensors may also give an indication of the liquid fraction in a gas sample.

Other Fluid Sampling Techniques:

Nonpressurized hydrocarbon fluid sampling
Sampling of reservoir fluids is key to understanding a reservoir and planning surface and
subsurface equipment and facilities. While many samples are collected downhole or at
the surface while the fluids are still pressurized, may also be gained from samples collected at
atmospheric pressure (nonpressurized).
Its depend on us wheter we want to collect it in reservoir or at surface by using different
equipments. Atmospheric hydrocarbon samples also may be collected from pressurized lines or
from samples collected in pressurized chambers, such as downhole samples. Usually, this will
involve the release of gas and the collection of oil or condensate. Because the separation

procedure that releases gas is dependent on the temperature and pressure (which may be above
atmospheric if the liquid is collected in a closed trap), the properties of samples collected in this
way may vary. Also, because the fluid in a sample chamber may already be in two-phase
condition, liquid from the entire sample should be collected to minimize uncertainty in the
sample quality.
Sampling from tanks is complicated by the need to collect samples from various depths to allow
for any property changes or segregation that may exist.

Oilfield water sampling

Oilfield waters are often referred to as brines, especially when they contain significant quantities
of dissolved salts. They also frequently contain dissolved gases and may contain small quantities
of the heavier hydrocarbons found in oils. Water can be present in a surface separator during
production, either from liquid water in the zone being tested or by condensation from water
vapor in the produced gas, or possibly from both. Water from aquifers or seawater may also need
to be analyzed in connection with water-injection activities.
The analysis of oilfield waters has a wide range of applications, including identifying the origin
of produced water, characterizing aquifer properties, interpreting wireline-log measurements,
predicting formation damage from water incompatibility, investigating scaling tendencies in
surface and downhole equipment, monitoring fluid movement in reservoirs, identifying the
presence of bacteria, evaluating disposal options and environmental compliance, and predicting
and monitoring corrosion.
If samples are to be collected for the measurement of trace components, biological species, or
reactive chemicals that are likely to be affected by storage, container material, or ambient
conditions, on-site analyses should be considered. API RP45 lists the following measurements
that should be carried out immediately in the field after sampling and filtering oilfield waters:
pH
Temperature
Alkalinity
Dissolved Oxygen
CO2
H2S
Total and soluble iron
Turbidity on an unfiltered sample
Total suspended solids and washing performed in the field

Surface sampling is commonly used to obtain a sample of formation water from a sampling
valve at the wellhead or another sampling point. A plastic or rubber tube can be used to transfer
the sample from the sample valve into the container.

Companies Offer Fluid Sampling Services:

BakerHughes, Halliburton, Schlumberger, SGS, Pall Corporation, Datacan, DOW Chemical
company.