SPE-184360-MS

Model to Predict the Viscosity of Waxy Crude oil

Promise E. Ketebu, World Bank Center of Excellence, Instutute of Petroleum Studies, University of Port
Harcourt; Joseph J. Ajienka, Department of Petroleum Engineering, University of Port Harcourt; Joel Ogbonna,
World Bank Center of Excellence, Instutute of Petrolem Studies; S. Sunday Ikiensikimama, Department of
Petroleum Engineering, University of Port Harcourt; Austin K. Ukwu, World Bank Center of Excellence, Instutute
of Petroleum Studies, University of Port Harcourt

Copyright 2016, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Nigeria Annual International Conference and Exhibition held in Lagos, Nigeria, 2– 4 August 2016.

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Abstract
Waxy Crude Oils deposit wax at temperatures below the wax appearance temperature (WAT), thus
exhibiting non-Newtonian flow behavior. In this study, the viscosity of waxy crude oils from 20 oil fields
in the Niger Delta were measured for temperatures above and below the WAT using the Cannon-Fenske
viscometer in line with D445 procedure on 112 viscosity data points. Of these total data points, 100 were
used to develop the models and 12 were used to validate and compare the developed correlation with other
correlations. Models for waxy crude oil viscosity and wax appearance temperature were developed using
multiple regression analysis. The input data to the models are pour-point determined in line with ASTM
D97, API obtained with ASTM E126-76 methods. The developed viscosity and WAT models have
average deviations of 5.83% and 2.48% respectively.

Introduction
Viscosity is the resistance to shear or flow in a fluid. It is a measure of the adhesive, cohesive or frictional
property of crude oil as it flows in a production pipeline. Viscosity resulting from internal molecular
friction produces frictional drag effect in the pipeline and thus affects production optimization.
Viscosity is a very important crude oil property required in many engineering calculations like tubing
string design, gas lift design, pipeline design and determination of pressure gradient. So, reliable and
accurate estimate of viscosity over a wide range of temperatures, pressures, wax content, composition,
thermal and shear history in Newtonian and non-Newtonian conditions are required. Waxy crude oil
viscosity can be obtained from a standard laboratory PVT analysis that is run under varying reservoir
conditions (Beggs and Robinson, 1975). However, outside the domain of laboratory PVT analysis, a
mathematical model in the form of PVT correlation is developed to predict the viscosity of waxy crude
oil. The PVT correlation is not only less expensive than the laboratory measurement, but can predict
viscosity within and outside the domain of laboratory PVT analysis.
2 SPE-184360-MS

Literature Review
The earliest technique to estimate the viscosity of crude oil was graphically presented by Beal (1946)
using crude oil samples from Califonia in the United States. He presented two kinds of graphs to correlate
dead oil viscosity, one at 100°F and the other at temperatures above 100°F for API gravity range of 10.1
to 52.5° API and viscosity range of 0.865 to 1550 cP. The viscosity graphs were constructed from 98
samples of dead oil viscosity measured at temperatures above 100°F with an average deviation of 24.2
percent and for over 200 samples of dead oil viscosity conducted at 100°F with average deviation of 29.0
percent. The third graph was used to correlate viscosity of gas-saturated crude oil at reservoir temperatures
and pressures by applying a viscosity reduction factor to the gas free viscosity at 100 °F.
In 1959, Chew and Connally proposed the idea of correlating gas-saturated oil viscosity by adjusting
the dead-oil viscosity correlation to specified pressures as:
1

The correlation was based on a total of 457 crude oil samples from USA, Canada and South America.
The correlation is valid for range of temperatures (72°F to 292°F), pressures (132psia to 5645psia) and
solution GOR at reservoir bubble point (51cuft/scf to 3544cuft/scf). Chew and Connally (1959) showed
that the plot of saturated gas oil viscosity against the dead oil viscosity on a log-log scale is a straight line
for a given solution GOR with intercept, log A, and slope, b. These values of intercept and slope were
presented graphically and in tabular form.
Beggs and Robinson (1975) proposed an emperical correlation for the dead-oil viscosity as a function
of temperature and oil gravity. Their correlation was based on the fact that the plot of log T versus
log[log(␮oD ⫹ 1)] showed a straight line with constant slope for each oil gravity. They presented the
correlation as:
2a

where
2b

The dead oil viscosity was derived using 460 data points with average error of ⫺0.64% under the range
of the data shown in Table1

Table 1—Data range of Data used in Viscosity Correlation

Range

Data Beggs-Robinson Dindoruk- Christman

Solution GOR, Scf/Stb 20 to 2,070 133 to 3050

Oil Gravity, °API 16 to 58 14.7 to 40
Pressure, Psig 0 to 5,250 926 to 12230
Temperature, °F 70, 295 117 to 276

In an attempt to correct for the paraffinicity of crude oil Glaso (1980) correlated dead oil viscosity to
oil gravity and temperature as:
3a

where
3b
SPE-184360-MS 3

The correlation was developed specifically for North sea paraffinic oil with characterization factor of
11.9 in a temperture range of 50 to 300°F. Being that the goal of Glaso was to use the dead oil viscosity
correlation to correct the flash API gravity of oil for parafficicity, he did not account for the error of
prediction. Rather, he made API gravity the subject of the correlation and used the result to compute his
bubble-point, solution GOR and oil formation volume factor correlations.
Ng and Egbogah (1983) found significant deviation between measured viscosity values and calculated
values from Beggs and Robinson (1975) dead oil viscosity correlation. They therefore proposed a
correlation that modified the Beggs and Robinson (1975) dead oil viscosity correlation thus:
4

The modified correlation was verified using 394 oil systems and the results obtained showed a
substantial improvement over the original Beggs and Robinson (1975) correlation. However, the Ng and
Egbogah (1983) modified correlation of the Beggs and Robinson (1975) did not substantially describe the
Niger Delta waxy crude oil possibly because the data were not of the Niger Delta origin. Ng and Egbogah
(1983) accounted for the effect of paraffin wax by correlating oil viscosity to pour point temperature as:
5

Dindoruk and Christman (2001) developed a dead oil viscosity correlation from 104 data points as
follows:
6a

where
6b

The coefficient of Equation 6a and b are given in Table 2

Table 2—Dindoruk and Christman Viscosity Correlation Coefficients

Coefficient Value Coefficient Value

a1 14.50535762 a2 -44.868655
a3 9.36579E⫹09 a4 -4.1940178
a5 -3.146117E-9 a6 1.5176527
a7 0.010433654 a8 -0.00077688

The proposed correlation predicts the dead oil viscosity with relative error of ⫺2.86% and average
relative error of 12.62%. Dindoruk and Christman (2001) claimed that the correlation is better than any
other dead oil viscosity correlation considering the range of the data in Table 1.
Bergman and Sutton (2007) summarized 21 methods for calculating saturated oil viscosity. Their
summary showed that the basis for the development of emperical viscosity correlation is traced to the
Chew and Connally (1959) correlation. However, they developed the functional parameters constants A
and b of the Chew and Connally (1959) viscosity correlation with respect to the solution gas oil ratio of
the crude oil as:
4 SPE-184360-MS

7a

7b

Determination of Waxy Crude Oil Viscosity

The viscosity of the waxy crude oil was determined in line with standard test ASTM D445 procedure. The
equipment used in the determination of the viscosity of the crude oil was Cannon – Fenske viscometer.
The waxy crude oil sample was preheated or precooled to a specified temperature above or below the Wax
Appearance Temperature (WAT). The crude oil was transferred into a u-tube Cannon-Fenske viscometer
and the efflux time determined in seconds.
The kinematic viscosity in mm2/s was obtained by multiplying the efflux time in seconds by the
viscometer constant (mm2/s2) at the crude oil temperature. The dynamic viscosity in cP was obtained by
multiplying the kinematic viscosity in mm2/s by the density of the crude oil g/ml. An illustration of the
calculation procedure is done using the following data:

Determination of Wax Apperance Temperature (WAT)

The WAT was determined by STAR METTLER Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) 823 equip-
ment. The well head sample was preheated to 45 °C to ensure that the wax was in solution. 3 drops of the
sample was introduced into a crucible. The sample crucible lid was sealed and introduced into the sample
compactment of the DSC 823 for analysis. A reference sample of known heat capacity over the range of
scanned temperature was also introduced into the sample compactment. The Nitrogen supply to the
equipment was set at 80ml/min. The equipment and its intracooler were switched on. The STAR soft ware
was double clicked on the desktop and the DSC was logged on. The sample was then cooled from 45°C
to below the WAT. During the cooling process the test sample at WAT cools slowly than the reference
sample as result of the giving off of the heat of crystallization. This process was captured by the thermal
analyzer that computes the difference in heat energy (mW) required to maintain both samples at the same
temperature in a thermogram generated by the STAR Soft ware and the WAT was interpreted from the
graph on the work station. The work station served as an interface with the Soft ware module for control,
readout and data analysis.
Determination of Waxy crude oil Pour Point
The cork in which the thermocouple is attached was fitted into the sample jar and the tip just dipped into
the sample. The sample was heated to 45°. Centigrade so that the crude oil is above the wax appearance
temperature. Ice cubes were introduced to the cooling bath. The test jar was inserted into jacket lined with
an isolating casket separating it from the sample test jar. The sample test Jar was taken out from the jacket
after every drop in 5°F on the thermocouple scale and held in horizontal position for 5 seconds for flow.
SPE-184360-MS 5

The lowest temperature reached at which the no flow was observed in the sample for 5seconds plus 5°F
was taken as the pour point of the sample.
Determination of Waxy Crude oil Temperature
Crude oil viscosity is usually a function of temperature and API gravity, and as such the determination
of these inputs is needed to model crude oil viscosity. A mercury in glass thermometer of type ASTM E
No.12F of range ⫺5°F to ⫹215°F interval 0.5°F was used in the determination of the temperature of the
crude oil sample before viscosity analysis was carried out in the laboratory.
The mercury in glass thermometer was calibrated in line with ASTM E77-84 standard titled ⬙Standard
Method for Verification and Calibration of Liquid in Glass Thermometer.⬙ The following thermometer
precautions were adhered to before use:
1. The thermometer was inspected for trapped gas bubble, presence of liquid globules, foreign matter,
entrapped air and glass fault.
2. Bulb stability was tested.
3. The temperature at ice point was verified.
Determination of Waxy Crude Oil Gravity using Thermo-Hydrometer
An ISO 9001:2000 calibrated Precision Thermo-hydrometer was used to determine the gravity of the
waxy crude oil sample. A reasonable quantity of the waxy crude oil was transferred into a clean glass
cylinder. The cylinder and its content was then placed in constant temperature water bath set at 45°C and
allowed for 10mins. This was aimed at ensuring that the wax in the crude oil was fully in solution.
The thermo-hydrometer was gently lowered into the sample to determine the gravity of the crude oil
sample and allowed to settle for about 5mins and when the reading on the thermo-hydrometer has
stabilized the gravity and test temperature of the crude oil were read. The thermo-hydrometer readings
were read when the stem was stationary and freely floating in the sample. The lower meniscus reading was
applied. ASTM Table 5 A was applied to determine API gravity at 60°F and specific gravity of the crude.
Waxy Crude Oil Viscosity Data
The viscosity data used to develop the viscosity model were generated from the reservoir fluid analysis
from University of Port Harcourt Education Trust Fund Laboratory. A total of 112 viscosity data points
from 20 oil fields in the Niger Delta were used by the study. Of these total data points, 100 were used to
develop the models and 12 were used to validate and compare the developed correlation with other
correlations. The statistical distribution of the viscosity database is shown in Table 3

Table 3—Statistical Distribution of Viscosity Modeling Database

Data Minimum Maximum Mean Standard Deviation

oil Gravity [API] 30 40 34.074 3.52627

Temperature [°C] 22 50 35.979 8.80585
Pour-Point [°C] 20 27 23.56 2.62775
Viscosity [cP] 3.857726 246.42 25.269 46.9508

Development of Viscosity Correlation

At high temperature, viscosity is a linear function of temperature and crude oil flow behavior is
Newtonian. Therefore, the viscosity profile in the Newtonian regime is adequately expressed by an
exponential Arrhenius equation as
6 SPE-184360-MS

where ␮ is the Newtonian dynamic viscosity, Aa is the Arrhenius pre-exponential factor, Ea is the
activation energy of viscous flow, R is the universal gas constant.
However, when waxy crude oil flows in pipeline at temperature below the WAT, the viscosity behavior
with temperature deviates from linearity. The deviation is caused by precipitation of wax and hence a
change of flow behavior from Newtonian to non-Newtonian. The point of this deviation is used to define
the WAT. At low crude oil temperatures, the oil is gas free and referred to as dead-oil.
The procedure and techniques of developing a new correlation to predict the viscosity of waxy crude
oil are presented. The fundamental theory to the development of the correlation was hinged on matching
laboratory reported viscosity with a nonlinear viscosity function that depends on oil gravity, oil temper-
ature and pour-point temperature. The nonlinear function assumed by this study is in the form given by
9

To find the unknown regression constants a0 to a3, initial guesses are required to tune the nonlinear
equation to match measured viscosity. In fact, all methods for nonlinear optimization were iterative. From
a starting guess, the method produced series of solutions to the unknown constants which converged to
a local minimum after some iteration counts. So, wrong guess of initial values of the unknown could either
not converge at all or converge toward a saddle-point in lieu of a minimum.
To avoid any of these problems, the nonlinear Equation 9 was transformed into a linear logarithmic
function given as:
10

In this form, the issue of initialization was skipped because the nonlinear problem has been reduced to
a multiple linear optimization problem.
Let y ⫽ log ␮oD, x1 ⫽ log API, x2 ⫽ log T, and x3 ⫽ log Tp, then Equation 10 becomes
11

Here, e is the error or residue due to the approximation of the measured viscosity data by a linear
function of three variables x1 to x3. The objective then was to find the values of the unknown regression
constants a0 to a3 that would minimize Equation 11 such that
12

must be reasonably close to zero. Thus, if Equation 12 is evaluated for the regression constants at its
minimum value, the normal equation is given in the matrix form as:
13

The normal equation is a system of linear equations solved by LU decomposition algorithm method in
Excel VBA program.
SPE-184360-MS 7

Result and Discussion

At the end of updating Equation 9, the viscosity model is presented as:

where WAT is the wax appearance temperature defined by:

The developed viscosity correlation of waxy crude oil is a step function valid above and below wax
appearance temperature. Table 4 shows the statistical parameters associated with the newly developed
correlations.

Table 4 —Statistical Parameters of Developed Viscosity and WAT Correlations

Error Viscosity WAT

average percent relative error -0.2566 -0.0402

average absolute percent relative error 5.83298 2.476
percent standard deviation of the relative error 0.07845 0.0749
standard deviation 0.4754 2.0326
correlation coefficient 0.8835 0.8831

These statistical parameters indicated that the newly developed correlation accurately modeled mea-
sured waxy crude oil viscosity in some region as shown by the performance plot in Figure 1. The error
attributed to the correlation was largely due to viscosity predictions below WAT. The behavior of waxy
crude oil viscosity at the point of transition indicates the wax appearance temperature (see Figure 2). The
graph of Figure 2 showed that for an oil gravity of 38°API and pour point temperature of 23°C, the WAT
was 27.8°C. The WAT value computed for the same oil API and pour point temperature by the study’s
WAT model was 28.8°C as against the Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC) measured WAT of
28.2°C.

Figure 1—Viscosity Performnace-Plot

8 SPE-184360-MS

Figure 2—Waxy Crude Oil Viscosity versus Temperature indicating WAT

Twelve viscosity data points were used to validate the developed correlation with average percent
relative error of 18.1%. However, the study is unaware of any correlation developed in literature to predict
the viscosity of waxy crude oil. So, the study observed that the dead oil viscosity correlations in literature
were inadequate to estimate waxy crude oil viscosity.
Conclusion
The correlation for predicting waxy crude oil viscosity above and below the WAT was developed. The
WAT model was also developed to indicate the point of transition in the behaviour of waxy crude oil
viscosity from Newtonian to Non-Newtonian as a function of temperature. The correlations were
developed by matching a nonlinear equation to laboratory measured waxy crude oil viscosity and WAT.
The oil samples were obtained from oil fields in the Niger Delta of Nigeria.

Nomenclature
API ⫽ waxy Crude Oil gravity, °API
T ⫽ pipeline temperature, °C
Tp ⫽ Pour point temperature of waxy crude, °C
WAT⫽ Wax Appearance temperature, °C
␮o ⫽ Viscosity of gas-saturated oil at T, cP
␮oD ⫽ Viscosity of dead waxy crude oil at T, cP

References
Beal, C. (1946): The Viscosity of Air, Water, Natural Gas, Crude Oil and its Associated Gases at Oilfield Temperatures
and Pressures. Trans., AIME, 165, p. 94 –115
Beggs, H. D. and Robinson, J. R. (1975): Estimating the Viscosity of Crude Oil Systems. SPE 5434, JPT Forum, p.
1140 –1141.
Bergman, D. F. and Sutton, R. P. (2007): An Update to Viscosity Correlations for Gas-Saturated Crude Oils. SPE 110195.
Paper Presented at 2007 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Anaheim, Califonia.
Chew, J. N. and Connally, C. A. (1958): A Viscosity Correlation for Gas-Saturated Crude Oils. Trans., AIME, 216, p. 23–25.
Dindoruk, B. and Christman, P. G. (2001): PVT properties and Viscosity Correlations for Gulf of Mexico Oils. SPE 71633,
Presented at SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, New Orleans, 30 September – 3 October.
Glaso, O. (1980): Generalized Pressure-Volume-Temperature Correlations. SPE 8016, JPT, p. 785–795.
Ng, J. T. H. and Egbogah, E. O. (1983): An Improved temperature-Viscosity Correlation for Crude Oil System. Petroleum
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