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Production fluid

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Production fluid, or well fluid, is the fluid mixture of oil, gas and water in formation fluid that flows to the surface of an oil well from a reservoir. Its consistency and composition varies.

Fluids may be described by a multitude of characteristics including:

  • Composition - the quantity of every molecular component within the fluid, eg methane, ethane, propane, i-butane, n-butane, etc
  • Water cut - the proportion of the fluid, which is water rather than hydrocarbons.
  • API gravity - the oilfield measurement of the weight of the hydrocarbons.
  • GOR - Gas to oil ratio describing how many standard cubic feet of gas can be obtained for every stock tank barrel of oil.
  • H2S - the concentration of this gas. Fluids with a high concentration of H2S are described as "sour".
  • Contaminants such as mercury which may require special material selection and handling
  • BS&W - Base sediment and water which settles out during storage

In addition physical properties may include:

  • Wellhead flowing pressure
  • Wellhead shut-in pressure
  • Wellhead flowing temperature
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