Asphaltene instability induced by light hydrocarbons

Frank Hartley,
Drilling & Production Editor

HOUSTON -- Anticipating when and where asphaltenes may flocculate during oil production is a key step in successfully preventing or mitigating asphaltene problems in the field, said Jeff Creek with Chevron Energy Technology Company at the 2008 Offshore Technology Conference in Houston. He continued to say since there will be no deposition without precipitation, mapping of asphaltene stability over a wide range of temperature and composition is required.

Creek said the asphaltene instability trend (ASIST) allows the determination of the onset of asphaltene instability to be established with a series of liquid n-alkanes. He concluded that the use of the ASIST method to forecast asphaltene precipitation onset conditions for gaseous precipitants has been experimentally verified.

05/07/2008