Determination of formation water in a

productive oil well by the determination of

water content and salinity, the effect of
asphaltene, carbonate, and clay mineral
contents
on water cut and also the rheological
properties of films in water oil interfaces
ABSTRACT
The main aim of this paper is to demostrate how to determined the water content
and salinity in a producying oil well, also to determine the effect of asphaltene,
carbonate, and clay mineral contents on water cut determination in wateroil
emulsions, and the rheological properties of films in water oil interfaces. The water
content and salinity where analized by capturing time domain transmissometry
(TDT) pulse signals by the newly developed coplanar waveguide (CPW) probe using
eigendecomposition technique. The role of asphaltene, carbonate, and clay contents
on the stability of wateroil emulsions and water cut determination was evaluated
via both IR analysis and physicochemical properties of the tested mixtures. And the
development and use of an interfacial film viscometer designed especially for
rheological investigations at oil-water interfaces.
Keywords:
Coplanarwaveguide;
Eigendecomposition;
Eigenvalues;
Oil
reservoir;Water content; Salinity; Asphaltene; Kaolinite; Bentonite; Water-in-oil
emulsions; Water cut; Total acid number; Gravity; Viscosity; Viscometer; Rheological
properties.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

1. Introduction
Formation water is the presented
water in oilfields, emulsified with
either crude or not. Below a certain
depth, all porous rocks are filled
with a fluid which is generally
water, in these porous rocks is
where
hydrocarbons
after
formation
and
subsequent
displacement settle .
When
oil
perforation
and
explotation begins in productive oil

wells, formation water starts to

come together with oil to the
surface, changing their conditions
of pressure and temperature. As
the pressure and temperature
shrinking, the formation water that
was
at
reservoir
conditions
becomes supersaturated along the
production tubing and on the
surface. Moreover, such conditions
of pressure and temperature , and
collisions with the walls of the pipe
in the extraction (turbulent flow),

act as an emulsifier between

formation water and oil; as a result,
an inverse water-in- oil (W/O) is
formed. This brings us to analize
that in an oil well we can find
formation
waters
two
ways
basically, free water or free
emulsion, and emulsion with oil.
Crude oil and water form emulsion,
which can be encountered at many
stages during drilling, producing,
transporting and processing of
crude oil, and in many locations
such as hydrocarbon reservoirs,
well
bores,
surface
facilities,
transportation
systems
and
refineries.
Determination of water content in
crude oil relies on obtaining
measurements at the wellhead,
where
conditions
are
least
1
conductive.
Also, like it was said in the abstract
this paper will study the effect of
asphaltene, carbonate, and clay
mineral contents on water cut
determination
in
wateroil
emulsions. So, the formation of
water-in-crude oil emulsions is a
problem that can arise during the
recovery,
treatment,
and
transportation of crude oil. In
conventional
and
heavy
oil
production, emulsion occurs when
crude oil and produced water or
injected steam is mixed in the
1 Determination of water content and
salinity from a producing oil well using
CPW probe and
eigendecomposition,A.M.O.
Mohameda, M. Elgamal, R.A. Said.

reservoir, well bore, or surface

facilities. In refineries, water-in-oil
emulsions are deliberately created
and then broken to bwash out
bcontaminants that are present in
the produced water emulsified in
the crude oil.2
The stability of water-in crude oil
emulsions depends mainly on a
rigid protective filmencapsulating
the water droplets. (Yarranton,
2000)
Clay particles have been shown to
stabilize
waterin-oil
emulsions.
(Menon, 1988)
In the first study this paper will
demonstrate the potential usability
of the CPW probe to determine the
water content and salinity of a
producing oil well by analyzing
captured TDT pulse signals using
eigendecomposition technique.
The second study is designed to
investigate the effect of each
sediment type (asphaltene, clays,
and carbonates) on the changes of
the physicochemical properties (API
gravity, kinematic viscosity) of the
wateroil emulsions. Since water
oil emulsions with an excess of
base over acid or acid over base,
as measured by the total acid and
base numbers, are expected to
alter the degree of wettability by
2 Effect of asphaltene, carbonate,
and clay mineral contents on water
cut determination in wateroil
emulsions, Maisa El Gamal, AbdelMohsen O. Mohameda, Abdulrazag Y.
Zekri.

ion interaction mechanisms, this

second study has utilized the test
method ASTM D974 (colorimetric
method) for measuring the total
acid
number
(TAN)
and
investigating its variations with
water cut. In addition, the stability
of wateroil emulsions, using
infrared spectroscopy analysis, is
investigated.
And finally the third study, wish to,
first, examine the requirements for
rotational viscometers designed for
interfacial rheology; second, to
present results of experimental
measurements; and, third, to
interpret
the
data
from
a
geochemical point of view.
This paper will relate this three
studies in the study of determining
formation water in a productive oil
well, and the effects of this during
the explotation of the oilfield.

2. Experimental Methods
2.1.
Materials
2.1.1.
Oils
In the first study a light crude oil
was used which was obtained from
Al
Bab
oil
reservoir,
the
physicochemical properties of the
used oil are shown in Table 1. In the
second study, it was used two
types of oil, the first type is crude
oil, which is light and obtained from
AbuHassa oil reservoir, while the
second type is an improved
formula of heavy duty diesel
engine oil for API services. The

physicochemical properties of the

used oil are shown in Table 2.
Table1.

Table2.

In the third study, they used two

types of oils from Southern Illinois
Fields. One sample was from the
Veit So. 8 well in the Noble district
producing
from
the
Cypress
formation. The other was obtained
from J. 0. Coen No. 43 well in the
Noble district producing from the
McClosky formation.
2.1.2.
Water

Formation

In the first study of determining

water content and salinity, the Al
Bab reservoir brine was used as the
water phase in all experiments
with a total salinity of 170 parts per
thousand (17%), pH of 6.2 and
conductivity of 113.2mS.
2.1.3.

Asphaltenes

In the second study, the ASTM

D6560-00 Standard Test Method
was used to extract asphaltene
(heptane insoluble) from crude oil.
The
extracting
solvent
was
evaporated, and the asphaltene
was dried and recovered.
2.1.4.

Minerals

In the second study, it was used

two types of minerals, these were
kaolinite
and
bentonite
clay
minerals. The kaolinite mineral was
obtained from Fluka Chemie Gmbit,
while the bentonite was obtained
from API bentonite, Milpark drilling
fluids. The major relevant chemical
and physical properties of the used
clays are shown in Table 3. Cation
types of the clay mineral were
determined via inductivity coupled
plasma spectrometry (ICP) and are
shown in Table 4.
Table3.

Table4.

2.1.5.

Viscometer

In the third study, a viscometer

was used to determinade the
rheological properties of films in
water oil interfaces. Oil-Water
Rotational
Viscometer.
A
commercially available MacMichael
rotational viscometer, used in the
paint,
varnished
and
other
industries, was converted to an
interfacial film viscometer. This
instrument was an adaptation of
the
Couette-Hatchek-type3
of
rotational viscometer, consisted
essentially of an inverted cylindertype of bob suspended on a torsion
wire.
2.2.
Methods
2.2.1.
First study
2.2.1.1.Preparation
water

emulsions

of
oil

Wateroil and oilwater emulsion

solutions were prepared by mixing
the Al Bab crude oil with the
emulsifing agent (Triton X-100; isooctylphenoxy polyethoxy ethanol
as 100 mg/25 ml oil), then adding
the formation water to the mixture
at a rate of 1 ml/min with
mechanical stirring (500 rpm) at
room temperature.
3 A viscometer in which the liquid
whose viscosity is to be measured fills
the space between two vertical coaxial
cylinders, the inner one suspended by
a torsion wire; the outer cylinder is
rotated at a constant rate, and the
resulting torque on the inner cylinder
is measured by the twist of the wire.
(encoclopedia2.com)

2.2.1.2.API
gravity
measurements
API Gravity is an expression of
density. where API = (141.5/Gs)131.5, and Gs is the specific
gravity. It is taken with a
hydrometer at the surface of the
emulsion at 20 oC.
2.2.1.3.Total
acid
numer
(TAN)
measurements
The acidity of emulsified Al Bab
crude oil is measured by its TAN,
which is the number of milligrams
of KOH required to neutralize the
acidity in one gram of crude oil.4
P-naphtholbenzene was used as an
indicator for determining the total
acid number, this indicator exhibits
one color above a specified pH
value and another below it.

For proper operation of the TDT

system
and
accurate
measurements, it is necessary that
pulse
transmitted
from
the
generator be the only signal
captured at the oscilloscope end to
extract the parameters of material
surrounding the probe.
2.2.1.5.CPW probe
A CPW is a surface oriented planar
transmission line made of three
conducting traces, as shown in Fig.
3.

2.2.1.4.Monitoring
by
the time domain
transmissometry
(TDT)
A typical TDT measuring system,
for monitoring of water content and
salinity of a medium, is shown in
Fig. 1.
The CPW probe structure is
connected to the TDT measuring
system from the pulse generator
side and the oscilloscope side.
4 W.A. Derungs, Naphthenic acid
corrosionan old enemy of the
petroleum industry, Corrosion 12
(1956) 4146.

2.2.1.6.System
Components
To verify the matching of the
different parts of the constructed

system, the response of the

measurement
system
was
measured in air during system
characterization
measurement.
The response of the system
indicated a well-matched system.
2.2.1.7.TDT
experimental
measurements
To evaluate the performance of the
CPW probe to measure the water
content and salinity, crude oil
emulsions in 600 ml beakers was
heated to 55 C (simulate the
temperature in the United Arab
Emirates reservoirs), and then the
CPW probe was immersed in the
emulsion and become ready for
measurements in the TDT mode of
operation.
2.2.2.
Second study
2.2.2.1.Preparation of
water-oil
emulsions
2.2.2.1.1. Emulsions
containing
asphaltene
The mixture was prepared by first
mixing the asphaltene with diesel
oil and emulsifing agent. Five
waterin- oil emulsion solutions
were
prepared
with
different
asphaltene ratios of 0.1, 0.3, 0.5,
and 0.7 wt.%.
2.2.2.1.2. Emulsions
containing
carbonate
It was studied with the use of of
calcite
(CaCO3),
magnesite
(MgCO3), and dolomite (CaMg

(CO3)2). To prepare the wateroil

emulsions containing carbonate, a
suspension
solution
of
the
carbonate in the deionized water
(pH of 9.6) was added drop wise to
the mixture of diesel oil and the
emulsfiying agent with mechanical
stirring at 500 rpm for 30 min at
room temperature.
2.2.2.1.3. Emulsions
containing
clays
10 water-in-oil emulsions with
different clay types (kaolinite and
bentonite), and different water cuts
from 1050 wt.% were prepared.
2.2.2.2.Total
acid
number
(TAN)
measurements
This method used, was the same
method used in the first study to
determine the TAN.
2.2.2.3.Infrared
spectroscopic
measurements
The spectra of water/oil emulsions
were
studied
under
different
asphaltene, clay, and carbonate
ratios, under conditions specially
applied for quantitative work by
using thin liquid film technique in
the region from 4000 to 200 cm-1.
2.2.3.

Third study

In making a measurement with the

viscometer, glass dishes, similar to
Petri dishes, were filled uniformly
with 50 ml. of the aqueous phase
followed by a covering of 10 ml. of
the oil under study. The procedure

started at a point 0, and then it

starts
to
rotate
continuosly
increasing the rates, and taking
measures each time it increase the
rate. This proredure permitted one
to obtain reproducible curves
readily interpretable with respect
to
characterization
of
timedependent
rheological
properties of the interfacial film.
The procedure of continuously
increasing rates of rotation was
found necessary because it was
difficult to reproduce the rest point
deflection when the instrument
was stopped after each reading.
Apparently, this difficulty was due
to
the
time-dependent
film
properties
and,
possibly,
the
imperfect elasticity of the torsion
wire.
3. Results and discussion
3.1.
First study
3.1.1.
Physicochemica
l properties of water
oil emulsion
High API values relate to low
density oils and vice versa.
API
gravity
decreased
gradually with the increase of
water content.
Depending on oil source,
additive
content,
refining
procedure, or deterioration in
service, petroleum oil may
exhibit
certain
acid
or
alkaline
(base)
characteristics.
It was found that at 17%
salinity, the emulsions have a
TAN from 0.897 to 0.554 mg
KOH/g. Deepwater crude oil

has a large polar constituent,

which increases the amount
of dissolved hydrocarbons in
produced water and refinery
effluents.
3.1.2.
TDT
Signal
analysis
The results indicated that as
the water content increased,
the
transmitted
pulse
amplitude decreased, signal
peak broadening increases
and the time delay increased.
3.2.
Second Study
3.2.1.
Effect
of
asphaltene addition
It was found that API gravity
slightly decreased with the
increase
of
asphaltene
content, indicating that the
presence of asphaltene in the
crude oil has little effect on
the emulsion density in
comparison with that of
water.
The acid number increases
with increasing asphaltene
content due to the increase
of donating protons.
3.2.2.
Effect
of
carbonate addition
It was found that the API
gravity
is
inversely
proportional to both water
cut and carbonate content.
This may be attributed to the
increase of the specific
gravity of the emulsions due
to increase of the mass upon
addition
of
water
and
carbonate.
it was found that TAN was
increased
in
case
of

magnesium carbonate than

that of calcium carbonate.
This could be attributed to
the ionic size and the
hydration potential of cations
of similar valence.
It was found that the total
acid number decreased with
increasing water cut.
3.2.3.
Effect of clay
mineral addition
API gravity decreases with
the increase of clay content
due to volume increase as a
result of possible formation of
a network of clay structure
and thus trapping a large
volume of oil in-between the
emulsified water droplets.
Therefore, volume increase
leads to increase of the
specific gravity and decrease
of API gravity.
API gravity of wateroil
emulsion containing kaolinite
clay is higher than that of
bentonite, indicating that
adsorption of oil on kaolinite
and bentonite clay minerals
in an aqueous medium is
preferential
and
the
associated emulsion volume
is highly dependant on the
rheological properties of clay
minerals.
The
kinematic
viscosity
increases with the increase of
water cut.
In addition, with the increase
of the bentonite clay, both
basic cations and hydroxyl
groups are increased and the

acidity of the emulsion is

reduced.

3.3.
Third Study
The important timedependent rheological
characteristics of these
curves appear to be the
thixotropic properties as
indicated by the degree of
hysteresis, that is, nonreproducibility of the data at
increasing and decreasing
rates of shear.
Many of the crude oil-water
interfacial films studied were
non-Newtonian, and most
were time-dependent.
The effective viscosity of a
non-Newtonian
liquid
or
dispersion at a given rate of
shear is proportional to the
slope of the line drawn from
the origin of the rheological
diagram to the point on the
curve
measured
at
the
desired rate of shear.
At a concentration of 0.01%
NaOH the film demonstrated
Newtonian behavior whereas
non-Newtonian
timedependent
thixotropic
properties were observed
with 0.001% NaOH.
4. Summary and conclusion
4.1.
First Study
This study has evaluated the
ability
of
the
coplanarwaveguide
(CPW)
probe to monitor the water
content and salinity of a
producing
oil
well.
The

captured
time
domain
transmission
(TDT)
pulse
signals were analyzed using
eigendecomposition
technique.
The results indicated that the
CPW probe is capable of
detecting water content and
salinity in a producing oil
well.

4.2.
Second Study
In this study, the role of
asphaltene, carbonate
(calcite (CaCO3), magnesite
(MgCO3), and dolomite
(CaMg (CO3)2) and clay
contents (kaolinite and
montmorillonite) on the
stability of wateroil
emulsions and water cut
determination was evaluated
via both IR analysis and
physicochemical properties
(API gravity, kinematic
viscosity) of the tested
mixtures.
The
experimental
results
have shown that API gravity
slightly decreased with the
increase
of
asphaltene
content,
indicating
that
asphaltene has little effect on
the emulsion density in
comparison with that of
water.
Addition of water to the
mixture contributes to the
transformation of asphaltene
ketone form into the enol.
For the effect of carbonate
addition, it was found that
the API gravity is inversely

proportional to both water

cut and carbonate content
due to the increase of the
specific
gravity
of
the
emulsions and increase of
the mass upon addition of
water and carbonate.
For the effect of clay
addition, it was found that
API gravity decreases with
the increase of clay content
due to volume increase as a
result of possible formation of
a network of clay structure
and thus trapping a large
volume of oil in-between the
emulsified water droplets.
Therefore, volume increase
leads to increase of the
specific gravity and decrease
of API gravity.
The results indicate that the
presence of both bentonite
and kaolinite clays have
contributed to the observed
reduction in the acidity of the
system.
The
effect
of
kaolinite is slightly more
dominant
than
that
of
bentonite because kaolinite
minerals have unsatisfied
negative sites at their edges
and have low ability to hold
on the basic cations, making
them easier targets for
acidification.
4.3.
Third Study
Crude petroleum contains
colloidally dispersed
materials and that these
materials are concentrated at
oil-water interfaces to form

more or less rigid interfacial

films.
Most
crude
oil-water
interfacially
active
films
having
low
interfacial
tensions contained relatively
large amounts of porphyrins.
Vanadium was present in
greater concentrations in the
films
that
showed
the
greatest mechanical rigidity
and the least interfacial
activity whereas other trace
metals such as nickel, copper
and zinc were present in
greater quantities in the films
demonstrating
a
higher
degree of interfacial activity.
Many emulsion systems are
stabilized by closely packed,
rigid interfacial films made
up of a condensed complex
of two or more emulsifying
agents.
The process of crude oilwater
interfacial
film
formation probably involves
steps
similar
to
those
involved in the dimeri
zation of fatty acids, which
process
depends
on
hydrogen bonding.
5. Relationship with formation
water
Since formation water is the
presented
water
in
oilfields,
emulsified with either crude or not.
During all of the 3 studies we
determinate
the
quantity,
characteristics and the effects of
the formation water in the crude.

Samples and analysis of the

formation water can provide vital
information for the field devolping
plan, including optomization of
completion
design,
materials
selection
and
hydrocarbon
recovery.
Like it was studied in the first
study, determining the water
content and salinity from a
producing oil well using CPW probe
and eigendescomposition, it was
determinated, the effects of water
content in the crude, the effect that
causes the API gravity and its
characteristics.
Also, in the other 2 studies it was
found that this certain things are
capable of change the properties of
the crude oil, drastically. This
certain things come with the
formation waters in the well, thats
why it is to important to make a
study of the formation water.
Formation water is rich with
information about the rock in which
it resides, and it can provide crucial
informacion to analys during every
stage in life of the reservoir. This
studies made to the formation
water, are the same analysis made
in the previous 3 studies named in
this paper, determining the water
content, salinity and effects of
asphaltene, carbonite and clays in
the formation water.

REFERENCES
A.M.O. Mohamed, M. E. (2005).
Determination of water content

and salinity from a producing oil

well. Abu Dhabi, United Arab
Emirates.
DODD, C. .. (1959). THE RHEOLOGICAL
PROPERTIES OF FILMS ,IT
CRUDE PETROLEUXWATER.
Norman, Oklahoma.
Maisa El Gamal, A.-M. O. (2004). Effect
of asphaltene, carbonate, and
clay mineral contents. United
Arab Emirates.
Medhat Abdou, A. C. (2011). Finding
Value in Formation Water.
Schlumberger.

Menon, V. W. (1988). Characterization

of oil-water interfaces
containing finely divided solids
with applications to the
coalescence of water-in-oil
emulsions. Colloids Surf. 29, 7
27.
Yarranton, H. H. (2000). Waterinhydrocarbon emulsions
stabilized by asphaltens at low
concentrations. J. Colloid
Interface Sci. 228, 52 63.