Relationships among viscosity, composition, and temperature for two groups of heavy crudes from the Eastern Venezuelan Basin

A group of 44 crudes from the Eastern Venezuela Basin have been analyzed for their content of saturated and aromatic hydrocarbons, resins, and asphaltenes, and studied for their variation of viscosity with temperature. With respect to a general trend, heavy oils that flow with ease, and light oils that flow with difficulty have been found. A ‘limiting value’ of 2.3 of saturates/asphaltenes separates oils whose viscosity can be changed with ease or difficulty by chemical means.