The Relationship between Gel Point and Pour Point of Waxy Crude

Both gel point and pour point are widely used to evaluate lowest temperature of flowability for crude oil. Gel point is mainly used in China for controlling pipelining temperature, while pour point is internationally used. In this paper, comparisons were made between the testing standards of both gel point and pour point in such aspects as test object, criterion, treatment condition, and cooling procedure. The comparison experiments between gel point and pour point of waxy crude have also been carried out. The results show that the relationship between gel point and pour point for the same waxy crude sample is nearly linear rather than a difference of 3℃ which has been traditionally regarded, since there exit somewhat differences in testing procedure (tilt method) between the two standards. An empirical correlation between gel point and pour point of waxy crude has been put forward based on the experimental results.