Methods and apparatus for characterization of petroleum fluid employing analysis of high molecular weight components

A method for characterizing petroleum fluid in a reservoir traversed by at least one wellbore, the method comprising:

• (a) at a plurality of measurements stations within tire at least one wellbore, acquiring at least one fluid sample at the respective measurement station and performing downhole fluid analysis of the fluid sample to measure properties of the fluid sample, the properties including concentration of a plurality of high molecular weight components;
• (b) for each given one of a plurality of type classes corresponding to different subsets of a predetermined set of high molecular weight components, using a model that predicts concentration of the high molecular weight components of the given type class for said plurality of measurement stations;
• (c) comparing the predicted concentrations of the high molecular weight components for the plurality of type classes derived in (b) with corresponding concentrations measured by the downhole fluid analysis in (a) for said plurality of measurement stations to identify the best matching type class;
• and
• (d) using the results of (c) for reservoir analysis.