Wells – Processes – Producing the well
Reissue Patent
1999-05-07
2001-03-27
Neuder, William (Department: 3672)
Wells
Processes
Producing the well
C166S242300
Reissue Patent
active
RE037109
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method of and a device for production
of
hydrocarbons, such as oil
, natural gas
and the like.
It is known to produce oil
by introducing into it gas so as to form an oil-gas
or other hydrocarbons in situations where oil or other liquids are combined with natural gas or other gases to form a liquid-
gas
fluid which is lifted in a production pipe. The resulting flow is a flow of two interacting phases, a gas phase and a liquid phase. Depending on a diameter of the production pipe, a gas factor or a gas quantity dissolved in a mass unit of liquid, physical characteristics of gas and liquid, speed of the gas phase relative to the liquid phase, an exchange of the motion quantity between the phases and therefore a share of gas phase energy spent for displacement of the liquid phase can substantially change during the process of flowing of the two-phase medium. Due to the changes in the structure of the two-phase flow during the process of flowing and redistribution of energy of the gas phase used for the displacement of the liquid phase and for the displacement of the gas phase itself, it is possible that a corresponding energy share of the gas phase is insufficient for displacement of the liquid phase. This is characteristic for the case when the energy of the gas phase is the only source of energy for displacement of the liquid phase. This case is typical
, for example,
for oil wells when the natural energy of the formation is composed of a potential energy of oil which is
contained
under pressure from rock, ground water, and potential energy of hydrocarbon gas dissolved in oil, which
are
is
transferred into the gas phase when the pressure in the fluid becomes lower than the saturation pressure. Oil which is lifted in a well to a certain height by the pressure of rock ground water,
and
gravitational energy, can move further only due to the energy of gas dissolved in oil and transferred to the gas phase at a certain level in the well when the hydrostatic pressure in the oil column becomes lower than the saturation pressure. During movement of the fluid to a well-head with reducing pressure the quantity of gas emerging from oil is increased and the structure of the flow changes. An increase of the gas quantity transferred from the dissolved condition into the gas phase and correspondingly of its speed during movement to the well head leads to the situation that in a portion of the well which adjoins the
well head
well-head
an annular mode of flow is formed, when the oil forms a film extending along the pipe wall while a gas nucleus contains liquid drops. Therefore only a small fraction of the gas phase energy is used for displacement of the liquid to the well-head and practically the well yield is equal substantially
to
zero. The evolution of the flow structure in the well is such that during the movement of fluid to the well-head the pressure and quantity of gas
emerge
emerging
from the liquid is reduced and the speed of the gas phase relative to the liquid is increased. As a result the liquid and gas phase have a tendency to separate from one another. During this process a corresponding fraction of the gas phase energy used for the displacement of liquid to the well-head is reduced.
When the well is in the annular mode, its efficiency coefficient or in other words a ratio of the gas phase energy actually used for the liquid displacement to all energy of the gas phase which can be used for the liquid displacement, reduces substantially
to
zero. Even when the well operates in a fountain mode, the efficiency coefficient can not be high since the structure of the flow near the well-head #is such that the gas phase occupies the main
fraction
portion
of the space
available
for the fluid flow and the quantity of the entrained liquid is relatively low. The low efficiency coefficient leads to an accelerated degasification of formation and as a result to a conversion of the well to a mechanized
expansive
expensive
production method.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of and a device for production of hydrocarbons which avoids the disadvantages of the prior art.
More particularly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of and a device for production of hydrocarbons, in which the efficiency of use of the gas phase energy for displacement of
oil
liquid
in
gas-oil
liquid-
gas
flows is substantially increased.
The invention has particular utility in production of such hydrocarbons as oil and natural gas.
In keeping with these objects and with others which will become apparent hereinafter, one feature of the present invention resides, briefly stated, in a method of producing hydrocarbons, in accordance with which an
oil-gas
liquid-
gas
flow is subdivided in a direction which is transverse to a direction of movement of the
oil-gas
liquid-gas
flow, into a plurality of individual flows which flow simultaneously and side by side in the direction of movement.
It is another feature of the present invention to provide a device for production of hydrocarbons which has means for confining
an oil-gas
a liquid-gas
flow; and means for subdividing the
oil-gas
liquid-
gas two-phase
flow in a transverse direction into a plurality of individual
oil-gas
two-phase
flows which flow simultaneously side by side in direction of movement of the
oil-gas
liquid-
gas
flow.
When the method is performed and the device is designed in accordance with the present invention, the efficiency of the gas phase for displacement of the
oil
liquid
phase is substantially increased, the operation and maintenance of well is simplified, the cost of production of the formation hydrocarbons is reduced and the efficiency is increased, and accelerated degasification of the formation is prevented.
The novel features which are considered as characteristic for the present invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method of operation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.
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patent: 2304392 (1997-03-01), None
Leschinsky Boris
Neuder William
Technology Commercialization Corp.
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