Measuring and testing – Borehole or drilling
Patent
1997-03-19
1998-09-08
Williams, Hezron E.
Measuring and testing
Borehole or drilling
7315254, 73623, 166250, 166255, 175 50, 175 78, 175323, E21B 4701, G01D 526, G08C 2306
Patent
active
058047131
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to apparatus for the installation of sensors in channels. The invention is particularly relevant in the oil industry for installing sensors into oil and gas wells.
A wide variety of measurements make it easier to characterise oil and gas reservoirs. These include measurements designed to locate and track fluid fronts within the reservoir and measurements for seismic interrogation of the rock strata within the reservoir.
Seismic measurements are normally undertaken with acoustic sensors which can be towed behind ships in large arrays, or positioned on land. More recent work entails lowering high energy acoustic sources into wells and using geophones positioned below the acoustic source which monitor the acoustic reflections made by the rock strata. Another recent application has made use of seismic arrays laid in trenches on the ocean floor above the reservoir. For existing reservoirs where measurements are made to locate more oil or gas, geophones may be positioned in other wells for cross-well seismic measurements where the transmission of sound from one well to a variety of wells in the surrounding reservoir is measured. A major problem is that oil or gas production must be stopped in order to take these measurements, which is both expensive and can cause damage to the well.
Electric current measurements are also used to characterise the reservoir. In particular electric current measurements between one well and a neighbouring well, or between points along the well and points near the top of the well, gives evidence of interconnection of brine within the reservoir. This is an important measurement but it is also difficult to take, as it has to be taken outside the production tubing through which oil and gas flow up from the reservoir.
Temperature measurements are also used to monitor temperature profiles along oil wells. They are particularly important for determining whether steam or oil is escaping through faults in the rock strata. For this application, the resolution provided by existing optical fibre distributed temperature sensors is not always sufficient.
It would be highly advantageous if sensors could be deployed into oil and gas wells, cheaply, and at a convenient time after the main equipment installation (pipes, valves, etc) had been completed, so that measurements could be obtained without interrupting the production of oil and/or gas. It could also reduce the need for specialist personnel to be present at the time of well completion, when space in the vicinity of the well-head can be very restricted. If apparatus were available to achieve this, the availability of a plentiful and readily obtainable supply of information about fluid fronts and seismic data would dramatically improve the economics of reservoir management. Costs of production would be reduced, while the amount of recoverable oil would increase.
An aim of the present invention is to provide apparatus for the installation of sensors in channels. A further aim is to provide apparatus which will allow sensors to be deployed into oil, and gas wells, both during the completion stages of the wells, or at some convenient time thereafter.
According to the present invention, there is provided apparatus for the installation of sensors in channels, which apparatus comprises first channel means containing at least one sensor location means, the first channel means and the sensor location means being such that at least one sensor is able to be pumped through the first channel means to the sensor location means, the sensor location means being provided with at least one turn such that the physical position of the sensor after it has been pumped to the sensor location means is not linear, and the turn being such that it comprises a loop of hydraulic conduit.
The first channel means may be a length of hydraulic conduit or chemical injection line.
The turn comprising the loop of hydraulic conduit may be either in a plane or in a spiral.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the turn is wrapped around a second channel
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Sensor Dynamics Ltd.
Wiggins J. David
Williams Hezron E.
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