Wells – Processes – Producing the well
Patent
1998-07-28
2000-06-27
Taylor, Dennis L.
Wells
Processes
Producing the well
166345, 166170, 166 70, 405169, E21B 4300
Patent
active
060794984
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This application is the national phase of international application PCT/GB97/00250 filed Jan. 29, 1997 which designated the U.S.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to method and equipment to assist the mixture of hydrocarbons produced by an offshore oil well or collected in an offshore manifold which receives the output from various wells, for subsequent gathering to flow to the surface.
2. Prior Art
The growing exploration for oil in increasingly deeper waters has made it necessary for those skilled in the art to develop new techniques to increase the production of hydrocarbons from offshore wells. It is known that the mixtures of hydrocarbons originating from wells can vary substantially in respect of the volumes of their phases, which are normally water, oil and gas.
Once the step of obtaining the greatest possible volume of the mixture of hydrocarbons from a well has been completed, it is then necessary to deliver it to a gathering centre which has primary processing facilities. This place may be an offshore platform, a vessel or even an onshore gathering station. The mixture is discharged to the gathering centre via pipelines which may be rigid or flexible, or even a combination of both.
Very often the reservoir pressure itself is the only energy used to promote flow of hydrocarbon mixture along these pipelines to the gathering centre. However, this arrangement has a number of disadvantages, because the formation of a column containing a significant volume of liquid in riser pipes can give rise to an undesirable increase in pressure in the well-head or manifold which can even prevent a large flow of the mixture from reaching the gathering centre. There may also be extreme situations in which the reservoir pressure is simply incapable of maintaining flow to the gathering centre.
It is then necessary to use some means of pumping. Centrifugal pumps and positive displacement pumps are widely used in the pumping operations required at the surface and in onshore oil wells. However, because of its low reliability and also because of the high frequency of maintenance operations which this usually requires, the application of pumping to offshore wells, especially those located at great depths, is still considered difficult. Another limiting factor is the composition of the produced hydrocarbon mixture itself, because the presence of gas in it can give rise to great difficulties in pumping operations.
Another arrangement which may also be used is to inject liquids or gases at high pressures into the pipelines in order to encourage conditions in which the mixture of hydrocarbons will flow to the gathering centre. This arrangement has the disadvantage that it gives rise to an additional back pressure at the well-head or in the manifold, which creates even more difficulties for the flow of hydrocarbon mixture, and generally results in a fall in output.
Brazilian Patent Application PI9201842-4, by the applicant, proposes that mechanical interfaces should be inserted at intervals within flow lines so as to create moving barriers which seal off sections of the pipes, maintaining a constant mass of hydrocarbon mixture within these sections. It also provides for the possibility of inserting mechanical interfaces in the production column within a well.
However, the need to insert mechanical interfaces at intervals is an operational aspect which can give rise to some difficulties in applications. Another aspect which has to be considered is that the constant existence of areas of high pressure within the production system could give rise to a back pressure which would reduce the flow of the hydrocarbon mixture emerging from the producing region.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of this invention to propose equipment and a method which make use of a single mechanical interface powered by high pressure gas to promote flow of the produced mixture, eliminating the above-mentioned disadvantages.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided equipment
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Lima Paulo Cesar Ribeiro
Lopes Divonsir
Sidrim Fernando Antonio Costa
Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras
Taylor Dennis L.
LandOfFree
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