The present application claims priority of China Patent application No. 202110717853.7 filed on Jun. 28, 2021, the content of which is herein incorporated in its entirety as portion of the present application by reference.
At least one embodiment of the present disclosure relates to a heavy oil lifting device and a heavy oil lifting method.
In the process of heavy oil lifting from an oil well, with the continuous decrease of oil temperature and air temperature, the viscosity of heavy oil would rise sharply and the heavy oil would gradually harden, just like asphalt on highway.
Usually, viscosity reduction measures should be taken in the process of heavy oil lifting to facilitate the smooth recovery of heavy oil. Heavy oil recovery needs two systems, one of which includes a mechanical system for lifting crude oil, and the other of which includes a viscosity reducing system for reducing the viscosity of the crude oil during lifting. The mechanical system is classified into two types: a rod pump system and a rod-less pump system. Usually, the rod pump system includes a beam pumping unit or a screw pump; whereas the rod-less pump system includes a hydraulic pump or an electric submersible centrifugal pump. The main ways of heavy oil lifting and oil viscosity reduction include thermal viscosity reduction and chemical viscosity reduction. The Liaohe Oilfield, for example, uses the electric heating rod for thermal viscosity reduction, which cooperates with the beam pumping unit to lift the heavy oil, while the Xinjiang Oilfield, for another example, uses the method of mixing with thin oil to reduce viscosity, which cooperates with the screw pump to lift the heavy oil. Both operation schemes are costly. Therefore, a heavy oil lifting technology that can reduce both the costs and the construction operations is required.
At least one embodiment of the present disclosure relates to a heavy oil lifting device and a heavy oil lifting method.
At least one embodiment of the present disclosure relates to a heavy oil lifting device, including: a plurality of liquid injection pumps, each of the plurality of liquid injection pumps including a liquid inlet and a liquid outlet, and each of the plurality of liquid injection pumps being configured to suck in liquid and discharge the liquid after pressurization; a control valve, including a first end and a second end, the liquid outlets of the plurality of liquid injection pumps being connected with the first end of the control valve; a power liquid transmission pipe, connected with the second end of the control valve so as to be configured to transmit the liquid after pressurization; an operation pump, connected with the power liquid transmission pipe, and the liquid after pressurization being used as power liquid to drive the operation pump to reciprocate; the control valve is configured to be in switchable communication with one of the plurality of liquid injection pumps so that the power liquid transmission pipe is in switchable communication with one of the plurality of liquid injection pumps.
For example, the plurality of liquid injection pumps include at least two liquid injection pumps with different powers.
For example, the heavy oil lifting device further includes a tubing, the power liquid transmission pipe is located in the tubing, and the operation pump is located in the tubing.
For example, the power liquid drives the operation pump to reciprocate and then generates spent liquid, and the spent liquid is mixed with well liquid to form an oil-containing mixed liquid, and the operation pump is configured to lift the oil-containing mixed liquid to the ground through the tubing.
For example, the heavy oil lifting device further includes a first transmission pipeline, the first transmission pipeline is connected with the liquid inlets of the plurality of liquid injection pumps, and the first transmission pipeline is configured to transmit the liquid.
For example, the heavy oil lifting device further includes a filter, the filter is arranged in the first transmission pipeline and configured to filter the liquid passing through the filter.
For example, the heavy oil lifting device further includes a second transmission pipeline, the liquid outlets of the plurality of liquid injection pumps are connected with the power liquid transmission pipe through the second transmission pipeline.
For example, the heavy oil lifting device further includes a flowmeter, the flowmeter is arranged in the second transmission pipeline.
For example, the heavy oil lifting device further includes a third transmission pipeline, the third transmission pipeline is connected with the tubing to transmit the oil-containing mixed liquid.
For example, the heavy oil lifting device further includes a separator, the separator is connected with the third transmission pipeline, the separator is configured to perform oil-water separation on the oil-containing mixed liquid, the separator includes an oil outlet and a water outlet, and the water outlet is connected with the first transmission pipeline to form a circulation loop of the power liquid.
For example, the heavy oil lifting device further includes a heating member, the heating member is configured to heat the liquid to form thermal power liquid.
For example, the heavy oil lifting device further includes a casing, the tubing is located in the casing.
For example, the heavy oil lifting device further includes a control member, the control member is connected with the control valve to be configured to control the control valve to communicate with one of the plurality of liquid injection pumps.
For example, the operation pump includes a housing, a piston structure and a partition member, the partition member divides the housing into a first chamber and a second chamber, and the piston structure includes a piston rod, a first piston and a second piston, and the first piston and the second piston are respectively arranged at two ends of the piston rod, the first piston is located in the first chamber and divides the first chamber into a first power liquid chamber and a first oil chamber, and the second piston is located in the second chamber and divides the second chamber into a second power liquid chamber and a second oil chamber, the piston rod passes through the partition member, and the piston structure can rotate around an axis of the piston rod.
At least one embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a heavy oil lifting method, including: sucking in liquid by a liquid injection pump, and pressurizing and discharging the liquid; taking the liquid after pressurization as power liquid; passing the power liquid through a power liquid transmission pipe to drive an operation pump to perform a reciprocating motion; mixing spent liquid that is generated from the power liquid with well liquid in a pump chamber of the operation pump to form oil-containing mixed liquid; and lifting the oil-containing mixed liquid to the ground through the reciprocating motion of the operation pump. A plurality of liquid injection pumps is arranged, each of the plurality of liquid injection pumps includes a liquid inlet and a liquid outlet, the liquid outlets of the plurality of liquid injection pumps are connected with a control valve, the method further includes: adjusting the control valve to be in switchable communication with one of the plurality of liquid injection pumps so that the power liquid transmission pipe is in switchable communication with one of the plurality of liquid injection pumps.
For example, the plurality of liquid injection pumps include at least two liquid injection pumps with different powers, and the method further includes: selecting a liquid injection pump with a suitable power for operation according to an operation parameter.
For example, the heavy oil lifting method further includes: performing oil-water separation on the oil-containing mixed liquid lifted to the ground. Separated water is sucked into the liquid injection pump to be used as the liquid so as to form a circulation loop of the power liquid.
For example, the heavy oil lifting method further includes: heating the power liquid to form a thermal power liquid.
In order to clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the drawings of the embodiments will be briefly described in the following; it is obvious that the described drawings below are only related to some embodiments of the present disclosure without construing any limitation thereto.
In order to explain the objects, technical details and advantages of the embodiments of the disclosure, the technical solutions of the embodiments are described in connection with the drawings related to the embodiments of the disclosure. The described embodiments are merely examples. Based on the described embodiments herein, those having ordinary skill in the art can obtain other embodiment(s), without any inventive work, which should be considered within the scope of the disclosure.
Unless otherwise defined, all the technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meanings as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the present disclosure belongs. The terms “first,” “second,” etc., which are used in the present disclosure, are not intended to indicate any sequence, amount or importance, but distinguish various components. Also, the terms “comprise,” “comprising,” “include,” “including,” etc., are intended to specify that the elements or the objects stated before these terms encompass the elements or the objects and equivalents thereof listed after these terms, but do not preclude the other elements or objects. The phrases “connect”, “connected”, etc., are not intended to define a physical connection or mechanical connection, but may include an electrical connection, directly or indirectly. “On,” “under,” “right,” “left” and the like are only used to indicate relative position relationship, and when the position of the object which is described is changed, the relative position relationship may be changed accordingly.
Conventional heavy oil lifting devices have at least one of the following problems.
The heavy oil lifting device provided by at least one embodiment of the present disclosure can solve at least one of the above problems.
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The heavy oil lifting device provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure is suitable for heavy oil recovery operations and can be used for heavy oil lifting procedures.
Unlike the hydraulic station of conventional heavy oil lifting device in which only a single liquid injection pump is provided, the heavy oil lifting device provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure is provided with a plurality of liquid injection pumps which can be switched for use. The lifting device has a simple structure, in which a suitable liquid injection pump among the plurality of liquid injection pumps can be switched for use through the control valve 120, and the remaining liquid injection pumps can be used as standby. Thus, it enhances the service life and cycle of the equipment, improves stability and maintenance convenience, saves maintenance time, and allows for stably operation.
For example, the liquid injection pump 110 is configured to suck in low-pressure liquid and pressurize the low-pressure liquid to form high-pressure liquid. The pressure of the high-pressure liquid is greater than the pressure of the low-pressure liquid. The low-pressure liquid can also be referred to as sucked-in liquid, and the high-pressure liquid can also be referred to as discharged liquid. The low-pressure liquid can be referred to as a first pressure liquid. The high-pressure liquid can be referred to as a second pressure liquid. For example, the liquid injection pump 110 is configured to suck in the first pressure liquid and to discharge the second pressure liquid, and the second pressure is greater than the first pressure.
For example, the plurality of liquid injection pumps 110 include at least two liquid injection pumps 110 with different powers. For example, a plurality of liquid injection pumps can have different powers, different model numbers, different structures, etc., so that the liquid injection pumps with different specifications can be switched, and the diversity of choices can be improved. Choosing different power injection pumps for use in a switchable way can meet the needs of downhole operations in different periods and provide more control options for heavy oil recovery operations.
For example, the liquid injection pump can adopt three cylinders or five cylinders, can be equipped with a plurality of liquid injection pumps with different power performances, automatically judge and select the liquid injection pump suitable for operation by inputting operation parameters, and control the injection flow rate of the power liquid to adjust the volume of production liquid of the wells. In some examples, there may be a plurality of liquid injection pumps, one of which can be operated and the remaining ones can be in standby mode, which is convenient for maintenance.
For example, the control valve 120 includes an electric control valve (but not limited to electric), and an appropriate control valve can be selected according to its intended function. For example, in some embodiments, the control valve 120 includes a valve body and a valve core. For example, in some embodiments, the first end 120a of the control valve 120 communicates with the selected liquid injection pump 110 through the rotation of the valve core. For example, the control valve 120 includes an electric reversing valve. For example, the control valve 120 includes an electromagnetic reversing valve.
For example, the liquid injection pump 110 serves as a power pump. The liquid injection pump 110 can also be referred to as an auxiliary pump, and the operation pump 220 can also be referred to as a main pump or an oil-well pump. For example, the liquid injection pump 110 includes a plunger pump, but is not limited thereto. For example, the operation pump 220 includes a rod-less pump, but is not limited thereto. For example, the operation pump 220 includes a piston pump, but is not limited thereto. Under the condition that the operation pump 220 adopts a rod-less pump, the heavy oil lifting device has a simple structure, is associated with convenient maintenance and stable operation, avoids reciprocating actions. It includes a sucker rod from the wellhead to the downhole pump head, which reduces the damage caused by mechanical wear to the device itself and eliminates the eccentric wear phenomenon. Such heavy oil lifting device thus has wider applicability and is suitable for sand wells, ultra-deep wells, horizontal wells, inclined wells and compound wells. For another example, the operation pump may include pistons that can reciprocate upwards and downwards, and the structural forms of the operation pumps are different, so pumps with other structures can also be selected.
According to the heavy oil lifting device provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, the spent liquid after the hydraulic system is mixed with the well liquid in the pump chamber, so that the liquid amount in the wellbore is 2-3 times of the liquid amount in conventional oil recovery. Therefore, the flow velocity in the wellbore is fast, and sands can be effectively carried to the ground, so as to reduce or avoid sand plugging phenomenon.
The performance of screw pump-based oil recovery equipment itself is unstable, and problems such as rod lag and rod break frequently occur, which brings potential dangers to continuous and stable operation. Hydraulic pumps and other equipment have low production efficiency and high requirements for both operating pressure and tubing performance, and are thereby associated with potential dangers for operation. The heavy oil lifting device provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure is suitable for the exploitation of horizontal wells and composite wells, and can greatly improve the recovery ratio of heavy oil.
The heavy oil lifting device provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure has stable performance and can operate continuously. Conventional heavy oil recovery equipment has poor applicability for ultra-deep wells, and the general operation depth is less than 2,000 meters due to the limitation of structure and operation mechanism. As a comparison, the heavy oil lifting device provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure uses water as the power medium, which has small pressure loss and reduced requirement for operation pressure. It can be operated at 3,000 meters underground with non-coiled tubing (conventional tubing), and can be operated at 5,000 meters underground with coiled tubing, which represents the best oil pumping and lifting recovery technology at present.
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For example, the center of the power liquid transmission pipe 210 can coincide with the center of the tubing 230. In this case, the power liquid transmission pipe 210 can be referred to as a center pipe.
For example, the power liquid drives the operation pump 220 to reciprocate to form spent liquid, the spent liquid is mixed with well liquid to form oil-containing mixed liquid, and the operation pump 220 is configured to lift the oil-containing mixed liquid to the ground through the tubing 230.
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Because the spent liquid is mixed with well liquid, the viscosity of heavy oil is reduced, which is beneficial to the heavy oil lifting. The mechanical system for lifting crude oil and the viscosity reduction system are combined into a single system, which can greatly reduce the lifting cost. The lifting device has a simple structure, the hydraulic station is built on the ground, the water is used as the working medium, and the liquid injection pump that provides high-pressure liquid pressurizes the water separated from the separator and injects it into the underground through the power liquid transmission pipe so as to provide power for the operation pump. According to different input parameters, the control component can automatically judge/determine and select the liquid injection pump for operation. Compared with the conventional heavy oil lifting method, the production cost is greatly reduced. The medium of the power liquid can also be water added with emulsion, or can be oil.
The heavy oil lifting device provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure can replace the solutions such as electric heating, thin oil mixing and chemical viscosity reduction, so as to realize heavy oil recovery through the operation mechanism of the device without the need of additional heavy oil viscosity reduction measures. It can save 240,000 yuan of electricity cost per year as compared with the case of electric heating. It can save the cost for adding thin oil as compared with the case of thin oil mixing. Depending on different well conditions, the proportion of thin oil as mixed is more than 30%, even more than 100% in some Oilfield, and the cost as saved reaches 300,000 yuan-800,000 yuan per year. It can save the cost of chemical agents as compared with the case of chemical viscosity reduction.
According to the heavy oil lifting device provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure, the lifting mechanical system and the lifting viscosity reduction system are combined into a single system, which can greatly reduce the lifting cost. The hydraulic station is built on the ground. The water is used as power liquid, which is pressurized by a liquid injection pump and injected into the underground through a power liquid transmission pipe to provide power for the operation pump so as to drive the piston to reciprocate. The well liquid is pumped into the pump chamber to be mixed with the power liquid, so as to increase the water content of heavy oil, and at the same time increase lubrication and oil lifting production. The produced well liquid flows into the metering station, and the water separated by oil-water separation equipment can be recycled and reused as power liquid for injection operation.
The operation pump of the heavy oil lifting device provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure converts hydraulic energy into mechanical energy under the action of power liquid and enables up-and-down reciprocating motion, and the well liquid is pumped into the pump chamber to be mixed with the power liquid so that the water content of the heavy oil in the wellbore is improved to higher than 70%. In this way, the produced liquid is lifted to the ground in the form of oil-in-water, so as to realize heavy oil recovery. The produced well liquid flows into the metering station.
Principles of heavy oil lifting technology lies in that: water is used as power liquid to drive the operation pump to operate, while spent liquid is mixed with well liquid to increase the water content of heavy oil, so that crude oil is lifted and produced in the form of oil-in-water. The power liquid is not limited to water, but emulsion or chemical agent can be added into water, or water can be replaced with other suitable liquids as power liquid.
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The heavy oil lifting device provided by some embodiments of the present disclosure adopts the power liquid closed-loop operation mode. In the heavy oil lifting device, on one hand, water is used as power liquid, which is pressurized on the ground and pumped into the underground to drive the operation pump to move, so as to achieve the pumping effect; on the other hand, water is also used as a carrier for lifting after being mixed with heavy oil in such a manner that, water is mixed with well liquid in the pump chamber so as to lift the heavy oil in the form of oil-in-water for recovery. After recovery, the water is separated by oil-water separation and returned to the wellhead for continuous operation. The water can be recycled during the whole operation of the device, thereby realizing closed-loop operation, improving the utilization rate of water and increasing the economy.
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For example, in some embodiments, the operation pump 220 includes a sealing ring. For example, in some embodiments, the heavy oil lifting device can adopt a rigid flexible structure and a compensating sealing mode, which has excellent sand discharging performance and can reduce or avoid the phenomenon of sand plugging of the operation pump. For example, the rigid flexible structure may refer to that, the tubing is a rigid pipe, while the operation pump is a rod-less pump. For example, the piston structure in the operation pump can move freely around the piston rod and has flexibility, which can remove the sands along with the well liquid, thus reducing or avoiding the phenomenon of sand plugging. For example, the compensating sealing mode may refer to the universal plug sealing arrangement, which is compensatory and has better sealing effect.
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Hereinafter, the operation process of the operation pump is described with reference to
For example, an oil outlet one-way valve can be provided in the oil pumping pipeline 2231, and an oil outlet one-way valve can be provided in the oil pumping pipeline 2232.
For example, when the piston structure 2203 moves downward, one of the oil pumping pipelines 2231 and 2232 is used as an oil inlet pipeline and the other one is used as an oil outlet pipeline. For example, when the piston structure 2203 moves upward, one of the oil pumping pipelines 2231 and 2232 is used as an oil inlet pipeline and the other one is used as an oil outlet pipeline.
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For example, the piston structure 2203 moves between a top dead center (TDC) and a bottom dead center (BDC). When the piston structure 2203 is located at the top dead center, the first valve core of the first reversing valve 2201 is located at the top dead center, and the opening 2245 communicates with the opening 2247; and the second valve core of the second reversing valve 2201 is located at the top dead center, and the opening 2244 communicates with the opening 2240.
The operation pump 220 illustrated in
At least one embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a heavy oil lifting method, which includes the following steps.
For example, identifying an operation parameter to match a proper liquid injection pump, and reversing the control valve to allow the liquid outlet of the matched liquid injection pump to communicate with the power liquid transmission pipe, so that the power liquid is injected into the operation pump through the power liquid transmission pipe.
For example, the plurality of liquid injection pumps 110 include at least two liquid injection pumps 110 with different powers, and the method further includes: selecting a liquid injection pump 110 with suitable power for operation according to the operation parameter.
During the whole process of heavy oil recovery, the oil production exhibits a decrease. In order to maintain the oil production, it is desired to provide different operating powers at different stages of the heavy oil recovery. In addition, because the ground conditions vary depending on the heavy oil fields, lifting devices with different operating powers should be adopted in different areas, which leads to poor universality of lifting devices. The hydraulic station of the system on the ground adopts a plurality of liquid injection pumps of different model numbers, so that the heavy oil lifting device and method provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure can switch among different liquid injection pumps according to different operation periods and different ground conditions, thereby improving the applicability and operation durability of the whole device.
For example, in case of different operating parameters, the liquid injection pump 110 with the power corresponding to the concerned operating parameter can be selected for operation, which is beneficial to heavy oil recovery. For example, in the initial stage of oil recovery, the liquid injection pump 110 with the first power is used; and with the progress of oil recovery, the liquid injection pump 110 with the second power is used; and the first power is less than the second power, without limiting the embodiments of the present disclosure thereto.
For example, the heavy oil lifting method further includes: performing oil-water separation on the oil-containing mixed liquid lifted to the ground, and sucking the separated water into the liquid injection pump 110 to be used as liquid (sucked liquid), so as to form a circulation loop of the power liquid, thereby improving the utilization rate of water and increase the economy. For example, in the whole lifting device, on one hand, water is used as power liquid, which is pressurized on the ground and pumped into the underground to drive the operation pump to move so as to achieve the pumping effect; on the other hand, water is also used as a carrier for lifting after being mixed with heavy oil in such a manner that, the water is mixed with the well liquid in the pump chamber so as to lift the heavy oil in the form of oil-in-water. After recovery, the water is separated by oil-water separation, and the separated water returns to the wellhead for continuous operation. The water can be recycled to realize closed-loop operation.
For example, the heavy oil lifting method further includes: heating the power liquid to form a thermal power liquid. Referring to
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Usually, heavy oil recovery systems need to be debugged manually, and require for manage and maintain regularly by special personnel during later operation, which brings a great burden to management costs An intelligent recovery method may be desired, which can reduce personnel operations, realize unmanned operation and reduce operation risks. The intelligent heavy oil lifting system mainly includes the following intelligent modes.
Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide an intelligent heavy oil lifting method, including the following steps.
The heavy oil lifting device provided by embodiments of the present disclosure can further include one or more processors and one or more memories. The processor can process data signals, and can include various computing structures, such as a complex instruction set computer (CISC) structure, a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) structure, or a structure that implements a plurality of instruction set combinations. The memory can store instructions and/or data executed by the processor. These instructions and/or data can include codes for implementing some or all of the functions of one or more devices described in the embodiments of the present application. For example, the memory includes dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), flash memory, optical memory, or other memories well known to those skilled in the art.
In some embodiments of the present application, the control member 170 includes codes and programs stored in a memory; the processor can execute the code and program to realize some or all of the functions of the control member 170 as described above.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the control member 170 can be a special hardware device for realizing some or all of the functions of the control member 170 as described above. For example, the control member 170 can be a circuit board or a combination of a plurality of circuit boards for realizing the functions described above. In an embodiment of the present application, the combination of one circuit board or a plurality of circuit boards can include: i), one or more processors; ii), one or more non-transitory computer-readable memories connected to the processor; and iii), a firmware stored in the memory executable by the processor.
Without conflict, features in the same embodiment and different embodiments of the present disclosure can be combined with each other.
The above are merely specific embodiments of the present disclosure, and the scope of protection of the present disclosure are not limited thereto. Any modifications or substitutions that can be easily made by those skilled who are familiar with the prior art without departing from the technical scope revealed in the present disclosure belong to the scope of protection sought to be protected by the present disclosure. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present disclosure should be defined by the appended claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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202110717853.7 | Jun 2021 | CN | national |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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20200088009 | Cui | Mar 2020 | A1 |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20220412196 A1 | Dec 2022 | US |