Liquid buildup can occur in aging production wells and can reduce the well's productivity. To handle the buildup, operators may use beam lift pumps or other remedial techniques, such as venting or “blowing down” the well to atmospheric pressure. These common techniques can cause gas loss. Moreover, blowing down a well can produce undesirable methane emissions. In contrast to these techniques, operators can use a plunger lift system, which reduces gas losses and improves well productivity.
A prior art plunger lift system 100 as illustrated in
Sensing the slowing gas production, the controller 140 shuts-in the well at the wellhead 10 to increase pressure in the well as a high-pressure gas accumulates in the annulus between the casing 12 and tubing 14. When a sufficient volume of gas and pressure are reached, the gas pushes the plunger 110 and the liquid load above it to the surface so that the plunger 110 essentially acts as a piston between liquid and gas in the tubing 14. As shown in
Eventually, the gas pressure buildup pushes the plunger 110 upward to the lubricator/catcher 130 at the wellhead 10. The column of fluid above the moving plunger 110 likewise moves up the tubing 14 to the wellhead 10 so that the liquid load can be removed from the well. As the plunger 110 rises, for example, the controller 140 allows gas and accumulated liquids above the plunger 110 to flow through upper and lower outlets 152 and 154. The lubricator/catcher 130 captures the plunger 110 when it arrives at the surface, and the gas that lifted the plunger 110 flows through the lower outlet 154 to the sales line 150. Once the gas flow stabilizes, the controller 140 shuts-in the well and releases the plunger 110, which drops back downhole to the bumper 120. Ultimately, the cycle repeats itself.
To ensure that a well is not able to flow uncontrolled, some wellbores require a downhole safety valve 20 that closes when flow and pressure exceed acceptable limits or when damage occurs to the surface equipment in an emergency. Some safety valves installed in production tubing 14 are tubing retrievable, while other safety valves are wireline retrievable. The downhole safety valves, such as flapper valves, can prevent blow-outs caused by an excessive increase of flow through the wellbore or wellhead damage. Because the plunger 110 travels along the tubing 14 between the bumper 120 at the base of the wellbore and the catcher 130 at the surface, the plunger 110 must travel through the safety valve 20. As expected, the plunger 110 must be designed to fit through the decreased passage within the safety valve 20 and not damage or interfere with the safety valve's operation.
A plunger lift system 200 illustrated in
As further opposed to conventional systems, the plunger 400 in the disclosed system 200 does not pass through the safety valve 20 in the wellbore. Rather, the bumper assembly 300, plunger 400, and landing assembly 500 position and operate below the safety valve 20, and the plunger 400 travels between the assemblies 300 and 500 without passing through the safety valve 20. Yet, the plunger 400 traveling between the assemblies 300 and 500 still acts as a piston between liquid and gas in the tubing 14 and lifts fluid columns above the plunger 400 as its moves up the well tubing 14.
In one embodiment, the plunger 400 can be any conventional plunger having either a semi-hollow or solid body. In addition, the plunger 400 can have pads, brushes, grooves, elastomer, or other feature to produce a pressure differential across the plunger and to allow upward pressure to lift the plunger from the bottomhole bumper assembly 300 to the landing assembly 500. Such a plunger 400 can resemble the plunger of
When lifted, the plunger 400 lifts the fluid column above it until the plunger 400 eventually reaches the upper landing assembly 500 below the safety valve 20. Once reached, the landing assembly 500 stops further upward movement of the plunger 400, and continued upward flow will tend to maintain the plunger 400 in this upward position. If the plunger 400 has a solid or semi-hollow body, the upward flow in the tubing 14 can pass through the surrounding annulus because the pressure differential feature (e.g., pads, brushes, grooves, or the like) on the outside of the plunger 400 does not produce a positive seal. If the plunger 400 has a hollow housing and a valve as in other embodiments, then the upward flow is allowed to flow through the plunger 400 as described later in this disclosure. At some point as the upward flow wanes, the controller 210 monitoring the flow will shut-in the well, allowing the plunger 400 to fall back to the bottomhole bumper assembly 300. One suitable controller 210 for use with the disclosed system 200 includes the CEO™ Plunger Lift Controller series from Weatherford, Inc.
With the understanding of the plunger lift system 200 provided above, discussion now turns to further details of the various components of the system 200, starting with the bottomhole bumper assembly 300. As shown in detail in
In the detail of
Now turning to the upper landing assembly 500 shown in detail in
The striker assembly 510 shown in more detail in
As discussed above, embodiments of the plunger 400 for the disclosed system 200 can have a hollow housing with a valve to control fluid flow through the plunger 400. One such plunger 400 is shown in
The outside of the plunger 400 can use pads, brushes, spiral grooves, elastomer, or other feature to produce a pressure differential across the plunger 400. In the present example, the housing 410 has a plurality of collapsible T-pads 420 disposed on the outside and biased by springs 422, although other types of pads could also be used. When positioned in tubing 14, the biased T-pads 420 engage the inside of the tubing. This creates a barrier between the annulus of the plunger 400 and the surrounding tubing 14, which can produce a pressure differential across the plunger 400 allowing gas buildup to move the plunger 400 uphole. Because the system 200 installs below the safety valve 20, the plunger 400 does not interfere with operation of tubing or wireline retrievable safety valves, and the plunger 400 only needs to travel through seal bores during installation. To allow the plunger 400 to travel through the seal bore restrictions and still lift fluid effectively in standard tubing diameters, the plunger's T-pads 420 are designed to allow the plunger 400 to be at least pushed through a safety valve and other components during initial installation. Moreover, the housing 410 is machined to drift through the nominal internal diameter of a safety valve's landing nipple used in an installation, which can be 2.750-inches in one example.
Although the present embodiment of the plunger 400 uses T-pads 420, various devices to engage the inside of the tubing and create a pressure differential across the plunger 400 can be used. For example,
Within the plunger 400 of
As shown in
While the plunger 400 remains positioned on strike rod 542 and the valve 430 remains open, the lifting gas can pass through the strike rod's passage 543, through the ball valve 548, and cross-ports 546. The fluid can then pass through the annulus between the rod/spring 520/530 and surrounding tubing 14 up to the connector end's openings (554; See
Initially, after the plunger's first impact, the plunger 400 may tend to repeatedly rebound from the strike rod 542 and lift again until a balance eventually occurs. When the valve reaches the strike rod 542, for example, the plunger 400 may oscillate between open and closed conditions. In the oscillation, the plunger 400 may repeatedly strike the striker assembly 510, fall away, strike again, and so on as the bumper spring 530 responds to the plunger's strikes and flow conditions allow the plunger 400 to rise and fall relative to the strike rod 542. In these circumstances, the biased valve 430, for example, closes as the plunger 400 falls off the strike rod 542 when the pressure of the lifting gas against the lower end 416 is insufficient to sustain the plunger 400 on the strike rod 542 and opens when the plunger 400 moves further up the strike rod 542. The amount and duration of such oscillation depends on the gas flow at the time and other particular details of a given implementation, such as surface area and weight of the plunger 400, bias of the spring 530, flow rates, etc. Yet, the condition of the plunger 400 stabilizes at some point and remains on the strike rod 542.
At the surface (See
Based on the estimated arrival from the peaks, the controller 210 then operates its valve 220 to control flow to the sale line 150 at the surface. After flow has stabilized and the buildup of gas that lifted the plunger 400 has been diverted to the sales line 150, the controller 210 eventually shuts-in the well by closing the valve 220. As a result, the plunger 400 drops away from strike rod 542 due to decreased flow to keep the plunger 400 on the strike rod 542 and its valve 430 closes. As a consequence, the plunger 400 drops to the lower bumper assembly 300 for another cycle.
Another embodiment of a plunger lift system also has a lower assembly (e.g., 300 in
The striker assembly 710 shown in
The plunger 800 shown in detailed cross-sections in
In the embodiment of
During use, downhole pressure moving the plunger 800 uphole pushes against the piston 830's distal end and moves it to the closed condition (e.g.,
Once it has struck the rod 750, the plunger 800 can remain engaged on the rod 750 as long as fluid pressure is sufficient against the plunger's distal end (i.e., as long as gas flow is high enough and the controller maintains the valve open at the wellhead). As with the previous plunger embodiment, the plunger 800 may tend to oscillate on the end of the strike rod 750 depending on the fluid pressure, amount of rebound, surface area, etc. To help maintain the plunger 800 on the rod 750, the rod's distal end 752 defines a series of circumferential grooves to disrupt flow through the side openings 818 adjacent to the end 752. This flow disruption may tend to reduce fluid pressure within this region and to help “catch” the plunger 800 on the rod's end 752.
In an alternative shown in
In another alternative shown in
As shown in detailed cross-section in
At impact, the bias of spring 730 against the housing's end cap 744 as well as by hydraulic fluid in the housing's chamber 746 absorbs the plunger's energy. Specifically, the plunger's impact moves the housing 742, which is resisted by the spring 730's bias. In addition, hydraulic fluid contained in the lower chamber portion 746A (
After full impact of the plunger's end 814, the housing 742 may have the position on rod 750 as shown in
When pressure stabilizes, the spring 730 attempts to push the recoil housing 742 along with the plunger 800 downward, which would allow the plunger's valve 830 to eventually close. Although the spring 730 absorbs impact, it may also recoil too quickly and force the plunger 800 away from the striker rod 750. However, the hydraulic fluid in chamber 746 tends to prevent rapid recoil by instead requiring hydraulic fluid to return from the upper chamber portion 746B to the lower chamber portion 746A via conduits 725 and 755 and the one-way restrictor 756. As the spring 730 extends, for example, the one-way restrictor 756 between conduits 725 and 755 reduces the hydraulic fluid's return flow and inhibits the extension of the spring 730, thereby reducing the recoil caused by the spring 730.
Although the material used for the components of the disclosed plunger systems may depend on characteristics of a particular implementation, the materials are preferably of a greater or equal quality to that of the tubing material. For example, a 13Cr material may be used for standard metal components, and nickel based alloys are preferably used for components requiring high-strength, high impact material. Dynamic seals for the components are preferably T-Seals, and the static seals can be elostomer O-rings. The various springs of the system are preferably composed of Inconel X-750. The materials can be brushed by stainless steel banding with Inconel X-750 retaining wire and PEEK bristles. The pin 432 of the plunger's valve 430 in
The foregoing description of preferred and other embodiments is not intended to limit or restrict the scope or applicability of the inventive concepts conceived of by the Applicants. Accordingly, features of the plunger lift system disclosed in one embodiment can be applied to other embodiments disclosed herein. For example, the recoil assembly of
In exchange for disclosing the inventive concepts contained herein, the Applicants desire all patent rights afforded by the appended claims. Therefore, it is intended that the appended claims include all modifications and alterations to the full extent that they come within the scope of the following claims or the equivalents thereof.
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Number | Date | Country |
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20090188673 A1 | Jul 2009 | US |