Pipes, systems, and methods for transporting hydrocarbons
OwnerSzabolcs Balkanyi, James Broze +7inventors
InventorsSzabolcs Balkanyi, James Broze, Jose Esparza, Gregory Hatton, Ajay Mehta, Johnny Nimmons, Chien Tsai, Moye Wicks, George Zabaras
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Abstract
There is disclosed a method of transporting a produced fluid through a pipe while limiting deposits at a desired pipe inner-wall location comprising providing a pipe having an inner surface roughness Ra less than 2.5 micrometers at said desired pipe inner-wall location, forcing the produced fluid through the pipe, wherein the produced fluid has a wall shear stress of at least 1 dyne per centimeter squared at said desired pipe inner-wall location.
Claims21
A system for producing and transporting crude oil, comprising:
- a well for producing the crude oil;
- a processing facility for processing the crude oil;
- and
- a pipeline for traversing at least a portion of the distance between the well and the processing facility, wherein at least a portion of the pipeline travels through an atmosphere having a temperature less than 20 C, wherein the pipeline comprises a surface roughness on its interior surface less than 0.025 mm.
A method of producing and transporting crude oil, comprising:
- extracting crude oil from a well;
- placing the crude oil in a pipeline to transport the crude oil away from the well;
- wherein at least a portion of the pipeline travels through an atmosphere having an ambient temperature less than 20 C;
- and
- wherein the pipeline has a surface roughness less than 0.025 mm on an interior surface.
A method of transporting a produced fluid through a pipe while limiting deposits at a desired pipe inner-wall location comprising:
- providing a pipe having an inner surface roughness Ra less than 2.5 micrometers at said desired pipe inner-wall location;
- and
- forcing the produced fluid through the pipe, wherein the produced fluid has a wall shear stress of at least 1 dyne per centimeter squared at said desired pipe inner-wall location.
A method of calculating optimal shear stress in a pipeline system comprising:
- providing a pipe having an inner surface roughness Ra of less than 5 micrometers;
- forcing an produced fluid through the pipe at operating temperature;
- increasing the pipe's inner wall shear stress value until no wax deposits are formed on the inner wall.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.