Backwash oil and gas production
AssigneeABI Technology, Inc.
InventorCharles Chester Irwin, Jr.
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus and process for recovering oil and gas from a subterranean formation wherein the production rate is controlled by the gas pressure at the well head, resulting in very slow strokes or pulses and bubbles of lift gas up to 500 feet long. An apparatus and process for well maintenance using cooled injection gas from the well and heated fluids, which also may come from the well and be mixed with the well gas during compression, may be conducted without interrupting production. An apparatus and process for heating maintenance fluids using heat generated when the lift gas is compressed.
Claims28
A backwash production unit comprising
- a well capable of supporting production of oil and gas from a subterranean formation,
- a 3-phase separation means in gas and fluid communication with said well,
- a backwash production unit compressing-heating means in gas, fluid and caloric communication with said 3-phase separation means capable of compressing gas from said well to pressures sufficient to lift liquids from said formation to the wellhead and capable of heating a sufficient portion of said liquids to a temperature sufficient for well maintenance,
- a compression control means wherein the compression stroke frequency of said backwash production unit compressing-heating means is controlled by wellhead pressure,
- a backwash production unit injection means in gas and fluid communication with said compression-heating means and in fluid communication with said 3-phase separation means capable of injecting compressed gas into said well to depths beneath the surface of liquids in said formation, and compressed gas and liquids heated in said compression-heating means into said well to sufficient depths for well maintenance,
- a gas distribution control means wherein the distribution of gas for injection and sale is controlled by wellhead pressure,
- a pumping means for pumping fluids to compress gas from said well in fluid communication with said backwash production unit compressing-heating means,
- a pumping control means for controlling the direction of fluid flow in said pumping means, and
- a motor capable of powering said pumping means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.