COBEM99

S4 Ciências e Engenharia do Petróleo

Title:

CORE FLOW LIFT: A NEW ALTERNATIVE FOR HEAVY OIL PRODUCTION

Summary :

DUE TO NATURAL DIFFICULTIES IN HANDLING, HEAVY OIL PRODUCTION HAS BEEN EXPENSIVE SPECIALLY IN OFFSHORE FIELDS WITH DEEP WATER SHEETS. IN THIS CONTEXT, A NEW ALTERNATIVE IS PROPOSED IN THIS WORK: THE USE OF CORE ANNULAR FLOW PATTERN (SHORTLY "CORE FLOW"). THIS FLOW ARRANGEMENT CAN BE INDUCED THROUGH THE LATERAL INJECTION OF RELATIVELY SMALL QUANTITIES OF WATER, IN ORDER TO GET A LUBRICATED OIL CORE ALONG THE PIPE. EXPERIMENTAL MEASUREMENTS OF FRICTIONAL PRESSURE DROP IN UPWARD VERTICAL CORE FLOW IN A 2.76 CM ID PIPE, USING A 17.6 PA.S AND 963 KG/M3 OIL AND WATER AT ROOM TEMPERATURES SHOW A DECREASE OF THE FRICTIONAL PRESSURE LOSSES BY A FACTOR OF MORE THAN 1000 TIMES WITH RESPECT TO SINGLE PHASE OIL FLOW, WHILE THE TOTAL PRESSURE DROP WAS REDUCED BY MORE THAN 45 TIMES. THUS, THE AIM OF THIS WORK IS TO COMPARE THE CORE FLOW TECHNOLOGY WITH THE OTHER ALTERNATIVES FOR HEAVY OIL PRODUCTION, AS WELL AS TO SUGGEST WAYS TO IMPLEMENT IT IN THE FIELD. THE GENERAL CONCLUSION IS THAT THE CORE FLOW LIFT OF HEAVY OILS IS QUITE VIABLE AND ADVANTAGEOUS, SUGGESTING ITS TESTING IN A PILOT SCALE. KEYWORDS: LIQUID LIQUID FLOW, CORE FLOW, PETROLEUM ENGINEERING, HEAVY OIL PRODUCTION

Author :

Bannwart, Antonio C.
Prada, José Walter Vanegas

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