System and method for disposal of water produced from a plurality of wells of a well-pad

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10047596-B2
Application number	US-201615193392-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 27, 2016
Priority date	Jul 23, 2015
Publication date	Aug 14, 2018
Grant date	Aug 14, 2018

Abstract

A system includes a downhole separator, a first pump, a second pump, a surface separator, a first tube, and a second tube. The downhole separator is disposed within a first wellbore of a well-pad and configured to generate hydrocarbon stream and water stream from a first production fluid received from first production zone. First pump is disposed within first wellbore and second pump is disposed within a second wellbore of the well-pad. The surface separator is coupled to first and second pumps and configured to receive hydrocarbon stream from downhole separator, using first pump and a second production fluid from second production zone, using second pump and generate oil and water rich stream. First tube is coupled to downhole separator and configured to dispose water stream in a first disposal zone. Second tube is coupled to surface separator and configured to dispose water rich stream in a second disposal zone.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a downhole separator disposed within a first wellbore of a well-pad and configured to receive a first production fluid from a first production zone and generate a hydrocarbon rich stream and a water stream from the first production fluid;
a plurality of pumps comprising a first pump and a second pump, wherein the first pump is disposed within the first wellbore and coupled to the downhole separator and wherein the second pump is disposed within a second wellbore of the well-pad;
a first surface separator coupled to the first pump via a first channel and to the second pump via a second channel, wherein the first surface separator is configured to receive the hydrocarbon rich stream from the downhole separator, using the first pump and a second production fluid from a second production zone, using the second pump and generate oil and a water rich stream from the hydrocarbon rich stream and the second production fluid;
a first tube coupled to the downhole separator and configured to dispose the water stream from the downhole separator into a first disposal zone via the first wellbore; and
a second tube coupled to the first surface separator and configured to dispose the water rich stream from the first surface separator into a second disposal zone via the second wellbore.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first surface separator is directly coupled to the first pump, wherein the downhole separator is disposed upstream relative to the first pump.

3. The system of claim 2 , further comprising a packer disposed within the first wellbore and upstream relative to the downhole separator, wherein the first tube is inserted through the packer and configured to dispose the water stream from the downhole separator to the first disposal zone located below the first production zone.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first surface separator is coupled to the first pump via the downhole separator, wherein the downhole separator is disposed downstream relative to the first pump.

5. The system of claim 4 , further comprising a packer disposed within the first wellbore and downstream relative to the downhole separator, wherein the first tube is inserted through the packer and configured to dispose the water stream from the downhole separator to the first disposal zone located above the first production zone.

6. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a motor disposed within the first wellbore and coupled to the downhole separator and configured to drive the downhole separator.

7. The system of claim 6 , further comprising a first sensor coupled to the first channel and a second sensor coupled to an outlet of the downhole separator, wherein the first sensor is configured to measure a density of the hydrocarbon rich stream and wherein the second sensor is configured to measure a flow rate of the hydrocarbon rich stream.

8. The system of claim 7 , further comprising a control unit communicatively coupled to the first sensor and the second sensor and configured to receive at least one of a first signal and a second signal from the first sensor and the second sensor respectively, wherein the first signal is representative of the density of the hydrocarbon rich stream and the second signal is representative of the flow rate of the hydrocarbon rich stream.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the control unit is communicatively coupled to the motor and configured to control a speed of the motor based on at least one of the first signal and the second signal.

10. The system of claim 8 , further comprising a control valve coupled to the first channel and communicatively coupled to the control unit, wherein the control valve is configured to control an outlet pressure of the hydrocarbon rich stream based on at least one of the first signal and the second signal.

11. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a sensor coupled to the second tube and configured to measure a density of the water rich stream.

12. The system of claim 11 , further comprising a control unit communicatively coupled to the sensor and configured to receive a signal representative of the density of the water rich stream.

13. The system of claim 12 , further comprising a control valve and a second surface separator, wherein the control valve is coupled to the second tube and communicatively coupled to the control unit, wherein the second surface separator is coupled to the second tube, wherein the control valve is configured to transfer at least a portion of the water rich stream from the first surface separator to the second surface separator, and wherein the second surface separator is configured to generate a separated oil from at least the portion of the water rich stream.

14. The system of claim 13 , further comprising a packer disposed within the second wellbore and downstream relative to the second pump, wherein the second tube is configured to dispose the water rich stream from the second surface separator to the second disposal zone located above the second production zone, wherein the packer is configured to prevent mixing of the water rich stream with the second production fluid.

15. The system of claim 13 , further comprising an oil stream tube coupled to the first surface separator and the second surface separator, wherein the oil stream tube is configured to transfer the separated oil from the second surface separator to the first surface separator.

16. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a jet pump disposed within the first wellbore and coupled to the downhole separator, wherein the jet pump is configured to transfer the first production fluid from the first production zone to the downhole separator.

17. The system of claim 1 , wherein the downhole separator comprises a centrifugal separator.

18. The system of claim 1 , wherein the downhole separator comprises a plurality of downhole separators and wherein each downhole separator is disposed within a corresponding wellbore among a plurality of wellbores of the first wellbore.

19. A method comprising:
receiving a first production fluid from a first production zone to a downhole separator disposed within a first wellbore of a well-pad;
generating a hydrocarbon rich stream and a water stream from the first production fluid, using the downhole separator;
feeding the hydrocarbon rich stream from the downhole separator, using a first pump of a plurality of pumps, to a first surface separator via a first channel, wherein the first pump is disposed within the first wellbore and coupled to the downhole separator;
feeding a second production fluid from a second production zone, using a second pump of the plurality of pumps, to the first surface separator via a second channel, wherein the second pump is disposed within a second wellbore of the well-pad;
generating oil and a water rich stream from the hydrocarbon rich stream and second production fluid, using the first surface separator;
disposing the water stream from the downhole separator into a first disposal zone via the first wellbore, using a first tube coupled to the downhole separator; and
disposing the water rich stream from the first surface separator into a second disposal zone via the second wellbore, using a second tube coupled to the first surface separator.

20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising driving the downhole separator, using a motor disposed within the first wellbore.

21. The method of claim 20 , further comprising measuring at least one of a density of t

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Joshi Mahendra Ladharam
• Qi Xuele
• Murphy Raymond Patrick
• Sivaramakrishnan Shyam

Classifications

• E21B34/06

  in wells · CPC title

• E21B4/04

  Electric drives (E21B4/12 takes precedence) · CPC title

• E21B43/14

  Obtaining from a multiple-zone well · CPC title

• E21B33/12

  Packers; Plugs (used for cementing E21B33/134, E21B33/16) · CPC title

• E21B47/10

  Locating fluid leaks, intrusions or movements · CPC title