System and method for downhole inorganic scale monitoring and intervention in a production well

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10323512-B2
Application number	US-201514807287-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 23, 2015
Priority date	Jul 23, 2014
Publication date	Jun 18, 2019
Grant date	Jun 18, 2019

Abstract

An apparatus for estimating an ambient environment at which inorganic scale will form in a downhole fluid includes a stress chamber disposed in a borehole in a production zone at a location within a specified range of maximum pressure and configured to receive a sample of the fluid from the production zone and to apply an ambient condition to the sample that causes the formation of inorganic scale. An inorganic scale sensor is configured to sense formation of inorganic scale within the chamber and an ambient environment sensor is configured to sense an ambient environment within the chamber at which the formation of inorganic scale occurs. The apparatus further includes a processor configured to receive measurement data from the inorganic scale sensor and the ambient environment sensor and to identify the ambient environment at which the formation of inorganic scale occurs.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for estimating an ambient environment at which inorganic scale will form in a downhole fluid, the apparatus comprising:
a stress chamber disposed in a borehole in a production zone at a location that experiences a pressure within a specified range of a maximum pressure and configured to receive a sample of the fluid from the production zone, to separate an oil phase from a water phase of the sample, and to vary an ambient environment that is applied to the sample within the stress chamber, wherein the varied ambient environment includes a certain ambient environment condition that causes the formation of inorganic scale;
an inorganic scale sensor configured to sense formation of inorganic scale in the water phase within the chamber;
an ambient environment sensor configured to sense the certain ambient environment condition within the chamber at which the formation of inorganic scale occurs; and
a processor configured to receive measurement data from the inorganic scale sensor and the ambient environment sensor and to identify the certain ambient environment condition at which the formation of inorganic scale occurs.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a controller configured to actuate an inorganic scale prevention system upon identification of the formation of inorganic scale in the stress chamber.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the prevention system comprises an inflow control valve configured to maintain or increase a pressure of the downhole fluid.

4. The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the prevention system comprises a chemical injection system configured to inject a chemical into the downhole fluid to prevent the formation of inorganic scale.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the inorganic scale sensor comprises at least one of a conductivity sensor, a resonance sensor, and an optical sensor.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the ambient environment sensor comprises at least one of a pressure sensor and a temperature sensor.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the production zone comprises a plurality of production zones with each production zone being isolated from other adjacent production zones by at least one packer.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein an intelligent completion (IC) pack is disposed in each production zone, each IC pack comprising an electronic chemical injection mandrel, an electric inflow control valve, a downhole pressure and temperature sensor, the stress chamber, and an electric line configured to supply electric power and/or communications to components of the IC pack.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the stress chamber comprises:
a piston configured to move within the chamber, and
a motor mechanically coupled to the piston and configured to move the piston.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the inorganic scale comprises at least one of carbonate, sulfate, sulfide, iron, silica, and salt.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising an inlet conduit coupled to one end of the stress chamber and an outlet conduit coupled to another end of the stress chamber, the inlet conduit and the outlet conduit being coupled to a flow path of a production fluid.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11 , further comprising a venturi disposed in the flow path, wherein the inlet conduit is connected to a high pressure section of the venturi and the outlet conduit is connected to a low pressure section of the venturi.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12 , further comprising an inlet valve disposed in the inlet conduit and an outlet valve disposed in the outlet conduit.

14. The apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the inorganic scale sensor comprises an array of emitter probes configured to emit light into the stress chamber and an array of detector probes configured to detect light that has traversed the sample in the stress chamber.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14 , wherein the emitter probes in the array of emitter probes and the detector probes in the array of detector probes are configured to be inserted into or retracted from the stress chamber.

16. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the location of the stress chamber is a location having maximum pressure.

17. An apparatus configured for preventing formation of inorganic scale in a fluid produced from a production zone in a plurality of production zones of a borehole penetrating the earth, the apparatus comprising:
an intelligent completion (IC) pack disposed in each production zone, each IC pack comprising an electronic chemical injection mandrel, an electric inflow control valve, a downhole pressure and temperature sensor, a stress chamber, and an electric line configured to supply electric power and/or communications to components of the IC pack, wherein the stress chamber is configured to receive a sample of the fluid from a production zone in which the stress chamber is disposed at a location that experiences a pressure within a specified range of a maximum pressure, to separate an oil phase from a water phase of the sample, and to vary an ambient environment that is applied to the sample within the stress chamber, wherein the varied ambient environment includes a certain ambient environment condition that causes the formation of inorganic scale, and the stress chamber comprises a piston configured to move within the chamber, a motor mechanically coupled to the piston and configured to move the piston, an inorganic scale sensor configured to sense formation of inorganic scale in the water phase within the chamber, and an ambient environment sensor configured to sense the certain ambient environment condition within the chamber at which the formation of inorganic scale occurs;
a chemical injection system disposed at a surface of the earth and configured to inject a chemical into a selected production zone using a chemical injection line and a selected chemical injection mandrel;
an IC control module configured to control each of the IC packs; and
a supervisory system configured to obtain measurement data from each downhole sensor, determine a margin to formation of inorganic scale in each production zone using the measurement data, and send commands to the chemical injection system and the IC control module to prevent the formation of inorganic scale.

18. The apparatus according to claim 17 , wherein the ambient environment condition comprises at least one of pressure and temperature.

Assignees

• Duchene Aurelie
• De Barros Alessandro
• Downs Hartley
• Motta Eduardo
• Maciel Potiani
• Chandran Ashwin
• Scott Thomas
• Difoggio Rocco
• Ionescu Tudor
• Donzier Eric
• Baker Hughes A Ge Co Llc

Inventors

• Duchene Aurelie
• De Barros Alessandro
• Downs Hartley
• Motta Eduardo
• Maciel Potiani
• Chandran Ashwin
• Scott Thomas
• Difoggio Rocco
• Ionescu Tudor
• Donzier Eric

Classifications

• E21B49/088 Primary

  combined with sampling · CPC title

• E21B49/081

  with down-hole means for trapping a fluid sample (E21B49/10 takes precedence) · CPC title

• E21B49/08 Primary

  Obtaining fluid samples or testing fluids, in boreholes or wells · CPC title

• E21B47/06

  Measuring temperature or pressure · CPC title

• E21B37/06 Primary

  using chemical means for preventing or limiting {, e.g. eliminating,} the deposition of paraffins or like substances · CPC title