Systems and methods for testing petroleum wells

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10359306-B2
Application number	US-201715486798-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 13, 2017
Priority date	Mar 19, 2015
Publication date	Jul 23, 2019
Grant date	Jul 23, 2019

Abstract

Systems and methods for testing petroleum wells utilize a fluidic system to receive multiphase fluid output from the wells. A metering system measures the flow rate of oil, water, and gas through the fluidic system. The metering system can be operated in a first mode in which the metering system provides time-varying measurements of the flow rates and a second mode in which the metering system measures the flow rates over longer intervals of time, for example, providing measurements of the total flow or average flow rate over certain time intervals. A control system selectively and sequentially routes the output of the wells to perform a series of well tests on the wells and causes the metering system to switch between the first and second modes in response to a change in operating conditions.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for testing production of fluids by individual petroleum wells in a group of N petroleum wells, the system comprising:
a fluidic system for receiving multiphase fluid output from the wells;
a metering system configured to measure flow rate of oil, water, and gas through the fluidic system, the metering system being operable in a first mode in which the metering system provides time-varying measurements of individual flow rates for oil, water, and gas received by the fluidic system, wherein the time-varying measurements generally correspond to instantaneous flow rates of oil, water, and gas into the fluidic systems, and in a second mode in which the metering system separates gas from the oil and water and provides flow measurements of oil, water, and gas generally corresponding to at least one of: (i) total flow over a period of time; and (ii) average flow rate over a period of time; and
a control system configured to selectively and sequentially route the output of one or more wells selected from the group of N wells to the fluidic system to perform a series of well tests on the wells, wherein the control system is further configured to cause the metering system to switch between the first and second modes in response to a change in operating conditions.

2. A system as set forth in claim 1 wherein the control system is configured to cause the metering system to switch between the first and second modes in response to a change in a measured gas void fraction of fluids received by the fluidic system.

3. A system as set forth in claim 1 wherein the metering system comprises a separator operable to separate gas from oil and water and two or more multiphase Coriolis flowmeters, the fluidic system being configured so it can selectively route fluid to the separator and then to the multiphase Coriolis meters or alternatively bypass the separator and direct multiphase fluid flow to the multiphase Coriolis meters.

4. A system as set forth in claim 3 wherein the multiphase Coriolis flowmeters include a first multiphase Coriolis flow meter having a first maximum flow rate capacity and a second multiphase Coriolis flow meter having a second maximum flow rate capacity, wherein the first maximum flow rate capacity is higher than the second maximum flow rate capacity.

5. A system as set forth in claim 4 further comprising a first water cut meter positioned to measure water cut in flow through the first multiphase Coriolis flowmeter and a second water cut meter positioned to measure water cut in flow through the second multiphase Coriolis flowmeter.

6. A system as set forth in claim 1 further comprising a separator operable to separate gas from oil and water, the control system being further configured to route fluid from the wells to the separator in the second mode and to route the fluid so the fluid bypasses the separator in the first mode.

7. A method of testing fluids produced by individual petroleum wells in a group of N petroleum wells, the method comprising:
routing fluid from one or more wells selected for testing to a well test system, the well test system including a separator vessel, a plurality of multiphase metering systems, and a fluidic system for receiving multiphase fluid output from said one or more wells;
determining whether or not the plurality of multiphase metering systems can, either individually or collectively, provide individual measurements of oil, water, and gas; and
selectively routing the fluid to the separator vessel when it is determined the plurality of multiphase metering systems cannot provide individual measurements of oil, water, and gas and selectively bypassing the separator to route fluid directly to one or more of the plurality of multiphase metering units when it is determined the multiphase metering units can provide individual measurements of oil, water, and gas.

8. A method as set forth in claim 7 further comprising measuring a gas void fraction of fluids received by the fluidic system and changing how fluid is routed through the well test system in response to a change in a measured gas void fraction of fluids received by the fluidic system.

9. A method as set forth in claim 7 wherein the plurality of multiphase metering systems comprises two or more multiphase Coriolis flowmeters.

10. A method as set forth in claim 9 herein the multiphase Coriolis flowmeters include a first multiphase Coriolis flow meter having a first maximum flow rate capacity and a second multiphase Coriolis flow meter having a second maximum flow rate capacity, wherein the first maximum flow rate capacity is higher than the second maximum flow rate capacity.

11. A method as set forth in claim 10 further comprising using a first water cut meter to measure water cut in flow through the first multiphase Coriolis flowmeter and using a second water cut meter to measure water cut in flow through the second multiphase Coriolis flowmeter.

12. A method as set forth in claim 7 further comprising measuring a total flow rate in a line conveying fluids from the wells to the fluidic system and changing how fluid is routed through the well test system in response to a change in the total flow rate of fluid to the fluidic system.

13. A method as set forth in claim 7 further comprising measuring a total flow rate of the fluid routed from the one or more wells to the well test system at a location upstream of the separator vessel and the plurality of plurality of multiphase metering systems.

14. A method as set forth in claim 7 further comprising measuring a gas void fraction of the fluid routed from the one or more wells to the well test system at a location upstream of the separator vessel and the plurality of plurality of multiphase metering systems.

Assignees

• Invensys Sys Inc
• Schneider Electric Systems Usa Inc

Inventors

• Henry Manus P
• Casimiro Richard P

Classifications

• G01F22/00 Primary

  Methods or apparatus for measuring volume of fluids or fluent solid material, not otherwise provided for · CPC title

• G01F15/185

  Connecting means, e.g. bypass conduits · CPC title

• G01F15/08

  Air or gas separators in combination with liquid meters; Liquid separators in combination with gas-meters · CPC title

• G01F15/005

  Valves (valves in general F16K) · CPC title

• G01F1/84

  Coriolis or gyroscopic mass flowmeters · CPC title