Protecting a hydrocarbon fluid piping system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10570712-B2
Application number	US-201715489371-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 17, 2017
Priority date	Apr 17, 2017
Publication date	Feb 25, 2020
Grant date	Feb 25, 2020

Abstract

Techniques for managing a hydraulic fluid pipeline pressure include measuring a fluid pressure of a hydrocarbon fluid circulating, from a wellbore by a pump positioned in the wellbore, through an above-ground hydrocarbon fluid pipeline network at a plurality of particular locations in the hydrocarbon fluid pipeline network to determine a plurality of measured process pressures; determining that at least half of the plurality of measured process pressures exceed a specified threshold value; and based on the determination, actuating at least one flow control device operable to control the flow of the hydrocarbon fluid in the wellbore to reduce a fluid pressure of the hydrocarbon fluid in the hydrocarbon fluid pipeline network.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for managing a hydraulic fluid pipeline pressure, comprising:
measuring a fluid pressure of a hydrocarbon fluid circulating, from a wellbore by a pump positioned in the wellbore, through an above-ground hydrocarbon fluid pipeline network at a plurality of particular locations in the hydrocarbon fluid pipeline network to determine a plurality of measured process pressures, the plurality of particular locations positioned in a downstream hydrocarbon piping system of the above-ground hydrocarbon fluid pipeline network that is coupled to an outlet of a spec break valve that separates the downstream hydrocarbon piping system from an upstream hydrocarbon piping system of the above-ground hydrocarbon fluid pipeline network that is coupled to an inlet of the spec break valve, the upstream hydrocarbon piping system comprising a maximum pressure rating at least equal to a deadhead pressure of the wellbore or the pump;
determining that at least half of the plurality of measured process pressures exceed a specified threshold value that is no greater than a maximum allowable operating pressure (MAOP) rating of the downstream hydrocarbon piping system, the MAOP rating less than the deadhead pressure;
based on the determination, actuating at least one flow control device; and
controlling the flow of the hydrocarbon fluid in the wellbore with the actuated at least one flow control device to reduce a fluid pressure of the hydrocarbon fluid in the hydrocarbon fluid pipeline network.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein actuating at least one flow control device comprises adjusting at least one of a motor controller of the pump, a downhole valve fluidly coupled to a work string that comprises the pump, or a power switchgear module electrically coupled to the pump.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein actuating at least one of a motor controller of the pump, a downhole valve fluidly coupled to a work string that comprises the pump, or a power switchgear module electrically coupled to the pump comprises at least one of:
actuating the downhole valve to a closed position to fluidly decouple the pump from the hydrocarbon fluid pipeline network;
adjusting the motor controller to slow down or stop the pump; or
de-energizing a relay that is electrically coupled to the power switchgear module to electrically decouple the motor controller from the power switchgear module.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein adjusting the motor controller to slow down or stop the pump comprises adjusting an adjustable frequency drive that is electrically coupled to a motor of the pump.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein adjusting the downhole valve to the closed position to fluidly decouple the pump from the hydrocarbon fluid pipeline network comprises:
transmitting at least one signal to a solenoid valve that is fluidly coupled to a fluid actuator of the downhole valve;
based on the signal, bleeding a fluid from the fluid actuator; and
based on bleeding the fluid, actuating the downhole valve to move to the closed position.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pump comprises an electrical submersible pump.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of particular locations comprise at least three particular locations, and the plurality of measured process pressures comprise at least three measured process pressures.

8. A hydrocarbon pipeline protection system, comprising:
a plurality of process pressure sensors configured to couple to an above-ground hydrocarbon fluid pipeline that is fluidly coupled to a wellbore that extends from a terranean surface into a subterranean zone, where the hydrocarbon fluid pipeline comprises a downstream hydrocarbon piping system that is coupled to an outlet of a spec break valve that separates the downstream hydrocarbon piping system from an upstream hydrocarbon piping system of the hydrocarbon fluid pipeline that is coupled to an inlet of the spec break valve, the upstream hydrocarbon piping system comprising a maximum pressure rating at least equal to a deadhead pressure of the wellbore or a pump positioned in the wellbore; and
a controller configured to communicably couple to the plurality of process pressure sensors and at least one flow control device positioned to adjust a flow of a hydrocarbon fluid that is circulated, by the pump positioned in the wellbore, from the subterranean zone, through the wellbore, and into the hydrocarbon fluid pipeline, the controller configured to perform operations comprising:
receiving a fluid pressure measurement from each of the plurality of process pressure sensors;
determining that at least half of the plurality of process pressure measurements exceed a specified threshold value that is no greater than a maximum allowable operating pressure (MAOP) rating of the downstream hydrocarbon piping system, the MAOP rating less than the deadhead pressure; and
based on the determination, controlling the at least one flow control device to control the flow of the hydrocarbon fluid in the wellbore to reduce a fluid pressure of the hydrocarbon fluid in the hydrocarbon fluid pipeline.

9. The hydrocarbon pipeline protection system of claim 8 , wherein the operation of controlling the at least one flow control device comprises adjusting at least one of a motor controller of the pump, a downhole valve fluidly coupled to a work string that comprises the pump, or a power switchgear module electrically coupled to the pump.

10. The hydrocarbon pipeline protection system of claim 9 , wherein the operation of adjusting at least one of the motor controller of the pump, the downhole valve fluidly coupled to the work string that comprises the pump, or the power switchgear module electrically coupled to the pump, comprises performing, with the controller, at least one operation comprising:
adjusting the downhole valve to a closed position to fluidly decouple the pump from the hydrocarbon fluid pipeline;
adjusting the motor controller to slow down or stop the pump; or
de-energizing a relay that is electrically coupled to the power switchgear module to electrically decouple the motor controller from the power switchgear module.

11. The hydrocarbon pipeline protection system of claim 10 , wherein the operation of adjusting the motor controller to slow down or stop the pump comprises electrically isolating, with the controller, an adjustable frequency drive that is electrically coupled to a motor of the pump to stop the pump.

12. The hydrocarbon pipeline protection system of claim 10 , wherein the operation of adjusting the downhole valve to the closed position to fluidly decouple the pump from the hydrocarbon fluid pipeline comprises:
transmitting, from the controller, at least one signal to a solenoid valve that is fluidly coupled to a fluid actuator of the downhole valve, the signal comprising an instruction to bleed a fluid from the fluid actuator to move the downhole valve to the closed position.

13. The hydrocarbon pipeline protection system of claim 9 , wherein the pump comprises an electrical submersible pump.

14. The hydrocarbon pipeline protection system of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of process pressure sensors comprise at least three process pressure sensors.

15. The hydrocarbon pipeline protection system of claim 14 , wherein at least half of the received plurality of hydrocarbon process pressure measurements comprise at least two out of three hydrocarbon process pressure measurements.

16. A computer-implemented method of managing a hydrocarbon piping network pressure, comprising:
receiving, at a controller that comprises at least one

Assignees

• Saudi Arabian Oil Co

Inventors

• Mujica Pedro Alejandro
• Cipriano Herman Roberto

Classifications

• F17D5/00

  Protection or supervision of installations (arrangements for protecting foundations E02D31/00; protecting pipes from damage or internal or external wear F16L57/00, against corrosion and scale F16L58/00; investigation of the fluid-tightness of structures G01M3/00) · CPC title

• E21B47/06

  Measuring temperature or pressure · CPC title

• E21B34/06

  in wells · CPC title

• E21B43/00 Primary

  Methods or apparatus for obtaining oil, gas, water, soluble or meltable materials or a slurry of minerals from wells (applicable only to water E03B) · CPC title

• E21B43/128 Primary

  Adaptation of pump systems with down-hole electric drives · CPC title