Hydrocarbon wells including electrically actuated gas lift valve assemblies and methods of providing gas lift in a hydrocarbon well

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11035201-B2
Application number	US-201916437547-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 11, 2019
Priority date	Aug 21, 2018
Publication date	Jun 15, 2021
Grant date	Jun 15, 2021

Abstract

Hydrocarbon wells including electrically actuated gas lift valve assemblies and methods of providing gas lift in a hydrocarbon well. The hydrocarbon wells include a wellbore that extends within a subterranean formation and downhole tubing that extends within the wellbore. The hydrocarbon wells also include a lift gas supply system configured to provide a lift gas stream to a lift gas supply conduit of the wellbore, a plurality of electrically actuated gas lift valve assemblies, a valve power supply system, and a controller. The methods include measuring a respective pressure differential between a lift gas supply conduit and a production conduit of the hydrocarbon well at each electrically actuated gas lift valve assembly in a plurality of electrically actuated gas lift valve assemblies of the hydrocarbon well. The methods also include selectively opening a selected electrically actuated gas lift valve assembly based on the respective pressure differential.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A hydrocarbon well, comprising:
a wellbore that extends within a subterranean formation;
downhole tubing that extends within the wellbore and defines a tubing conduit, wherein the wellbore and the downhole tubing together define an annular space therebetween, and further wherein one of the tubing conduit and the annular space defines a production conduit configured to produce a reservoir fluid from the subterranean formation;
a lift gas supply system configured to provide a lift gas stream to a lift gas supply conduit that is defined by the tubing conduit and the annular space;
a plurality of electrically actuated gas lift valve assemblies spaced apart along a length of the downhole tubing, wherein each electrically actuated gas lift valve assembly in the plurality of electrically actuated gas lift valve assemblies includes:
(i) a gas injection conduit extending between the production conduit and the lift gas supply conduit;
(ii) a valve assembly orifice that defines an orifice portion of the gas injection conduit; and
(iii) an electrically actuated shut-off valve that defines a valve portion of the gas injection conduit and is configured to be selectively and electrically actuated between an open state, in which the electrically actuated shut-off valve permits fluid flow through the gas injection conduit, and a closed state, in which the electrically actuated shut-off valve restricts fluid flow through the gas injection conduit;
a valve power supply system configured to supply an electric current to electrically power the plurality of electrically actuated gas lift valve assemblies; and
a controller programmed to selectively provide a respective control signal to each electrically actuated gas lift valve assembly to control the plurality of electrically actuated gas lift valve assemblies; and
wherein the controller is programmed to independently transition the electrically actuated shut-off valve of each electrically actuated gas lift valve assembly between the open state and the closed state based, at least in part, on a corresponding pressure differential measured by the electrically actuated gas lift valve assembly.

2. The hydrocarbon well of claim 1 , wherein the electrically actuated shut-off valve is a binary valve configured to define only the open state and the closed state.

3. The hydrocarbon well of claim 1 , wherein each electrically actuated gas lift valve assembly further includes a check valve that defines a check valve portion of the gas injection conduit, wherein the check valve is configured to permit fluid flow, via the gas injection conduit, from the lift gas supply conduit to the production conduit and to restrict fluid flow, via the gas injection conduit, from the production conduit to the lift gas supply conduit.

4. The hydrocarbon well of claim 1 , wherein the valve assembly orifice is a fixed-size valve assembly orifice.

5. The hydrocarbon well of claim 1 , wherein the valve assembly orifice is an adjustable valve assembly orifice configured to be selectively and electrically transitioned among a plurality of orifice sizes between a minimum orifice size and a maximum orifice size, and further wherein the respective control signal includes an orifice size signal that specifies a selected orifice size for the adjustable valve assembly orifice, and further wherein, responsive to receipt of the orifice size signal, the adjustable valve assembly orifice is configured to transition to the selected orifice size.

6. The hydrocarbon well of claim 1 , wherein each electrically actuated gas lift valve assembly further includes a differential pressure sensor configured to detect a pressure differential between the lift gas supply conduit and the production conduit, wherein the differential pressure sensor is configured to generate a pressure differential sensor signal, which is indicative of the pressure differential, and provide the pressure differential sensor signal to the controller, and further wherein the controller is programmed to selectively transition the electrically actuated shut-off valve of each electrically actuated gas lift valve assembly between the open state and the closed state based, at least in part, on the pressure differential.

7. The hydrocarbon well of claim 6 , wherein the controller is programmed to independently transition the electrically actuated shut-off valve of each electrically actuated gas lift valve assembly between the open state and the closed state based, at least in part, on a corresponding pressure differential that is associated with each electrically actuated gas lift valve assembly.

8. The hydrocarbon well of claim 6 , wherein the controller is programmed to calculate an injection rate of the lift gas stream into the production conduit, via the gas injection conduit, based, at least in part, on the pressure differential and a cross-sectional area of the orifice portion of the gas injection conduit.

9. The hydrocarbon well of claim 8 , wherein the controller is programmed to adjust the injection rate to at least one of:
(i) maintain the injection rate within a target injection rate range; and
(ii) maintain a gas-to-liquid ratio in the production conduit within a target gas-to-liquid ratio range.

10. The hydrocarbon well of claim 1 , wherein each electrically actuated gas lift valve assembly further includes a flow sensor configured to detect a flow rate of the lift gas stream through the gas injection conduit.

11. The hydrocarbon well of claim 1 , wherein the hydrocarbon well further includes a high pressure bypass assembly configured to equalize pressure between the production conduit and the lift gas supply conduit responsive to the pressure differential between the production conduit and the lift gas supply conduit exceeding a threshold maximum pressure differential, wherein the high pressure bypass assembly is positioned downhole from the plurality of electrically actuated gas lift valve assemblies.

12. A method of providing gas lift in the hydrocarbon well of claim 1 , the method comprising:
providing the lift gas stream to the lift gas supply conduit;
measuring a respective pressure differential between the lift gas supply conduit and the production conduit at each electrically actuated gas lift valve assembly;
selectively opening a selected electrically actuated gas lift valve assembly in the plurality of electrically actuated gas lift valve assemblies based, at least in part, on the respective pressure differential measured at the selected electrically actuated gas lift valve assembly; and
providing the lift gas stream to the production conduit via the selected electrically actuated gas lift valve assembly.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the method further includes:
(i) repeating the measuring;
(ii) closing the selected electrically actuated gas lift valve assembly based, at least in part, on a change in the respective pressure differential;
(iii) selectively opening another electrically actuated gas lift valve assembly in the plurality of electrically actuated gas lift valve assemblies based, at least in part, on the change in the respective pressure differential; and
providing the lift gas stream to the production conduit via the other electrically actuated gas lift valve assembly.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the method further includes selectively regulating an open cross-sectional area of the orifice portion of the gas injection conduit of the selected electrically actuated gas lift valve assembly based, at least in part, on the respective pressure differential.

Assignees

• Frazier Christopher C
• Long Ted A
• Rose Dustin H
• Salviz Joseph
• Romer Michael C
• Bermea Anthony J
• Walker Billy Bob
• Exxonmobil Upstream Res Co

Inventors

• Frazier Christopher C
• Long Ted A
• Rose Dustin H
• Salviz Joseph
• Romer Michael C
• Bermea Anthony J
• Walker Billy-Bob

Classifications

• E21B43/1235 Primary

  characterised by electromagnetic actuation · CPC title

• E21B34/08 Primary

  responsive to flow or pressure of the fluid obtained (E21B34/10 takes precedence) · CPC title

• E21B34/066

  electrically actuated · CPC title

• E21B34/06

  in wells · CPC title

• E21B43/12

  Methods or apparatus for controlling the flow of the obtained fluid to or in wells (E21B43/25 takes precedence; valve arrangements E21B34/00) · CPC title