Method for production of hydrocarbons using caverns

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9322253-B2
Application number	US-201214366659-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 16, 2012
Priority date	Jan 3, 2012
Publication date	Apr 26, 2016
Grant date	Apr 26, 2016

Abstract

Embodiments described herein provide a system and methods for the production of hydrocarbons. The method includes flowing a stream directly from a hydrocarbon reservoir to a cavern and performing a phase separation of the stream within the cavern to form an aqueous phase and an organic phase. The method also includes flowing at least a portion of the aqueous phase or the organic phase, or both, directly from the cavern to a subsurface location and offloading at least a portion of the organic phase from the cavern to a surface.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for production of hydrocarbons, comprising:
forming a cavern using solution mining;
flowing a stream directly from a hydrocarbon reservoir to the cavern without reaching a surface;
performing phase separation of the stream within the cavern to form an aqueous phase and an organic phase;
flowing at least a portion of the organic phase directly from the cavern to a separate subsurface location without reaching the surface; and
offloading at least a portion of the organic phase from the cavern to the surface.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein performing the phase separation of the stream within the cavern comprises separating the stream into liquid hydrocarbon, water, gas, or solids, or any combinations thereof.

3. The method of claim 1 , comprising storing at least a portion of the aqueous phase or the organic phase, or both, within the cavern.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising flowing at least a portion of the aqueous phase into an aquifer, a body of water, a sand formation, or a subterranean formation, or any combinations thereof.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein flowing at least a portion of the organic phase directly from the cavern to the subsurface location comprises flowing at least a portion of the organic phase into a sand formation, or a subterranean formation, or any combinations thereof.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein offloading at least a portion of the organic phase from the cavern to the surface comprises sending at least a portion of the organic phase to a transportation system, wherein the transportation system comprises a tanker, a platform, a ship, a pipeline, or any combinations thereof.

7. The method of claim 1 , comprising flowing at least a portion of the aqueous phase or the organic phase, or both, directly from the cavern to a second cavern without reaching the surface, wherein the second cavern comprises a storage vessel or a multi-stage separation vessel, or both.

8. The method of claim 1 , comprising flowing at least a portion of the aqueous phase or the organic phase, or both, directly from the cavern to each of a plurality of new subsurface locations without reaching the surface.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cavern has a capacity of at least one million barrels.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cavern is a salt cavern.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cavern is one of conical or irregular in shape.

12. A system for production of hydrocarbons, comprising:
a cavern formed by solution mining and configured to affect a phase separation;
a hydrocarbon reservoir linked to the cavern directly through a subsurface without reaching a surface;
a reinjection system configured to reinject a gas stream into the hydrocarbon reservoir from the cavern directly through the subsurface without reaching the surface;
an injection system configured to inject an aqueous stream from the cavern into an aquifer directly through the subsurface; and
a coupling configured to allow offloading of at least a portion of an organic phase from the cavern to a transportation system.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the aquifer is fluidically coupled to the hydrocarbon reservoir.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the cavern includes a salt cavern, a carbonate cavern, or any other water-soluble or acid-soluble cavern.

15. The system of claim 12 , wherein the cavern comprises an underground phase separator for separating gas, liquid hydrocarbon, water, or solids, or any combinations thereof.

16. The system of claim 12 , wherein the cavern comprises any of a plurality of shapes, comprising a cylindrical shape, a conical shape, or an irregular shape.

17. The system of claim 12 , wherein the cavern comprises active controls for pressure and fluid level.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the active controls for pressure and fluid level comprise a nucleonic level detector, a differential pressure (DP) cell level transmitter, an optical level detector, a refractive index level detector, or a diaphragm-based strain gauge, or any combinations thereof.

19. The system of claim 17 , wherein the active controls for pressure and fluid level comprise pumps, valves, and check valves, or any combinations thereof.

20. The system of claim 12 , wherein the system is configured to reduce a power requirement for the cavern by increasing or decreasing a pressure level within the cavern.

21. The system of claim 12 , wherein the system comprises multiple caverns connected to each other without reaching the surface, and wherein each cavern comprises a phase separation vessel or a storage vessel, or both.

22. The system of claim 12 , wherein the system comprises:
a first cavern configured to create a first separated stream; and
a second cavern fluidically coupled to the first cavern without reaching the surface, wherein the second cavern accepts the first separated stream and creates a second separated stream.

23. The system of claim 12 , wherein the transportation system comprises a pipeline, a platform, a tanker, or a ship, or any combinations thereof.

24. The system of claim 12 , wherein the cavern is configured to store a cushion hydrocarbon within the cavern, wherein the cushion hydrocarbon is a base hydrocarbon volume level for the cavern.

25. The system of claim 12 , wherein the cavern is configured to accept a plurality of streams directly from a plurality of hydrocarbon reservoirs without reaching the surface.

26. The system of claim 12 , comprising downhole or in-cavern machinery for compression or reinjection of a stream, wherein the downhole or in-cavern machinery comprises compressors or pumps, or any combination thereof.

27. The system of claim 12 , wherein the system comprises a continuous power source supplied by a topside source, an episodic power source supplied by a ship or a tanker, a power source supplied by a differential pressure between subsurface locations, or any combinations thereof.

28. The method of claim 12 , wherein the cavern has a capacity of at least one million barrels.

29. A method for harvesting hydrocarbons, comprising:
flowing a hydrocarbon stream from a hydrocarbon reservoir directly to a salt cavern formed by solution mining;
performing a phase separation of the hydrocarbon stream within the salt cavern to recover a plurality of separated streams, wherein the plurality of separated streams comprise a liquid hydrocarbon stream, a gas stream, a water stream, and a solids stream;
injecting an amount of the gas stream directly back into the hydrocarbon reservoir at a first time;
injecting an amount of the water stream directly into an aquifer at a second time; and
sending at least a portion of any of the plurality of separated streams to a new separate subsurface cavern through a subsurface line that does not reach the surface.

30. The method of claim 29 , wherein the aquifer is fluidically coupled to the hydrocarbon reservoir.

31. The method of claim 29 , comprising sending at least a portion of the liquid hydrocarbon stream or the gas stream, or both, to a location above surface, wherein the location above surface comprises a transportation system.

32. The method of claim 29 , wherein sending at least a portion of any of the plurality of separated streams to the new subsurfac

Assignees

• Barry Michael D
• Brown James S
• Leta Daniel P
• Minta Moses K
• Whitney Scott M
• Tanaka Paul L
• Exxonmobil Upstream Res Co

Inventors

• Barry Michael D
• Brown James S
• Leta Daniel P
• Minta Moses K
• Whitney Scott M
• Tanaka Paul L

Classifications

• E21B43/16 Primary

  Enhanced recovery methods for obtaining hydrocarbons · CPC title

• E21B43/385 Primary

  by reinjecting the separated materials into an earth formation in the same well · CPC title

• E21B43/35

  specially adapted for separating solids (down-hole drilling fluid separation systems E21B21/002; separating solids from drilling fluids E21B21/065) · CPC title