Sampling separation module for subsea or surface application

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9618427-B2
Application number	US-201314381988-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 1, 2013
Priority date	Mar 2, 2012
Publication date	Apr 11, 2017
Grant date	Apr 11, 2017

Abstract

The disclosure describes a system to segregate, enrich and capture oil, water and gas samples from a multiphase flow. The system can be used in a subsea location, on the surface or in any other condition where it is connected to a flow of different phases of gas and/or liquid. The samples obtained are representative in composition of the phases flowing at well head conditions in terms of both pressure and temperature. Additionally, a relatively small volume of each phase is used in obtaining the samples. The system connects and disconnects to ports installed at the sampling location nearby the wellhead or the production line. The sampling flow is controlled by means of a pump. The collected samples are separated in mono (or nearly mono)—phase samples (oil, water and gas) and stored in individual bottles.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for separating fluid from a multiphase fluid including gas, oil, and water, the system comprising:
a separation chamber;
an inlet port operatively connected to the separation chamber at an inlet location for flowing multiphase fluid into the separation chamber;
a first outlet port operatively connected to the separation chamber at an upper outlet location, the upper outlet location being above the inlet location during operation;
a first sensor configured and operatively connected to make first measurements of phase content of fluid adjacent the first outlet port;
a second outlet port operatively connected to the separation chamber at a lower outlet location, the lower outlet location being below the inlet location during operation;
a second sensor configured and operatively connected to make second measurements indicative of phase content of fluid adjacent the second outlet port; and
a pumping system to flow fluid into and out of the separation chamber, the pumping system including a piston and a cylinder, when the pumping system is in use, the cylinder is oriented about an axis tilted from a horizontal plane to enable a degree of pre-separation of the multiphase fluid to occur within the cylinder.

2. A system according to claim 1 wherein the upper outlet location is at or near an uppermost location of the separation chamber and the lower outlet location is at or near a lowermost location of the separation chamber.

3. A system according to claim 1 wherein the separation chamber is elongated about a longitudinal axis, the longitudinal axis being tilted above a horizontal plane.

4. A system according to claim 3 wherein the longitudinal axis is tilted by at least 30 degrees above the horizontal plane.

5. A system according to claim 1 further comprising a third sensor configured and operatively connected to make measurements indicative of phase content of fluid adjacent the inlet port.

6. A system according to claim 1 wherein the cylinder is a first cylinder and the piston is a first reciprocating piston, the pumping system includes the first reciprocating piston within the first cylinder and a second reciprocating piston within a second cylinder.

7. A system according to claim 6 wherein the first and second cylinders are oriented about the axis tilted from the horizontal plane such that a degree of pre-separation of the phase can occur within the cylinders and wherein a fluid leak occurring between the pistons and cylinders is detectable based at least in part on a pressure sensor or phase detector operatively connected to the pumping system.

8. A system according to claim 6 wherein a fluid leak occurring between the pistons and cylinders can be detected based at least in part on a pressure sensor or phase detector operatively connected to the pumping system.

9. A system according to claim 1 , wherein the pumping system is operatively connected such that the pumping system can transfer a sample into a sampling bottle, wherein the sampling bottle comprises a piston, and a pressure behind the piston enables the sample to be taken at or very near a pressure of the multiphase fluid.

10. The system according to claim 1 , further comprising a controller to process the first measurements and the second measurements and cause the outlet ports to open and close based on the processing to enable the separation chamber to substantially contain, at separate selective times, any one of the gas, oil, and water.

11. The system according to claim 10 , wherein the controller is to:
1) enable the separation chamber to substantially contain the gas by causing the discharge of oil and water from the second outlet port and causing the second outlet port to close when the second measurements are associated with the gas;
2) enable the separation chamber to substantially contain the oil by causing the discharge of gas from the first outlet port and causing the first outlet port to close when the first measurements are associated with the oil and causing the discharge of the water from the second outlet port and causing the second outlet port to close when the second measurements are associated with the oil; and
3) enable the separation chamber to substantially contain the water by causing the discharge of the gas and the oil from the first outlet port and causing the first outlet port to close when the first measurements are associated with the water.

12. A method for separating fluid from a multiphase fluid flow, the method comprising:
pumping a multiphase fluid through an inlet port into a separation chamber at an inlet location, the multiphase fluid including gas, oil, and water; and
enabling fluid to exit the separation chamber at either (1) a first outlet port operatively connected to the separation chamber at an upper outlet location, the upper outlet location being above the inlet location, or (2) a second outlet port operatively connected to the separation chamber at a lower outlet location, the lower outlet location being below the inlet location, wherein the pumping includes flowing the multiphase fluid into and out of the separation chamber using a pumping system that includes a piston disposed within a cylinder, the cylinder being oriented about an axis tilted from a horizontal plane to enable a degree of pre-separation of the multiphase fluid to occur within the cylinder.

13. A method according to claim 12 , wherein to enable the separation chamber to substantially contain gas, the method further comprises:
enabling fluid to exit the separation chamber at the second outlet port;
sensing the onset of gas exiting the second outlet port indicating the separation chamber is at least nearly full of the gas; and
flowing the gas from the separation chamber into a sample bottle by closing the second outlet port, opening the first outlet port, and directing the gas to the sample bottle.

14. A method according to claim 12 wherein to enable the separation chamber to substantially contain water, the method further comprises:
enabling fluid to exit the separation chamber at the first outlet port;
sensing the onset of water exiting the first outlet port indicating the separation chamber is at least nearly full of the water; and
flowing the water from the separation chamber into a sample bottle by closing the first outlet port, opening the second outlet port, and directing the water to the sample bottle.

15. A method according to claim 12 wherein to enable the separation chamber to substantially contain oil, the method further comprises:
enabling fluid to exit the separation chamber at the first outlet port;
sensing the onset of liquid exiting the first outlet port indicating the separation chamber is at least nearly full of liquid, the liquid including at least one of oil and water;
enabling the multiphase fluid to exit the separation chamber at the second outlet port instead of the first outlet port until sensing of an onset of oil exiting the second outlet port;
enabling fluid to exit the separation chamber at the first outlet port instead of the second outlet port until sensing of the liquid exiting the first outlet port; and
flowing the oil from the separation chamber into a sample bottle.

16. A method according to claim 12 , further comprising selectively opening and closing the outlet ports to cause the separation chamber to substantially contain, at separate selective times, any one of the gas, oil, and water.

17. A system for separating fluid from a multiphase fluid including a gas phase, a first liquid phase, and a second liquid phas

Assignees

• Schlumberger Technology Corp

Inventors

• Theron Bernard E
• Atkinson Malcolm
• Sbordone Andrea
• Nighswander John Allan
• Lien Rune

Classifications

• E21B49/08 Primary

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

• G01N33/28

  Oils {, i.e. hydrocarbon liquids} (edible oils or edible fats G01N33/03) · CPC title

• G01N33/2823

  Raw oil, drilling fluid or polyphasic mixtures · CPC title

• G01N2001/1031

  Sampling from special places · CPC title

• G01N1/10 Primary

  in the liquid or fluent state {(burettes, pipettes B01L3/02; sampling of ground water E02D1/06; metering by volume of fluids or fluent solid material G01F11/00, G01F13/00)} · CPC title