HYDROCARBON LOSSES REDUCING TECHNOLOGY

Abstract

Background Since 2012 the Government of the Russian Federation by its resolution encourages oil companies to increase the efficiency of the useful use of associated petroleum gas up to 95 % or more. The losses of associated petroleum gas, produced during the operation of wells, remain outside of this decision. This article considers a technology of reducing the associated petroleum gas release into the atmosphere by more than 75 % of the currently existing volumes of light hydrocarbon losses. To transport gas from the intertubular space of wells into the oil collection system, we propose to use a container with the capacity of 50-100 m3, with standing the pressure higher than in the oil collection collector. The scheme of the well gas collecting is equipped with a gas accounting system and a device for determining the dynamic liquid level of in the intertubular space. Aims and Objectives: • to develop a technology of associated petroleum gas collecting from the intertube well space and transporting it to the oil collection system; • to develop a technology of determining the dynamic liquid level in intertubular space based on a gas state assessment after its passage into the gas collection container. Methods To calculate the liquid level in the well there used a gas equation in the intertubular space taking into account the barometric leveling of the gas density along the depth of the well. Results The installation of a gas gathering tank on a bush of oil producing wells excludes the release of the main volumes of associated petroleum gas from intertubular space of wells into the atmosphere. The new associated petroleum gas collection scheme, based on the displacement of gas from the tank with a pressure higher than in the oil collection system, is suggested. A method of estimating the liquid level depth, based on an estimation of the pressure decrease in the intertube gas when selecting a fixed gas volume, is improved.