QUANTITATIVE DIAGNOSTICS AND REMOVAL OF ASPHALT-RESIN-PARAFFIN DEPOSITS IN WELLS AND OIL PIPELINES

Abstract

Currently, the most common type of complications in oil wells operation and in the oil gathering and treatment system in the Ural-Volga Region are asphalt-resin-paraffin deposits (ARPD). Such deposits can be formed both on the bottomhole and the wellbore, and in field oil and gas pipe- lines. The formation of ARPD on the surface of tubing and pipelines leads to an increase in hydraulic losses due to the narrowing of their flow area. For this reason, downhole equipment comes out of optimal opera- tion, and undesirable economic losses occur. To eliminate this kind of emergency situations, timely quantitative diagnostics of sediments, as well as their removal, are required. The article discusses various methods for quantitative diagnosis of ARPD: the use of a liquid separator; use of ultrasonic flow meters; method based on reference technology. According to the last of the above mentioned methods, the calculation was carried out and the required amount of solvent and treatment cycles were select- ed, which is required to remove a certain amount of sediment. According to the results of the calculations, it was also determined that without timely removal of sediments, the well productivity drops by 26 - 27 %. Thus, in field conditions, timely prevention, quantitative diagnostics and sediment control activities should be organized, as well as monitoring the performance and loads of downhole equipment.