Downhole oil and gas well heating system and method

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] The present invention relates to systems and methods for producing or delivering heat at or near the down hole end of production tubing of a producing oil or gas well for improving production therefrom.

[0004] 2. Background Information

[0005] Free-flowing oil is increasingly difficult to find, even in oil wells that once had very good flow. In some cases, good flowing wells simply “clog up” with paraffin. In other cases, the oil itself in a given formation is of a viscosity that it simply will not flow (or will flow very slowly) under naturally ambient temperatures.

[0006] Because the viscosity of oil and paraffin have an inverse relationship to their temperatures, the solution to non-flowing or slow flowing oil wells would seem fairly straight forward—somehow heat the oil and/or paraffin. However, effectively achieving this objective has proven elusive for many years.

[0007] In the context of gas wells, another phenomena—the buildup of iron oxides and other residues that can obstruct the free flow of gas through the perforations, through the tubing, or both—creates a need for effective down hole heating.

[0008] Down hole heating systems or components for oil and gas wells are known (hereafter, for the sake of brevity, most wells will simply be referred to as “oil wells” with the understanding that certain applications will apply equally well to gas wells). In addition, certain treatments (including “hot oil treatments”) for unclogging no-flow or slow-flow oil wells have long been in use. For a variety of reasons, the existing technologies are very much lacking in efficacy and/or long-term reliability.

[0009] The present invention addresses two primary shortcomings that the inventor has found in conventional approaches to heating oil and paraffin down hole: (1) the heat is not properly focused where it needs to be; and (2) existing down hole heaters fail for lack of design elements which would protect electrical components from chemical or physical attack while in position.

[0010] The present inventor has discovered that existing down hole heaters inevitably fail because their designers do not take into consideration the intense pressures to which the units will be exposed when installed. Such pressure will force liquids (including highly conductive salt water) past the casings of conventional heating units and cause electrical shorts and corrosion. Designers with whom the present inventor has discussed heater failures have uniformly failed to recognize the root cause of the problem—lack of adequate protection for the heating elements and their electrical connections. The down hole heating unit of the present invention addresses this shortcoming of conventional heating units.

[0011] Research into the present design also reveals that designers of existing heaters and installations have overlooked crucial features of any effective down hole heater system: (1) it must focus heat in such a way that the production zone of the formation itself is heated; and (2) heat (and with it, effectiveness) must not be lost for failure to insulate heating elements from up hole components which will “draw” heat away from the crucial zones by conduction.

[0012] However subtle the distinctions between the present design and those of the prior art might at first appear, actual field applications of the present down hole heating system have yielded oil well flow rate increases which are multiples of those realized through use of presently available down hole heating systems. The monetary motivations for solving slow-flow or no-flow oil well conditions are such that, if modifying existing heating units to achieve the present design were obvious, producers would not have spent millions of dollars on ineffective down hole treatments and heating systems (which they have done), nor lost millions of dollars in production for lack of the solutions to long-felt problems that the present invention provides (which they have also done).

[0013] It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved down hole heating system for use in conditioning oil and gas wells for increased flow, when such flow is impeded because of viscosity and/or paraffin blockage conditions.

[0014] It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved design for down hole heating systems which has the effect of more effectively focusing heat where it is most efficacious in improving oil or gas flow in circumstances when such flow is impeded because of oil viscosity and/or paraffin blockage conditions.

[0015] It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved design for down hole heating systems for oil and gas wells which design renders the heating unit useful for extended periods of time without interruption for costly repairs because of damage or electrical shorting caused by unit invasion by down hole fluids.

[0016] It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved method for down hole heating of oil and gas wells for increasing flow, when such flow is impeded because of viscosity and/or paraffin blockage conditions.

[0017] In satisfaction of these and related objects, the present invention provides a down hole heating system for use with oil and gas wells which exhibit less than optimally achievable flow rates because of high oil viscosity and/or blockage by paraffin (or similar meltable petroleum byproducts). The system of the present invention, and the method of use thereof, provides two primary benefits: (1) the involved heating unit is designed to overcome an unrecognized problem which leads to frequent failure of prior art heating units—unit invasion by down hole heating units with resulting physical damage and/or electrical shortages; and (2) the system is designed to focus and contain heat in the production zone to promote flow to, and not just within, the production tubing.

[0018] FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a producing oil well with the components of the present down hole heating system installed.

[0019] FIG. 2 is an elevational, sagittal cross section view of the heating unit of the present invention.

[0020] Referring to FIG. 1, the complete down hole heating system of the present invention is generally identified by the reference numeral 10. System 10 includes production tubing 12 (the length of which depends, of course, on the depth of the well), a heat insulating packer 14, perforated tubing 16, a stainless steel tubing collar 18, and a heating unit 20.

[0021] Referring in combination to FIGS. 1 and 2, heating unit 20 includes electrical resistance type heater rods 26, the electrical current for which is supplied by cables 22 which run down the exterior of production tubing 12 and connect to leads 24 at the upper end of heating unit 20.

[0022] Heat insulating packer 14 and stainless steel collars 18 are includes in their stated form for “containing” the heat from heating unit 20 within the desired zone to the greatest practical degree. Were it not for these components, the heat from heating unit 20 would (like the heat from conventional down hole heater units) convect and conduct upward in the well bore and through the production tubing, thereby essentially directing much of the heat away from the area which it is most needed—the production zone.

[0023] Perhaps, it goes without saying that oil that never reaches the pump will never be produced. However, this truism seems to have escaped designers of previous down-hole heating schemes, the use of which essentially heats oil only as it enters the production tubing, without effectively heating it so that it will reach the production tubing in the first place. Largely containing the heat below the level of the junction between the production tubing 12 and the perforated tubing 16, as is achieved through the current design, has the effect of focusing the heat on the production formation itself. This, in turn, heats oil and paraffin in situ and allows it to flow to the well bore for pumping, thus “producing” first the viscous materials which are impeding flow, and then the desired product of the well (oil or gas). Stainless steel is chosen as the material for the juncture collars at and below the joinder of production tubing 12 and perforate tubing 16 because of its limited heat conductive properties.

[0024] Physical and chemical attack of the electrical connections between the power leads and the heater rods of conventional heating systems, as well as shorting of electrical circuits because of invasion of heater units by conductive fluids is another problem of the present art to which the present invention is addressed. Referring to FIG. 2, the present inventor has discovered that, to prevent the aforementioned electrical problems, the internal connection for a down hole heating unit must be impenetrably shielded from the pressures and hostile chemical agents which surround the unit in the well bore.

[0025] As shown in FIG. 2, a terminal portion of the heater rods 26 which connect to leads 24 are encased in a cement block 28 of high temperature cement. The presently preferred “cement” is an epoxy material which is available as Sauereisen Cement #1, and which may be obtained from the Industrial Engineering and Equipment Company (“Indeeco”) of St. Louis, Mo., USA. Cement block 28 is, in turn, encased in a steel fitting assembly 30 (“encasement means”), each component of which is welded with continuous beads to each adjoining component. To safely admit leads 24 to the interior of heating unit 20, a CONAX BUFFALO sealing fitting 32 (available from the Conax Buffalo company of Buffalo, N.Y., USA) is used to transition the leads 24 from outside the production tubing 12 to inside heating unit 20 where they connect with rods 26.

[0026] Fitting assembly 30 and sealing fitting 32 are, as would be apparent to anyone skilled in the art, designed to threadingly engage heating unit 20 to the perforated tubing which is up hole from heating unit 20.

[0027] The shielding of the electrical connections between leads 24 and rods 26 is crucial for long-term operation of a down hole heating system of the present invention. Equally important is that power is reliably delivered to that connection. Therefore, solid copper leads with KAPTON insulation are used, such leads being of a suitable gauge for carrying the intended 16.5 Kilowatt, 480 volt current for the present system with its 0.475 inch diameter INCOLOY heater rods 26 (also available from Indeeco).

[0028] The present invention includes the method for use of the above-described system for heat treating an oil or gas well for improving well flow. The method would be one which included use of a down hole heating unit with suitably shielded electrical connections substantially as described, along with installation of the heat-retaining elements also as describe to properly focus heat on the producing formation.

[0029] In addition to the foregoing, it should be understood that the present method may also be utilized by substituting cable (“wire line”) for the down hole pipe for supporting the heating unit 20 while pipe is pulled from the well bore. In other words, one can heat-treat a well using the presently disclosed apparatuses and their equivalents before reinserting pipe, such as during other well treatments or maintenance during which pipe is pulled. It is believed that this approach would be particularly beneficial in treating deep gas wells with an iron sulfide occlusion problem.

[0030] Although the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, this description is not meant to be construed in a limited sense. Various modifications of the disclosed embodiments, as well as alternative embodiments of the inventions will become apparent to persons skilled in the art upon the reference to the description of the invention. It is, therefore, contemplated that the appended claims will cover such modifications that fall within the scope of the invention.