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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Method for cutting steam heat losses during cyclic steam injection of wells. Third quarterly report

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:10197023
The proposals jointly submitted with Ms. Joyce Kostura to the DOE in response to the Class 3 Oil Program P.O.N. for a field test of our respective technologies in a Midway Sunset lease, which we had acquired for this purpose, were both rejected. The owner of the adjacent lease is, however, considering making a joint field test covering both leases. This might allow him to revive at least 19 vertical wells, currently shut-in or marginally economic. Without DOE funding, the new project requires that the cost of the single vertical cased well, equipped with twin horizontal drainholes, be kept to a minimum in order to remain economically-viable. This has led us to re-design the Downhole Hardware to greatly reduce fabrication costs, while retaining all the required technical features. An analysis of the thermal stresses in the Special Casing Joints has shown that some allowance for free thermal expansion of the curved channels was preferable to the all-welded design approach previously considered, which required larger steel sections to withstand the large thermal stresses. In the revised design, both of the Lower Special Joints (TLSJ and BLSJ) consist of a standard 30 ft joint of casing with a fixed bottom plate and a mobile top plate, in which the corresponding curved channel top end is welded. In this way, the thermal expansion of the 30 ft long channel pipes, which is about 0.3`` for the highest steam temperature considered,is absorbed by a sliding motion of the upper plate in each Lower Special Joint (TLSJ or BLSJ). The main benefits of this revision are: (1) the possibility of using thinner-wall and lighter pipes, (2) the complete elimination of any gun-drilling tasks, (3) a considerable reduction in machining time and labor, (4) the use of standard commercial Oil Field threaded connections, available off the shelf.
Research Organization:
Southern California Research Corp., San Rafael, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
FG49-93CE15600
OSTI ID:
10197023
Report Number(s):
DOE/CE/15600--T3; ON: DE95004113; BR: EF7202 -0
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English