A method for recording data relating to the performance of an oil and gas flow network uses statistical data to represent raw data in a compact form. Categories are assigned to time intervals in the data. The method comprises: (1) gathering data covering a period of time, wherein the data relates to the status of one or more control point(s) within the flow network and to one or more flow parameter(s) of interest in one or more flow path(s) of the flow network; (2) identifying multiple time intervals in the data during which the control points and the flow parameter(s) can be designated as being in a category selected from multiple categories; (3) assigning a selected category of the multiple categories to each one of the multiple datasets that are framed by the multiple time intervals; and (4) extracting statistical data representative of some or all of the datasets identified in step (2) to thereby represent the original data from step (1) in a compact form including details of the category assigned to each time interval in step (3).

The present invention addresses to a method for the identification of operational problems based on the hydrodynamic characterization of the gas-lift and production well/lines set, by means of the injection of an alcohol, preferably ethanol, in the gas-lift line. The detection of the passage and the return of the alcohol is carried out by the direct analysis of information about the process variables (pressure and temperature at the bottom of the well, at the Christmas tree and at the surface, gas or liquid flowmeters, etc.). Preferably, this detection should also be confirmed by measuring the alcohol concentration at the return, either by sequential collection of samples of the liquid produced by the well and subsequent physicochemical analysis in the laboratory, or by an online meter specially installed for this purpose. A practical sample collection procedure has been developed for application together with this invention.

Chemical analysis methods for the determination of small amounts of water in alcohol are known from the State of the Art, but the reverse is not found. Thus, procedures for analyzing small amounts of alcohol in water have been specially developed for application together with this invention.

Use of a bubble-generating mechanism in a production environment is described, The bubble generating mechanism may be used to facilitate the separation of a target fluid from a non-target fluid in the production environment, such as by creating a gradient of the fluids or creating separate and distinct zones of the fluids to be separated. The target fluid can then be preferentially recovered from the production environment based on the gradient or distinct zones.

The present invention consists of a method of automatic adjustment of multiphase flow models using the principle of least squares in the correction of the systematic error of simulated pressure drop and temperature drop values. This has been implemented and automated in the form of a computational algorithm and applied in the case study of an actual Production System using Marlim II simulator. For all four multiphase flow correlation sets considered, the adjustments followed each other stably, converging after a few iterations. At the end of the activity, the four sets were found to perform better than the best unadjusted set of correlations. In addition, the method provides consistent results, which is an advantage over the manual adjustment method.

Accordingly, the present invention has drastically reduced the time required for optimizing the adjustment factors of flow models and has improved quality of the adjusted model as compared to the final model obtained with manual adjustment. By better quality of the model is meant that the simulated results are closer to the measured results, that is, the model is more capable of representing the flow dynamics verified in the field. In cases with a high number of operating spots in the real system, reduction in the time required by the activity is even more significant.

A blower can be positioned in a wellbore. The blower rotatably drives or is driven by a fluid produced through the well bore. An electric machine can be positioned downhole of the blower, the electric machine configured to rotatably drive or be driven by the blower. A bearing shaft couples the blower and the electric machine. The bearing shaft transfers rotation between the blower and the electric machine. A passive magnetic radial bearing assembly magnetically supports the bearing shaft.

A method for producing hydrocarbons in a gas lift well is disclosed. A gas lift rate of the well is monitored while producing hydrocarbons according to an initial gas lift performance curve. One or more well performance parameters for the well are monitored. Disturbances in the well are detected while monitoring the well performance parameters. Transience in the well is modeled. A new gas lift performance curve is derived based on the detected disturbances, the modeled transience, and the initial gas lift performance curve. An optimal allocation of gas lift is determined from the new gas lift performance curve. Hydrocarbons are produced using the determined optimal allocation of gas lift.

A high pressure gas lift compressor system and method of using the system for supplying compressed gas to multiple wells are provided. The system includes a compressor having multiple compressor cylinders. Each cylinder has its own gas inlet line and dedicated gas outlet line that supplies compressed gas from that cylinder directly to a wellbore to provide artificial gas lift. Each cylinder also has its own control valve upstream of the cylinder to control the suction pressure to the cylinder. A desired gas flow rate to each well may be input, and the control valve is adjusted accordingly to achieve the flow rate. By inputting a flow rate for each separate cylinder, the flow rate to each well may be independently controlled.

The invention provides a method for optimizing production of a hydrocarbon well with a local controller supported from a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system. The method comprises calculating, at the local controller, optimal targets for one or more well parameters using measured values associated with operation of the hydrocarbon well. The method further comprises obtaining, at the local controller, a model that comprises a relationship between an operation of a gas injection choke and an operation of a production choke with the one or more well parameters based on the measurement values and received model parameters from the SCADA system. The method also comprises determining, at the local controller, operating set points based on the model for control of at least one of the production choke and the gas injection choke; and operating at least one of the production choke and the gas injection choke for optimized production.

The present invention relates to a downhole straddle assembly for straddling over a zone downhole in a well, the straddle assembly comprising a plurality of tubular sections mounted end to end in succession to form one tubular pipe having a first end tubular section forming a first open end of the tubular pipe, and a second end tubular section forming a second open end of the tubular pipe, said tubular pipe having an outer diameter, wherein the tubular section mounted to the first end tubular section is a first expandable metal sleeve being more pliant than the first end tubular section, and the tubular section mounted with the second end tubular section is a second expandable metal sleeve being more pliant than the second end tubular section. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a downhole straddle system for straddling over a zone downhole in a well and to a downhole straddle method.

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A production tubing is disposed in a wellbore. Hydrocarbons entrapped in a subterranean zone enter the wellbore. Multiple valves are disposed in the production tubing at respective multiple tubing locations. The multiple valves divide the production tubing into multiple stages. A presence of hydrocarbons in a first stage terminating at a first valve is determined and gas is injected into the first stage causing the hydrocarbons in the first stage to flow uphole through the first valve into a second stage uphole of the first stage. It is determined that the second stage is filled with the hydrocarbons and injection of the gas into the first stage is ceased. Multiple side chambers are disposed in the respective multiple stages. Determining the presence of hydrocarbons in the first stage incudes detecting a fluidic level of the hydrocarbons inside the first side chamber.