Lee Weatherford, Gustavo Gonzalez, Luis Guanacas, and Donovan Sanchez
Odessa Separator
Michael Conley, Steward Energy
A revolutionary packer-type gas separator was designed to improve gas separation efficiency downhole. A deep analysis of gas separation methods was done to better understand the nature of the process and to design a tool that could generate enhanced conditions for the gas separation phenomenon. During the research stages where data from Permian fields were analyzed to develop this new design of gas separator, the engineering team found three main challenges in downhole gas separation. The first one was the wells were being converted from ESP to rod pump earlier, forcing the downhole gas separators to handle more production than before. The second is the small production casing size that usually is 5.5” casing, which significantly reduces the annulus area that is vital to get an effective gas separation efficiency, and finally, the gas slugging behavior, which in high proportion can lead to a gas lock-in sucker rod pump systems. Following the requirements and limitations, a packer-type gas separator was designed, built, and tested in oil wells. This gas separator has an outlet section of 1.89” OD, which means the design maximizes the gas separation area where it really matters at the fluid outlet point. The innovative fluid exit slots design creates a linear flow path allowing gas to separate and flow upward the casing annulus in a natural way. Additionally, a valve below the cup packer was included to eliminate surging in wells. This valve prevents surging by holding the fluid in the vertical section, thus avoiding backflow when the gas slug leaves liquids behind. To evaluate the new design, a calculator was developed to estimate the gas separation efficiency downhole and compare the gas separation efficiency among different gas separators. After the implementation of this design in 5 wells, the results confirmed the high gas separation efficiency obtained with this new gas separator configuration. The novelty of this gas separator design is the outlet section that takes advantage of the gravity force to increase the gas separation efficiency without limiting the tensile strength of the BHA. Also, the fact of including a valve to address the surging condition in the well before the fluids go through the gas separation is a new approach in a gas separation tool.