Jerome Vahalik III, Sun Production Co.
Although the oil industry has long been concerned with the efficient production and recovery of oil and natural gas, present-day regulations, conservation practices, and gas values necessitate review, on a lease by lease basis, of the feasibility of efficiently recovering very small quantities of gas which may be gathered at several ounces of pressure. The rotary gas compressor, which is readily adaptable to compressing very small volumes of gas, provides a means for the recovery for use or sale, of gas at very low pressure. For efficient use of a low pressure recovery system all possible sources of low-pressure gas from the casing head to the stock tank must be evaluated for quantity and liquid hydrocarbon content. Whether low-pressure gas is sufficient to justify an installation is present must be determined. This gas, though small in volume, is usually rich in liquid hydrocarbon content. In some fields where the bottom-hole pressure is very low and the formation permeability is very high, a reduction in formation back pressure may result in an increase in Oil production rate. This reduction in back pressure can be accomplished by elimination of flow-line back pressure on the casing head by installation of a separate gas-gathering system.