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Methods for recovering natural gas using nitrogen rejection units

a technology of nitrogen rejection unit and natural gas, which is applied in the direction of fluid removal, solidification, and well accessories, etc., can solve the problems of increasing the operation cost of the original installed nrus, uneconomical or almost impossible to produce saleable natural gas, and increasing the operation cost. , to achieve the effect of reducing the amount of natural gas purchased, reducing the overall operating cost, and reducing the cost of enhanced oil recovery

Inactive Publication Date: 2016-01-28
LINDE AG
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The invention separates natural gas into its components, namely nitrogen and hydrocarbons, using a nitrogen rejection unit. This separation reduces the amount of natural gas needed and maintains the pressure of the recycle stream. It also reduces the amount of recompressed hydrocarbons needed for enhanced oil recovery, leading to lower operating expenses and less compression power requirements.

Problems solved by technology

This high nitrogen concentration makes the operation of the originally installed NRUs uneconomical or almost impossible to produce saleable natural gas.
To provide the required compression power for the EOR operations, the oil plant owner would need to actually buy natural gas to drive the compressors which increases their operation expenses significantly.

Method used

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  • Methods for recovering natural gas using nitrogen rejection units
  • Methods for recovering natural gas using nitrogen rejection units
  • Methods for recovering natural gas using nitrogen rejection units

Examples

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Embodiment Construction

[0028]FIG. 1 is a schematic of an enhanced oil recovery operation. An air separation unit (ASU) of 32 million standard cubic feed per day (MMSCFD) A provides nitrogen through line 1 to line 4. This nitrogen is fed through line 4 to a high pressure compressor B which is capable of compressing the nitrogen to 6700 pounds per square inch (PSI).

[0029]This high pressure nitrogen stream is fed through line 6 to the oil field E. A supplemental ASU D operating at 17.8 MMSCFD also produces nitrogen and fees this supplemental nitrogen into line 6 through line 5. The combined nitrogen streams are at 96% nitrogen purity and 103 MMSCFD when fed into the oil field E.

[0030]The enhanced oil recovery operations are undertaken at the oil field formation E and the output from the enhanced oil recovery operation is an oil and gas mixture which is fed through line 8 to an oil separation process, sour gas removal and chiller and deethanizer F. The gas that is recovered from this operation is primarily a ...

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Abstract

A method and system for enhanced oil recovery by performing the steps of feeding a mixture of nitrogen from a primary nitrogen supply and an optional supplemental nitrogen supply into an oil field; separating recovered oil from a gas mixture comprising nitrogen, natural gas and C2+ hydrocarbons; feeding the gas mixture to a nitrogen rejection unit operating at elevated pressures; and recovering the nitrogen, natural gas and C2+ hydrocarbons. A method for the recovery of natural gas is also described herein.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]The present application claims priority from U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 62 / 028,091, filed on Jul. 23, 2014.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates to the use of high pressure nitrogen rejection units along with supplemental air separation units in enhanced oil recovery operations to improve performance.[0003]Nitrogen injection in mature oil fields maintains the field pressure and assists in increasing oil production. The nitrogen content of an oil field will increase depending upon its age and maturity. Nitrogen rejection units (NRUs) are used to separate nitrogen from natural gas thereby resulting in a saleable natural gas, The nitrogen that is separated is either vented or recompressed and fed back into the oil field for use in enhanced oil recovery operations.[0004]Conventional NRUs are designed for nitrogen contents of approximately 20% in the feed gas (see for example, Arthur J. Kidnay, William R. Pa...

Claims

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Application Information

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IPC IPC(8): E21B43/16E21B43/34F25J1/00
CPCE21B43/168F25J1/0012F25J1/0022E21B43/34F25J3/0209F25J3/0233F25J3/0238F25J3/0257F25J2200/04F25J2215/62F25J2260/42F25J2270/02F25J2270/88
Inventor NAUMOVITZ, JOSEPHKIBILI, MARTIN
Owner LINDE AG