An invention for supplying power to a well. In one embodiment power heats a tubing from adjacent the surface to a selected level to prevent the formation of solids. The tubing is heated by passing an electric current therethrough. In one form the tubing is insulated from the wellhead and the casing down to a selected level where an electrical connection is made between the tubing and casing. Current is applied to the tubing at a point below an insulating tubing collar. In another form an insulated conduit is run into the well to a selected depth and connected to the tubing. Electrical power is connected to the tubing and to the insulated conduit. In another form a sucker rod is electrically insulated from the tubing down to a selected depth. The sucker rod includes a non-conducting section such as a fiberglas sucker rod. A conduit is run through the fiberglas rod and connected to the steel sucker rod therebelow. Also disclosed is a system for preventing formation of solids in a petroleum well by suspending a loop of wire in a well and passing a controlled amount of power along said loop of wire to heat the wire in which the loop of wire has sections of different resistance to apply different amounts of heat at different depths of the well. Further, there is disclosed an electromagnet for use as a contact between a wire and a well tubing and/or as an anchor.
Heating systems for mineral wells (e.g. oil wells) employ electrical power sources, sometimes operating at relatively high frequencies, that are connected to the well casing and production tubing so as to provide a coaxial line electrical heater projecting down into the well. The heating pattern of the coaxial line is effectively controlled so that most of the power is dissipated as heat, primarily in the tubing, above a depth D above which paraffins or other condensible constituents would tend to condense or otherwise impair the flow of mineral fluid up through the production tubing. The applied electrical power is controlled so that the fluid is kept approximately at or only somewhat above the flow impairment temperature for constituents of the fluid. In some embodiments the system is extended to provide heating of a portion of the deposit formation adjacent to the well.
The method of operating a subsurface safety valve and preventing or remediating the formations of hydrate, wax, or paraffin solids in the well bore of an oil or gas well comprising coating the external area of the intermediate portion of a string of tubing to electrically insulate said intermediate portion of said string of tubing, inserting said surface control valve into a well bore pipe on a string of tubing, electrically grounding said surface control valve to said well bore pipe, communicating an electrical signal from the surface along said string of tubing, to said surface control valve, and along said well bore pipe back to said surface, closing said surface control valve upon the interruption of said electrical signal, and using the electrical resistance of said string of tubing to heat the wall of said string of tubing.
A method and apparatus for subjecting subterranean, fluid-bearing formations to magnetic flux forces. Magnetically susceptible fluids and magnetically susceptible particles are extracted from a subterranean well having a shaft or tube extending from the surface into a fluid containing formation and with an elongated rod within the shaft or tube.
An apparatus to extract electromagnetically susceptible fluids and electromagnetically susceptible particles from a subterranean well having a shaft or tube extending from the surface to a fluid-containing formation and a mechanism to deliver the fluids and particles to the surface from the fluid-containing formation. The apparatus includes at least one electromagnetical coil within the shaft or tube. A direct current is supplied to the electromagnetic coil to generate a electromagnetic field in the fluid-containing formation. The magnetically susceptible fluids and particles are attracted toward the shaft tube through use of the electromagnetic field.
A pipe installation system has a pipe composed of sections that are added and removed to increase and decrease a length of the pipe. The system further has a cable storage spool for stowing a length of cable in a compact manner inside the pipe and for paying out the stowed cable when the length of the pipe is increased such that the paid-out cable is deployed along the increased length of the pipe. An anchoring assembly attaches the cable to an inside surface of the pipe at predetermined locations spaced along the pipe with respective anchors as the cable is deployed in the pipe.
