DESCALING OF PRODUCTION TUBING USING HIGH PRESSURE ATOMISERS

One of the extensive problems in oil industry is enhancing the process of oil extraction in arduous geological and technological conditions. This is due to the assumption of most of the high-yield oil fields of the country in late stage development and the growing proportion of hard to recover reserves to their total (Guskova et al., 2011). This mechanism of oil extractions becomes significantly convoluted because of high water cut production wellbore and formation of organic and inorganic deposits. Water factor is a fundamental part in the development and exploration of oil fields. Due to the process of flooding, formation of scale initiates. Scale, formed at the downhole equipment, results in reduction in productivity, costly workover, premature failure of the pumping equipment, thus deteriorating the economic indices of diverse oil and gas firms. Scale is an assemblage of hard, inorganic crystals that cake perforations, casing, production tubing and restricts fluid flow. In USA, productivity of oil wells has been estimated to be declined due to scale formation in production tubing. High pressure flat fan atomizers can provide a possible solution to the problem of scale formation and has significant advantages over other conventional methods. The overall aim of this research study is to investigate the characteristics of a flat fan nozzle system and critically analyze its effect on scale removal. This study proposes a new technique to address the problem and lay the foundations for a methodology of descaling in oil and gas wells. It furnishes a basic introduction to scale detected in various oil field operations and sources of scale formation. It also provides a synopsis of the schematic design of the apparatus which utilizes high pressure water atomizers with high impact force for scale removal and highlights the results and analysis obtained through calculation of spray impact (theoretical). Keywords— Descaling, Atomizers, Scale Formation