METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE PROFILE OF AN UNDERGROUND HYDROCARBON STORAGE CAVERN

Underground storage caverns are used for the bulk storage of hydrocarbon liquids, such as crude oil and gases, such as natural gas. The cavern is accessed through a bore hole which has casing and, for some bore holes, internal tubing with an annulus between the casing and tubing. The upper end of th...

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Bibliographische Detailangaben
1. Verfasser:	McCoy James N
Format:	Patent
Sprache:	eng
Schlagworte:	ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES CONVEYING DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES EARTH DRILLING EARTH DRILLING, e.g. DEEP DRILLING FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS FOR PERFORMING MECHANICAL WORK IN GENERAL GENERATING OR TRANSMITTING MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS IN GENERAL HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION ORRERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES MEASURING MEASURING VOLUME, VOLUME FLOW, MASS FLOW OR LIQUIDLEVEL METERING BY VOLUME METHODS OR APPARATUS FOR GENERATING OR TRANSMITTING MECHANICALVIBRATIONS OF INFRASONIC, SONIC, OR ULTRASONIC FREQUENCY MINING OBTAINING OIL, GAS, WATER, SOLUBLE OR MELTABLE MATERIALS OR ASLURRY OF MINERALS FROM WELLS PACKING PERFORMING OPERATIONS PHYSICS PNEUMATIC TUBE CONVEYORS RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING RADIO NAVIGATION SHOP CONVEYOR SYSTEMS STORING TESTING TRANSPORT OR STORAGE DEVICES, e.g. CONVEYORS FOR LOADING ORTIPPING TRANSPORTING
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Beschreibung
Zusammenfassung:	Underground storage caverns are used for the bulk storage of hydrocarbon liquids, such as crude oil and gases, such as natural gas. The cavern is accessed through a bore hole which has casing and, for some bore holes, internal tubing with an annulus between the casing and tubing. The upper end of the cavern has a roughly cylindrical region termed the chimney. In order to check it for physical integrity, it is necessary to measure the profile of the chimney. This is also referred to as conducting a survey of the cavern. The cavern typically has hydrocarbon liquid above brine up to the surface. An inert gas can be injected above the hydrocarbon liquid to form an interface. The profile is conducted by driving the gas/liquid interface downward with gas pressure to a reference level determined by sequentially transmitting acoustic pulses to locate the reference level. Gas is injected to increase the pressure by a predetermined value and thereby drive down the interface by a known distance. The volume of the gas injected is used together with the known distance to determine a profile of the chimney. The process of injection of gas to increase the pressure by the predetermined value and measurement of the volume is repeated sequentially to determine the chimney profile at progressively lower regions, thereby producing an extended profile of the chimney.