Apparatus and Method for Generating Steam Quality Delivered to A Reservoir

1 . A method for determining a steam quality at a subsurface location for a steam injection operation wherein an internal cross-section area of a conduit supplying steam is a known dimension, comprising:

obtaining a total mass flow rate of the steam;

measuring a vapor velocity at the subsurface location;

measuring a second parameter;

determining a vapor density from the second parameter when the second parameter comprises a measurement other than the vapor density;

generating a vapor mass flow rate as a function of the vapor velocity, the vapor density and the internal cross-section area of the conduit; and

generating the steam quality at the subsurface location as a function of the vapor mass flow rate and the total mass flow rate.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second parameter comprises one of a temperature, a pressure, the vapor density and combinations thereof.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the second parameter is a temperature or a pressure and wherein the vapor density is determined from a steam table.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the second parameter is a temperature or a pressure and wherein the vapor density is determined using a polynomial expression from an International Steam Table.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the total mass flow rate is obtained from one of a steam supplier and a measurement at a steam generator.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising measuring the vapor velocity by one of an optical flow meter, a Doppler flow meter, and a heated anemometer.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said method is performed by a production logging tool comprising one of a slickline tool, a wireline tool and a coil tubing tool.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the vapor velocity is measured by a turbine flow meter.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the vapor velocity measured by the turbine flow meter is determined from an apparent turbine velocity using a multispeed calibration.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the multispeed calibration comprises a calibration chart including a plurality of depths.

11 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

computing a superficial liquid velocity from the steam quality and the total mass flow rate;

verifying the superficial liquid velocity is below an annular flow threshold; and

if the superficial liquid velocity is not below the annular flow threshold, raising an error sign.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the annular flow threshold is determined from a flow pattern map using superficial vapor velocity and superficial liquid velocity.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the subsurface location is at a location in the steam injection conduit before injected steam leaves the conduit.

14 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

measuring the vapor velocities at a plurality of the subsurface locations;

measuring the second parameters at the plurality of the subsurface locations;

generating a plurality of the steam qualities at the plurality of subsurface locations as a function of the vapor velocities, the second parameters and the internal cross-section area of the conduit; and

outputting a steam quality profile based on the plurality of steam qualities at the plurality of subsurface locations.

15 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing a spinner calibration.

16 . A system for determining a steam quality in a steam injection operation in an oil field, comprising:

a steam conduit that supplies steam, wherein a cross-section area of the steam conduit is a known dimension;

a steam injector that injects the steam into a reservoir;

a vapor flow meter that measures a vapor velocity within the steam conduit;

a second sensor that measures a second parameter within the steam conduit; and

a controller that determines a vapor density from the second parameter when the second parameter comprises a measurement other than the vapor density;

generates a vapor mass flow rate as a function of the vapor velocity, the vapor density and the internal cross-section area of the conduit; and

generates the steam quality at a subsurface location as a function of the vapor mass flow rate and a total mass flow rate.

17 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the second sensor comprises a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, or a vapor density sensor.

18 . The system of claim 16 ,

wherein the vapor flow meter comprises a turbine flow meter; and

wherein the controller determines the vapor velocity from the turbine flow meter measurement with a multispeed calibration.

19 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the vapor flow meter and the second sensor are disposed about a logging tool string.

20 . The system of claim 16 , further comprising a user interface that accepts at least one adjustment to steam injection operation based on the steam quality.

21 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the controller further computes a superficial liquid velocity from the steam quality and the total mass flow rate; verifies the superficial liquid velocity is below an annular flow threshold; and generates an error alert when the superficial liquid velocity exceeds the annular flow threshold.

22 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the vapor flow meter measure vapor velocities at a plurality of subsurface locations; and wherein the second sensor measures second parameters at the plurality of subsurface locations; and the controller generates a plurality of steam qualities at the plurality of subsurface locations and outputs a steam quality profile based on the plurality of steam qualities at the plurality of subsurface locations.

23 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the controller generates a vapor mass flow rate as a product of the vapor velocity, the vapor density and the internal cross-section area of the conduit.

24 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the controller generates the steam quality at a subsurface location by dividing the vapor mass flow rate by a total mass flow rate.