Natural gas supply apparatus and method
First Claim
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1. An apparatus for providing natural gas to a prime mover for driving a pump jack having a walking beam and a Samson post, the apparatus comprising:
- a pump having a body and a pair of ends, wherein one end is attached to the walking beam and another end is attached to the Samson post, wherein the body is positioned between the walking beam and Samson post; and
a tank for receiving natural gas from a natural gas well, wherein natural gas is communicated from the tank to the prime mover by the pump in response to the walking beam pivoting on the Samson post.
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Abstract
An apparatus and method for supplying natural gas from a well operating under vacuum conditions by extracting, storing and communicating it to a natural gas-fired piece of oil field equipment is provided. The apparatus has a pump associated with a pump jack for extracting natural gas. The apparatus communicates natural gas to a volume tank and stores it until it needed by a natural gas-fired piece of oil field equipment.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. An apparatus for providing natural gas to a prime mover for driving a pump jack having a walking beam and a Samson post, the apparatus comprising:
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a pump having a body and a pair of ends, wherein one end is attached to the walking beam and another end is attached to the Samson post, wherein the body is positioned between the walking beam and Samson post; and a tank for receiving natural gas from a natural gas well, wherein natural gas is communicated from the tank to the prime mover by the pump in response to the walking beam pivoting on the Samson post. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. An apparatus to communicate natural gas to a prime mover for driving a pump jack having a walking beam and a Samson post, the apparatus comprising:
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a pump for extracting natural gas from a well, the pump having a body, a piston, and a pair of ends, wherein an end of the piston defines one end of the pump, the piston is adapted to provide compression of extracted natural gas, wherein one end of the pump is attached to the walking beam with a pivotal mounting fixture and another end is attached to the Samson post, wherein the body is positioned between the walking beam and Samson post; and a volume tank, wherein the volume tank receives natural gas communicated from the pump and the volume tank communicates natural gas to the prime mover in response to the walking beam pivoting on the Samson post. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method of operating a pump jack comprising:
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extracting natural gas from a well under vacuum conditions; communicating natural gas to a tank using a pump having a body and a pair of ends, wherein one end is attached to a walking beam and another end is attached to a Samson post, wherein the body is positioned between the walking beam and the Samson post of the pump jack; communicating natural gas from the tank to a prime mover; replenishing natural gas in the tank, wherein the replenishing step provides more natural gas to the tank than is consumed by the prime mover during operations; and driving the pump jack with the prime mover. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. An apparatus for providing natural gas to a prime mover for driving a pump jack, the apparatus comprising:
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a pump fluidly connected to a wellhead, the wellhead secured to a well, wherein the well is separately subjected to a vacuum condition, the well being a natural gas well; a tank for receiving natural gas from the pump, wherein natural gas is communicated from the tank to the prime mover, the pump providing more natural gas to the tank than is consumed by the prime mover during operations; a gas conduit connected to the tank and in fluid communication with a pipeline for delivering natural gas to a gas supply line; and a pressure relief valve, wherein the pressure relief valve will allow flow from the tank to the pipeline when pressure in the tank reaches a predetermined maximum level, the pressure relief valve adapted to prevent natural gas flow in the opposite direction.
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17. A method of operating a pump jack comprising:
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operating a prime mover through startup and warm-up using natural gas communicated from a tank; driving a pump jack with the prime mover; driving a compressor with the pump jack; creating a vacuum on a natural gas well with the compressor, the compressor being in communication with a gas supply line and the tank; using the compressor to communicate natural gas to the tank from either the well or the supply line; replenishing the natural gas in the tank, wherein the replenishing step comprises providing more natural gas to the tank than is consumed by the prime mover during post-warm-up operations; and communicating excess natural gas to the gas supply line when a pressure in the tank exceeds the pressure set for a pressure relief valve.
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Specification