JPH04323492A - Extinguishing method for fire of oil well - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simply extinguish oil well fire by drilling a tunnel from the surface ground at a prescribed distance from an oil well pipe, pinching the oil well pipe exposed in the tunnel with a pair of pinchedly holding members, and tightening the members to crush the oil well pipe and blockading it. CONSTITUTION:After building an oil retaining dike 13 around an oil well 10 generating a fire, a tunnel 20 is drilled from the surface ground outside the oil retaining dike 13 to the underground part of an oil well pipe 11. Next, a pair of pinchedly holding members 41, 42 are fitted to the blocks 31, 32 of a pipe pinch device, respective edge parts of the members 41, 42 are contacted with the oil well pipe 11, and then guide rods 35 are inserted to respective engaging parts through the sides of the blocks 31, 32. Next, nuts 36 on the end parts of the guide rods 35 are tightened, and the oil well pipe 11 is pinchedly held with the edge parts. Oil pressure is supplied to a hydraulic cylinder 37 from a hydraulic power source 38, and the oil well pipe 11 is tightened to crush and blockaded. Further, from the upside or downside of the members 41, 42, tie rods 46 are inserted to engaging parts, and nuts on the end parts are tightened.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

FIELD OF INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION The present invention relates to a method for extinguishing oil well fires, and can be used to extinguish fires in oil wells for mining crude oil, etc., which are difficult to extinguish using normal methods.

0002

[Background Art] Conventionally, in oil wells for extracting crude oil, natural gas, etc., oil country pipes are drilled and inserted from the earth's surface to the underground oil-containing layer, and crude oil, etc. is ejected to the surface by underground pressure and extracted. ing.

[0003] In oil wells, an oil country pipe may break due to an accident or the like, and a fire may occur in which the crude oil etc. that spout from the rupture ignites. Here, crude oil etc. have strong combustion power,
Fires in oil wells produce intense flames because they are blown out at high pressure from damaged pipes, and the surrounding area becomes hot enough to make it difficult to approach the oil well, making it difficult to apply normal fire extinguishing methods.

[0004] To deal with this, special fire extinguishing methods have been adopted, such as planting explosives such as dynamite in the oil well where the fire occurred and blowing out the flames with a blast wave, or extinguishing the fire by cutting off the oxygen supply around the burning area due to the explosion. has been done.

[0005]

However, extinguishing a fire by explosion as described above requires skill in terms of the amount of explosives and the installation conditions, and is difficult for ordinary oil field workers to carry out. In addition, there is the problem that the dangers associated with handling explosives cannot be avoided, and damage to buildings around oil wells due to large impacts cannot be avoided. Furthermore, even if the oil well is extinguished due to an explosion, crude oil, etc., continues to flow out from the oil well, which poses problems such as the risk of the fire igniting again after the fire has been extinguished, and the contamination of the surrounding area.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for extinguishing oil well fires that can easily and reliably extinguish oil well fires, is highly safe, and can prevent damage to the surrounding area.

[0007]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention involves excavating a tunnel from the ground at a predetermined distance from an OCTG to the underground portion of the OCTG, and sandwiching the OCTG exposed in the tunnel between a pair of clamping members. The present invention is characterized in that these clamping members are brought close to each other by a driving means to tighten the oil country tubular goods, thereby crushing and closing the oil country tubular goods.

[0008] Here, as the clamping member, a rod-shaped or block-shaped member having a width that is wide enough to cross the OCTG can be used, and when the OCTG is clamped and tightened, it has a width sufficient to crush and block the OCTG. Any material may be used as long as it has rigidity.

[0009] Note that tightening with the clamping member is not limited to one location, but may be performed using a plurality of sets of clamping members until the gushing of crude oil or the like at the above-ground portion is stopped. Further, it is desirable to use a fastening means that connects the pair of clamping members and maintains the fastened state so that the driving means can be removed after fastening.

[0010]The driving means is a hydraulic cylinder;
It is possible to use a device that uses a combination of a motor and a gear mechanism as a power source to drive the clamping member in close proximity using an appropriate clamp structure, etc., and generates sufficient driving force to tighten and crush the oil country pipe through the clamping member. It's fine as long as it's possible.

Furthermore, if the oil well is located in sandy soil, it is desirable to proceed with the excavation while injecting a soil strengthening agent into the surrounding area when excavating the tunnel. As the ground strengthening agent, various commonly used synthetic resin-based or concrete-based ones can be used, and it is desirable to select an appropriate one depending on the condition of the soil underground around the oil well.

0012

[Function] According to the present invention, by blocking the underground portion of the oil country tubular goods, crude oil etc. gushing out from the oil well are blocked, making it possible to extinguish a fire in the above ground portion. Since the oil country tubular goods are blocked and the fire is extinguished, re-ignition after the fire is extinguished and pollution of the surrounding area are prevented.

Furthermore, the oil country tubular goods can be easily blocked by ordinary oil field workers by tightening and crushing the oil country tubular goods using the clamping member and the driving means. Moreover, the safety of these firefighting operations is ensured by performing these firefighting operations within a tunnel that extends from the ground at a predetermined distance. In particular, unlike conventional methods, this method does not use explosives or the like, so it is highly safe and easy to work with, and it is also possible to extinguish the fire reliably and reduce damage to the surrounding area, thereby achieving the above objectives.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an underground sectional view showing an oil well fire extinguishing operation performed based on the method of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, an oil well 10 has an oil country pipe 11 made of a steel pipe buried underground in desert soil in order to extract crude oil. Crude oil is introduced into the oil country pipe 11 from its tip end that reaches an underground crude oil-containing layer (not shown), and is forced to be sent to the extraction end 12 on the ground side by underground pressure.

The sampling end 12 of the oil country pipe 11 is normally connected to a pipeline (not shown), but in the illustrated state it has been cut off due to an accident or the like. The crude oil spouting from the cut portion ignites and bursts into flames, and the oil well 10 is on fire.

An oil barrier 13 is formed around the oil country pipe 11 in a circular shape with a radius of 50 to 100 m centered on the sampling end 12 and made of nearby sand. A tunnel 20 that reaches the underground portion of the oil country pipe 11 is formed on the ground surface outside the oil barrier 13.

The tunnel 20 is composed of a vertical tunnel 21 formed vertically from the ground surface and a horizontal tunnel 22 extending horizontally from its lower end.The tip of the horizontal tunnel 22 is formed to surround the oil country tubular goods 11. The underground portion of 11 is exposed inside the tunnel 20. In addition, vertical tunnel 21
The horizontal tunnel 22 has an inner diameter of about 2 to 4 m, depending on the geology and the equipment used, and its inner wall is reinforced with a ground strengthening agent injected during excavation to prevent collapse. In addition, the depth of the horizontal tunnel 22 is approximately 20 to
It is said to be 30m.

A pipe pinch device 30 and a pair of clamping members 41 and 4 are connected to the tunnel 20 from the outside as driving means.
2 are brought in and are used to crush the oil country pipe 11 in the portion exposed inside the tunnel 20, thereby preventing the oil from spewing out.

As shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, the pipe pinch device 30 includes three pressure receiving blocks 31, 32, 3.
It has 3. The blocks 31 and 33 at both ends have concave engaging portions 34 on both sides, and are locked by a guide rod 35 inserted into and engaged with the engaging portions 34 and nuts 36 screwed into threaded portions at both ends thereof. are inseparably connected. The intermediate block 32 has a similar engagement part 34, which allows it to slide freely on the guide rod 35 and to be able to move in parallel along the guide rod 35.

A hydraulic cylinder 37 is removably interposed between the blocks 32 and 33. A hydraulic power source 38 is connected to the hydraulic cylinder 37.
The block 32 is extended and contracted by a predetermined stroke by the hydraulic pressure supplied from the block 32, thereby moving the block 32 close to and away from the block 31 on the opposite side, which is connected to the block 33 by a tie rod 35. Note that by removing the tie rod 35, the block 31
33 and the hydraulic cylinder 37 can be separated from each other, and carrying into the tunnel 20 or carrying out to the outside is performed with each part disassembled as appropriate.

[0022] The holding members 41, 42 are the blocks 31,
It is installed on the opposite surface of 32. Holding members 41, 42
A groove 43 is formed on the back surface of the block 31, 32.
A protruding strip 39 is formed on the blocks 31, 32, and the holding members 41, 42 are removably attached to the blocks 31, 32 by their engagement.

Edge portions 44 are formed on opposing surfaces of the holding members 41 and 42, and each edge portion 44 has a triangular mountain-shaped cross section suitable for crushing a portion of the oil country pipe 11. The length of the edge portion 44 is set to be sufficiently large relative to the diameter of the oil country tubular goods 11 so that the internal flow can be blocked when the oil country tubular goods 11 are crushed.

[0024] At the upper and lower edges of the holding members 41 and 42, locking portions 45 in the form of concave notches are formed. By inserting the tie rod 46 into these engaging parts 45 and tightening the nuts 47 screwed into the threaded parts at both ends, the clamping member 41
, 42 are mutually connected and maintained, and the oil country pipe 11 is maintained in a closed state.

Next, the fire extinguishing procedure in this embodiment will be explained. First, a bulldozer or the like is used to collect surrounding sand around the oil well 10 where the fire occurred to build the oil dike 13, and then a tunnel 20 is excavated from the ground surface outside the dike to the underground part of the oil country pipe 11. do. At this time, an appropriate ground strengthening agent is injected around the tunnel 20 according to the geological conditions, and the excavation proceeds while ensuring the strength of the inner part. Then, the pipe pinch device 30 described above is carried into the tunnel 20 in a disassembled state, and the underground portion of the oil country tubular goods 11 exposed in the tunnel 20 is closed.

That is, in addition to attaching the holding members 41 and 42 to the blocks 31 and 32, the edge portions 44 of each
are brought into contact with the oil country tubular goods 11 from the opposite side, and in this state, the guide rod 35 is inserted into each engaging portion 34 from the side of each block 31, 32. Further, a block 33 is placed on the back side of the block 32 with the hydraulic cylinder 37 in the contracted state sandwiched therebetween, and the guide rod 35 is also inserted into the engaging portion 34 of this block 33. Then, tighten the nut 36 at the end of the guide rod 35, and
4, the oil country pipe 11 is clamped and the pipe pinch device 30 is assembled (see FIG. 5).

Next, hydraulic pressure is supplied from the hydraulic source 38 to the hydraulic cylinder 37, and the holding members 41 and 42 are brought close to each other via the blocks 31 and 32, and the oil country pipe 11 is tightened and crushed at each edge portion 44, and the oil country pipe 11 is crushed and crossed. A directional constriction 14 is formed to close the inside. Next, tie rods 46 are inserted into the engaging portions 45 from above and below the clamping members 41 and 42, and the nuts 47 at the ends are tightened to interconnect the clamping members 41 and 42 and maintain the OCTG 11 in a tightened state. (See Figure 6). As a result, the oil country pipe 11 is maintained in a closed state at the constricted portion 14, and the crude oil gushing out to the ground is blocked, thereby extinguishing the fire.

After the clamping members 41 and 42 are fastened with the tie rods 46, the hydraulic cylinder 37 is returned to the contracted state, the nut 36 is loosened, the guide rod 35 is removed, and the blocks 31 to 33 are removed. As a result, the constricted portion 14 of the OCTG 11 is connected to the tie rod 46 and the nut 4.
The closed state is maintained only by the clamping members 41 and 42 connected at 7. (See Figure 7).

Here, if the pair of clamping members 41 and 42 are not sufficient to block the OCTG 11 and the above ground portion is not extinguished, the clamping members 41 and 42 fixed with the tie rods 46 first
, 42, another pipe pinch device 30 is assembled on the oil country tubular goods 11, and similar tightening is performed to extinguish the fire. On the other hand, when it is confirmed that the fire is extinguished, the pipe pinch device 30, which has been disassembled except for the clamping members 41 and 42 as described above, is recovered to the outside of the tunnel 20.

According to this embodiment, by tightening and crushing the underground portion of the oil country pipe 11 with the pipe pinch device 30, the oil country pipe 11 can be blocked and crude oil etc. can be cut off, and the oil well 10 can be closed off. Fires above ground can be extinguished.

Furthermore, since the oil country pipe 11 is blocked to extinguish the fire, spillage of crude oil after the fire is extinguished can be avoided, and the risk of re-ignition and contamination of the surrounding area can be reliably prevented. especially,
In this embodiment, since the oil dike 13 is built, even if crude oil leaks out after the fire is extinguished, the contamination can be limited to the vicinity of the oil well 10.

Furthermore, the blockage of the oil country pipe 11 is caused by the blockage of the tunnel 2.
A clamping member 41,
42, and these clamping members 41 and 42 are driven in close proximity by the blocks 31 to 33 or the hydraulic cylinder 37, etc., and the oil country pipe 11 is tightened and crushed, and can be easily performed by ordinary oil field workers. Can be done.

[0033] Furthermore, these fire extinguishing operations do not require the use of explosives or the like, and the safety of the extinguishing operations is ensured by performing them within the tunnel 20 extending from the ground at a predetermined distance. In particular, in this embodiment, the inside of the tunnel 20 is hardened with a ground reinforcing agent, which allows the tunnel 20 to be excavated easily and quickly, and also prevents the tunnel 20 from collapsing, etc., without complicated construction, thereby ensuring safety for workers. can improve sexual performance.

Furthermore, although new clamping members 41 and 42 are required for each operation, the other parts of the pipe pinching device 30 can be used repeatedly, reducing the costs required for fire extinguishing operations. can also be reduced.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, but also includes the following modifications. For example, in the embodiment, the holding member 41,
42 and the blocks 31, 32 are separated, and the blocks 31, 32 are collected and reused. However, the edge portions 44 are provided directly on the blocks 31, 32 to serve as a clamping member, and only the other parts are collected. The disassembly structure and the like of the pipe pinch device 30 may be appropriately selected for implementation.

Furthermore, in the embodiment described above, the holding members 41, 4
Although the edge portions 44 of 2 have a triangular mountain shape in cross section, they may have a rectangular cross section, and are not limited to being continuous across the OCTG 11, but may be discontinuous with protrusions lined up. It's okay. Instead of abutting the convex shapes against each other, the opposing clamping members 41 and 42 may be provided with a concave and convex shape so that they can mesh with each other. That is to say.

Further, the drive means is not limited to the pipe pinch device 30 as in the above embodiment, but the mechanical structure etc. may be selected as appropriate. For example, the drive source is not limited to the hydraulic cylinder 37 and the hydraulic power source 38, but may also be a rack. A combination of a gear device such as a pinion or a worm gear and an electric motor may be used.

On the other hand, the inner diameter, length, installation depth, etc. of the tunnel 20 are arbitrary, and may be set as appropriate to ensure safety, taking into account the geology near the oil well 10, the fire situation, etc. Further, in order to reinforce the inside of the tunnel 20, various types of ground reinforcement such as synthetic resin or concrete may be used, or reinforcement may be performed by stretching a metal interior plate material.

Furthermore, in cases where oil leakage to the surrounding area is not a problem, or where the oil well 10 is located at the bottom of a mortar-shaped topography and there is no risk of the spilled oil spreading, the oil barrier 13
may be omitted as appropriate. Further, in the above embodiment, the oil well 10 for mining crude oil has been described, but it can also be applied to wells for mining natural gas, etc., and the method for extinguishing oil well fires of the present invention can be applied to oil wells for mining underground resources where flammable fluids are frequently used. It can be applied with good effect.

[0040]

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention,
Oil well fires can be extinguished easily and reliably by blocking oil country pipes with mechanical clamping and blocking the outflow of crude oil, etc.
Not only can problems such as leakage to the surrounding area be prevented, but also safety can be further improved by conducting the work inside a tunnel excavated from the ground at a predetermined distance.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

[Fig. 1] Underground sectional view showing one embodiment of the present invention

[Fig. 2] Vertical cross-sectional view showing the device used in the same example.

[Fig. 3] A plan view showing the device used in the same example.

[Figure 4] An exploded perspective view showing the main parts of the device used in the same example.

[Figure 5] Side view showing the work procedure of the same example

[Figure 6] Side view showing the work procedure of the same example

[
Figure 7: Side view showing the work procedure of the same example

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Oil well 11 Oil country pipe 13 Oil embankment 14 Constriction 20 Tunnel 30 Pipe pinch devices 41, 42 as driving means
Clamping member

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claim 1: A tunnel is excavated from the ground at a predetermined distance from the oil country tubular goods to the underground portion of the oil country tubular goods, the oil country tubular goods exposed in the tunnel are sandwiched between a pair of clamping members, and these clamping members are driven by a drive means. A method for extinguishing oil well fires, which is characterized by tightening oil country tubular goods in close proximity with each other to crush and block the oil country tubular goods.