To maintain an oil production efficiently it is essential to obtain individual records of each well. Many oil operators will contend that this is sheer nonsense and waste of effort. " We've pumped wells from West Virginia to Oklahoma and handled wells for 40 years and never needed individual well gauges." "Any good pumper can tell what a well is making," are stock this question. This would be fine if true. It would surprise many operators to test out their wells and find just what each one is doing.
On one lease it was found that wells considered as oil wells were really water wells and that a few wells on the lease were producing all the oil. The others should have been plugged or the water shut off. Yet the pumper on that lease was con sidered a good man. He simply thought he knew what the wells were making but in reality did not know what he was talking about. In California the best oil operators secure sepa rate gauges at each well, and know just what each well is doing. In this way, if a well decreases in production unduly it will be pulled and needed pump parts put in, or the well cleaned out.
Individual tanks now in use are expensive. The use of a water and oil gauge which can be placed at the tank into which the wells are pumped has been suggested. This applies particularly to those Eastern and Mid-Continent leases where the wells are pumped into one main tank. Such a gauge is inexpensive, say from $25 to $75, and one or two gauges would take care of 15 or 20 wells. Gauges could be taken at regular intervals, and their records studied. If the wells are not normal then pull them. No operator who has tried individual gauges will go back to the old "guess" system of obtaining his production. Under that system the total production is pro-rated among the various wells.
Tail Pumps.—Tail pumps are used on many wells to pump the oil from sump holes to the storage tanks. Such pumps are attached to the pitman end of the walking beam. A board is extended beyond the walking beam and a Tee, to which the pump rod is welded, fits into a slot in this board. An old well
pump working barrel is used. A bottom valve is dropped into this working barrel. The top valve is of the ordinary type used in well pumps.
An improved pump of this kind has guides which eliminate vibration and play in the tail pump.
Gas Traps.—The rich vapors coming from the well with the oil were wasted for many years. However, when the value of those vapors was realized the oil operator devised gas traps to catch these vapors as they came from the well. The gas trap was originally designed by A. C. McLaughlin to catch gas from the lead lines and use such gas for fuel on the lease.
This trap (see Figs. 57 a and b, and Fig. 58) consists of a tank with an oil and gas inlet at the bottom of the tank, and an oil outlet at the bottom. At the top of the tank is a gas outlet.
Operation.—The oil and gas enter the tank through n. The sand settles on the bottom. The gas rises and is piped off at j.
The cylinder C hangs on the lever arm d and is balanced by the counter weight e. At the bottom of this cylinder is an open ing for the oil inlet n which is a 3-in. nipple 4 ft. long connecting to the lead line h from the well. A cast-iron valve a is fitted over the end of this nipple. At the bottom of the cylinder is also a valve a. The weight e keeps the cylindrical valve seat b tight against the cast-iron valve a.
Oil and gas enter the cylinder. The gas flows out through the 2-in. gas outlet j in the top of the cylinder. The oil and sand settle in the bottom of the cylinder. When the weight of the oil and sand in the cylinder are sufficient to offset the balance weights e hanging from the lever arm the cylinder slides downward. The oil and sand then flow from the cylinder into the box below. Where the oil and gas enter steadily the valve is kept open and constant streams of oil flow from the trap at the same time as the gas is separated.