My family owns mineral rights in Montana. Recently, the company who leased the rights, actually followed through with an oil well. We were told the crude oil is very hot.....above 170 degrees, where as other wells are pumping out at 160 degrees. The heat Exchangers are on the sites now and they are in the process of installing them. They are like a big radiator. After the salt water has been separated from the oil it passes through this item on the way to the salt water storage tanks. There is a fan that helps cool it. It is cooled to a temperature that is cool enough so that it will not damage the pipeline that it is passing through. Does the elevated temperatures indicate a better return on our oil?
The oil temperature is dependent on the depth the oil is pumped from and the temperature gradient, the deeper you go the hotter it gets. Temperature has nothing to do with the value of the oil.
The higher the temperature, the better the flow of the oil and thus easier for the oil to be pumped out of the well. The heat exchanger that you are talking about is actually used to enable efficient heat transfer from one fluid to another. Also the heat will cause any emulsions ( think mayonaise which in this case the oil and water) that you might have to separate better and keep the crude oil flowing. Your oil will not sell very well if it is still wet. As for the pipelines getting damaged, it will come mostly from the salt water. You'll also have to take into consideration corrosion of the pipeline, bacteria that may be in your system (sulfate reducing bacteria or acid producing bacteria), any chemical treatment that you might have on your system, amount of carbon dioxide gas and in water, H2S gas ( characterized by rotton egg smell at low ppm and also very dangerous), Oxygen that's present in your system. Any scaling present or observed as mineral scale or even sometimes chemical goo can cause pipes to plug. You'll have to know the system pretty well to determine if everything is working right. If there's a drop in temperature, pressure and production, then you'll know that something is not running right.
