Patent ID: 7720618

Claim:
A method for monitoring an oil well production tank having a fire tube heater, comprising the steps of: modelling, using a computer, the oil well production tank, such that: the tank has fluid zones, the fluid zones comprising, consecutively from bottom to top: a sand zone, a water zone, an oil/water emulsion zone, an oil zone, a foam zone, and a gas zone; the oil zone has a temperature slightly above a temperature of the water zone; the oil/water emulsion zone is characterized by a temperature inversion with an interface between the water zone and the oil/water emulsion zone reflecting the temperature of the oil zone and an interface between the oil zone and the oil/water emulsion zone reflecting the temperature of the water zone, the sand zone absorbs relatively little heat; the foam zone is characterized by a temperature inversion with an interface between the foam zone and the oil zone reflecting the temperature of the gas zone and an interface between the foam zone and the gas zone reflecting the temperature of the oil zone; and a fire tube heater is submerged in the oil zone and corresponds to an area of greatest heat; obtaining a heat profile of the oil well production tank; and analyzing, using a computer, the heat profile using the modelling to generate relative fluid level data for the oil well production tank or a selected portion of the tank.