Patent ID: 8430172

Claim:
A hydrostatic lift system for lifting fluid(s) from an enclosed subterranean reservoir to the earth's surface, the system comprising: a) a pipe string configured with a quiescent gas therein under a steady state gas pressure with any quiescent gas escape offset by an equal gas input; b) a plurality of buoyant balls gravity fed down the pipe string, the balls configured to at least one of displace a fluid mass and have a surface friction moving in a fluid therein; c) a column of the buoyant balls in the pipe string, an aggregate weight of the balls in the column configured to entrain the balls into a fluid in an annulus formed with an outer bore pipe; and d) a hydrostatic pressure differential in the annulus with respect to the reservoir via the entrained buoyant balls, the pressure configured to lift the entraining fluid and the entrained balls in the annulus to the surface.