2018020 ADVANCED SUCKER ROD COUPLING MATERIAL OPTIMIZES EFFICIENCY AND PRODUCTIVITY ON ROD LIFT WELLS

Tubing leaks have historically accounted for nearly half of the failures in the Hess Bakken wells. The root cause of these leaks is coupling on tubing wear; the non-metallic guides wear out, which results in spray metal couplings contacting the production tubing. To address this problem, the company installed ToughMet® 3 TS95 sucker rod couplings in over 650 wells, reducing the failure rate in the field. Data analytics was used to analyze the MTBF history over the last four years.
   
Several operators are running entire sucker rod strings with the ToughMet couplings to determine if friction can be reduced and production improved. Wells with full strings of ToughMet couplings could see increased fluid production, increased pump fillage, higher fluid loads, and lower gearbox loads. Results of these pilots will be discussed.