Erik Tietz and Arun Sriraman, UPCO, Inc.
Beam pumping systems are now operated in high speed and corrosive environments due to the ever increasing demand to produce oil in a faster and more efficient manner. Customer feedback indicates failures due to over, under, and loss of displacement. There has been significant amount of issues raised regarding the displacement values, the choice of lubricant used, and other critical factors affecting the displacement values. This paper describes the testing of various thread lubricants for Sucker rod/Coupling make up. The project uses the core engineering concepts of stress, strain, torque, and circumferential displacement. A comprehensive engineering analysis was conducted in the laboratory using an exclusive displacement testing machine which led to a selection of the best lubricant for field application. A total of 13 tests (12 lubricants + 1 no lube) were conducted under laboratory conditions.