Kara Walling, NOV Inc.
When rod pump wells are operated in corrosive environments, corrosion induced sucker rod parts can lead to premature well failure and expensive, repeat workovers. Many corrosion mitigation solutions exist to combat this type of failure, including metallurgy, chemical inhibitor, and epoxy coatings, but they can be costly and not all solutions are appropriate for all types of wells.
In deep wells that require higher tensile rod strength, corrosion friendly metallurgy is generally not an option. In low producing wells, epoxy coatings may not be economically justifiable, depending on lead times and distance from a coating plant. Corrosion inhibitor can require constant monitoring to ensure the treatment is working and not all wells have an environment that promotes an even coating of inhibitor.
In wells where traditional mitigation techniques have not been effective or economic, RodGuard has been successfully used to reduce the frequency of corrosion-induced rod parts.