Paper: Electrical Submersible Pumps in Horizontal Wells

The basic configuration of the Electrical Submersible Pump was conceived over fifty years ago. It was originally designed for the traditional vertical well. Development of steerable drilling tools and "measurement while drilling" techniques over the last two decades has allowed drilling wells that radically depart from tradition. To be able to derive the maximum benefit from these complex geometry wells it is necessary to understand some of the production problems and the limitations of the-Electrical Submersible Pump. The traditional well has been thought of as being straight and vertical, however the exact path of the bore hole has never been straight nor vertical for very far. Different physical properties of the rock and the angle at which the bit intersects the formation can cause the bit to skip or dig, producing an infinite variety of bore hole paths. The severity of the deviation from a straight hole is called "dogleg" and is expressed in degrees of deflection per 100 feet of measured hole (fig. 1). Modern drilling techniques allow the bore hole to be purposely deviated, or steered, in order to intersect the producing formation in particular location and manner. These complex geometry wells can be divided into two major categories, the directional wells and the horizontal wells.