The proper and economical operation of pumping wells may be simulated to a good safety program. The problem is always changing, inasmuch as reservoir conditions immediately around the well bore change from month to month.

Diagnostic methods and programs for rod pumping commonly assume that the wellbore is vertical. Applying these methods to deviated wells will result in distortions and inaccuracies when calculating the down-hole pump card. This paper describes a new method for analyzing pumping efficiencies in deviated wells. The method requires a deviation survey for the 3-D borehole trajectory that incorporates the dogleg effect (rod/tubing drag forces) into the solution of wave equation. The program is applicable to wells with bare rods, molded-on rod guides, and wheeled-rod guides or a combination of these. Real examples are shown to compare results from both programs. The deviated program improves the accuracy of the pump card and the card is easier to interpret. Thus, the producing pressure and pump displacement rate based on the pump card are more precise. In addition, the deviated diagnostic program can generate data that can be used to improve the accuracy of the deviated predictive program.

The petroleum industry's need to reduce cost challenges users to select the most effective tubular goods inspection for each individual job to minimize the large expense normally incurred with replacement or repair of defective tubular goods. Several diagnostic tools are necessary to meet the many variable inspection requirements for the different grades of new and used tubing, casing, drill pipe, line pipe, and sucker rods. Inspection methods are available which, if properly employed, should detect defects currently considered hazardous. Those associated with ordering and using tubular goods inspections should insure that each inspection dollar earns a profit; this requires selection of the applicable inspection method for each job and economic considerations to determine if the inspection should reduce cost by minimizing possibility of failure or premature retirement of pipe or rods from service.

Diamond Enhanced Hammer Bits in conjunction with Down-the-Hole Air Hammers have been utilized throughout the 1990's to improve penetration rates in hard formations as well as to reduce deviation and improve overall drilling costs. Significant improvements in bit life have been made by utilizing the 3rd Generation Impax Hammer Bits along with the current Best Drilling Practices that have been developed in the Val Verde Basin. This paper will review these Best Drilling Practices as well as discuss the new technology that was developed for these Percussion Drilling applications.

This paper compares the costs of diatomaceous earth filtration and sand filtration.

The following discussion will be mainly concerned with diatomite filtration of salt water and industrial waste streams and subsequent subsurface injection. Filtration usually follows other treatment methods that may be used. Diatomite filtration is one of the most versatile, reliable and economical methods available to remove undissolved solids from liquids. Expenditures of several million dollars have gone into the careful design of filtration equipment and proper selection of filter aids. New ideas and techniques are continuously being developed to aid adequately in insuring safe and trouble free underground injection.

Directional Drilling is a service that assists Exploration and Production companies reach their intended geological target by drilling and deviated wellbore. Slanted, directional and horizontal wells are types of deviated wellbores. The rationale to directionally drill a wellbore are economics or environmental. Directional drilling is performed with tools that intentionally deflect the drill string from the existing wellbore using measuring or surveying tools to determine the path and wellbore placement.
Directional Surveying is a service that determines the spatial positioning of a wellbore by processing survey tools raw sensor data and computing it into survey stations. Directional surveys determine the distance to a geological target, a legal or field boundary, or another wellbore or wellbores nearby. Surveys provide inclination, direction and tool orientation from gravity, magnetic or gyroscope sensors. Single-Shot, Electronic Multi-Shot, Gyro and MWD are types of directional surveying tools. In this paper we will explain the basics and terminologies for Directional Drilling and Directional Surveying.

The use of hot oil as a paraffin removal technique has existed almost as long as the production of crude oil. It is still one of the most commonly used methods for the removal of paraffin deposits from the wellbore, tubing, flowline and tankage in the oilfield today. The relative simplicity of application, immediate results and low cost per application have made hot oiling an accepted, if not traditional form of paraffin removal. This paper discusses the disadvantages of hot oiling that have been overlooked in the past, but should be considered with our present knowledge concerning paraffin and asphaltene deposition. Topics discussed include the following problem areas; source of oil, loss of oil during hot oiling, formation damage, tubing plugging, flowline plugging, surface equipment problems and tank bottoms. Suggestions for minimizing each of these problems are made and an alternative to hot oiling is presented. These topics are presented for practical application on most rod pumping systems.

The use of hot oil as a paraffin removal technique is still used today in spite of its ineffectiveness in most wells. In 1982, the original paper on hot oiling recommended hot watering with chemical, which did not turn out to be the best alternative. In the past 30 years, we have learned much more about the paraffin problems we are trying to treat. A computer program from a Sandia National Laboratory Study, which was written in the 1990s, shows that you cannot melt most paraffin out of the tubing of wells. We learned that hot oiling and watering down the tubing of wells will reduce production. This paper will discuss other problems caused by hot oiling and cost-effective treatment methods that have been developed to take the place of hot oiling on most rod pumping systems. Case histories will be presented on the replacement of hot oiling with other treatment methods.

The use of automatic custody transfer equipment is growing rapidly after several years of intensive trial and development. The purpose of this panel discussion today is to explore these many questions that face our industry on ACT. Two members of our panel represent pipeline companies and two members represent producing companies.

We will start on the subject of Sucker Rod Pumping, since it is the oldest, about 3500 years old. Then we will go to Hydraulic Pumping, which is not so old, the go to Gas Lift, then to Reda pumps.

It is the purpose of this paper to summarize various displacement procedures which are currently in use and to discuss briefly the advantages and disadvantages of each. It is further intended to discuss certain trends in multi-string operations which tend to offset the economic advantage to this type of completion.

This paper discusses electric power systems and equipment for utilizing electric power. Included is a comparison of 12.5 KV and 22 KV primary systems, 480-Volt and 762-Volt secondary systems, and various types of motor protective devices. The application of the National Electrical Safety Code to oil field electric systems is also discussed.

In 1992 and 1993, Huber began working with problem-solving teams of production supervisors, well attendants, engineers and buyers from major and independent oil companies to find ways to reduce operating costs by improving the performance of stuffing boxes. Huber, which has since become Flow Control Equipment, Inc. (FCE), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Huber, began research in 1993 to support this project. Most of the stuffing box improvements identified by the focus groups fell into one of six categories shown below: 1. Longer-lasting packing 2. Less demand on the well attendant's time 3. Better lubrication systems 4. Less inventory to support stuffing box maintenance 5. Reliable leak detection and fail-safe options 6. Rapid pay-out for investments in new equipment Early in the research project, it became apparent that improvements could be achieved in almost every one of the six categories by reducing the coefficient of friction between the stuffing box packing and the polished rod. Rubber, the most widely used packing material, was ideal for its flexibility and memory, but very undesirable for its high coefficient of friction. High coefficients of friction generate heat and result in more frequent stuffing box leaks. Progress to reduce the coefficient of friction was first reported at the 1994 Southwestern Petroleum Short Course at Texas Tech by Larry Angelo in a paper titled "Metal Film-Coated Stuffing Box Packing". Larry Angelo reported partial success using the MagionTM process to apply a molecular layer of metal over conventional cone rubber packing to reduce the coefficient of friction between the polished rod and stuffing box packing. Since then, Huber and subsequently FCE, has continued to pursue this objective and this paper is the second report on the progress of this research. The need to evaluate various stuffing box packing materials led to the development of laboratory test equipment shown in Figure 1 which could be used to measure the friction between the polished rod and packing. Tests were conducted on this equipment in non-lubricating environments - the most challenging of all conditions for testing the performance of packing. Metal film-coated rubber was partially successful. Combining PTFE with rubber, which is the subject here, was more successful.

Tank Batteries can emit VOC's (volatile organic compounds) or gas vapors. Quantities of gas are directly proportional to the volume of crude oil present at the Tank battery sight. Other factors effecting gas vapor volumes include line pressures, separation equipment pressures, and ambient temperatures. These vapors can be recovered and sold if sufficient volumes are present.

There has long been felt the need for a rod insert pump which would fit in the interim from the point in the life of a well where conventional insert type pumps become incapable of handling increasing fluid in the well bore beyond the anticipated requirements of the original equipment. In numerous instances, either for economy or from miscalculation, equipment too small for final depletion of the reservoir is installed. This could be either in the well bore, surface equipment or both.

Flowing/pumping transient analysis was performed on a group of wells scattered across the Permian basin that had been re-stimulated with relatively large volumes of brine and an ultra-lightweight proppant with substantially the same specific gravity as the brine. The results of these analyses are presented, and effective infinite conductivity fracture half-lengths are reported and compared to offsets that were stimulated with more conventional techniques.These analyses, along with other parameters that were recorded off several hundred treatments performed, were utilized to develop a set of guidelines for optimum candidate selection for future work. The candidate selection parameters are presented, and practical guidelines for exploiting and optimizing the process are explained.

The oil occurring in oil reservoirs is associated with varying quantities of water and gas. Both the water and the gas entering the well bore must be produced in order to produce the oil. In the early life of a field, when the reservoir pressure is high, the gas is used as a means of lifting the fluid. This is generally accomplished by shutting in the casing and permitting sufficient pressure to build up in the annulus between the casing and the tubing. When this occurs, oil, gas and water rise up the tubing in a frothy mixture and pass through the flow bean into the lead line. In this case, an actual bottom hole mixing rather than a bottom hole separation occurs.

This application was done in Manantiales Behr Field, REPSOL YPF, well AEA-507. This is a field located 30 miles northwest of Comodoro Rivadavia City, in Chubut's Province. The field's characteristics are heavy oil, very high viscosity, low production (1 5-60 m3/day), medium water cut, medium depths (1200 meters) and sand. Besides, the weather conditions are very harsh during the winters, getting below 0C.

Manufacturers of down-hole sucker rod pumps have developed materials, coatings and treatments for barrels and plungers. Some of these have become standards in the industry while others have been tested and either did not meet expectations or were not economically viable. This paper will review historical, current and new materials, coatings and treatments for down-hole sucker rod pump barrels and plungers.

Completions for thermal recovery installations are closely related to the many new and sophisticated approaches to well design which have come of age during the last decade. This writer likes to compare them with completions in the 15,000 - 20,000 ft range, to high pressure gas completions in corrosive environments. perhaps to wells on platforms in deep water or completed by TFI methods. This comparison is made not because the magnitude of engineering difficulty in each instance is equal, but because the total probIem content of each of these completion techniques represents a distinct engineering challenge and required unique solutions. Finding these solutions in turn required the use of classical methods and theories mixed with original thinking. Let us then examine why thermal recovery wells qualify for a position amongst difficuIt and sophisticated technological accomplishments

In 1972 a carbon dioxide/water injection project began in the SACROC Unit, Kelly-Snyder Field in Scurry County, Texas. The injection of CO2 and the highly corrosive produced water has created some very unique problems with downhole equipment. New materials of construction, new design parameters, and new treatment methods have been developed to deal with these problems. The paper describes the corrosion problems encountered with submersible pumps, sucker-rod pumps, tubing, sucker-rods, and other downhole equipment, and it describes the solutions found for these problems. Chemical treatments, coatings, and monitoring programs are discussed. Finally,, the effect CO2 injection on downhole corrosion is evaluated.

The Downhole Diverter Gas Separator increases the liquid capacity and gas separation capacity over conventional poor boy or Improved Collar Sized downhole gas separators. The increased separation capacity of the diverter gas separator is provided by using the larger tubing-casing annulus for both gas separation and liquid separation. A simple movable rubber seal is used to divert the flow of liquids and gas vertically from below the rubber seal through a central tube approximately 5 feet in length. When the fluids exhaust into the tubing-casing annulus above the seal, the large annulus flow area reduces the annular gas velocity which allows the liquid to fall back through the large area tubing-casing annulus into the pump intake. Larger tubing-casing annular area below the diverter exhaust port provides high liquid capacity. Large tubing-casing annular area above the diverter exhaust port reduces the gas velocity, reduces liquid holdup and provides high gas separation capacity.

The Downhole Dynamometer is a tool designed primarily for the acquisition of sucker-rod load and position data at any point in the rod string. The tool is completely sealed, battery-operated, and microprocessor-controlled to sample the various parameters at specific times and sampling rates and to store the data digitally in a nonvolatile memory for later retrieval. Other parameters sampled are temperature and pressure and, with the present design, bending data is also collected. Axial position is derived from acceleration. At the time of this presentation two-dimensional lateral accelerations may also be available. While used predominantly for code validation the tool could be an effective well-diagnostic device as well.

The Downhole Dynamometer is a tool designed for making dynagraph measurements at any point in the rod string. The tool is completely sealed, battery-operated, and microprocessor-controlled to sample axial load, position, lateral acceleration, fluid pressure, and temperature at preprogrammed times and sampling rates and to store the data digitally in a non-volatile memory (Figure 1). Load is measured at three points spaced radially equidistant around the body of the tool enabling the derivation of bending and buckling loads. Rod velocity and acceleration are also measured. The tool is used in the industry as a diagnostic device and to validate predictive and diagnostic codes. Any number of tools can be used simultaneously at different points in the string. 1994 was a maturing year for the tool. This presentation one year ago was devoted to the evolution of the downhole device. The focus this year is on the present state of the tool, calibration, accuracy and how to use it.