Artificial Lift

High gas-liquid formation ratios appear as the fluid level decreases and as a result significant decreases in pumping efficiency are seen in the ESPs. This problem force frequent shutdowns in the pump because the gas is incapable of adequately cooling the motor and this forces the companies to maintain high fluid levels to avoid the formation of free gas at the pump intake, which increases the PIP and limits the production of fluid. A new and innovative downhole gas separator has been introduced in recent applications to treat gas slug’s problems.

Wells with high depletion rate present high free gas at pump intake conditions. In all cases, the production of fluid with a high gas-liquid ratio leads to an inefficient performance of the rod pump systems. The initial solution to this problem is the installation of poor boy gas separators which capacity of gas separation is reduced and do not provide a high-performance solution.  Packer type gas separators are the most efficient downhole separators in the market, however, they usually have some operational limitations.

As fluctuations in oil price continue, the industry has changed and is demanding improvements from each method of artificial lift. Required flow rates are increasing due to the longer laterals of new horizontal wells being added to inventory. Rod Lift is not immune and is being asked to enter the artificial lift cycle earlier and support the pumping of wellbores with added complexities due to geometries and/or production demands. The fiber reinforced plastic (fiberglass, FSR) rod continues to meet the ever-increasing demand and complexities.

In 2017 and 2018 Oxy EOR conducted a series of RCFA schools. As part of these schools, information was gathered on the range of equipment replacement for failure types. In 2018, a cross functional team of experienced stakeholders vetted this information and compiled a list of equipment replacement guidelines. This paper will share these guidelines. 

Typically, the Petroleum Industry maintains operational ideas that were developed years ago.  These operational ideas may still have merit, but some improvements should be considered.  Sucker rod guides are an example of such practices.  Most production companies continue to use rod guide material that was introduced at the conception of the recognition of the need for sucker rod guides.  This presentation will give information of new materials and new application ideas for sucker rods guides. 

In 2014 Oxy EOR had lost confidence in the accuracy of Fluid Levels in CO2 wells and was not shooting them. Echometer and Oxy collaborated to identify the root cause of the fluid level inaccuracy and resolve the issue through improved procedures and educating personnel. Today trusted fluid level information adds value by improved operational decision making. 

Oxy Resources established the Texas Delaware Team in April 2013 when ~200 wells were purchased in the area of Pecos, Texas.  These primarily vertical wells produce from various commingled Delaware intervals located at 8,000’ to 12,000’ deep. The nature and deviation of these wells have made rod pumping them challenging and failure frequencies have been as high as 1.5 failures/year. Many lessons have been learned in driving the failure frequencies down to the current level of 1.0 failures/year.

In today’s world it can be challenging to locate the downhole well location immediately below the surface location in secondary and tertiary projects. There are several factors that must be considered when picking the surface location that will maximize value including 1) increases cost of building a location and drilling, 2) increases cost of artificial lift and operations, and 3) production rate and reserve impact.  This paper will explore how these factors can be put in an Excel Spread Sheet to assist in picking the location that will maximize value. 

Much work has been done on the operation of beam pump pump-off controllers, but the downtime is normally a simple timer and the optimum downtime is usually set by rule of thumb or trial and error. This paper uses a complete well model coupled with a transient reservoir  model to show that the optimum downtime in terms of total energy used per produced barrel of oil is equal to the wellbore storage time from well test analysis.

To increase recovery rates – the greatest challenge facing the industry – operators must not only look to step-change technologies, but improvements to existing technology. Even incremental increases in recovery rates can impact economics when multiplied across numerous wells. For example, approximately two-thirds of onshore wells use beam operated pump jacks with reciprocating rod pumps. Our objective was to improve the efficiency and reliability of sucker pumps by engineering a new ball valve insert.