Artificial Lift

Incomplete fillage conditions where the downhole pump does not completely fill up with incompressible liquid have been widely accepted to have detrimental effects on pumping efficiency and moreover the equipment longevity in sucker rod pumping applications. Methods of synchronizing the pump displacement to the wells inflow and thus reducing incomplete fillage has been of keen interest to the industry. During operation, surface sensors are used to monitor polished rod load and position to obtain a surface load vs position graph.

This paper introduces a technology for handling solids above the discharge of the ESP pump that increases the run time of the well and prevents premature failure due to plugging or damage to the pump parts thus contributing to the reduction of carbon emissions and environmental impact. Additionally, the new technology was engineered to allow fluid injection through the tubing and its components can be dissembled after pulling it, providing the production engineers with valuable information about the downhole conditions.

Following Best Recommended Practices adds value, this paper will discuss selected Best Practices.
1. Tensile strength historically is used as an essential criterion in rod selection. The primary cause of sucker rod failures is not due to exceeding the tensile strength threshold but is due to compression from the polished rod velocity exceeding the plunger velocity. Value can be added from loading up rod strings.

With the data collected over many years, we can show how we have improved the gas lift valve tear down process, and how that data collected from this process has increased longevity of wells in each, individual area. While following the API Standards of gas lift valve expectancies, both in initial installs as well as reporting once valves are pulled, data is paramount. The ability to provide extensive data, that tracks trends across formations, mandrel types, valve types, and a myriad of other parameters better enables the operator to make the best choices going forward in their wells.

Unconventional reservoirs bring new challenges for Electrical Submersible Pump (ESP) Systems, such as rapid decline and high gas production. As these conditions can add obstacles to the operators to efficiently produce the wells, the industry is always looking for opportunities to improve ESP performance. This study analyzes the performance of some successful ESP Applications installed to produce from Unconventional wells in the Permian Basin, Delaware and Midland Basin. Showing what we have done differently as best practices to increase the ESP runlife. 

The efficiency of most artificial lift systems is reduced significantly whenever the tubing and the annulus are in communication due to the presence of unwanted holes or leaks developed in some of the hardware used in the installation. Detection of the problem from analysis production records must be followed with field tests that verify the diagnostic before proceeding with repair operations. 

There is a need in the industry for a predictive program that can mimic the vast combinations of downhole pump conditions that are found in sucker rod pumped wells. In this paper, we introduce a software that is capable of showing the all of the basic downhole pump conditions, as well as combinations of these conditions in both vertical and deviated wells. The software can show the ideal downhole card as well as what would be expected to be observed in an on-site rod pump controller. The utility of the software is at least multifold.

Black Mamba Rod Lift debuted in 2019, shipping its first Complete Rod Control sucker rods in Fall of 2020. Its use has expanded across the globe in a variety of wells and drill styles, meeting various needs of operators. In 2022, Chevron began piloting Black Mamba’s Complete Rod Control designs and product in complex, problematic wells. Alternate solutions were also deployed simultaneously in similar well-bore trajectories.

When operating rod pumps, it is important to match the volume displaced by the pump to the inflow from the reservoir. By doing so, downhole pressure is minimized, thus maximizing production, while keeping mechanical damage and power consumption to a minimum. Various devices such as time clocks, pump-off controllers or variable frequency drives have been adopted in the industry to achieve this goal.

Production engineers rely upon a variety of data streams from the field to optimize production and maintain safe, environmentally responsible operations; without the reliable collection of this information, we cannot do our jobs. Given the challenges of operating assets spread over vast areas and the inadequacies of workflows relying upon manual measurements and communication, automated data gathering and telemetry have long been key focuses in the industry. Today, SCADA systems are the established standard to address those issues.