Artificial Lift

With today’s highly dynamic unconventional wells, gas separation is essential after the conversion from electric submersible pumps (ESPs) to rod lift. Unconventional wells in the Permian Basin have high initial rates with steep declines rates, which result in a high gas-to-liquid ratio very early in the life of the well. As the reservoir pressure draws down below bubble point pressure, increasing volumes of free gas begin to break out of solution.

Failures due to Rod wear and tubing wear account together for an approximate range between 50% to 70% of the OPEX in Rod Lifted systems. Industry has made significant improvements by separating the steel components during their relative movement by using different materials in between them and as sacrifice components. The rod guide is one of them and it comes today in several shapes and compositions. One of those compositions, and the most successful one, is the plastic guide.

For decades sucker rod pump artificially lifted wells have used devices called pump off controllers (POC) to match the pumping unit’s runtime to the available reservoir production by idling the well for a set time where variable frequencies drives are not available. In doing this the POC allows the well to enter a set period of downtime when the downhole pump fillage is incomplete to avoid premature failures, and then brings the well back online to operate before production is lost.

Production performance monitoring has existed in Rod Lift Artificial Lift for decades, however there has lacked any action based on performance parameters. The Total Production Real Time (TPRT) Monitoring System incorporates data acquisition with artificial intelligence and automation to provide safer production operations for personnel and environment. TPRT collects live production data at surface on Rod BOPs, Stuffing Boxes, and Rod Rotators then drives actuation based on performance outside of expected performance parameters.

The objective of this paper is to share insights from a case history of jet lift applications in the Permian Yeso play. Apache Corporation was among the first operators to deploy horizontal drilling and multistage fracturing in the Yeso formation in Eddy County, N.M., targeting dolostone/limestone/sandstone reservoirs interbedded with shale and anhydrite. The Yeso yields oil and liquids-rich gas at depths averaging 5,000-6,000 feet.

Black Mamba Rod Lift’s helical centralizer stabilizes the rod string during pumping chaos. Chaos is understood as sucker rod buckling and negative loading (compression), which is impossible to eliminate in beam lift wells. The source of compression is often from nature (gas interference, fluid pound, gas pound) but can be operator induced (seating the pump, pump tagging), or compression as part of the pumping method and operation (pump friction, fluid load transition).

With the increase in the number of horizontal wells drilled in the past 15 years, the technology for predicting downhole conditions and troubleshooting problem wells has not kept up with the increased complexity of these deeper and deviated wellbores. The systems in use are no longer accurate or sensitive enough to determine what is causing the problem(s) resulting in shorter meantime between failure and higher workover cost to the operators.

Surface coatings are commonly used in many industries including oil and gas; with the aim of hardening the part surfaces to improve wear resistance without compromising the corrosion resistance -or even improve when applicable. Sucker rod pumps employ several parts with coated surfaces as well, including the pump barrels. Both standardized surface modifications and specialty applications for pump barrels are readily available in market for different well conditions, including extreme well solids and H2S and CO2 service.

Since its’ introduction to the unconventional oil and gas realm in 2018, Single Point High Pressure Gas Lift (referred to as HPGL going forward) has emerged as one of the top artificial lift choices for operators in the Permian and Anadarko basins. It has become a proven technology with over 1,250 applications to date as more operators are choosing it as their primary form of artificial lift for their unconventional assets.

A dual purpose design is presented in this paper to face high gas presence and sand production conditions in petroleum wells with an Electric Submersible Pump (ESP) system installed. The results of this design’s application in severely problematic wells, due to high gas and sand production, will confirm the importance of conditioning the fluid before it gets to the pump intake.