Production Gains and Extended Electrical Submersible Pump Run Lives in Harsh Well Conditions

Abstract

Installing ESPs in a reservoir for the first time is always fraught with the uncertainty of achieving economic run lives and this is further amplified in harsh conditions. To mitigate the financial and production risks, sufficient production gains are required to overcome potential short ESP run lives. This paper discusses the results of four pilot ESP wells in Algeria and how infant mortality was eliminated in addition to achieving early production gains. Key to achieving the production gains was candidate selection and well testing to confirm the well productivity and aquifer pressure support. This process also mitigated risk by selecting wells from a reservoir sector with a historical low incidence of asphaltenes and GORs, which have not spiked substantially above solution GOR. Once the ESPs were installed, the production gains were achieved by correctly managing drawdown through real time surveillance, which was also used to manage the stress on the ESP and avoid infant mortality. Longer term run lives was achieved by selecting the correct ESP materials and completion architecture for the well conditions. At the time of writing this paper, none of the four ESPs had failed. The most recent installation had been running for 400 days and the oldest for over 1,300days, which is no small feat when one considers the harsh conditions; a reservoir depth of 10,500 ft TVD with a bottom hole temperature of 245 deg F and a volatile hydrocarbon (41 deg API) with a high GOR. This is compounded by an aquifer with water densities as high as 1.25 due to high salt content, which causes both corrosion and halite scale to form on a regular basis, which was treated with fresh water injection. In two of these wells, net oil production was doubled, but more importantly the recovery factor was substantially increased as the higher ESP drawdown mobilised reserves which would not have been produced with gas lift. Finally, the injection gas saved from converting two wells to ESP was sufficient to complete 4 to 5 new wells with gas lift completions. In terms of technology, the main innovation was the use of an ESP digital twin to monitor ESP health in real time, which was particularly useful in managing the transients associated with slugging. An equally noteworthy take-away was how a holistic approach, which integrated reservoir, completions and production engineering provided seamless management from project definition all the way through to execution.

Comparison of Three Artificial Lift Operations in the Niger Delta

“…Once the ESPs were installed, the production gains were achieved by correctly managing drawdown through real-time surveillance, which was also used to manage the stress on the ESP and avoid infant mortality. Longer term run lives were achieved by selecting the correct ESP materials and completion architecture for the well conditions [7]. Croce and Pereyra [8] evaluated the impact of the effective viscosity of the emulsions on the head and flow rate delivered by the ESP.…”

“…Longer term run lives were achieved by selecting the correct ESP materials and completion architecture for the well conditions [7]. Croce and Pereyra [8] evaluated the impact of the effective viscosity of the emulsions on the head and flow rate delivered by the ESP. Walter et al, 2020, developed a troubleshooting manual that could be used for any engineer to identify likely conditions that could be affecting negatively ESP performance and to implement solutions to minimize failure or damage beyond repair in ESP equipment.…”