Progressing cavity pumps (PCPs) have proven to be a successful and reliable artificial lift system for production of heavy oil reservoirs over the past few decades. The application of PCP technology for production of oil wells in general continues to expand rapidly due to ongoing advances in versatility, production rate and lift capacity, durability, and economy. As a result, the application envelope for PCP systems has grown substantially to the point where these systems now successfully compete in many areas that were traditionally reserved to Rod Pump and ESP technologies. The development and implementation of a new type of PCP, namely the "all metal" (non-elastomeric) progressing cavity pump has been driven by the need to achieve significant improvements in the performance and run life of PCPs in high temperature/thermal well applications, and wells producing fluids which cause rapid chemical and/or mechanical degradation of elastomeric PCPs. This paper describes the successful implementation and use of Metal PCP systems in a diverse range of extra heavy oil wells located along the northern coast of Cuba beginning in July 2005. This is believed to be the first major use of this technology in such a field application. The paper also compares the performance and run lives achieved with the Metal PCPs to that of elastomeric PCPs in the same application. In general, the field trial results have demonstrated that the strong resistance of Metal PCPs to chemical and mechanical degradation makes them a good alternative for the cold production of heavy and extra heavy oil with relatively high bottomhole temperatures and high aromatic, CO2 or H2S concentrations. Introduction Progressing cavity pumps (PCPs), first developed and patented by Rene Moineau (Moineau, 1931), have found numerous applications in many industries as a means to efficiently transfer, transport and/or lift fluids of a diverse nature. The use of PCPs as an artificial lift method for oil wells has gained increasing acceptance since their first commercial use in heavy oil applications in the 1980's, and they have now become the lift method of choice in numerous oil field developments worldwide (Doval et al, 2007). This paper describes the use of PCP systems to produce extra heavy oil from a number of extended reach horizontal wells located along the northern coast of Cuba. The field experience includes numerous conventional (elastomeric) PCP installations over the past 8 years, as well as the deployment of several recently developed "all metal" PCPs beginning in July 2005 - this is believed to be the first major use of this new technology in such a primary production application. Relevant field data has been collected and analyzed to assess and compare the performance and service life of the various conventional and all metal PCPs.

Artificial lift systems have encountered traditional challenges in the production of high viscosity oil-well fluids such as heavy and extra heavy crudes. These challenges included problems with sand abrasion, formation of emulsions (fluid shearing), high wellbore deviation (horizontal wells), scale deposition, and temperature and fluid rate limitations. The development of ESPCP technology meant the synergy of PCP and ESP into a hybrid that takes advantage of the best qualities from both worlds. On one end, ESPCPs offer greater resistance to solids abrasion (solids production), high viscosity liquid production capability (positive displacement pump) and the low fluid shear characteristics of PCPs. On the other end, ESPCP systems may be deployed in high deviation wellbores, while still able to provide the substantial liquid rates and torque derived from ESP down-hole motors. The exploitation of unconventional resources, such as heavy oil thermal projects, has triggered the development and improvement of ESPCP technology for high temperature applications. In particular, the use of ESPCPs in heavy oil steam flood reservoirs with cyclic steam stimulation, such as in the well known Kern River field, poses a significant challenge to this artificial lift system. This paper describes the experience and results of the first ESPCP pilot project known to the authors, where all parts of the subject unit are exposed to short, but direct cycle steam stimulation treatments.

Progressive Cavity Pumping is the preferred artificial lift method in the extra heavy crude oil field Huyapari, located in the Venezuelan Orinoco belt. Typically, PCPs operating in saturated reservoirs such as Huyapari need to cope with significant amounts of free gas, often handling more than 50% of gas void fraction (GVF) at the pump intake. This, combined with production of large amounts of sand and exposure to aggressive fluids, poses vast challenges to the durability and performance of PCP elastomers. Consequently, a proper and engineered selection of elastomer materials has critical impact on overall pump run life. This study describes a first experience in characterizing the effect of harsh fluids and solids on high acrylonitrile elastomers. Subject wells include those with high free gas and/or sand production rates, as well as those with elevated water cuts. The mechanical properties of elastomers were measured under controlled pressure and temperature conditions in order to define an optimum rotor-stator fit. Over 200 laboratory tests and several field experiments were conducted to allow for the most suitable selection of elastomer material regarding hardness and swelling behaviour. Aging tests and infrared spectroscopy were also used in these analyses to help reduce premature elastomer failures produced by hysteresis, explosive decompression and blistering. The results of the study indicate that PCP applications in wells producing high gas rates must avoid utilization of elastomers with a hardness below 65 shore A, because the increased gas permeability causes excessive swelling throughout the pump stator. In contrast, elastomers with hardness above 70-75 shore A proved to be more resistant to swelling and explosive decompression. Benefits resulting from this study include an increased pump life cycle from 306 days in-hole in 2012 to 469 days in 2016. Premature PCP failure count decreased from 275 in 2012 (59% of wells in the field) to 153 in 2017. Based on the results of this study, the authors propose new acceptance ranges for mechanical properties values (e.g. swelling performance and hardness) for PCP elastomer selection applied to extra heavy oil production in this field.

Since the early decades, through-tubing wireline (WL) interventions have been a necessary routine of the oil and gas industry. The practice of well intervention has benefited from the evolution of WL tools on its imposed quest to keep up with the trend of increasing complexity in wellbore and completion development.Deployment of WL tools through tubing, from early and simple devices (e.g., gauge cutters, lead impression blocks, tubing plugs) to state-of-the-art logging and well intervention prototypes, experienced a significant leap forward with the application of electric line (e-line) tractors in the mid-1990s. Since then, many oil companies have implemented the use of tractors to make a great variety of rigless well interventions feasible, both technically and economically.Over these lines, WL perforating of long, highly deviated wells through tubing, especially those with relevant ID restrictions, indubitably requires challenging, ingenious, and risked-assessed selection of the most convenient perforating and deployment systems. Working in remote locations, where availability of specialized tools and qualified personnel on short notice are often limited, adds an extra burden to the everyday complexity of operations.This paper describes the unconventional, but successful, use of a WL tractor to (1) investigate a tubing-conveyed perforating (TCP) completion failure and (2) save the highly deviated "S-shaped" well from a costly offshore rig workover by perforating with a strip gun deployed more than 14,000 ft from surface. The well is located in Angola at a water depth of 1,206 ft. IntroductionWithin the oil and gas industry, the term "WL" usually refers to a cabling technology used by operators to lower equipment or measurement devices into a well for the purposes of well intervention, reservoir evaluation, and pipe recovery.WL operations, and more specifically e-line interventions, have remained an essential tool for geological and reservoir evaluation (i.e., openhole logging), as well as a means to determine hole integrity and proper well construction (i.e., cased hole logging). Additionally, well intervention by means of e-line is a cost-efficient method of reaching operational objectives. The tools and equipment are conveyed into wells either through an "open hole" without surface pressure, or through special pressure retaining equipment, which allows the toolstrings to be conveyed into live wells with full production pressure. Key e-line workover activities include the setting of downhole tools (e.g., bridge plugs, packers, cement retainers, tubing cutters and punchers), perforating (casing and through tubing), and the use of diagnostic workover tools, such as casing collar/gamma rays (CCL/GRs), multifinger imaging tools (MITs), thermal multigate decay-lithology (TMDL) etc.The natural drive for e-line tools into the wellbore's target depth is gravity. E-line interventions, however, have been traditionally limited by wellbore deviation, and the conveyance of e-line tools through deviated tubing, would at be...