The pressure and flow rates in an unconventional horizontal well decline rapidly, making artificial lift (AL) an integral part of development. Due to the dynamic behavior of these wells, the artificial lift life cycle is critical, and detailed attention to the AL system is needed at all stages for optimized recovery. This includes the selection and reselection of the proper AL method, adjusting the operating parameters, and scheduling the related workovers. With higher well counts and every well having some form of AL, a workflow to help in understanding the dynamic nature of the wells and to plan the artificial lift life cycle proactively will be beneficial. This has the potential to add significant value in terms of failure reduction, expense and downtime reductions, and improved operating efficiency. The objective of this paper is to present a workflow using field data and an example case study that is easily scalable and can be applied to any field to add value.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.