Sucker Rod Pump (SRP), one of the most common and mature artificial lift techniques is usually known to be designed with minimum available data. With the flexibility of the operational characteristics it is possible to find a combination of pumping unit, pump and rods to draw the fluid out of the well. A SRP system potentially could draw the bottom-hole pressures down to near-zero condition. However the need for accurate data for optimized design and operations is equally important in order to meet production targets and achieve reasonable run life.This paper summarizes a case study for one of the Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) fields in Kuwait where down hole gauges were employed first time in SRP wells to receive the pump intake pressure (PIP) and pump discharge pressure (PDP) in real time, a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system to transfer the down hole and surface data to a real time optimization software. The initial designing of two wells were done with a very limited knowledge about the reservoir Productivity index (PI). Data limitations caused a conservative design approach which led to oversizing of the equipment. As the operations started, with real-time optimization system, the productivity index of the well was determined with a high degree of certainty. This information along with surface real time data helped • Optimize and scale down the pumping unit size for the future nearby wells, • Balance the units in real time • Fine tune the production in real time with the changes in reservoir inflow • Ensure the system integrity SPE-172845-MS

The vision of each company in the current oil and gas industry scenario is to utilize the existing field investment to increase oil production at minimum cost. Installing sucker rod pumping unit on a dual string well was a big challenge to achieve, especially when the other string was producing naturally. The manuscript focuses on the challenges accompanied with the identification of well needs, designing phase, planning phase and execution phase. Meetings have been held with both field development and well surveillance engineers to discuss the challenges to be faced to install a sucker rod pumping unit. The challenges were to occupy a turn in the rig schedule that have been set for the rest of the quarter, to install the surface unit in presence of a well head set on a high level to meet dual string surface set up and in downhole pump installation to be set through a 3.5-in. tubing with no rig accessThe solution was to use a unique way of installation by utilizing the available equipment without having the need of using a rig. Running downhole insert pump using a insert pump anchor was the solution to set the pump at any desired depth inside the 3.5" tubing. That will only require a flush-by unit access with no need to remove the current surface set up for the dual strings. The well head for the desired well was set to 11.5 ft above ground level creating a big challenge that has been solved by using 6 portable gravel pans that can be re-located later to lift the surface unit with 6 ft to be installed above the desired string. Successfully installing the sucker rod pumping unit in such way resulted the following benefits: Achieve required oil recovery from the string without affecting the other naturally flowing one.Eliminated work over Operation and stand by time costs.Reduced No-Production period.Installed downhole pump with the capability of retrieving the pump and/or converting the artificial lift method if required with no rig intervention. Successful installation of a sucker rod system on a dual string well for the first time in Kuwait in Burgan field, is now considered a solution for dual string wells to optimize oil recovery with minimum cost, and is being considered as a reference for rig-less interventions with the capability of changing the type of lift in future.

The manuscript focuses on benefits realized in sucker rod pump system performance, number of workovers, downtime periods, and overall production efficiency as a result of continuous steam injection (steam flooding) on a heavy oil pilot field. It also presents benefits on production performance as a result of real-time well optimization of sucker rod pump systems. Implementation of real-time production optimization techniques to record behavioral changes provide for up-close field operational surveillance (allowing for faster response time). The steam injection effect varies from between locations, based on the distance between injector and producer wells, along with the degree of down-hole interference. The objective was to study steam injection effects on a group of wells and adjust the operational parameters of sucker rod pump systems based on individual well performance conditions. Real-time wellsite monitoring (including creating notifications, warnings and alarms to identify troublesome or non-optimized wells) and data-trend analysis allowed us to make necessary corrective actions continuously, which led to an improvement in well performance since steam injection started (thus optimizing productivity). The continuous steam injection, supported by real-time optimization and constant sucker rod pump system performance adjustments, led to the following operational efficiency improvements: Reduced downtime related to troubleshooting activitiesReduced pump replacements (obtaining longer run life of downhole equipment)Improved pump efficiency (measured by improvements in production rates)Created a workflow for sucker rod pump system performance review and optimization opportunitiesImproved field-wide overall productionImprovement in sucker rod pump system efficiency (pump efficiency dyna card analysis was significantly improved in wells with low pump submergence after steam injection) Maintaining the same downhole pump configuration, we found that pump efficiency (calculated by measured production rates) changed significantly: from low efficiency before steam injection (on colder periods) to higher efficiency (after steam injection). We also studied pump performance during the production phase and adapted the sucker rod pump system operational parameters to the wellbore's changing operation conditions, driven mainly by wellbore's temperature changes. Applying continuous steam injection in a heavy oil area supported in improving pump performance, reducing downtime, and improving overall production from a specific number of wells, compared to lower production and higher downtimes (with larger number of wells), but without continuous steam injection.

Producing heavy oil from shallow wells using rod pump applications requires careful design considerations especially for down hole components to achieve maximum production rate and maximize the run life. This paper highlights a successful case study of one such heavy oil sucker rod pump well, in the North Kuwait field of Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), where the rods were specially designed to penetrate through the viscous oil and address the pump floating problem to achieve uninterrupted pump operation. Conventionally, as a rule of thumb for the shallow wells, the rod design initially constituted of twenty percent sinker bars and eighty percent sucker rods. This was to add weight on the pump for stability and proper balancing. In the case of this well, with the same design philosophy employed, it was observed that the pump floated over the viscous oil. The maximum pump fillage was observed to be less than fifty percent. Eventually operational changes were made by reducing the speed and operating at maximum stroke length. However this still did not bring any improvement. Hence, specific design modifications were made in the rod string and the pump size to be able to solve the pump floating problem, achieve maximum production rate, and operate at the maximum possible efficiency. Following the design change, it was observed that the pump was now able to penetrate through the viscous crude effectively. This increased the pump fillage to 75% consistently, enhancing the production rate. It was also observed to improve the unit balancing. This well design was considered as part of the pilot in heavy oil project in north Kuwait field. Since the floating pump phenomena is expected in KOC heavy wells, this design would be employed on similar sucker rod operated wells and neighboring wells suffering from the same well conditions. It is expected that by overcoming this operational issue there will be considerable cost savings and production enhancements.

The demand for digital oil field solutions in artificially lifted wells is higher than ever, especially for wells producing heavy oil with high sand content and gas. A real-time supervisory control and data acquisition solution has been applied in a large-scale thermal pilot for 28 instrumented sucker rod pumping wells in North Kuwait. This paper focuses on the advantages of real-time data acquisition for identifying production-optimization candidates, improving pump performance, and minimizing down time when using intelligent alarms and an analysis engine. Real-time surveillance provided a huge amount of information to be analyzed and discussed by well surveillance and field development teams to determine required actions based on individual well performance. Controller alarms and intelligent configurable alarms in one screen enabled early detection of unexpected/unwanted well behavior, re-investigating well potential, and taking necessary actions. The challenge was to handle heavy oil, sand, and gas production, maintain all wells at optimum running conditions before and after steam injections, and take into consideration the effect that injections would have on nearby wells. Recording in the database a "tracking item" for each well event enabled review and evaluation of the wells and creation of optimization reports. The daily, 24-hour surveillance of the wells resulted in observing common problems/issues on almost all wells and other individual issues for specific wells. The following are examples of problems identified in early stages: Detected wells with gas interference before they reached gas lockDetected wells with high flowline pressure before flowline blockage resulted from sand productionDetected wells with standing valve and/or traveling valve leak—resulting from sand production—before the pump stuck The availability of such a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system helped in guiding the operations team to further investigate only specific items from the field side to confirm the findings. The ability to remotely control the wells and remotely change configuration of the variable speed drive parameters enabled instant implementation and continuous production optimization. The powerful SCADA solution enabled creating short- and long-term plans and monitoring the behavior of wells while the implementation phase was executed. For the first time in South Ratqa in North Kuwait, the smart field approach was implemented in a thermal pilot using sucker rod pumps; and the results will be used as a reference for the upcoming projects in this area. Real-time monitoring and data storage in a single database with an analysis engine provided fully automated surveillance and the capability of remotely controlling and applying required actions for production optimization.