Collaborative Development of a Shared ESP Troubleshooting Guidelines Document

Abstract

When an electric submersible pump (ESP) has tripped or is not operating as intended, operators need to quickly assess the underlying factors to determine if any corrective measures can be taken and if the ESP needs to be pulled. To assist, a new Troubleshooting Guidelines Document (TGD) has been collaboratively developed, incorporating the knowledge and experience of several ESP operators with diverse ESP applications and geographies. The TGD development involved a group of ESP operators agreeing on a logical and easy-to-follow document structure, reviewing and consolidating existing industry resources, and contributing technical knowledge based on the operators’ own experiences and internal practices. The focus was on documenting the knowledge and experience required to ask the right questions during a troubleshooting scenario, which is often stored only in the minds of experienced individuals (sometimes referred to as institutional knowledge). Asking the right questions during troubleshooting can help operators avoid unnecessary well interventions and reduce the time required to bring the system back online. The TGD is intended to serve as a technical reference for anyone involved in ESP troubleshooting and to provide the end-user with a structured troubleshooting workflow and list of questions to ask and probable solutions. This paper will illustrate the workflow based on two example ESP troubleshooting scenarios. The workflow starts with a set of observations describing the symptoms of the problem and leads to the identification of potential contributing factors, diagnostic checks, and corrective actions. The example scenarios will illustrate the structured workflow for complex troubleshooting situations and highlight some aspects or questions that may often be overlooked. The TGD is intended to compliment, not replace, operator site specific procedures and best practices and provides reminders that only competent and qualified personnel should execute troubleshooting tasks. The TGD is considered a "living" document, with new experience, tools, technologies, and knowledge being continually added. To the authors’ knowledge, it is the only shared, living ESP troubleshooting document of its kind that contains input from multiple ESP applications and geographies. The troubleshooting procedure outlined in the paper can be used in any ESP application and can provide a structured way for companies to capture and apply their ESP troubleshooting experience.