Development of low density rigid gels/composites for ESP packer penetrator protection

Abstract

Electric Submersible Pumps (ESP) are commonly used artificial lift equipment in production wells. The ESP packer penetrator system is designed to carry the electric power cable that connects the electric motor in ESP to the surface control panel. Various chemicals downhole make up highly corrosive and hostile environments to the metal wires and their insulation materials for electric connectors. Many ESP failures could be attributed to packer penetrator failure due to corrosion of the electric connector beneath the ESP packer. A method is developed to generate a low density gel system that isolates the electric connector from downhole chemicals in order to provide prolonged protections of electric connectors against corrosive atmospheres and chemical attacks. Mixture of low-density materials/composites are prepared on the surface and then pumped into targeted place through the bypass tubing. The mixture has low density so that it travels upwards in the wellbore and floats on the top of downhole fluids. Under a given well temperature, a rigid gel/composite system forms between the electric connector and the downhole fluids, isolating the electric connector from the hostile chemicals thus providing a better protection. We have developed the low density settable material and demonstrated its performance in the lab scale. It is also scaled up to a mocked up physical simulator to observe the flow dynamics and chemical reaction in realistic geometry.