Manual Tubing Rotation Reduces Rod Pumping Failures by 76%

Abstract

A large Illinois oil field implemented the use of a new low cost manual tubing rotator in 25 marginal oil wells to reduce wear failures. Wear failures were indicated by "tubing splits" (Mechanical Wear 1 ) or "corrosion occurring along a straight line due to corrosion inhibitor being wiped off from wear (Corrosion Due to Wear)". The failure rate was lowered from 203 repairs/year to 49 repairs/year (a 76% reduction) for "all failure mechanisms". Failures due to "Mechanical Wear or Corrosion Wear" were reduced from 108 repairs/year to 18 repairs/year (an 83% reduction). This success yielded over a 100% rate of return since the tubing rotator will normally pay out after eliminating the first pulling job and requires only 15 minutes per year of extra labor. Economics suggest that 100% to 20% investment rate of returns are achievable in wells failing once every 24 months or more often (not considering downtime losses). Thus, the manual rotator is not just for "problem" wells and significantly reduces wear failures.