Modern Total Well Management - Sucker Rod Lift Case Study

Abstract

Oilfield operators continually need to verify that their wells are being produced at the optimum capacity and in a cost effective manner. An integrated analysis of the pumping system is required to reduce operating costs, increase oil production and increase net income. The integrated analysis of the pumping system must include the performance and interaction of all the elements: the prime mover, surface equipment, well bore equipment, down hole pump, down hole gas separator and the reservoir. This integrated analysis methodology is called Total Well Management, TWM. The TWM analysis is made based on data obtained at the surface without entering the well bore and yields an accurate representation of the conditions existing on the surface, within the well bore and within the reservoir. A field case study of a sucker rod lifted well illustrates the procedure and benefits of the Total Well Management methodology. Introduction The need to increase oil production and reduce operating costs from wells requires an integrated analysis of the pumping system including the performance and interaction of all the elements: the surface equipment, the down hole equipment, the well bore and the reservoir. The analysis is to be based on data obtained at the surface without entering the well bore and must yield an accurate representation of conditions that exist at the surface, within the well bore, at the sand face and within the reservoir. Such system analysis can now be undertaken efficiently using portable notebook computer data acquisition systems in conjunction with appropriate sensors and a suite of analysis software. The analysis can be undertaken on sucker rod lifted, electrical submersible pumped, progressive cavity pumped, plunger lift, gas lift, flowing and other types of wells to determine the well's performance so the production rate can be maximized and the operating expenses minimized. Field experience undertaking such analysis in numerous wells has resulted in the development of a methodology: Total Well Management (or TWM) insures good results are obtained with the minimum of effort. Operation of artificial lift wells using the concept of TWM results in a more complete understanding of the performance of a given well. Implementation of this concept can result in significant reductions in operating costs and increased oil production as shown by results of numerous operators in a variety of operating conditions. TWM production optimization methodology is a broad analysis and optimization concept, and is applicable to sucker rod lifted wells, electrical submersible pumped wells, progressive cavity pumped wells, plunger lift wells, gas lift wells and other types of artificial lift.An example of a sucker rod lifted field case study illustrates the procedure and benefits of the Total Well Management methodology. Such procedure is greatly facilitated by the use of a fully integrated portable instrument that includes all the necessary sensors, precision analog to digital electronics, computer hardware and software components. The integrated system allows immediate analysis of the well performance at the well site. The alternative is to use separate conventional fluid level, dynamometer and power instruments for data acquisition and then combine the results of each test using various application programs. One of the cost-effective advantages of an integrated analysis system is that the well data is entered only once into a data file and the integrated system uses the data to determine well performance.

Research of Optimization Method of Swabbing Parameters of All Rods Pumping Wells in the Entire Oilfield

“…• Objective function: When the device type, well parameters, management parameters and casing parameters were fixed, the system efficiency is just the function of swabbing parameters (Mccoy et al, 2001). Taking the least input power as the object, the optimization design objective function can be written as follows:…”