Sucker Rod Pump Downhole Valve Selection for Wells with High Sand Production: Laboratory Test Results

Abstract

Erosion and impact tests were performed on downhole valves with different materials to determine the best valve configuration for the field conditions. Due to premature failures (less than 1 year of operation) in three wells caused by erosion of the valves, a complete investigation was conducted. First, the history of rod pumps installed in Caño Limón Field was analyzed to obtain configuration statistics of valves installed since 2005. Six different configurations were analyzed, including valves installed in failed and running wells. These configurations included six different ball metallurgies and two different seat metallurgies, combined in double valve setups installed in the pumps. The six valve setups were compared with the average run life and reservoir conditions to determine the best configuration for Caño Limón field. The statistics alone were not clear enough to determine the best configuration for the field, so a laboratory bench was designed to test the different ball and seat metallurgy configurations. Silicon nitride balls were selected due to their resistance to abrasion, fluid cutting, and impact. The statistics showed good performance when installing silicon nitride balls with tungsten carbide seats, combined with titanium balls and tungsten carbide seats. But when installing single or double silicon nitride balls with tungsten carbide seats, the run time was less than 100 days. The laboratory tests were performed for titanium carbide, silicon nitride, and 440C balls, all of them with tungsten carbide seats. The erosion and wear tests were performed simulating the flow of a slurry around the ball. Silicon nitride balls showed less erosion than titanium carbide and 440C balls. The impact test was performed simulating the downhole pumping action, where the ball is impacted against the seat in a slurry made of water, polymer, and frac sand. Silicon nitride balls showed less wear than titanium carbide and 440C balls, but the seat working with silicon nitride ball showed higher wear than the other metallurgies. When installing single or double silicon nitride balls, the seat wear was higher than when combined when another metallurgy. It was possible to correlate the lab test results with the pump failures to determine the best configuration for the application. When selecting the valve assembly's metallurgy, it is important to take into consideration not only the properties of the materials, but the effect of combining different metallurgies. Before standardizing an equipment change, field trials and lab tests should be performed.

A comprehensive review of sucker rod pumps’ components, diagnostics, mathematical models, and common failures and mitigations

“…To avoid this, proper pump design should be conducted including proper selection of pump size and material. The most commonly used materials for the sucker rod pumps include (Pino et al 2020):…”

“…Sucker rod pumps include a wide range of artificial lift methods (Diaz et al 2009;Guo et al 2003;Mo and Xu 2000;Spears 1989;Arambulo et al 2020). With the advancement in technology, the types of artificial lift methods that fall under the sucker rod classification have increased (Gauchel 1985;Yi et al 2019;Byrd and Hale 1970;Pino et al 2020;Nickell 2020;Shakhmatov 2020). These methods are used to increase oil recovery from relatively low-rate wells that are producing moderate to heavy crude oils with a moderate level of gas and solid particles (McCaslin 1988;Jacobs 1986;Jackson et al 2003).…”

Economical and Performance Evaluation Between Sucker Rod Pumps and Progressive Cavity Units for Heavy Oil Production in Some Syrian Fields

“…In addition, there is wear caused by the friction of the pumping columns with tubing [16] .valve failure, Pump failure While the long working periods of sucker rod pumps without maintenance operations lead to failure in these parts, reduced performance, and may lead to pump failure and out of service. This damage can be avoided through periodic maintenance operations [17] these problems lead to the suspension of oil production and additional economic cost resulting from maintenance and work-over operations [18].…”