DRILLING & COMPLETIONS PHOTO: PUMPWELL SOLUTIONS PUMPWELL PHOTO: DRILLING & COMPLETIONS

pump off many wells that other artifi cial lift ARTIFICIAL LIFT TECHNOLOGY methods cannot. “Th e older styles of jet pump were typ- ically set up so all wellbore liquids and gas MEETS INCREASING CHALLENGES came through the jet pump. While jet pumps are an excellent multi-phase pump, Source Rock is well aware that as you approach OF UNCONVENTIONAL WELLS pumped-off conditions, the volumetric ex- pansion of a gas phase will require more and more jet pump horsepower. By Carter Haydu “By installing concentric-tubing jet- pump completions, gas is produced up the he shadoof was once the pinnacle of ever before that the operator know when casing annulus, and the jet pump horse- artifi cial lift technology, moving water problems occur in the well and then make power is focused on lifting the wellbore Tfrom its shallow reservoir to another the necessary corrections. “When you have liquids and solids. Th ere is no sense in using nearby locale with relative ease on the part precise rod-string control, it is amazing the the jet pump to pump gas because the gas of its ancient Egyptian operator. things you can do. You can perform subtle, will fl ow to surface on its own.” Flash forward a few thousand years and small manipulations to the speeds and ac- For Nav Dhunay, president and chief ex- contemporary successor lift technologies celerations of how you actuate this pump ecutive offi cer at PumpWELL Solutions, the in the North American oil and gas sector and actually resolve issues.” latest innovations in the artifi cial lift space are basically performing the same task as SilverJack is Zedi’s hydraulic rod-pumping have little to do with the actual, physical their BCE counterparts (moving valuable solution. It consists of a hydraulic mechanics of the lifts themselves, but rather resources from point A to point B), only cylinder that does the same thing as a involve the rise of the Internet of Th ings now they are pumping hydrocarbons from conventional pumpjack, but with far more (IoT) application on the technology—be it increasingly challenging, deep formations precision, especially when matched with a a sucker rod, electric submersible pumps that require not only vertical trajectory but sophisticated optimization controller and (ESPs) or progressive cavity pumps (PCPs). horizontal as well. remote access. “With the cost of sensors going down, we “When you lay them on their sides, there “When you determine where plugging are starting to see clients increase the num- are a lot of strange things that can happen is in a pump, then you can go down to the ber of sensors they use to gather and protect with the workings of the downhole pumps,” point where plugging occurs and move the data,” he says. “Th at is really one of the says Evan West, director and marketing slightly above that,” West says. “You short- biggest shifts, along with maturing analytics manager at Zedi. en your stroke length, and if you stroke and ubiquitous Internet access. We are cer- “In addition, with a pump lying on its side, really quickly and don’t go into the point tainly on the verge of seeing a sudden jump there is often gas associated with oil produc- where the pump is plugged, then you can in the number of [machine-to-machine] tion, and gas interference either causes or just visualize it swashing and aerating the devices out there.” could cause issues intermittently with the fluid column.” Operational effi ciency is the predominant pumping performance. As well, a higher per- He adds, “We have had several customers way the IoT improves production on wells centage of sand is now involved because you tell us that they have cleaned out a pump by that use artifi cial lift, according to Dhunay, get fl owback from the fracturing process.” using this precise rod-string control, being as it enables remote monitoring to maximize Because of horizontal drilling and able to quickly manipulate where and how production by changing the speed of the completion challenges on sucker-rod pump- fast they are stroking.” stroke in real time and provides preventative ing, he notes, it is more important now than maintenance indicators. JET SET “You can imagine fi ne-tuning a [variable At Calgary-based service company Source frequency drive] that might be on the sucker Rock Energy Partners the primary focus rod, PCP or ESP to make sure you are getting is the use and advancement of jet-pump maximum oil production while at the same technology for artifi cial lift and well servic- time not overloading the device. Th ere are ing needs. Jet pumps operate by creating a lots of benefi ts there.” downhole venturi eff ect, allowing the pumps Capturing and analyzing mass amounts of to lift wellbore fl uid simply by pumping a data collected on equipment also off ers power- power fl uid stream through the jet pump. ful enhancements to the artifi cial lift, Dhunay “With a dual tubing fl ow path, we simply says, providing “actionable insights” that pump fl uid from surface through a downhole improve value, yield and safety in the fi eld. jet pump venturi, which creates very eff ective “We think this will be the next mover suction,” says Kelly Falk, president and chief for Big Data—as we start to see more data executive offi cer. scientist and analyst jobs come into this While previous jet pumps tended to be industry, companies will be looking to apply very ineffi cient and had a limited drawdown, that knowledge and really convert it into according to Falk, his company has achieved something meaningful that will help them much higher effi ciency performance and can make educated decisions.”

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He adds, “Th e days of the easy oil are sort of gone. What we are now dealing with are unconventional plays, predominantly, and that means it becomes trickier for producers to get oil out and even more expensive, and so what we need to do is look at technologies such as Big Data and IoT to help combat that.” BIG DATA AND THE IOT PumpWELL not only captures data from sen- sors on artifi cial lift devices and provides real- time analysis of the well to help operators analyze the information and make intelligent decisions, but the company’s analytic engine can also make recommendations based on certain data patterns, Dhunay says. “Th at is another great part of our in- novation: if we can avoid people having to make decisions and have robots essentially EXTENDED LIFE making those decisions with a second pair of Developed using computational  uid dynamics to model stage geometry and architecture, eyes providing validation, operations move Schlumberger’s REDA Continuum ESP is a mixed- ow stage pump engineered for unconventional forward a lot faster while simultaneously  ow behaviour and challenging environments. minimizing downtime and workovers, which reduces operational costs.” Th is summer, PumpWell will launch new connection, then they have visibility into He adds, “Th e fi rst step is always the pattern-seeking software with algorithms their wells,” West says, adding that his lift selection, where we spend a lot of time designed to capture and use data to make company is looking to online cloud-based making sure the artifi cial lift accounts for decisions in real time, increasing the amount technology for its supervisory control and proper life cycle of the well.” According to of oil produced. data acquisition (SCADA) systems. Mathiravedu, the next step is to optimize the “Th is does not require a lot of handling “That is really what Zedi brought to the selected artifi cial-lift method, fi guring out and labour-intensive duties around the artifi - forefront in 2000—more of a cloud-based how to conduct surveillance and trouble- cial lift,” Dhunay says. “Th e other aspect of it solution as opposed to traditional SCADA shoot eff ectively. is the actual IoT. Right now, the price of sen- systems, which are fairly locked down with “Finally, and very key to this whole thing, sors is coming down but remains expensive visibility as to who uses it and who sees is switching the predictive diagnostics. Th ere enough whereby companies can’t quite aff ord the wells.” may be a case where you must change an to make those capital investments up front. According to West, the future of data ESP from a higher size to a lower size or else “We are looking to change that model. analytics involves increased layers of soft- an ESP failure could happen, or you may We are building sensors that are substan- ware intelligence, identifying exactly where need to change to a rod lift. We don’t want tially less expensive than anything else in the issues occur and what the operator should any deferred production, and so that is what market today, and we will be able to utilize do about them. He says, “So it is about the predictive modelling would do.” those sensors all over the pump jack. Cost analytics and how you take data to informa- Commercialized in the fourth quarter of will no longer be a prohibiting factor.” tion to knowledge to wisdom and how you 2014, the REDA Continuum unconventional According to Dhunay, if remote sensors make it faster for the customers.” extended-life ESP is the latest off ering in can confi rm a well is pumping and fl uid is Schlumberger’s artifi cial-lift suite, providing fl owing, then the need to physically visit the PREDICTIVE DIAGNOSTICS an extended operating range, high effi ciency site is greatly reduced. If a company considers While diff erent artifi cial lifts off er their own and fl exibility on the well. the costs associated with a full-time employee particular brands of pump solution within “So this really translates to operators driving to and from a well, which Dhunay says unconventional reservoirs, there is no all- using one ESP system through the production is between $500 and $1,000 per well per visit, encompassing silver bullet, says Rajkumar decline,” says Christopher Brown, artifi cial then any innovation that reduces those visits Shanmugam Mathiravedu, North American lift sales manager for Schlumberger Canada. will quickly benefi t the bottom line. artifi cial lift marketing and technology man- “If we increase run life, then that also trans- “If you could save a single visit by having ager at Schlumberger. lates to lower total cost of ownership for the a remote monitor on a well, which indicates Schlumberger off ers a comprehensive artifi cial-lift technology.” if it is operating correctly, you immediately artifi cial-lift product portfolio, matched with According to Brown, shale- and tight-oil save $500–$1,000. Th ose savings can add up an “engineered production solution” that reservoirs challenge operators with rapidly really quickly, and that is if you just deploy basically involves close collaboration be- changing infl ow performance, high-gas the remote monitoring aspect of IoT.” tween the operator and the service company fraction and abrasives, as well as the de- Zedi, too, off ers IoT solutions for its cus- throughout the life of the well so as to meet manding fl exibility to adapt to the quickly tomers, using networked and sophisticated particular lifting needs. “Combining our changing infl ow performance of those algorithms, as well as providing remote com- artifi cial lift technology portfolio with our reservoirs. Improper management of these munications on all its fi eld instruments. expertise portfolio, we are able to provide a factors could lead to increasing lifting costs, “Our customers can be anywhere in holistic approach and do this in a diff erenti- premature rig intervention and accelerated

the world, and if they have an Internet ating manner,” says Mathiravedu. pressure depletion. SCHLUMBERGER PHOTO:

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For example, companies often flow a bearing and sleeve up to every stage, which Shale oil and horizontal drilling are not going wells until production declines to a certain again will enhance the run life,” he adds. away, and these problems are only going to rate. The operator will purchase and install “The Continuum pump also has an become more pronounced.” some sort of artificial-lift system, such as a extended operating range. By utilizing this Source Rock’s jet pumps work great in rod lift, and produce with that for a while. new compression design, we can comfort- unconventional resource plays requiring Production continues to decline, which ably operate at low flow rates and manage hydraulic fracturing to produce because the could result in purchasing a second system the production decline that is typical in pumps handle sand more efficiently than and reinstalling it on the same well. unconventional wells.” other artificial-lift systems, according to Falk. “Operators will repeat this procedure By complementing its hardware His company’s foreseeable future involves many times over in those high-density drill- with consultation services, according to placing multiple pumps along the lateral— ing programs. That is what is typical for shale- Mathiravedu, Schlumberger can extend the TwinJet solution. and tight-oil developments,” Brown says. the run life of a particular lift system and “Basically, with a simple dual-concentric With its new high-compression design, improve cash flow through accelerated pro- tubing arrangement, we can install jet pumps the REDA Continuum unconventional duction and continued operation. at the toe and at the heel of a horizontal well, extended-life ESP comfortably operates at allowing us to lift from the portions of the low flow rates and manages demanding THE NEXT GENERATION wellbore that often don’t contribute. There is production declines that are typical of an un- The conventional pumpjack is a tool of the more and more data confirming that a signifi- conventional well, Brown says. Therefore, the vertical-well era and was never designed cant number of horizontal wells don’t see any company can install and run a Continuum to pump on its side. However, says West, production contribution from as much as 50 ESP system, possibly mitigating the number pumping on its side is exactly what indus- per cent of the lateral section of the well. of workovers required and extending how try demands of artificial-lift technology in “We currently have the technology and long the device is producing before switch- today’s unconventional realm of horizontal equipment to do TwinJet completions for ing to another artificial lift. drilling and hydraulic fracturing. any customers who have full-bore 4.5-inch According to Schlumberger, an operator “Historically, when those [pumps] were liner and seven-inch casing completions.” installed the Continuum ESP system in the run vertically, it was fine but now we are He adds, “The downhole arrangement is U.S. conventional market as a transitional literally bending them around corners, and very simple, and we will use the same size method to help restore production where you have situations where your sucker rod is of surface power package, only now using it anticipated natural flow was projected to wearing on the sides of tubing. There is more even more efficiently by pumping proportion- be 4,000 bbls/d. The Continuum system importance, again and again, to be able to ately from each end of the horizontal section.” increased incremental production for the see what is happening downhole and when When it comes to the future of artificial lift better reservoir performance to 5,000 bbls/d. there are situations with holes in the tubing technology, West foresees increasingly intel- Although production has declined, the and your rod string wearing out.” ligent diagnostics, which must largely com- well reportedly continues to produce with- With its hydraulic system, Zedi can cal- pensate for changing worker demographics out interruptions eight months after installa- culate very accurately the rod-string weight, as the current bulk of field experts ready for tion in 2014. The technology is also proving meaning the operator can tell when normal retirement and an upcoming tech-savvy gen- to be useful in Canada as a transitional ESP weight transitions occur. Every rod-string eration increasingly looks to the IoT, Big Data method to help enhance initial production. position should have a certain character and analytics software for guidance. “Most notably, this is an enhanced- signature based on transfer weights, West “With oilfield workers, there is going to compression design which was built with says. Gas interference, gas locking, debris in be a great shift change, where all of the ex­ metallurgies specific to handle abrasive the pump, travelling-valve issues, standing- perienced oil and gas people are moving away wear,” Brown says. valve issues—these all show up as different and all these young people are coming up into “In addition, the flow path has been de- character signatures. the industry without that same knowledge,” signed within the stage itself in order to help “Personally, I think that with hydraulic- he says. “There is going to be this big shift, with production of fluids with high sand con- rod pumping, its precision and the capabil­ and we are going to depend on technology to centration. The pump can be configured with ities Zedi brings to hydraulic-rod pumping, have those smarts because the people com- an abrasion-resistant technology that places this is the next generation of rod pumping. ing up do not have the experience.”

compensate for that,” says Jeff to running the pump below GOING AROUND THE BEND Saponja, chief executive officer the reservoir in a vertical well at TriAxon Oil and Production so as to maximize production Combining two artificial lift systems Plus Energy Services. “The rod by pumping off the well to the pump that has been around the lowest pressure possible, while solves the horizontal pumping challenge past 50 or more years is really also providing the capacity to designed to run vertically, and remove any solids that come ery soon after the multi- into the horizontal leg of a mod- it does not like going around along with production before stage fracturing revolution ern well. the bend.” entering the pump. Vbegan a decade ago, oper­ “The load on the pump-jacket One issue, according to “There is no sump now ators discovered that traditional surface went up materially, Saponja, is that horizontal because we turn the wellbore rod pumps lost efficiency when and so we had to run larger wells do not allow operators to into the reservoir horizontally. A forced around the bend and artificial-lift equipment to “sump the pump.” This refers rod-pump configuration with

NEW TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE | MAY 2015 27 DRILLING & COMPLETIONS

200 Shrunk gas INCREMENTAL VALUE ADDS HEAL SYSTEM NGLs Net present value: $1.2 million 150 INSTALLATION Shrunk oil Reserves: 36%

100 BOE

50

0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2014 SOURCE: PRODUCTION PLUS ENERGY SERVICES

no sump is one of the reasons hypothesis was that maybe run time, is tolerant to solids and system. We are producing the [the downhole pump] has lost the solution for successfully provides the ability to regulate well generally at around 200 its effi ciency in a horizontal-well artifi cially lifting horizontal inconsistent fl ows. kilopascals at the bottom, which confi guration. All fl ow from the wells is to regulate fl ow out of In November 2013, TriAxon is an extremely low pressure at horizontal, which can include the horizontal to smooth it out established Production Plus 2,300-metres vertically deep. solids and gas, enters the pump and stabilize it. We observed to develop the patent-pending “Th at has been a huge value- directly, causing run-time chal- from interruptions to prod- HEAL System for the horizon- add for the well. You are looking lenges and a reduction in pump ucing wells—for example, a tal well’s bend section. With at a $1.2-million addition to net operating life.” short-term power failure— no moving parts, a large solids present value on the well as a To make matters worse, that the fl ows became even sump and advanced-separation result of installing that system." solids naturally accumulate at more messy and inconsistent, technologies that bridge two dif- Currently building multiple a 30–65-degree slope region which resulted in even greater ferent artifi cial-lift systems, this units, Production Plus manufac- of the wellbore’s bend or heel ineffi ciencies.” solution makes the horizontal tures in southeastern Calgary. section—exactly where the Saponja and his team actu- “think” it is a sumped vertical. Th e company’s intent is to take downhole pumps are com- ally knew from underbalanced By smoothing out the fl ow, this technology to the U.S. in monly positioned. Saponja says: drilling practices how to smooth controlling damaging solids and the fourth quarter of 2015, as “We end up creating a situation out inconsistent fl ows, and they placing the rod pump out of the the HEAL System appears to be where we have very poor run could therefore resolve incon- bend section, pump effi ciencies ideally suited for the Eagle Ford, times due to gas interference, we sistent fl ows of the horizontal increase dramatically and jack Permian and Bakken. can’t pump the well off to maxi- using underbalanced drilling loadings reduce materially. According to Saponja, the mize production and we have techniques. “We pass on to the rod pump system is eff ective in medium higher workover frequencies He says, “We also asked mostly gas and solids-free liquid and light oil, as well as liquids- because of solids damage.” ourselves another key question: in a smooth manner. How happy rich gas scenarios. While Working in a deep Viking why is everyone trying to solve is the rod pump when it is see- Production Plus has yet to apply light-oil reservoir a couple artifi cial lift with one system— ing very consistent liquid? It is the technology to heavier oils or years back, TriAxon realized either a rod pump, ESP [electric very happy,” Saponja says. “All SAGD, it should provide higher these big, long horizontals submersible pump], gas lift or of a sudden, our run times went reliability in those environ- are actually very good natural screw pump? Th en we asked the from 70–80 per cent to nearly ments as well. Th e system is also separators for oil and gas enter- question: why can’t we run two 100 per cent.” showing promise for gas well ing the wellbore. When they diff erent artifi cial lift systems in First installation of the HEAL de-liquefaction and enhanced separate, according to Saponja, sequence and have them work System was in March 2014. Pre- frac fl owback effi ciencies. the resulting fl ow out of the harmoniously? installation, the subject well’s Currently, Saponja notes, horizontal wellbore becomes “Th e absolute king for artifi - runtime was about 70 per cent the system is installed on over messy and inconsistent. cially lifting the vertical section per month, with roughly three 30 horizontals in seven diff erent Inconsistent fl ow from the of the well is the rod pump, so workovers per year to replace Canadian reservoir horizons, horizontal wellbore means at let’s leave it alone. It is happy in failed pumps. Post-installation, improving production perform- times the downhole pump sees the vertical, it’s effi cient, it’s low Saponja notes, the well has not ance on each well by 10–30 per all gas or all liquid or highly vari- cost to maintain, and operators been down once, and the pump cent. He adds, “Th is technology able rate combinations of both. at surface are familiar with its has not required changing. was borne out of an operator Inconsistent fl ows also create operation. It just does not like “With this system, we have who faced many production mechanical wave action along being around the bend.” been able to produce the well challenges and recognized limi- the horizontal, migrating solids Th e team then focused on the not only with great runtime, but tations with current artifi cial-lift to the bend section. most effi cient artifi cial lift system at a lower bottomhole pres- systems. Th e mother of inven- “No artifi cial-lift system for the bend—a system that pro- sure than could be achieved, tion here was the pain of those likes messy fl ow, and so our vides maximum drawdown and pretty much, by any artifi cial-lift challenges.”

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