Artificial lift Artificial lift refers to the use of artificial means to increase the flow of liquids, such as crude oil or water, from a production well.
Full Answer
What is artificial lift in a well?
Artificial lift is a method used to lower the producing bottomhole pressure (BHP) on the formation to obtain a higher production rate from the well. This can be done with a positive-displacement downhole pump, such as a beam pump or a progressive cavity pump (PCP), to lower the flowing pressure at the pump intake.
What are the different methods of artificial lift?
Methods of Artificial Lift. The most common type of artificial lift pump system applied is beam pumping, which engages equipment on and below the surface to increase pressure and push oil to the surface. Consisting of a sucker rod string and a sucker rod pump, beam pumps are the familiar jack pumps seen on onshore oil wells.
What is the difference between gas lift and artificial lift?
A lower bottomhole flowing pressure and higher flow rate can be achieved with gas lift in which the density of the fluid in the tubing is lowered and expanding gas helps to lift the fluids. Artificial lift can be used to generate flow from a well in which no flow is occurring or used to increase the flow from a well to produce at a higher rate.
What factors should be considered when selecting an artificial lift?
Obviously, wells should be drilled and completed with future production and lift methods in mind, but this is often not the case. Among the most important factors to consider when selecting an artificial lift system are current and future reservoir pressure and well productivity.
What is an artificial lift system?
Artificial lift is a method used to lower the producing bottomhole pressure (BHP) on the formation to obtain a higher production rate from the well. This can be done with a positive-displacement downhole pump, such as a beam pump or a progressive cavity pump (PCP), to lower the flowing pressure at the pump intake.
What are artificial lift products?
Artificial Lift SolutionsElectrical Submersible Pumping Systems.Gas Lift.Jet Lift.Plunger Lift.Production Automation and Optimization.Progressing Cavity Pumping Systems.Rod Lift.
Why artificial lift is needed?
Artificial lift is needed in wells when there is insufficient pressure in the reservoir to lift the produced fluids to the surface, but often used in naturally flowing wells (which do not technically need it) to increase the flow rate above what would flow naturally.
What is artificial gas lift?
Gas lift is a method of artificial lift that uses an external source of high-pressure gas for supplementing formation gas to lift the well fluids. The principle of gas lift is that gas injected into the tubing reduces the density of the fluids in the tubing, and the bubbles have a “scrubbing” action on the liquids.
What is Halliburton artificial lift?
The Halliburton Artificial Lift Family. Initially, Halliburton Artificial Lift (AL) offers three popular lift methods—Electrical Submersible Pumps (ESPs), Surface Rod Pumps (SRPs) and Progressive Cavity Pumps (PCPs)—and an Automated Remote Monitoring and Control (RMC) System that can be adapted to all three methods.
What is a rod pump?
Rod pumps are the most common form of artificial lift for oil wells. Today, these systems are used to lift formation fluids from more than 600,000 wells. A rod pump system consists of a prime mover, a surface pump, a sucker rod string and a downhole pump (Figure 1).
What is the best artificial lift method?
Since the use of PCP pumps in oil wells requires relatively simple surface and downhole installations with low levels of energy losses in system components, PCP systems are the most efficient among the artificial lift methods.
What are the different types of artificial lift?
Artificial lift systems fall into two basic types: pumping and gas lift. Pumping systems include electric submersible pumps, beam pumps, progressing cavity pumps, plunger lifts and hydraulic pumps.
What criteria are considered when selecting an artificial lift method?
The geographical and environmental circumstances as the dominant factors for Artificial Lift selection and also some other subordinate factors such as: reservoir pressure, productivity index, reservoir fluid properties and inflow performance relationship were considered by him (Neely et al., 1981).
What gas is used in gas lift?
Gas lift or bubble pumps use the artificial lift technique of raising a fluid such as water or oil by introducing bubbles of compressed air, water vapor or other vaporous bubbles into the outlet tube.
What is gas lift pressure?
The gas lift compressor is supplied with produced gas at the surface, typically at relatively low pressure (0.3–0.7 MPa). This gas is compressed to a higher pressure for injection, typically to pressures of 10–12 MPa or even up to 20 MPa depending on reservoir requirements.
What are the different types of artificial lift?
Artificial lift systems fall into two basic types: pumping and gas lift. Pumping systems include electric submersible pumps, beam pumps, progressing cavity pumps, plunger lifts and hydraulic pumps.
Which artificial lift methods are most suitable for offshore application?
From its conception, ESP units have excelled in lifting much greater liquid rates than most of the other types of artificial lift and found their best use in high rate on- and offshore applications. It is believed that today approximately 10% of the world's oil supply is produced with submersible pumping installations.
What is an ESP oil and gas?
The electrical submersible pump, typically called an ESP, is an efficient and reliable artificial-lift method for lifting moderate to high volumes of fluids from wellbores.
What is the hydraulic lift?
The hydraulic lift is an elevator which is operated by fluid pressure generated by a suitable fluid. It is used to raise automobiles in service stations and garages. In a hydraulic lift, two pistons are separated by the space filled with a liquid.
What is Artificial Lift?
Artificial lift is a process to increase the fluid flow by artificial means. The artificial lift method is used to withdraw crude oil from production wells by increasing pressure within the reservoir.
Working of an Artificial Lift
The working principle of an artificial lift system is to maintain the required bottom hole pressure by artificial means to produce desired fluids.
Artificial Lift Methods
There are several artificial lift methods in the oilfield industry. However, the most widely used common methods for artificial lifts are:
Selection of Artificial Lift system
The selection of an artificial lift method depends on various parameters like:
How does a gas lift work?
Gas lift is another widely used artificial lift method. As the name denotes, gas is injected in the tubing to reduce the weight of the hydrostatic column, thus reducing the back pressure and allowing the reservoir pressure to push the mixture of produce fluids and gas up to the surface. The gas lift can be deployed in a wide range of well conditions (from 30,000 bbl/d (4,800 m 3 /d) to 15,000 ft (4,600 m)). Gas lifts can cope well with abrasive elements and sand, and the cost of workover is minimum.
How far can a gas lift be deployed?
The gas lift can be deployed in a wide range of well conditions (from 30,000 bbl/d (4,800 m 3 /d) to 15,000 ft (4,600 m)). Gas lifts can cope well with abrasive elements and sand, and the cost of workover is minimum. Gas lifted wells are equipped with side pocket mandrels and gas lift injection valves.
Does gas lift cause hydrates?
There has to be a source of gas, some flow assurance problems such as hydrates can be triggered by the gas lift. This uses the injection of gas into the fluid stream which reduces the fluid density and lowers the bottom hole pressure. As the gas rises the bubbles help to push the oil ahead.
How does a gas lift system work?
As an alternative or in addition to pump solutions, gas lift systems aid flow to the surface by reducing the density of formation fluids in the wellbore. Gas lift systems consist of valves installed at various depths along the tubing string, which open in response to pressure exerted on them by the rising fluid column. When the valve opens, injected gas mixes with and lightens the fluid column, reducing the hydrostatic and thus the bottomhole pressure. The lower hydrostatic pressure reduces the drawdown pressure and allows formation fluid to enter the wellbore. The less dense fluid column may then be lifted to the surface by reservoir pressure alone.
How does a plunger lift a well?
A valve on the surface is closed, which causes natural pressure from the reservoir to build in the casing annulus. At a preset pressure level, the valve on the surface opens and pressure from the annulus enters the tubing below the plunger, which forces it upward. The plunger pushes the fluid column above it to the surface. When it reaches the surface, the plunger enters the lubricator, a short section of pipe, which extends above the wellhead. Because the plunger is no longer in the flow path, the gas that provided the lifting energy can pass beneath it and along the flowline. When the pressure at the wellhead has dropped to a pred etermined level, the surface valve closes, the plunger falls from the lubricator to the bottom of the well, and the cycle is repeat ed.
Can you change gas lift valves without pulling tubing?
Because valves are placed in the mandrels using running and setting tools carried downhole via slick-line, when well conditions change, operators can retrieve and change the gas lift valves without pulling the tubing from the well.
What is an artificial lift pump?
The most common type of artificial lift pump system applied is beam pumping, which engages equipment on and below the surface to increase pressure and push oil to the surface. Consisting of a sucker rod string and a sucker rod pump, beam pumps are the familiar jack pumps seen on onshore oil wells.
Why do oil wells need artificial lift?
When the natural drive energy of the reservoir is not strong enough to push the oil to the surface, artificial lift is employed to recover more production . While some wells contain enough pressure for oil to rise to the surface without stimulation, most don't, requiring artificial lift. In fact, 96% of the oil wells in the US require artificial ...
How many barrels of fluid can a submersible pump lift?
A mass producer, electric submersible pumps can lift more than 25,000 barrels of fluids per day. An emerging method of artificial lift, gas lift injects compressed gas into the well to reestablish pressure, making it produce. Even when a well is flowing without artificial lift, it many times is using a natural form of gas lift.
Is gas lift good for offshore?
Typically, the gas that is injected is recycled gas produced from the well. With very few surface units, gas lift is the optimal choice for offshore applications.
What is artificial lift in oilfields?
What is Artificial Lift in the oilfield? Artificial lift describes a variety of methods oil and gas producers use to increase downhole pressure and push resources up to the surface.
What is the best artificial lift?
Plunger lift is a great option for artificial lift. It's often the first form of artificial lift producers use because they can install it without the large expense of a work-over rig. It's more cost effective than PCP and rod lift, can be set up in a day, requires few people, and doesn't change a lot on location.
What is the most common type of lift?
In some areas like the DJ Basin in Colorado, many producers even start new wells with artificial lift to get production flowing strong from the beginning. Some of the most common types of artificial lift are Progressive Cavity Pump (PCP), Rod Lift, Plunger Lift, Gas Lift, Hydraulic Lift, and Electric Submersible Pump (ESP).
What is a plunger lift?
Plunger lift can be used to create a pressure differential and draw liquid up the casing to production equipment. This type of artificial lift is done through the use of a timer control, which is typically connected to a High Pressure Control Valve. There are several different types of plungers, including a solid plunger, pad plunger, ...
How does a gas lift work?
To employ gas lift, a producer sends low-pressure gas from the well through a compressor. They then send it back down the well. This pressurizes the well and forces liquids back up to the surface piping and equipment.
How many barrels of gas can be lifted in a day?
Gas lift can production ranges widely, from hundreds to several thousand barrels of fluid per day.
Types of Artificial Lift
- The major forms of artificial lift are: 1. Sucker-rod (beam) pumping 2. Electrical submersible pumping (ESP) 3. Gas lift and intermittent gas lift 4. Reciprocating and jet hydraulic pumping systems 5. Plunger lift 6. Progressive cavity pumps (PCP) There are other methods, such as the electrical submersible progressive cavity pump(ESPCP) for pumping solids and viscous oils, in d…
Usage of Artificial Lift Systems
- There are approximately 2 million oil wells in operation worldwide. More than 1 million wells use some type of artificial lift. More than 750,000 of the lifted wells use sucker-rod pumps. In the US, sucker-rod pumps lift approximately 350,000 wells. Approximately 80% of all US oil wells are stripper wells making less than 10 B/D with some water cut. The vast majority of these stripper …
Selecting An Artificial Lift System
- To realize the maximum potential from developing any oil or gas field, the most economical artificial lift method must be selected. The methods historically used to select the lift method for a particular field vary broadly across the industry. The methods include: 1. Operator experience 2. What methods are available for installations in certain ar...
Reservoir Pressure and Well Productivity
- Among the most important factors to consider when selecting an artificial lift system are current and future reservoir pressure and well productivity. If producing oil or liquid rate is plotted (X axis) against producing bottomhole pressure (BHP) [Y axis], one of two inflow performance relationships (IPR) usually is seen. Above the bubblepoint pressure, the liquid rate vs. pressure d…
Reservoir Fluids
- The characteristics of the reservoir fluid also must be considered. Paraffin buildupcan be attacked mechanically when sucker-rod pumping is used, but may require a thermal or chemical method when other artificial lift methods are used. Sand- or solids-laden production, which can rule out the use of plunger lift, can also cause wear with sucker-rod pumps, reciprocating hydrau…
Long-Term Reservoir Performance and Facility Constraints
- Two approaches frequently are taken to account for long-term reservoir performance: 1. Design on the basis of anticipated performance 2. Design on the basis of current conditions If future reservoir performance can be predicted, artificial lift equipment can be installed that can produce up to the largest rate anticipated over the life of the well. This philosophy leads to the installatio…
Noteworthy Papers in OnePetro
- Clegg, J. D.: "Artificial Lift Producing at High Rates." Proc. 32nd Southwestern Petroleum Short Course 1985 333-53. Clegg, J. D.: "High-Rate Artificial Lift." JPT March 1988 277-82. Clegg, J. D. – Bucaram, S. M. – Hein, N. M., Jr.: “Recommendations and Comparisons for Selecting Artificial-Lift Methods.” JPT December 1993, 1128-67. Lea, J.F. - Winkler, H.W.: "New and Expected Developm…
Overview
Artificial lift refers to the use of artificial means to increase the flow of liquids, such as crude oil or water, from a production well. Generally this is achieved by the use of a mechanical device inside the well (known as pump or velocity string) or by decreasing the weight of the hydrostatic column by injecting gas into the liquid some distance down the well. A newer method called Continuous Belt Transportation (CBT) uses an oil absorbing belt to extract from marginal and idle wells. Arti…
Usage
Any liquid-producing reservoir will have a 'reservoir pressure': some level of energy or potential that will force fluid (liquid, gas or both) to areas of lower energy or potential. The concept is similar to that of water pressure in a municipal water system. As soon as the pressure inside a production well is decreased below the reservoir pressure, the reservoir will act to fill the well back up, just like opening a valve on a water system. Depending on the depth of the reservoir and den…
Technologies
Hydraulic pumping systems transmit energy to the bottom of the well by means of pressurized power fluid that flows down in the wellbore tubular to a subsurface pump. There are at least three types of hydraulic subsurface pump:
1. a reciprocating piston pump, where one side is powered by the (injected) drive fluid while the other side pumps the produced fluids to surface
Hybrid Gas Lift and Rod Pump
A new technology has recently been developed which combines gas lift with a rod pump, dedicating two separate tubing strings in the wellbore for each lift method. This technique is designed specifically to artificially lift the unique geometry of horizontal/deviated wells and also vertical wells that have deep or very long perforated intervals, or have too high of a gas liquid ratio (GLR) for conventional artificial lift methods. In this design, the rod pump is placed in the vertica…
Rodless Pumping
These can be either hydraulic or electric submersible. The hydraulic uses high pressure power fluid to operate down hole fluid engine. The engine in turn drives a piston that moves the fluid to the surface. The power fluid system can be either open or closed, it depends on whether the power fluid can be mixed with well fluid. This type of system usually has above ground power fluid pumps and a reservoir. The electric submersible is another type of rodless pumping system. Thi…
Continuous Belt Transportation
This method uses an oil absorbing continuous belt to transport heavy oil as an alternative to pumping. A single sided “O” shape belt driven by a Moebius surface unit cycles continuously to the underground unit, below the static level, capturing the oil and transporting up to the surface unit for collection. The oleophilic properties of the belt ensure that sand, paraffin, and most of the water are not captured.
See also
• Plunger lift
External links
• Defining Artificial Lift