Use of New Design Tool Improves ESP Design Across the Life of Well in Unconventional Applications

Abstract

Sizing electric submersible pumps (ESPs) for unconventional wells presents new challenges compared to traditional applications, typically conventional, vertical wells. These challenges are due to the highly dynamic, rapidly changing nature of unconventional wells compared to conventional wells. Traditional ESP sizing software is not structured to design for dynamic conditions, but rather a single point in time. The objective is to design an ESP tool fit for unconventional design applications. Because of the rapidly changing conditions of unconventional wells, it is difficult to balance the lifetime sizing needs of the equipment with needs of the equipment during peak demand. Changing flow rates, water cuts, pump intake pressure (PIP), and gas oil ratio (GOR) have a great effect on stage size, total dynamic head (TDH), and motor horsepower (HP) requirements at different points over time. The new design tool will allow the user to upload a well type curve and help chose a pump and motor combination by calculating different TDH and motor horsepower requirements for each day over the life of the well. Optimized ESP sizing will allow oil and gas operators to install one initial ESP at the completion of the well which lasts until production rates have declined to the conversion point of a lower rate form of artificial lift. This has significant cost savings implications both for capital and operational budgets, by avoiding overspending on oversized equipment upon the initial install of the wells, and greatly reduced the work of the operations team by eliminating workovers needed to downsize equipment. The use of this design tool allows much more rigorous reviews of vendor designs, to avoid over sizing equipment while still capturing high initial production rates during the early production life of the well. ESPs designed using the new design tool will be compared to historical ESP designs provided by the vendors on analogous wells. Production numbers, run life, and historical ESP data streams will be compared between wells designed using the old methodology vs the new design tool.