Proactive Utilization of ESP Performance Monitoring to Enhance Productivity

Abstract

As the electric submersible pump (ESP) population increases, the requirement for continuous operation is required to ensure optimum oil sweep rather than depending on fewer number of ESPs. ESP outages, shutdowns and underperforming pumps have to be minimized to reduce operational cost and deferred production. In efforts to reduce pumps downtime, ESP monitoring operations were centralized in a production surveillance and optimization center. This paper illustrates the practices followed in the hub to enhance productivity, by preventing ESP trips and failures, and conducting optimization initiatives through collaborative efforts with different parties. By remote monitoring of real-time data of downhole sensor readings and surface data, the hub can identify ESP units operating in conditions that could lead to shutdowns and are identified to be preventable ESP trips. By capturing and predicting the downtime events, the objectives of reducing ESP downtime and production deferral is achieved. The hub monitors the individual unit's parameters with its operational confines to ensure that the ESP is running within the preferred boundaries to preserve the equipment's electrical and mechanical health. The observed conditions are referenced against the design and actions are taken accordingly to avert unnecessary trips. Upon the deployment of ESP monitoring, many benefits were realized ranging from improved asset performance to raising efficiency of manpower usage besides saving time. Deferred production was avoided through eliminating preventable trips under ESP monitoring. This practice not only prevents ESP downtime, but also has the goal of improving ESP efficiency levels, regarding motor and pump performance. Proactive measures are crucial in ESP production operations. In events where a probable ESP trip is predicted and actions are taken to optimize its operating conditions to prevent the trip, the number of ESP outages at the field level is reduced, thereby helping to sustain a healthy ESP well life cycle.