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A discussion of conventional beam pumping units. Factors you should consider before installing a pumping unit on your well. Advantages and disadvantages of air balanced units will be presented.

Every producer longs to get a well which produces by natural flow when he drills his well. The reasons are quite clear: the costs of installation, equipment and operation are considerably less than for any artificial lift method which could be installed. In spite of these obvious advantages, there are few references to be found that concern themselves with the flowing well. The paucity of material is probably due to two causes.

Fifty-six waterflood projects are grouped according to the producing water-oil ratios (WOR) in effect at the start of polymer treatment. A relationship between barrels of polymer oil, amount of polymer and water-oil ratio is developed over a range of WOR's from 1 to 50. Projects singled out for special study include conglomerate, sand, lime and fractured reservoirs. Hall Plots and input profile surveys are used to show injection side changes due to polymer treatment. Oil recovery/WOR curves and time/rate graphs illustrate production side responses.

You are working on a problem that has been my problem for nearly 40 years

Drilling practices have changed considerably through the years. When rotary drilling first started, drill collars (as we know them today) were unheard of. Bits were not designed for heavy loads and only the weight of the drill pipe with a crossover sub (called a collar) between the drill pipe and bit, supplied the drilling weight. The search for more hydrocarbons required penetration of deeper and harder formations and brought about the development of improved rotary bits with the need for additional weight to make the bit drill.

Water quality is becoming a larger issue for the producer, as water production increases. Poor water quality in injection water can create plugging and loss of injectivity. It also can result in a loss of revenue due to re-injection of hydrocarbons. This paper will discuss issues of water quality. It will also detail how to develop effective monitoring locations and how to interpret results of water quality tests to determine effective treatment. Examples of actual production data will be provided to illustrate how improving water quality will result in increased revenue to the producer.

The counterbalance problem is one of application, which is caused by the lack of knowledge on the part of the operating personnel as to the importance of proper counterbalance, and/or a program to assure proper application of this counterbalance. Further, the problem and need is present in each beam type sucker rod pumping system. The magnitude of these problems are realized when you consider that in excess of 80% of the world's pumping systems are of the beam type.

In 1998, employees of Exxon (ExxonMobil after November 30, 1999) in partnership with Trout Unlimited, the Wildlife Habitat Council and the Boy Scouts of America, constructed a pond habitat project in western Wyoming. This voluntary environmental project augments efforts by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to stabilize native Colorado River Cutthroat Trout populations and is comprised of a deep pond that provides trout overwintering and rearing habitat.

The purpose of this paper is to answer the ten most asked questions about plunger lift. 1. Do I Have Enough Pressure? 2. Do I Have Enough Gas Volume? 3. Will It Run Under A Packer? 4. Is My Sales Line Pressure Too High? 5. What Is My Operating And Maintenance Cost? 6. How Long Will It Be Effective? 7. Will It Work With Gas Lift? 8. Will It Work In Paraffin? 9. How Much Improvement Can Be Expected? 10. Will I Eventually Need A Pumping Unit?

This paper describes the automation system installed at the ARC0 Permian operated, Willard Unit CO2 flood. The automation includes a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system for pump off control, shutdowns and safety/environmental monitoring of over 300 rod pumped and flowing wells. The 24 hour monitoring system along with the data obtained, provides the benefit for identifying potential well problems and quick operator response. The paper also details the customization of the operator interface.

An extensive stimulation program is in progress in the San Andres Formation in the Willard Unit, Wasson Field, Texas. This paper presents some of the problems involved in the design and execution of the hydraulic fracturing operations. The case histories of two of these wells are presented.

This paper presents statistics for remedial stimulation work performed at the Willard Unit since 1986. It also discloses how stimulation candidates are chosen, what stimulation fluids are used at present, and how stimulation work is tracked. The Willard Unit is a San Andres carbon-dioxide flood located in the north-central portion of the Wasson field near Denver City, Texas. The Unit produced under primary from the mid 1930's until the start of water-flood operations in the mid 1960"s.

Magnetic Flux density (MFD) technology is a safe and accurate means of locating and monitoring variations within the body wall of tubing and casing products. Older technology utilizing Gamma Radiation to identify these problems is very hazardous, typically produces limited results, and is physically limited to effectively evaluating only 6% to 12% of the total tube body. Improved MFD technology can offer a safe and effective method to evaluate 100% of the tube body for wall loss from corrosion, tool cuts, and sucker rod wear.

The complexity and cost of exploring for oil and gas has increased significantly in the past few years due to Intelligent Wells, Multilaterals and Heavy Oil field developments. New challenges for drilling, completing, producing, intervening in a well, environmental regulations, and wide swings in the price of oil have changed the role of technology in the oil fields.

Automation electronics manufacturers have been focusing a great deal of their development efforts on the plunger lift control application during recent years. The objective has been to automate this process

Real time analysis and visualization of the performance of a rod pumped well are achieved using multiple small and
compact wireless sensors that simultaneously transmit acquired data to a digital laptop manager that integrates the
measurements, displays performance graphs and provides advanced tools for analysis and troubleshooting of the
pumping system.
Battery powered wireless sensors for fluid level, pressure and dynamometer data acquisition are easily deployed and
quickly installed on the well. The laptop manager automatically recognizes and commissions the sensors.

Development of the REDA PC progressing cavity electric submersible pumping system began in 1991. The primary driving force behind this product development was the problem of accelerated wear of sucker rods and production tubing in deviated and horizontal wells when using surface driven progressing cavity pump systems. Many producers were replacing sucker rod and production tubing strings multiple times per year. This was severely affecting the economic viability of the oil wells. Since May 1994, REDA PC units have been installed in over 60 oilwells.

The "Wolfberry" play is named after the two main productive formations, the low-permeability Wolfcamp and Spraberry, and is a very large part of the everyday business in the Permian Basin. Activity in the Wolfberry has recently increased, spurred by the current relatively strong oil prices. However, the economic foundation of these producing wells is their stimulation and the management of completion costs.

One of the most common problems encountered in designing a stimulation treatment is a low working pressure rating of surface equipment. Quite often, tubular goods are capable of much higher working pressures than the wellhead equipment, and the primary limit of pressure and injection rate is above ground. Breakdown and "Ball Out" treatments are often restricted by low working pressure ratings when the maximum allowable pressure at the pump is less than the pressure required to inject fluid into new or fluid-damaged perforations.

Almost everyone connected with the oil and gas business will, at one time or another, be faced with rules and regulations governing oil and gas operations. The purpose of this paper is to present a generalized concept of some of the laws adopted by the various regulatory agencies in Texas and New Mexico. To completely encompass all rules and regulations in effect in the space and time allotted would be impossible.

Continuous coil tubing has become a viable alternative to the conventional workover method of injection well cleanout. With the increase in the wellhead price of oil, a greater emphasis is placed on the efficiency of in-place waterfloods. When an injection well within a flood becomes plugged, the method by which the well is monitored should indicate if there is a problem. Based on that indication and all available relevant data, a decision can be made as to the kind of problem which has developed and likely methods of correcting that problem.

Stimulation techniques in horizontal wells continue to be a topic of interest and discussion.

With changing industry drivers, current petroleum industry needs and emphasis are on developing shorter, less costly, and environmentally-friendly well testing procedures. Several techniques have been presented to address this need. Although these vary in procedure and method of analysis, all rely on basic principles of fluid flow through porous media. In this paper, comprehensive evaluation of general closed-chamber tests, including general surge tests, and comparison with special tests such as impulse and slug tests will be provided.

Electrical submersible pumping is perhaps the most inflexible of any artificial lift method because any given ESP pump can only be used in a specific, quite restricted range of pumping rates. If used outside its recommended liquid rate range, the hydraulic efficiency of the pump rapidly deteriorates; efficiencies can go down to almost zero for pumping rates lying well outside of the lower or upper limits.

When a well kicks, most well control methods recommend that the well be shut in to observe surface pressures. Many times this is not feasible. An operator must use judgment to determine when he cannot shut in. Underground blowouts can be created by merely closing in a well. To property control a kick, surface control equipment should be capable of handling large volumes of gas for a relatively long period of time. Bottom-hole circulating pressures can be calculated while circulating out a kick on the chokes.