Artificial Lift

Examine the structured development and implementation of the Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QAQC) Team at Oxy, emphasizing the team's strategic impact on reducing operational expenditures (OPEX). The QAQC team delivers targeted training in sucker rod maintenance and handling to more than 100 workover crews, conducts systematic audits of pump shops across Oxy's U.S. assets, and actively...

1. OBJECTIVES/SCOPE:  Horizontal drilling is an essential technology for exploiting unconventional resources. However, wellbores often include zones with high Dog Leg Severity (DLS), which can limit the installation of Electrical Submersible Pumping (ESP) systems at the deepest possible setting depth. Placing the ESP as deep as possible is critical to maximizing recovery and cash flow. This work...

In response to rising demands for operational efficiency, power challenges, environmental responsibility, and workplace safety, this paper presents a case study on the integration of high-efficiency Permanent Magnet Motors (PMMs) and Power Regenerative Variable Speed Drive systems on long-stroke and conventional pumping units. This initiative was the result of a strategic collaboration between...

Unconventional reservoirs have accelerated the need for artificial lift strategies that recognize the fundamentally multiphase nature of modern well production. Traditional classifications of wells as strictly “oil” or “gas” producers—and the corresponding artificial lift systems historically assigned to each—no longer reflect operational reality, particularly in liquids-rich plays where...

Intermittent gas wells frequently suffer production losses due to liquid loading and the limitations of manual or SCADA-driven cycling. This work introduces an edge-native autonomous control system that optimizes liquid unloading and flowback behavior using a hybrid physics-based and machine-learning (ML) framework. Deployed directly at the wellsite on rugged IIoT gateways, the system continuously...

"Cyclic air-steam injection (CASI) is emerging as a promising method for producing hydrogen directly from heavy oil and bitumen reservoirs, offering a potentially low-cost and low-emission alternative to conventional hydrogen production technologies. In this study, a Lloydminster heavy oil reservoir model was developed in CMG STARS to simulate in-situ hydrogen production using CASI. The process...

Study of corrosion fatigue and its effects on sucker rods. Study of the effects and applications of corrosion inhibitors.   

Using permanent magnet motors to power electrical submersible pumps provides a more enhanced performance in terms of electrical consumption, efficiency and the type of challenging and unconventional wells that it can operate in. Therefore, industry professionals, through laboratory testing, find PMMs to be a superior alternative for induction motors due to their practical and economical benefits. ...

This project focuses on the impact that VFD can have on sucker rod pumps regarding fluid production, power consumption, rod loads, among other possible effects.   

S curve wells and high kickoff wells pose great challenges to artificial lift, specifically, wells drilled with gas lift in mind and needing to be changed to ESP or rod lift in the future. This poster examines operational constraints of these wells, including complications in installation, pump performance, and bottom hole pressure.