Long term scale inhibition and economic enhancement is a desired outcome for oil and gas operators. The completion phase of a well involves hydraulic fracturing, which involves the introduction of a mixture of water and specially engineered chemicals pumped at high pressures and rates to achieve a fracture into a low permeable formation. Due to these mix waters, pressure, fluctuations, and temperature variations form the fracturing operation, liquid scale inhibition chemicals are typically pumped 'on the fly' throughout the fracturing treatment. Typically, these chemicals deplete within months after the fracturing operation and the need for continuous intervention from a chemical service company is then required to inhibit any scale potential as the well produces. This study evaluates a wolfberry trend field and compares conventional liquid scale inhibitors versus solid inhibitors over a selection of over 300 wells. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of scale inhibition, longevity, and the economic impact.

The use of computer-generated software to predict radio frequency (RF) path studies has been around for several years. Combined with the latest GPS and Google map data, you can determine how well your network will work, its RF path link reliability, link budgets, Fresnel zones, multi-path and if you mat need to invest in different towers, use more repeater or add additional technologies to try to cover the area you need for data communications. By examining the guidelines and some fairly simple explanations of how to get the correct information, attendees can discover the true benefits of this software. Topics include a look into radio signal path loss -- a particularly important element in the design of any radio communications system or wireless system, predicting the signal path loss, free space path loss basics, link budget antenna gain and the effect of multipath propagation to achieve maximum throughput and reliability.

Organizations with geographically dispersed assets in the field, such as those in the oil and gas industry, would typically select one technology, one source, or one vendor to collect, retrieve and report critical data. Therefore, building large, elaborate wireless communications networks with a single technology was a way a company might demonstrate its decision-makers to consider better manageability, expandability, cost and speed. By integrating various types of telemetry technologies together, it can offer significant benefits that are easily and cost-effectively incorporated into one cohesive data communications network.

Collecting data from multiple locations and delivering it over a widespread area can create challenges that no one technology can overcome alone. Hybrid communications networks can incorporate carious technologies and address key factors such as data security, network speeds, infrastructure costs and on-going costs to meet your specific network objectives.

A field in OK previously used incompatible water for waterflooding with an inadequate inhibition program and the flood was subsequently shut down due to barium sulfae scale.  The waterflood was reactivated years later using the same water but with a much more effective treating program with has been successful fore several years.  This paper documents the program.

It has become increasingly attractive and necessary to reuse treated produced water for frac fluids, especially in remote locations or limited water sources regions to minimize freshwater usage. Eletrocoagulation (EC), a traditional water remediation technology, was recently introduced to oilfield application. However, the complicated components in produced water are challenging for traditional EC systems.

A new EC apparatus has exhibited cost-efficient remediation of produced water, especially in the removal of iron and suspended solids that have restricted concentration for making frac fluids. The unique EC system has demonstrated fast reduction in iron from over 900 ppm to less than 5 ppm from high-concentration oil contained water, and efficient removal of hydrogen sulfides (H2S), heavy metals, bacteria, and other contaminants. The system has been successfully used for treating produced water for numerous operators in the Permian Basin, reducing operating costs more than 20% while reducing freshwater demand and trucking over 90%.

Water management is one of the largest expenses associated with the production of oil and gas (O&G) resources. Water recycling and reuse can save time, costs, and resources for exploration and production (E&P) companies resulting in enhanced operating efficiencies and improved bottom line results.

Electrocoagulaon (EC) is a technology based on proven scientific principles of electro-chemistry and successfully used in the water treatment industry for many years.  Recently, EC has grown rapidly as an effective and economical method for treating water in the O&G industry. The use of EC is a proven method for treating produced and flowback water or reuse in production activities or subsequent frac jobs.  Savings are generated from reducing costs associated with fresh water sales, water transport, and disposal. Compared to traditional treatments utilized to remove residual oil and suspended solids, EC delivers lower operating costs using less labor and smaller footprint.

COG Resources has drilled and completed over 1500 commingled YESO wells in Southeast New Mexico.  Over the past 6 years, COG Resources and Catalyst have developed strategies to address the producing conditions and known fluid incompatibility.  These strategies can help other operators in the area, in addition to operators producing in multiple horizons where fluid compatibility is an issue.

Cementing has been an important part of wellbore isolation and stability for decades.  Cementing, though, if not implemented properly can also be costly, resulting in wrong densities, incorrect displacement, flowback, micro annulus, etc. However, these issues can be avoided with experienced quality control practices. This paper outlines a practical approach to cementing quality control to ensure that the operator has the best opportunity to achieve successful cement mixing and displacement. Case histories are presented to demonstrate the importance of these quality control practices.

Since the late 1940's, proppants have been the primary construction material for a conductive hydraulic fracture.  However, it was not until the late 1970's that critical properties were indentified and performance examined under guidance from the American Petroleum Institute (API). By the early 1980s SPI proppant testing recommended practices (RP56, 58, & 60) to be applied at the website were scribed and introduced. Yet, employment of these American standard practices at the wellsite became cursory as the rig count collapsed and time passed.  This subsequently left the industry with inconsistent data, lack of accountability, poor record keeping and little information for assessment of delivered proppant. The three API standards have since transitioned to one, RP 19C. This paper illustrates correct application of the standard in a four step approach (test, reference, track, review) to consistently reconciled bargained and delivered proppant.

High concentrations of total dissolved solids (TDS) are typically problematic in fracture fluid development due to interactions with the buffers and crosslinkers used for waters of higher quality. High hardness and high temperature usually cause loss of viscosity in the fluid; however, proper frac fluid design can successfully keep viscosity and pump the job. This paper will discuss the successful design of a borate crosslink frac fluid design that reuse produced water treated with electrocoagulation (EC). The water in this particular case history had high concentrations of calcium and magnesium with a calculated TDS greater than 250,000 ppm. In the field, oil and iron quantity were changing, although the hardness and TDS remained high. The frac fluid design was able to accommodate the high hardness with little variability in formulation throughout the frac. Different buffers as well as our most concentrated borate crosslinker were able to maintain stability.

In all successful tubular management programs NDT is used to know the real condition of pipe proposed for projects and to gain knowledge of used tubing at the well site. There are several testing methods available such as electromagnetic, ultrasonic, magnetic partible, eddy current and gamma-ray applied to various testing apparatus. There is an assumption made every day about new tubular production are defect free so know your material and its source, inspected until a failure occurs. in many mays nondestructive testing is applied to help show the condition  of new tubular products and to provide guidance on used tubing while pulling and in facilities for reclamation. NDT is directly associated to positive economics through extending the mean time between failures.

Hydrofacturing with 100% recycled water is very desirable in highly sensitive clay formations to mitigate swelling and production impairment. Recycling of produced water can also save operators thousands of dollars per well in fresh water, Trucking, and disposal costs. Yet one obstacle to reuse for many produced waters in the Permian Basin is high hydrogen sulfide (H2S) concentrations.

With typical H2S treatments, such as scavengers, chemical and biological oxidation, the cost/bbl is prohibitive on produced water and high H2S levels. A new, more economical H2S remediation techniques addresses such challenges safely and economically. The water is then clarified, creating a low total suspended solids (TSS) solution ready for hydrofractuing.

This paper discusses the treatment of 22,000 bbl of high H2S produced water used in the successful completion of an 8-stage continuous slickwater frac in the Ramsey Formation, of the Black River South Field, in Eddy County, NM.

Tank lining failures are not an uncommon occurrence in the oilfield.  Sometimes we chalk it up to bad luck, poor application, lying paint salesmen, or just bad coating.  But isn't there some science and testing behind tank lining formulations?  This paper will describe some of the testing procedures for qualifying tank linings and the science behind them.  There will also be some discussion about how failures seen in the lab correlate to failures in the field.

Tank lining failures are not an uncommon occurrence in the oilfield.  Sometimes we chalk it up to bad luck, poor application, lying paint salesmen, or just bad coating.  But isn't there some science and testing behind tank lining formulations?  This paper will describe some of the testing procedures for qualifying tank linings and the science behind them.  There will also be some discussion about how failures seen in the lab correlate to failures in the field.

During recent discussions with operating company field and engineering personnel, it was discovered that some companies may not have a failure tracking process nor know the benefits of establishing one. 

This paper will provide a summary of prior published industry efforts and include three (3) separate failure reduction studies showing the benefits of failure tracking ranging from over 17 years to a few months of operation.  These studies from three (3) different operators in the Permian Basin showed the benefits of: determining what downhole equipment failed and the cause of the failure, tracking the failure location in the well, and calculating the final reduction in operating costs due to reduced failures and reduced workovers. This paper will also show the additional benefits from keeping good records and knowing the manufacturer of the downhole equipment and/or if the downhole equipment manufacturer was changed.

Analysis and control of reciprocating rod lifted (RRL) wells has changed drastically over the past 20 years.  Advanced diagnostic tools first started appearing on desktop applications, and over time have shifted to the wellsite to provide more accurate control of an RRL system in real-time.  All of these tools depend on a dynamometer card in order to properly analyze and control an RRL system.  However, the inputs to the dynamometer card are often of questionably accuracy.  A poor quality dynamometer card can lead to improper control of the RRL system and inaccurate results from the calculations that depend on the dynamometer data (i.e. rod stress, gearbox torque, structure loading, PIP, etc.).  This paper will discuss the variety of instruments used to capture the inputs to a dynamometer card (polished rod load and position), their strengths and weaknesses, how to recognize errors in the input data, and how to correct it.

Pumps are the heart of a rod pump system, but as operators, how much do you know about the pumps that are being run into your wells and how they are being repaired.  This paper will briefly describe pump repair procedures, best practices that the shop should be following, and a pump shop inspection report that helps identify if those procedures are being followed. It will cover what pump failure data should be captured, why it is important, and what type of information may be available in report form. Many operators do not realize that you can gain valuable well and operational data from a pump report besides what is needed to optimize the pump alone. It will also explain how the operator should get involved in the decisions that affect the pump design and repair which can affect costs and run life.  

Fluid Extraction Technology can improve down hole gas separation by employing material and fluid flow properties in ways that are not now effectively utilized.  Downhole pumps that handle fluids are adversely affected by free and entrained gas entering the inlet of the pump.  To separate the gas ahead of the suction of pumps in the bottom of a well, operators typically configure a path for the fluid to be redirected downward to allow the gas to rise while the liquid falls to the intake of the pump.  Virtually all of the gas separators use single pass serial separators based on gravity.  The primary separation is typically the tubing by casing annulus and the second stage of separation is the labyrinth of falling liquid and rising gas inside the mud anchor or packer assembly.  This technology can be very effective but often times is not sufficient.  In addition, the size and length of the equipment has a larger material footprint than necessary.

Fluid Extraction technology uses gravity but also uses mechanical and fluid properties to enhance separation.  These attributes include wettability, fluid adhesion, gas nucleation and the concept of Liquid hold up or circulation cells.  Integrating these concepts allows better use of the primary flow volume of the casing by tubing annulus.

The full potential and benefits of the fiberglass sucker rod (FSR) are not being realized.  FSR manufacturers are toned to meet the requirements for increased operating ranges and one-time pull loads of FSR.  Increasing the operating load requires the redesign of the end fitting to ensure reliability.  This paper outlines the standard design of an end fitting and how it interfaces with the pulltruded fiberglass rod. The test data used to validate the design is also included.  The overall wedge design is explained in detail, demonstrating the interaction of forces acting on the rod/end fitting interface. The stress range diagram will be presented with emphasis on the critical areas of the end fitting design. The overall goal is to show how fiberglass is stronger than steel.

A companion paper is being made to show the graphical analyses for the wells that Sandia measured surface and downhole loads at various depths with a special downhole load cell.

This paper will provide an analysis of the operating conditions that were occurring that resulted in these downhole dynagraphs. Additionally, these operating conditions will then be entered in three available industry rod string design programs that include: QRod, SRod and RodStar to see how accurately these design programs predicted the actual, measured loads.

Improved rod tongs have recently been introduced for rod connection make-up and break-out in the field, with the purpose of reducing sucker rod failure rates. This paper will compare one of these tongs to the present industry standard sucker rod tong, comparing and contrasting each tong’s capabilities, advantages, drawbacks, and effect on rod string performance in the wellbore. In addition, basic job time studies, best practices, and suggested well selection criteria will be discussed.

Sucker rod pumping applications are the oldest and most widely used means of artificial lift for oil wells. The pumping performance and the longevity of the pumping systems with their corresponding pump parts have improved significantly throughout the years, but the failures remain inevitable. These failures are costly and time consuming for operators, but analyzing those enables us to improve the part design and the decision process of part selection for certain well conditions, and minimize future failures.

This paper focuses on pump barrel selection and operation with regards to base metallurgies coupled with various plating processes. It aims to inform the reader of common pump barrel failures and their causes, along with educating operators about available barrel types and their optimum operating environments.

The benefits of the Beam Gas Compressor® for rod pumped wells has now been modified to a standalone version. Allowing the technology to facilitate a broader range of operations and objectives.  Historically, the Beam Gas Compressor® has been installed on pumping units and utilizes the prime mover of the pumping unit to drive a piston inside a proprietary designed cylinder. This paper describes how this technology has been adapted to a standalone compressor installation, how the changes allow more versatile uses and how the technology compares with other types of compression.

Typical production profiles using a decline curve are then used with IPR equations to predict IPR expressions with time into the future.  Then using application rules such as limiting depths and rates, gas separator feasibility for pumps and flowing well and gaslift calculations from Nodal programs, Artificial Lift possibilities are mapped out into the future.  The techniques are not limited to the production profiles used as an example. 

Wireless high-frequency motor power-current-voltage measurements are used to analyze the electrical and mechanical performance of pumping units.  The sensors can be mounted permanently in the electrical box with a water-tight connection on the side of the electrical box for attachment of a small plug-in radio for wireless communication to a PC base station.  These measurements can be performed without opening the electrical box.  In addition, starter boxes without internal sensors can be analyzed using portable sensors that require opening the box and attachment of two current and three voltage sensors.

TAM Software in the PC receives and analyzes the data to determine power usage, power generation, pumping unit balance, gear box upstroke and downstroke torques, motor loadings, and power line loss.   Power line loss is an analysis performed to analyze the power line loss between the electrical system and the pumping unit motor.  The counter-weight movement for gear box balance is determined easily without use or knowledge of the pumping unit dimensions.