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Oil and gas producers are frequently faced with deep, low volume applications that challenge today's rod pump technology. There is a growing demand for a reliable form of artificial lift in deep, low volume, hot and aggressive applications. Operators with low volume applications that suffer from deviated well bores or applications that are just too deep and challenging to achieve long run times with a conventional rod pump can now utilize electric submersible pumps (ESPs) as an economical alternative.

How lease capacitors reduce current and line losses on oil field leases is demonstrated. Information from field testing with bottom-hole heaters is presented. Use of timed restarters and heating cable on oil field leases is discussed.

An extensive electrical and mechanical testing program has been performed on beam pumping systems in six producing properties in the Permian Basin of Texas. The subject properties are waterflood or carbon dioxide (C02) flood projects which produce from the San Andres formation. The effect of motor torque mode setting and direction of rotation was studied in 30 wells. The impact on important operational indicators such as electrical lifting cost, gear box loading, and rod loading are addressed.

This paper will present and discuss the selection, design, construction, and protection of several different types of oilfield-oriented overhead electrical power distribution systems. This information will assist in choosing, installing, and/or modifying the overhead distribution system most suitable for a particular project.

This paper discusses a recently implemented electrical load shedding program at the Salt Creek Field Unit (SCFU) in Kent County, Texas. The project involves the interruption of SCFU electrical load during the wholesale utility's monthly peak load. By interrupting SCFU load during the utility's monthly peak, the SCFU electrical demand charge is reduced by $7.16 or $6.03 per interrupted kilowatt, depending on the time of year. A dual demand electrical rate schedule makes the load shedding concept possible. With this rate schedule, the demand charge is divided into two components.

The basic configuration of the Electrical Submersible Pump was conceived over fifty years ago. It was originally designed for the traditional vertical well. Development of steerable drilling tools and "measurement while drilling" techniques over the last two decades has allowed drilling wells that radically depart from tradition. To be able to derive the maximum benefit from these complex geometry wells it is necessary to understand some of the production problems and the limitations of the-Electrical Submersible Pump.

The following is an update to an earlier paper compiled and presented in April 1991 at the ESP roundtable held in Houston, Texas. This paper contains referenced categories of problems that have been encountered in field operations and the solutions that have been found to the problems. The discussion for each problem/solution set is brief, but serves as an index to the particular reference, where more detail can be found. The discussion is restricted to field cases.

This publication presents a non-technical discussion of the dynamic forces currently active in the petroleum industry. These forces mandate, the implementation of electronic systems to monitor, optimize and control the production of petroleum products. Once the producer comprehends these dynamic forces and their impact, the latest tools available will be discussed. The information presented will enable the reader to gain an over-view appreciation of these tools and how they will provide needed functionality for today's known challenges and tomorrow's unknown requirements.

An expository account of the elements of reservoir simulation in computers is presented for those who wish a review of or an introduction to the fundamental concept. The discussion is related to a concrete problem involving a slightly compressible fluid in a linear medium in order that the methods and results in backward and forward difference techniques can be fully displayed and compared.

In discussing contracts for purchasing or selling gas, some emphasis should be placed on the various provisions of the agreement, but more so on the type of deal that has to be made in order to purchase gas, and on the parts of the contract which have a direct economic effect on the contracting parties. This emphasis should be made when one considers what a changing, dynamic business the energy industry now is. This is brought out now to emphasize how very important the matter of gas contracting is in today's business.

While the plunger pump is simple in operation, the following problems with it are common: -Gas lock -Damage due to fluid pound -Seat damage due to ball dance -Seat damage due to "Fluid cut" -Leaving fluid in the well at "pumped-off" condition, due to inability to draw the fluid level down to the pump elevation -Inability to pump heavy crude -The high cost of pulling a pump to perform maintenance -Inability to maximize gas production. A brief discussion of each of these problems is in order, followed by a technical explanation of the cause and solution of each problem.

Empirical oil recovery forecast models were developed for waterflood infill drillings in San Andres and Clearfork carbonate reservoirs of Permian Basin. The models were developed using field waterflood databases and the geographical distributions of the ultimate recovery efficiencies. The study evaluated the incremental oil recovery by infill drilling without acceleration of expected oil recovery. Results of testing the empirical oil recovery forecast models indicated an average error of less than six per cent. The forecast models are applicable to a wide range of unit sizes.

Encapsulated breakers for water-based fracturing fluids have been widely used for the past decade. These breakers provide a delayed break because the reactive chemical is separated from the fracturing fluid by a water-resistant coating. Higher breaker concentrations can be used, resulting in improved proppant pack conductivity. However, the coating is not completely impermeable. The breaker material can release through the coating under certain conditions when placed in an aqueous environment.

Very little emphasis has been placed on conservation in lease crude oil processing to date. This subject was not a practical consideration until about a decade ago when the value of the energy products began to rise. Since new-oil price decontrols instituted ten years ago, crude oil has risen in value one thousand percent, and natural gas as high as 500,000 percent. This, of course, has whetted our economic appetite to produce and sell more. But even today very little consideration is given to the economics of conserving what we already have.

Many stripper wells under beam pump operations are operating at or near the economic limit and, without application of available technologies for improved operation to reduce lifting costs, these wells are candidates for abandonment. This possible abandonment creates significant opportunities and challenges for domestic oil operators. A major operating expense is energy cost which requires the operator to maximize energy efficiency. This requires the technical expertise in identifying methods to optimize operations and technologies to increase energy efficiency in field operations.

This paper presents a review of performance evaluation tests for various types of engine lubricating oils with significance of performance tests evaluated for specific operating conditions.

This paper presents the basic concepts of systematically engineered selections of submergible electric pumping systems. The adaption of the basic design principles to a number of different application concepts is reviewed and the effects on pump performance of produced fluid properties, particularly viscosity and ingested free gas are discussed.

A brief history of the 6400 foot Huff Sand Reservoir, Sadler, West (Pennsylvanian) Field, Grayson County, Texas, is presented. Primary production history, predicted and actual water flood production, reservoir properties, pattern selection, and operating problems are discussed. The simultaneous use of fresh and saline waters, conversion from beam to hydraulic pumping units, and reasons for premature flooded oil production rate decline are included.

In the last two years, the oil and gas industry has seen an increase in the use of resin coated proppants in hydraulic fracturing treatments. Resin coated proppants are now used routinely in a wide range of reservoir conditions. This paper will examine several key issues which should be considered when using resin coated proppants. 1. Operational procedures and problems encountered with resin coated proppants. 2. Treatment design parameters with resin coated proppants in low and moderate temperature reservoirs. 3. Fracturing fluid compatibility with resin coated proppants. 4.

In the last two years, the oil and gas industry has seen an increase in the use of resin coated proppants in hydraulic fracturing treatments. Resin coated proppants are now used routinely in a wide range of reservoir conditions. This paper will examine several key issues which should be considered when using resin coated proppants. 1. Operational procedures and problems encountered with resin coated proppants. 2. Treatment design parameters with resin coated proppants in low and moderate temperature reservoirs. 3. Fracturing fluid compatibility with resin coated proppants. 4.

Through the years there have been wells in which lift efficiency has been sacrificed because of the interference of gas from the producing formation. This problem is still prevalent today; in fact, it appears that it will be further complicated in some areas by the development of steam floods which may necessitate producing wells fluids containing water vapors and emulsified crude oil. It is the intent of this paper to discuss the suitability of the various methods of artificial equipment for producing gaseous fluids.

Fracturing has always been regarded as a highly technical type of stimulation treatment, and even the earliest fracture jobs were performed under carefully controlled conditions. A large number of variable factors controlled the efficiency and ultimate success of any treatments. During the past ten years of field application, the greatest emphasis has been placed upon only two or three of these variables. Failure to observe all pertinent factors has, in some cases, caused considerable disappointment and economic waste.

Engineers have become the principal source of management material in the petroleum producing industry with

Texaco E & P Technology Dept., under the supervision of Dr. Dale Brost, has developed Oil-in-Water (OIW) Monitoring Systems. This five year project was initiated to provide an on-line monitoring system that would be instrumental in providing clean water to address the environmental issue, reduce chemical costs in water treating systems, provide recorded water monitoring every second of every day, and set off alarms. Based on this research, the EOA (Environmental Oil Alert) OIW monitor, (fluorescence method) was developed through joint efforts by Texaco and Houston Photonics, Inc.

This paper presents the potential for enhanced oil recovery, the processes by which this potential might be realized and the pertinent economic considerations, with special emphasis on the Permian Basin. Of the more than 440 billion barrels of oil that have been discovered in the continental U.S., approximately 300 billion barrels will be left in the ground after primary and secondary recovery methods are terminated.