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More often than not, the most difficult part of any change is "Making the Decision to Change." Corporate change is
cultural in nature, as it must be done on a level-by-level basis to become effective. It must be inclusive of all and any change must be universally embraced and implemented to be effective. Corporate change speaks to and helps define the personalities of the corporation and ultimately its leadership.

Several software programs are available to calculate a pump downhole load-position card from dynamometer data. Most of these programs use the wave equation, with various solutions (Fourier Series, Method of Characteristics, Finite Differences, etc.) to help set damping conditions. A downhole tool with strain gauges is available to measure the actual forces at the pump as well as mid-string. Use of this tool has led to providing actual downhole values much less than those predicted by the software programs. This paper will present the actual data collected by this downhole lead cell.

Historically, Electric Submersible Pumps were designed and manufactured for large volume applications producing from moderate depths. Low volume production (less than 400 bpd) was considered rod pump territory. Unfortunately, due to depth limitations inherent to sucker rods, rod pumping low production wells at deeper depths often becomes uneconomic due to high failure rates.

Rising oil and gas prices mean more revenue for Texas producers, but they also cause electricity costs to increase. Because electricity is one of the highest costs most producers face, managing electricity costs can significantly reduce LOE. This paper will focus on the primary mechanisms producers can employ to mitigate electricity costs including procurement options, interruptible power programs and enabling technologies. The paper will compare what one producer could have paid for electricity over the last year to what it actually paid.

Many Texas operators benefited from interruptible electric rates before deregulation in 2002. Several operators are now participating in a similar program called Load Acting As a Resource (LaaR) and saving 5-10% on monthly electric bills. In the last 30 months only four interruptions have occurred, each lasting between 7 and 22 minutes. LaaR requires onsite monitoring and control equipment along with suitable communication (telemetry) equipment or services, the cost of which often pays out in 1-6 months. Real-time telemetry needed for LaaR can augment or underwrite SCADA deployment.

As our Industry places an increasing emphasis on natural gas, it is imperative that it's production be maximized. As reservoir pressures fail, many gas wells experience difficulty producrng to their fullest potential. This paper discusses a diagnostic "tool", which was developed to help detect gas wells with the opportunity to increase production. This paper will familiarize the reader with a Lotus spreadsheet, which was developed to evaluate several gas wells in South East New Mexico. Easy to obtain data from each well is entered into the spreadsheet.

In May 1992, Marathon Oil Company implemented a San Andres waterflood on the Kloh Lease in the Howard-Glasscock Field, Howard County, Texas. The San Andres formation is a multi-layered carbonate reservoir characterized as having moldic porosity enhanced by natural fractures. Water injection into the various intervals was initially managed by mechanical isolation equipment. Due to high permeability zones, water cycling became a major concern. An interwell tracer program was initiated to identify which injection and production wells were in direct communication.

A survey of 328 executives in the top echelon in petroleum companies, including personal interviews with 82 of them, provides a definite picture of what makes a petroleum manager. The case study shows educational background, environment, operational route of advancement, motivation, etc. This is the only study of the kind ever made of petroleum industry leaders. The survey reveals a fairly even pattern for present managers but the interviews pointed to the changing needs of modern companies for professional executives.

In this paper, Marathon's experience with the use of Cr(III)- carboxylate/acrylamide-polymer (CUAP) gel technology for use in oilfield conformance-control, sweep-improvement, and fluid-shutoff treatments, is discussed. Marathon has performed this technology on over 250 production wells resulting in the reduction of nearly 500,000 barrels per day of produced water. The CC/AP gel technology, which was conceived in late 1984, is characterized as having robust gel chemistry and as being insensitive to petroleum reservoir environments and interferences.

Flowback of proppant and formation sand often become nuisance for operators as these solids cause equipment damage, costly cleanup treatments, and potential loss of production. These flowback problems are often compounded in severity in wells with high temperature and high pressure. Operators seek reliable solutions to (1) eliminate the need for frequent remedial cleanouts and surface equipment replacement, and (2) to maximize revenues by increasing and maintaining production rates.

This paper will cover common problems and misunderstandings that lead to sucker rod pumped well failures and some of the solutions to avoid failures and optimize the sucker rod pump system.The mechanics of the sucker rod pump design and modifications to improve performance in harsh well environments and failure data collection and performance measurement will also be examined.

Multi-component, pliable plugging agents used to combat lost circulation are well known in the drilling industry. The role of these materials is to provide wellbore pressure containment and to allow for drilling ahead by sealing thief zones and stopping drilling fluid losses. This paper presents a unique method to model and quantify the optimal downhole mixing energy for multi-component, squeezable plugging agents. Understanding and controlling the mixing energy involved in placing these types of treatments is vital for success.

This paper will focus primarily on damage to sucker rod pumps and other parts of the sucker rod pumping system due to common mistakes in operation procedures and operating conditions. A review of actual damaged materials and the operating parameters leading to the root cause of the failures will be presented as well as the solutions that were implemented to solve the problems.

Recent estimates indicate that oil producers will spend about $750 million in 1977 to replace tubing rods, pumps, etc. because of corrosion. While down time caused by the need to replace corroded equipment will not necessarily result in permanent loss of production, it certainly does result in lack of ability to produce oil now when we need it. To compound the problem, we will also import more than 40 percent of our petroleum needs in 1977. Thus, in addition to the out-of-pocket costs of replacements, oil producers also suffer from reduced income when wells are not producing.

This paper reviews material and installation requirements for water-handling systems from the standpoint of general design, suitable materials and potential problem sources in the closed type system.

All the advancements in metallurgy, improvements in manufacturing technique, and refinements in design that go into the building of the modern pumping unit are without value if that equipment is not operated correctly. Upon the operating personnel of the oil industry falls the responsibility for correct operation of pumping equipment.

This paper discusses factors controlling production from a well and deals with using liquid level instruments to obtain down-hole information from which production efficiency can be determined. The effect of casing pressure and high liquid levels on production rate is given in detail. Also good production practices are offered, involving such subjects as proper casing pressure and pump setting depth. Data is given to simplify obtaining down-hole well bore pressures from surface data.

Many gas wells produce water or a liquid hydrocarbon or a combination of the two. Often, the velocity of the produced gas is not sufficient to lift these liquids to surface and they accumulate downhole and decrease the well's gas production by applying pressure against the producing formation(s). One way to prevent this decrease in production is to apply a deliquification surfactant downhole. Very simply, these surfactants facilitate entrainment of the gas in the liquid phases, allowing the gas / fluid mixture to be lifted to surface with the existing velocity.

Maintaining low operating costs is a critical aspect of field operations. This is a sizable challenge when producing deep, high volume, high water cut wells in a mature oil field. Profits from such wells are usually marginal and heavily dependent on oil prices due to somewhat fixed operating costs. West Texas is home to many wells that meet these criteria. Most are produced with hydraulic jet pump systems or. More commonly, submersible pump systems. Both systems are reliable and each offers advantages.

Present day technology allows maximum sucker rod loading to be 50,000 psi, and air balance pumping units are available with stroke lengths of 240 inches, beam capacities of 47,000 pounds and gear reducers that have a torque capacity of 2,56O,OOO inch-pounds. Sucker rods with a diameter of 1.125 inches are available. A.F.I. RP 11L supplies data on 1.25 inch rods, but these are not manufactured at this time.

The Petroleum Industry is becoming more aware of the significance of rod string side loading and associated tubing wear. This wear is due to rod string buckling resulting from down-stroke compression and/or wellbore deviation. Rod string couplings are an integral part of rod string design. Proper selection and installation is critical since these couplings connect every design element in a rod string and can dictate well performance and economics. During lift operations, rod couplings can experience compression and side loading.

The Petroleum Industry has been aware of rod string and tubing wear ever since the first installation of steel sucker rods in production tubing. The associated rod string and tubing wear from this lift system continues to impact the ability of the Industry to economically produce oil and gas. The downstroke phenomenon of sucker rod string compression, buckling, sucker rod and tubing contact and associated sucker rod and tubing wear is becoming more clearly defined.

A new computerized fluid level measurement method is described. Instead of using the traditional gas gun and microphone system, a transient wave is created by venting a small amount of gas from the casing and the fluid level is located with help of an ordinary pressure transducer. The method measures acoustic velocity of well gas external to the well in a known length of coiled tubing. This eliminates the need to count tubing collars to determine velocity. Much of the equipment is off-the-shelf, and cost is less than with traditional systems.

Analysis of Nolte Plots, the log of net fracture pressure versus log of time, can be useful in hydraulic fracturing stimulation treatments. Trends and characteristics of the formation established by these plots are being evaluated and used in an effort to optimize subsequent treatment design. This paper will present case histories on wells in the Turner formation in the Finn-Shurley field of Weston County, Wyoming and show how continuous measurement while fracturing is a useful tool in optimizing future job design.

This paper outlines some of the economic factors to be considered in the chemical treatment of oil and gas wells for corrosion control. It also presents several advantages and disadvantages of some mechanical application equipment and the economics involved in using the equipment. The paper also describes and evaluates several chemical applicators which are economical to use.