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Reduction of preventable problems inherent in beam pumping systems can be achieved by continuous monitoring of system loads with electronic equipment and software systems developed by Delta-X Corporation. Electronic monitoring equipment was developed for permanent installation on electric prime mover driven beam pumping units. This equipment provides instantaneous polish rod load versus stroke position data.

QRod is the most widely used program for the design and prediction of the performance of Sucker Rod Beam Pumping Installations. A damped wave equation solution is used to accurately predict the surface dynamometer loads, gearbox torque and pump capacity, with a minimum amount of input. New design tools have been added to include: 1) Slippage Calculator from pump clearances ties the pump efficiency to the predicted pump displacement. 2) Sinker Bar length calculator determines the sinker bar length as pump diameter or pump depth chances. 3) Results can be shown in any system of units.

The concept of pneumatic actuation of a sucker rod string in a pumping well is not new or revolutionary. There are records of patents and applications dating back to the late 1800"s. These early units did not find wide acceptance due to problems of low efficiency, seal wear and leakage. Also, these early units were restricted in depth capacity to about 4000 feet maximum in most cases.

ConocoPhillips San Juan Business Unit rod pumps more than 50 "S" shaped deviated wells. The load a sucker rod applies to the tubing wall is called sideload. Sideloads will be higher in the depth intervals of the tubing that are more deviated. The time requred to wear the sucker rod or tubing to failure should be a function of sideload. ConocoPhillips San Juan's "S" shaped rod pumped wells have shallow curved sextions that tend to have sideloads of one hundred pounds or greater, and many have been running for several years. ConocoPhillips presents sideload vs.

The oil and gas production organizations have used the service factors applied to sucker rod string allowable loads and stresses for many years. However, many have used the service factor described in API RP 11BR1 only to reduce the maximum allowable stress since they are operating in corrosive service. This paper will discuss the development of the service factors and provide recommendations not limiting the rod loading by using a derating factor.

Paraffin Accumulation in the tubing of pumping oil wells has been a costly problem since the beginning of the oil industry. Some fields have a severe paraffin problem while others do not have enough paraffin accumulation to ever restrict the production of the wells. Each field has a different paraffin problem all its own. The accepted use of sucker rod type paraffin scrapers to remove paraffin from pumping oil wells is relatively new to the industry. Sucker rod type paraffin scrapers became popular between 1946 and 1950.

Two new developments are eliminating costly sucker rod pin failures. The first is the undercut or stress relieved pin which eliminates the critical point where all fatigue failures occur. The second is the thread rolling process which improves the fatigue resistance of the thread.

I am not going to announce a new break through to end all POC failures. If you want to hear God laugh, tell him about your new 10-year plan or solution to end all lightning damage. My goal today is to show some incremental steps we have taken to reduce costs and improve reliability. This is a preliminary report. This is not mature technology tested with a large number of devices through many storm seasons. Some background is needed for perspective.

This paper presents a discussion of the basic problem caused by sulfate reducing bacteria in oil producing, salt water disposal, and secondary recovery water injection systems. It outlines methods of detecting the presence of these harmful bacteria, and describes their role in corrosion and well plugging.

After five years of waterflooding, the West Welch (San Andres) Unit was experiencing acute production declines caused by calcium sulphate scale forming in the producing wells. A program was initiated at that time to investigate the cause of the scale growth and means of correcting it. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the field and laboratory work done to inhibit and remove CaSO4, scale from the producing wells in this waterflood. Evaluation of scale inhibitors and methods of applying them are covered as well as scale removal chemicals and procedures.

The Harbison-Fischer Variable Slippage Pump, (VSP), has been field tested since December 1999 in wells located primarily in West Texas and New Mexico. Results have been favorable in gas locking conditions by eliminating gas locking, and increasing gas production in some wells. This paper will review the test data and the characteristics of these wells. It will also describe the fundamentals of this method of artificial lift, and present what was learned about pump component selection and downhole applications.

During the early 1960's much work was done with compressive pre-stressing of material used in oilfield equipment to overcome fatigue problems which had plagued the industry for years. The API adopted the undercut-thread sucker rod pin design to overcome pin failures which had become a serious problem as sucker rod loads increased. The undercut pin design made it possible to produce the threads by rolling, with further increases in pin fatigue strength.

The main purpose of surface strings is to keep the produced well fluids from migrating into and damaging the shallow water bearing formations. In the Indian Basin Field in southern New Mexico (Eddy County), an operator was encountering severe lost circulation intervals which made properly cementing the surface strings extremely difficult. Several expensive annular top out stages were required to fill the annulus with cement adequate to protect the groundwater and isolate this interval from oil and gas produced from the drilling of the deeper horizons.

Magion deposition is a new process by which virtually any material may be tightly bonded to nearly any other material for any reason. This process uniquely utilizes ionization phenomena to impart high energy to the atoms of plating material whereby bonding is assured by penetration of these high energy depositant ions into the outer atomic surface of the object to be plated, which is referred to as the "substrate". In the actual working of the process, which is performed in a vacuum system, the plating material is vaporized yielding a continuous flux of atomic sized vapor atoms.

A newly developed cement additive provides excellent compressive strengths for lightweight, filler-type cement compositions used for cementing surface pipe. Cement compositions incorporating the new additive will. Meet Texas Railroad Commission strength requirements for surface pipe and critical zone applications. Cement compositions mixed at densities of 11.6 to 12.2 lb/gal developed in excess of the required 250 psi compressive strength in 24 hours for a surface pipe and a composition mixed at 12.4 lb/gal developed 1200 psi in less than 72 hours for critical zone applications.

Operators of deep gas wells in West Texas have installed a wide variety of gas producing equipment to best utilize the productivity of specific wells and to meet gas contract requirements. Several installations are illustrated and discussed, and the need for the equipment engineer to be familiar with gas contracts is emphasized.

A presentation of the role that organic surfactants play in water flooding. Field applications, treatment evaluations, and history of organic surfactants progress in water treatment are discussed. Included is a study of five major injection problems that are usually controlled by surfactant treatment.

The results presented here are the conclusions reached by surveying key people within our industry on paraffin control. The survey was developed within the Permian Basin Operators Work Group that consists of members from Arco, Exxon, Pennzoil, Artificial Lift Solutions, Oxy, Cross Timbers, Burlington Resources, Amerada Hess, Texaco, Pioneer, Phillips and Chevron.

A flotation system is described wherein an extremely high concentration of micro bubbles is introduced into the water to assure a high probability of particular flotation. No pumps are required to supply dirty water directly to the system thus minimizing undue emulsification of suspended oil droplets. Coagulants and other chemicals readily facilitate flotation in the event that emulsions or colloidal material are present.

Sustainability is universally sought by individuals and groups. Few people would overtly choose to live in a non-sustainable environment. It is a part of our continually evolving nature to not become extinct in a changing environment. In contrast some people and groups view sustainability as a near static circumstance facilitated by an unchanging environment. According to them, this near original natural environment should and can be maintained indefinitely by careful management and stewardship. In some sense, the original form of nature has become sacred for them, almost worshiping nature.

Multiple-stage hydraulic fracturing has dramatically increased hydrocarbon production in the United States. Large fresh water requirements, coupled with recent concerns over water sustainability, have increased the importance of oilfield water management. FIML Natural Resources, LLC was using fresh water for hydraulic fracturing, and then hauling the waste water to a disposal site. To reduce fresh water consumption and the cost for disposal, a pilot study was performed to assess reuse of all their fracturing flowback fluid, produced water, and drilling waste water.

The majority of wells in the biggest Hungarian oil field is placed on continuous flow gas lift. The gas lift system, designed in the late 1960s has many very unique features dictated by the economic and technological constraints of those times. Proper operation was maintained till recently but changes in reservoir parameters due to the depletion of the field have brought about many unfavorable conditions leading to increased lift gas requirements and rising production costs.

Although the utilization of foaming surfactants (foamers) through down-hole capillary tubing has been used by the industry for a number of years to unload liquids from natural gas wells, there has been marked increase in the application in the past year. This marked increase has resulted, in part, due to improved gas economics, continuing liquid loading problems with onshore gas wells, and improvements in capillary-string installation and foamer technologies. A systematic approach to the evaluation of wells for potential application has been used to improve its success.

This paper summarizes the evolution of a polymer drilling fluid that was developed for drilling through the sticky redbeds of West Texas and Eastern New Mexico. The polymer is not a new chemical; however, it has not been used previously for drilling through the swelling redbeds found throughout most of the Permian Basin. Advantages and disadvantages as well as problems encountered while using the polymer drilling fluid are pointed out and discussed.

How much automation can you afford? In every tank battery consolidation installation this question must be answered. One answer, as pertaining to the Dollarhide Unit, is presented in this paper. The automation incorporated in the Dollarhide Unit tank battery consolidation system was specifically designed for the unit's operating conditions by the unit engineers. By designing the controls for a specific installation, it is felt that the consolidated tank batteries will be more economical and less complex.