American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2022 - 83

SpecialReport: Artificial Lift Technology
Monel with Inconel-like metals can push
operating pressures above 3,000 psi,
giving operators confidence the valves
will operate with the expected run life
under high pressures. "
Instead of injecting gas down the
tubing/casing annulus and commingling
the gas with the produced fluids inside the
production tubing, HPGL wells generally
begin with annular flow. The high-pressure
gas comes down the tubing and comingles
with the production fluids in the tubing/casing
annulus, Young describes. He explains that
the larger space in the tubing/casing annulus
enables greater output. " In some cases,
flowing up the annulus can deliver even
more production than an ESP, " he reports.
" I have seen wells where gas lift increased
wells' initial production by 800 barrels. "
As pressures decline and production
falls, annular flow becomes inefficient
and the well must transition to producing
up the tubing, Young says. " Operators
and service companies have come up
with creative ways to set up equipment
so the transition from annular flow to
tubing flow is easy, " he praises. " It can
be as simple as running slickline or changing
surface valves, which eliminates the
need for a workover rig. "
High-Volume Rod Lift
Using larger pumping units can allow
rod pumps to handle volumes that traditionally
have been restricted to other forms
of artificial lift, says Trey Binford, director
of product management for beam pumping
units at LUFKIN Industries. " Long-stroke
beam pumping units can produce as much
as 1,000 barrels of fluid a day in unconventional
wells, " he reports. " In many
applications, this capability can enable
operators to move away from ESPs earlier
or even start the well on a rod pump. "
Broadening rod pumps' application
windows can be extremely helpful, Binford
assesses. " Reducing the number of times
operators need to bring in equipment and
crews to change from one form of artificial
lift to the next shrinks capital costs, " he
observes. " Rod lift operating costs also
are lower than ESPs because it requires
fewer workovers and less energy, and
most operators are so familiar with rod
lift that it's easy for them to optimize
and troubleshoot. "
In the past, Binford says, rod lift was
rarely considered for unconventional wells
until production dropped below 400 bbl/d
of liquid because of the stress horizontals
Long-stroke beam pumping
units, which now include
conventional designs with a
maximum stroke length of
320 inches, lift large volumes
with slow strokes that reduce
wear. In many unconventional
plays, LUFKIN Industries
says this capability
reduces costs by speeding
wells' transition to rod lift.
placed on the rod string and tubing. " Large
pumping units address that durability concern
by enabling long, slow strokes that
minimize wear on the rod and tubing but
still lift high fluid volumes, " he assures.
To enable longer strokes, Binford says
LUFKIN has introduced the industry's
largest conventional beam pumping unit.
The unit's maximum stroke length is 320
inches, but it can be configured for stroke
lengths of 275 inches, 234 inches or 193
inches, he describes.
At the top of the stroke, the unit is 55
feet tall, equivalent to a four- or five-story
building. The horsehead alone is 26 feet
long, Binford notes. Because the pumping
unit uses a conventional design rather than
a linear one, he adds, it allows workovers
to be performed without rolling it back.
" All these units are sold with LUFKIN's
full automation package, including a controller
and variable speed drive, " he mentions.
" This system collects data and analyzes
it to slow down or speed up at the
right times to optimize the unit and
achieve the operator's objectives. "
So far, the huge pumping units have
been deployed in California, the Rocky
Mountains and the Permian, Binford reports.
" The results have been great, " he
says. " One customer wanted to transition
from ESPs to rod pumps; we were targeting
500 bbl/d of fluid but ended up
getting close to 700 bbl/d. The operator
was thrilled because transitioning to rod
lift reduced workover and energy costs
while maintaining production. "
In a shallower field, the large pumping
unit enabled an operator to start a well
on rod lift by handling more than 1,000
bbl/d of fluid, Binford continues. " The
operators who have deployed a handful
of these large units are committing to
more, " he says. " They want to try bringing
the cost savings and familiarity the units
provide to other applications. "
Plunger Lift Reliability
The maximum volume plungers can
lift is rising, says Brent Cope, product line
manager for plunger lift at PCS Ferguson,
a business unit of ChampionX Artificial
Lift. " Twenty years ago, plungers would
usually max out at 100 bbl/d, " he recalls.
" Today, we have plungers moving 500
bbl/d in wells with high gas-to-oil ratios. "
That increase comes in part from continuous
bypass plungers, which allow the
plunger to fall against flow rates and
therefore cycle more frequently. " Depending
on well depth, the plunger may
make 80-100 trips a day rather than the
10 with an older, nonbypass design, "
Cope says. " Each trip carries smaller
loads, but the production is more consistent
and the plunger can get flowing bottomhole
pressures even lower. "
As plungers make more trips at higher
speeds, equipment durability becomes increasingly
important, Cope suggests. He
says PCS Ferguson has spent the last year
and a half conducting tests to determine
which components of a plunger lift system
need improvement in various applications.
" For example, with bumper springs, we
wanted to find out whether the spring, the
flow cage or the fish neck would be the
primary restriction on durability, " he says.
In some applications, the company
now recommends titanium fish necks.
" Titanium can withstand much higher
impacts than even stainless steel or carbon
4140, " Cope says. " We also use longer
springs to increase impact resilience. "
PCS Ferguson has developed lubricators
that are forged rather than welded, Cope
JUNE 2022 83
American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2022

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