ESP shutdowns and days of lost production

HydroCarbon Finder E&P recently acquired the Sahmah field in Oman with six operationally challenging ESP-lifted wells. The remote wells had no remote monitoring equipment, so monitoring well production and performance required site visits. Additionally, the only way to detect ESP shutdowns was to monitor overall production of the field through the production separator and then visit each well to find the one that was offline. This resulted in significant operational downtime—24 to 48 hours of lost production—for each major ESP event.

The other challenge was the limited amount of information available to the operator's reservoir and production engineers about each well and producing formation. This created considerable uncertainty when trying to optimize production and ESP run life, which led to excessive opex for the field.

Engineered ESP systems with remote monitoring and control

To address these challenges, Schlumberger designed Maximus ESP systems with Continuum stages to extend the operating envelope and improve performance in the unknown reservoir conditions. Wells were also equipped with Phoenix xt150 systems and satellite-based communication technology to ensure high-quality data acquisition and transmission for each well.

Installing this state-of-the art equipment also enabled HydroCarbon Finder E&P to use the Lift IQ service to monitor and remotely control the ESPs. The Lift IQ service taps into Schlumberger and surveillance expertise with 24/7/365 access to the global network of Artificial Lift Service Centers (ALSCs).

Consistent production, incremental revenue, and more reservoir knowledge

With ESP alarms and other data transmitted in real time from each wellsite to the ALSC, surveillance engineers could detect ESP events instantly. This reduced downtime and prevented approximately 30% of shutdowns with proactive, remote changes to ESP operating parameters. The overall reduction in downtime from days to hours enabled an oil production increment valued at USD 74,800 per well per year.

The remote operation also enabled HydroCarbon Finder E&P to assign its technical personnel value-added tasks instead of journeys to the field and eliminated the HSE risk associated with wellsite visits.

Additionally, the ALSC engineers began compiling a data record for each well in the field, which aids in identifying long-term production issues such as liquid loading, gas interference, and scale buildup. With more knowledge about each well's performance, HydroCarbon Finder E&P can plan appropriate remediation before problems significantly affect productivity.

The data has already helped identify production optimization measures. In one well, for example, Schlumberger recommended resizing the ESP to improve its run life by better matching unexpectedly high liquids production. In another well, the ESP data indicated that scale may be affecting performance, suggesting that the operator should review the scale inhibition program to avoid more significant production impairment.