Trinity successfully restarts well with high risk of ESP failure

Challenge: Restart a Trintes Field well without causing an electrical or mechanical failure in the ESP, which would necessitate a well intervention operation

Solution: Use LiftWatcher™ real-time surveillance service and technical support from Artificial Lift Surveillance Center (ALSC) team to preserve ESP integrity while restarting the well

Results:

• Successfully restarted well with no failures or well intervention
• Saved cost of intervention operation estimated to be USD 170,000

ESP risks failure due to challenging well conditions after shutdown

In the Trintes Field, Trinity Exploration & Production (Trinity) experienced an unexpected shutdown in one of its wells due to platform generator issues. After many restart attempts, the motor winding temperature increased rapidly, and high startup amperage consumption was causing the breaker to trip. The well had a high gas presence, and it was found that sand and solids were falling back in the pump and plugging the impellers, causing the amperage consumption and motor temperature to increase upon restart. The solids accumulation, temperature increase, and amperage consumption put the ESP at risk of failure, and replacing the ESP would require a costly and time-consuming well intervention operation.

ALSC deploys LiftWatcher service to troubleshoot and provide recommendations

The ALSC used the LiftWatcher service during the troubleshooting operation to avoid any mechanical or electrical failure in the ESP. With startup constraints that included high amperage, high horsepower and torque consumption, and high temperatures, the surveillance optimization team sent a technical alert with the following recommendations to avoid any mechanical or electrical failure in the ESP:

• Check electrical integrity by verifying electrical measurements.
• Configure overload trip time to protect the motor from long overload conditions.
• Configure the boost voltage required for starting the variable speed drive to increase system torque.
• Consider fluid circulation through the annulus to clean up solids accumulation and wait for return at surface through the tubing.

While these actions were taken, the ALSC continued to monitor the BHA integrity and ESP function.

Well successfully restarted with no failure

After the technical recommendations were applied, the well successfully started up with no mechanical or electrical failure. The ESP's integrity was preserved, avoiding a well intervention that would have cost approximately USD 170,000.