Customized Extended-Life ESPs and Chemical Well Treatment Program Increase ESP Run Life by 38%

Artificial lift challenges in shale wells

Unconventional well environments pose many challenges to artificial lift equipment, including heavy sand flowback, high gas rates, excessive temperatures that contribute to scaling tendencies, and corrosive fluids.

What Schlumberger recommended

A multidisciplinary approach was required. A Schlumberger production technologies team conducted an extensive field survey, collecting well fluid samples for laboratory analysis to better understand the wellbore chemistry. The artificial lift team used this information to improve and update the design of the pump with metallurgy and elastomers tailored to combat the corrosive environment. The laboratory data was also used to create a customized well treatment program, which included KI-38021—a newly developed combination scale and corrosion inhibitor— that would prevent corrosion at its source.