8/17/2019 Automation Solutions Designed to Optimize Oil and Gas Well Production

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Automation Solutions Designed to Optimize Oil and Gas Well

Production 

Written by Michael Smith, R & M nergy Systems

Article Index

Automation Solutions Designed to Optimize Oil and Gas Well Production

unde!ined All Pages Page " o! #

Sensors and automation passi$ely participate in our e$eryday li$es to impro$e com!ort, add

sa!ety and reliability, and increase the e!!iciency o! needed products and ser$ices% As the useo! sensors and automation has proli!erated throughout $arious industry sectors, these

 products ha$e become reliable, economical and easy to maintain and ser$ice% perienced

 personnel and suppliers can create, adapt or integrate their products and ser$ices !or almost

any application% 'he challenge becomes ho( (e collect, correlate and translate this data intoactionable in!ormation%

'he oil and gas industry is no stranger to the ad$anced uses o! sensors, automation and data

collection, especially in the disco$ery process, high $olume producing (ells, regulatory

reporting and custody trans!er% )o(e$er, lo(er producing (ells and older, more established producing regions ha$e not been as (illing to ma*e these critical in$estments !or the

!ollo(ing reasons+

• conomics does not usti!y the epense and support o! these technologies

• ntrenched policies and procedures are hard to adapt to ne( technologies

• -ad prior eperience (hen poor implementation caused more problems than it

sol$ed

'hese barriers to implementation need to be resol$ed by addressing the real costs o! inactionand o$ercoming entrenchment and prior eperience% 'he alternati$es to doing nothing are

not attracti$e and lead to greater regulatory in$ol$ement, higher insurance costs, lo(er

 producti$ity and lost production% Perhaps the greatest ris*s !rom rec*less beha$ior are theloss o! good (ill and a community.s (illingness to permit operations in an area% /or

instance, consider a sensor installed to pre$ent a lea*ing seal !rom polluting a (ell site% 'he

real cost o! a single cleanup operation (ould co$er the cost o! installing the sensor andautomation systems deployed across a signi!icant portion o! the operating area% 'he cost o!

lost production and employee producti$ity are signi!icant costs to include in the total

e0uation% Operators too o!ten belie$e that the impact is minimal and accept the ris*%)o(e$er, the ris*s are o!ten much larger than realized1 once an incident occurs, it (ill curb

gro(th and ne( opportunities%

Overcoming Barriers

When approaching the described barriers, operators should start (ith a small proect% Some

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good steps include+

• 2nderstand (hat problem or solution needs to be sol$ed

• 3onsider the current needs and (hat might be needed in the !uture

• Resist the urge to o$er4engineer the re0uirements

• Setup a timeline as to ho( long the pilot should last to recei$e a good assessment

• De!ine (hat (ill be understood as a success

Suppliers are o!ten (illing to conduct no obligation trials (here the system can be tested in

a real (orld en$ironment% 'he operator gets a chance to eperience a system in operation

and *no( the supplier.s ability to deli$er, support and ser$ice the e0uipment% Pic* a proector site (ith a reasonable chance o! success that the supplier and operator personnel can

easily access% 5! success!ul, pic* a challenging second pilot site that (ill let the supplier

sho(case his solution and help usti!y the system.s deployment% 'his second site should alsoreplicate conditions li*e (eather, po(er condition, pumping !luid properties and pumping

 pressures characteristic o! a large sample o! (ells in the !ield%

$en the best systems o!ten re0uire some adustment and tuning to recei$e the !ull bene!it o! 

the implementation% )o(e$er, i! the supplier has to continue (or*ing on implementation problems or operations personnel ha$e to repeatedly return to a site, the chances o! success

in !ull deployment are slim% -e (illing to accept !ailure and start (ith another supplier or

solution%

Location and Types of Sensors

/or oil (ells, there are se$eral *ey locations !or placing sensors, including+

• Do(nhole at Pump Depth

• 'emperature

• Pump inta*e pressure

• Pump discharge pressure

• /luid le$el

• 6ibration

• Pump rotation direction

• 'he Well )ead

• /lo( line pressure

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• /lo( line !lo(

• 3asing pressure

• Pac*ing7seal pressure and temperature

• Rod temperature and $ibration

• Rod load

• Rod tor0ue

• Primary Mo$er

• Motor temperature

• Motor RPM

• Rod RPM or Stro*es Per Minute 8SPM9

• Rod :ocation

• 6ariable /re0uency 8Speed9 Dri$e

• 3abinet temperature

• )eat sin* temperature

• 5ncoming ser$ice po(er $oltage

• 5nternal D3 -us $oltage

• Motor current

• Motor tor0ue

• nergy consumption

ach o! these data points can be $aluable in understanding the health, operational status and

 pump optimization le$els o! each site%