Things used to be so much simpler. Every home had one phone line. Every store took cash or checks, and almost every well had a rod pump over its whole life span.
Complexity though, can be really great for your bottom line.
With cell phones, we can call for help from just about anywhere. Debit cards are way faster than check writing. And using a series of unconventional lifting methods on unconventional wells is unlocking much stronger potential for oil and gas production—and profitability that we could only dream of a few short years ago.
There are still some producers putting a rod pump on a well that’s flowing 1,000 bbl/day on its own—a plan that can create lots of well problems. But over the last 5-10 years, most projects involve up-front planning for a succession of appropriate lift systems that can keep up with the production decline curve. Rod pumping is usually the last stop on the list, reserved for wells producing less than 300 bbl/day.
Many producers install gas lift valves upon completing a well in anticipation of the need for gas lift after initial well pressure declines and can no longer flow naturally. Gas lift can be costly due to the need for high pressure gas lines and compression. However if infrastructure is planned ahead of time it can be a viable solution.
Other artificial lift methods suited for higher volumes include jet pumps and ESP’s (electric submersible pump). There are pros and cons to each, so proper analysis is needed to ensure the best fit.
Whatever lift method you’re using at any given stage, it’s important to have all the right controllers and sensors in place to help you manage and improve production (this is where we really shine). That way, if your gas lift compressor goes down, you can shift its workload to another compressor—and can discover what caused the failure by monitoring trends such as temperature, RPM, inlet and outlet pressures, and more.
Which brings me to my next point—data analysis. For several years, the oil industry has become great at collecting field data. Lots and lots of field data! To the point we’ve been swamped by it rather than helped by it.
In days gone by, it took an engineer, or two, to toggle between four or more screens to find the right production data, and then had to then analyze all that data mentally, or through a spreadsheet to dig out issues. By the time the problems were found production could’ve been down, or completely off for hours, or even worse yet – days!
The Zedi platform, and the data analysis we provide with our easy to use software is really fulfilling a need that many companies know they need—and we’re making it more streamlined. We can tell companies, “This is the hardware you’ll need to look at these types of data, and this is what you’ll have to do to control your facilities and equipment.
We an help you put eyes on what’s really happening in your facilities, and your artificial lift. Then you can see your data and analysis on your desktop, or phone to easily make the profit building decisions faster, and more accurately.
