PRESENTATION On SAGD PUMPING Calgary Pump Symposium November 2007 Tom Atkinson Manager of Mechanical Engineering IMY Projects, Calgary Thanks to the following for resource assistance: Arian Abyaneh, IMV/U of © Frank Tan, IMV Kevin Ursu, MV Doug Gerbrandt, IMVIntroduction: Presenting the EPC Experience in SAGD Pumping applications over the previous decade including step developments as experience with the Problems and the unique nature of pumping SAGD produced Heavy Oil and Bitumen emulsions became known will be discussed in this presentation. Detailed Process data will not be used, but as an introduction, this Presentation should be considered a lead-in for detailed questions for Operations or EPC Engineers. The focus will be on the Alberta Oil Sands experience, but the lessons can be applied elsewhere in the world. The discussion will mainly centre on the Pad Group or Emulsion Pumps, but some discussion will focus on the Central Plant Facilities Heavy Oil pumping experience.A basic understanding of whole system in which the pumps are a part should be very important to Pump Engineers in SAGD. The Pump Engineer needs to have a fundamental understanding or awareness of the following: -SAGD Well Types and how this can affect the system engineering considerations -Water cut and unique properties of emulsion (and therefore the effect on the pump requirements) -Liquid Two Phase potential and how this always has to be considered in the Pad Emulsion Pump detailed design and system design -Sand (a four letter word.....) -The relation between Wellpad Group Separator variable pressure operation and how this affects the pump operational considerations and Controls for parallel operation between Pads.SAGD Well Types: Injection/Return -nearly all plants use gas lift for return ESB -Foster Creek and Christina Lake use downhole pumps (Electro Submersible Pumps, ESB) with proposals in place for new plants such as Laricina. css “Huff and Puff” (Cyclic Steam Stimulation, CSS) -single line for steam injection and emulsion return using Pump Jacks -CNRL Wolf Lake/Primrose use this type Of these types, the basic operation and system dynamics of the ESB and CSS are similar with respect to affect on design requirements at the surface facilities. The majority Injection/Gas Lift type requires special pump system design considerationsReference Fig 1, Illustration of SAGD Wells Acknowledgement: — ConocoPhillips Surmont Laricina'SAGD Reservoir Characterization Using Geosttstics ici | Stites Po Retctemabammane ne me han “hi cota wt sem camber ‘Sterahen alte a-bnrng pre boven the saipan pase —. ‘The seam clamber nom expand vpmerde ~ a Remeiecon na sage ‘it nested ante don sog te tam, ‘Seeterbunany a gra nt en ‘igre 1.2— The Steam Asta Gravity Drainage SAGD) Potts, Schenut set of he iscal SAD proce Sem concern rept on he pry shown nthe pe fe set, [leigh bse el dinesons sabowe nha gt The idle ihrer nil mage 'SAGD when sex etd ino both weld te ea cher hoger The eto show = ‘rering SAD merce we es ied ins he necton wel oly eda ce pe ea ‘ber develops Some injection wel ance a te prdueon wel. Version 10, 7ae Aretye9 ‘so0z Savy sdydgooucy gS “AOS Jeu! enoge s10;9e4 SOW “enjsuEdxe s} WEIS < “ujbue7 ernoays 0} jeuomodosd s} MO} 110 = (HOS) CHEN IO WEES « Suled usoelpy YM YORI + seByayem do] :ou0zjolyl + MO[9q YO SCUINIOA « ssassy 0} $10}9e4 «oBeuyeig AAe19 pejsissy weejs,=GOVS MBIAIBAQ JIOAIOSAY GOVS quoulans [asite Rarer 2 ins 1e91dA, pue pomawey aIYyderbyeys SReWOEYIS =01D) Ayre eh eaepeuyeupun ‘weeisReference Fig. 2, Illustration of Huff and Puff Acknowledgement: CNRLQa Canadian Natural Cyclic Steam Stimulation (CSS) Canadian Natural also employs cyclle steam or “huff and puff" technology to develop bitumen resources. This technology requires one well bore and the production consists of two distinct phases: 1. Injection - Steam is injected for several weeks, mobilizing cold bitumen. 2: Production ~ Flow on the injection well Is reversed producing oll through the same injection well bore. ‘These two phases together comprise one cycle, Steam Is re-Infected to begin a new cycle when oil production rates fall below a critical threshold due to the cooling of the reservoir. several mont Advantage: ‘+ Robust, proven technology + Requires 1 well bore (reduced capital investment) + Adaptable to thinner inter-bedded reservoirs Disadvantages: + Lower recovery factor CSS Is the preferred production process In the Clearwater Formation at Canadian Natural's Wolf Lake, and Primrose (North, South, and East) fields.Reference Fig. 3, Illustration of Downhole Pump Wells Acknowledgement: SchlumbergerSe suntoeng snared ‘Near tvs Te sterg te en SAD nyo roma eis oe Somat atypac ‘sro in ea peng cancer (ejmne ens cmern eerie yang em nero pairs Meson ta nario [S nranecnetaian serpunre sa Fr en ray ro te fonebontoen ese ars robe peste Nosnytetn naes edasonba ont (Grranteuetnapsre roy ens ae ‘arainntcet became easeReference Fig 4, Graph of Emulsion Viscosity versus Water Cut and Temperature — Typical Emulsion IMV Reference Fig 5, Graph of Emulsion Viscosity vs Water Cut and Temperature, Detail of 110° & 165°C IMV[Baa gar B Masons, WN seungesoduse jussoyia ueemyed Uospedwvo> AysoDeIA9800 $94 8 Asa0=, — ‘98a O11 8 A¥sco81,—o— ng sem so 0 LO ‘9Beq $01 PUE 0} Ueamyeq Uospeduan AysonsiA gf 8 i ao 88 3 (a2) Ays0o8Reference Fig. 6, Photo of Typical SAGD WellheadReference Fig. 7, Typical PPD of Pad systemFor Gas Lift Systems, from the Well Head, the Emulsion usually flows to the Wellpad Group Separator where two phase gas/liquid separation occurs, The produced gas will flow back to the Central Plant Facility to be mixed with Natural Gas and used as fuel for the Steam Generators. The steam condensate/bitumen liquid phase is pumped back to the CPF Free Water Knockout Vessel by the Emulsion or Group Pumps. Each wellpad has a pump installation in parallel, and with multiple wells, each pad pumps in parallel with the other pads. With different pads operating at different pressure/temperatures this creates a very complex parallel pumping requirement. Flow to the Group Separator in Gas Lift Systems is controlled by the Blanket Gas Pressure/Emulsion. Inlet Control Valve. The Blanket Gas pressure in the Group Separator determines that flow will occur from wellheads that can produce at that pressure. The tendency is to try to lower the Group Separator pressure to maximize well production. This also determines the temperature at which the wells produce.Unlike refineries, the blanket gas pressure will not give any margin on NPSHA for the pumps; because the production of the wells at each pad are controlled by a common Separator inlet control valve and by the vessel’s gas blanket pressure, some wells may not be able to produce at higher pressures, and the emulsion in the Group Separators will therefore always be at the vapour pressure of the fluid. As the pressure decreases, the temperature correspondingly decreases and vice versa. Pump Hydraulics For Centrifugal Pumps, keeping in mind that the fluid will always be considered to be at the Vapour Pressure, NPSHA (Net Positive Suction Head Available) will therefore be the static head of the Group Separator vessel. The vessel (or liquid level) must be raised to give the pump NPSHR (Net Positive Suction Head Required) plus 1 meter. Because the flows and heads vary all over the pump performance regime depending on the requirements of the well operation on any particular day, the Suction Specific Speed (Nss) must also be minimized to allow as low a minimum flow range as possible.Again, because the water cut or slug regime is never a sure thing (by cxpcricnce) it is also very important to keep the Nss below approximately 10000 (US units). Although oil will start showing up in the return stream within a couple of weeks you are usually running on water condensate the first few weeks. With the limited NPSHA which can be designed, without excessively high vessel structures or vertical group separators with tall skirts, this means that 50% pumps might be required to keep the Nss low. This can only add to the parallel pumping controls and operations problems. If the Nss is not kept low, the off BEP performance of the centrifugal pump hydraulic recirculation can raise the temperature at the impeller eye inlet to the vapourization point. Generally you only have an equivalent 2-3C? margin on temperature before flashing will occur at the impeller inlet. It is better to pay the costs of raising the Group Separator Vessel, than have the risk of being in this operational situation.Reference Fig 8: Typical Pump Arrangement using Vertical Group Separator Photograph of typical Horizontal Group Separator and StructureWith recognition of the extreme change of viscosity with cooling, one other thing to ensure in your specification is that the motor driver can move the higher viscosity emulsion at startups. Spec the motor to cover the full performance curve capability rather than just a margin above the rated point. PD pumps would be a better operational solution, but at the moment, the high purchase costs, and technical problems inherent with the variable temperatures, and possible extreme slugging, limit their possibilities. If the pad emulsion service requires a high head (two stage equivalent or greater centrifugal pump), without extreme temperatures, then the PD pump options should be reviewed during preliminary engineering.Affect of Extreme Varying Torques On Required Pump Design For the Gas Lift type Producer Well, slugging can occur during transitions. The water condensate/bitumen can separate to the component two liquid phases. This can cause a serious problem for the operation of the Pad Emulsion Pumps if they are not designed robust enough to withstand the sudden jarring variations in viscosity that can occur during these flow transitions. The Vertical type Group Separators seem to be a much more susceptible design corresponding to this problem, seeming to pass the slugs without any homogeneous stabilizing occurring, but the horizontal separators are also capable of creating a two phase liquid situation.Reference Fig. 8, Vibration Results on a standard Vertical InLine Emulsion Pump exposed to Well Flow Transitions Acknowledgement: Nexen Long Lake Pilot PlantFor Centrifugal Pumps: Recommend heavy robust shafts with minimal L/D* and heavy duty bearings. Look for an L*/D‘ in the range of 10-12 approx (US units) and not higher. It is recommended that vibration monitoring using the Metrix style 4-20ma absolute reading output be installed with regular periodic or trouble indicated monitoring using an industry magnetically attached portable FFT analyzer such those by CSI or Bently Nevada. What you are looking for is a non-return to baseline indication from the Metrix after a transition slug event which would indicate that damage has occurred. If the vibration overall level returns to the baseline (after a 2 ips plus event...), the pump is ok. If the pump is able to survive the transitions, do not look at the usual alarms or shutdowns, in fact vibration alarms/shutdowns are not recommended for these pumps or the Operational Staff might become overexposed to alarms. Normal shutdowns for centrifugal pumps are approximately 0.15 ips, regular 2 ips events are quite interesting to watch as the pump rocks and rolls. Just build the pumps to take the expected abuse and monitor over time.If Vertical In-line Centrifugal Pumps are used, the pump mounted thrust bearing OH3 design must be specified. The OH4 motor bearing thrust design probably won't withstand the transition vibration extremes. Not recommended for the Gas Lift Well types would be Vertical Can pumps or other long shaft multistage type pumps which would be much more susceptible to the variable torques. They could be a consideration for the CSS or ESB well return types, but my personal opinion is to avoid them because of the unknowns (viscosities and maintenance difficulties and probable tracing requirements).Reference Fig. 9, Vertical In-Line Before/After A: Initial Pump installed (OH4) - could not survive flow transition slugging vibration B: Final Pump installed (OH3) - Worked successfully Acknowledgement: CPC Pumps‘VP-CX SECTIONAL VP-110.7 cpcn APITYPE OH4 JULY 00 {WES DESIGN ALLOWS ALL PUMP INTERNALS TO BE REMOVED MTHOUT EVER MONG THE DRVER. curmnone veue von EASY RERLACEUENT |VP-B SECTIONAL VP-110.3. API TYPE OH3 JULY 00 FOR GREASE OR OIL MIST LUBRICATIONSand (#%$!!) Effect on Design The nature and quantity of sand is a difficult one to predict first of all, and some Owners think there is not going to be any sand partly because of the formation bridging that is expected and also because of the narrow slots (0.012” to 0.018”) in the SAGD return pipe. There will be sand...... The sand (or silt) will pass through the pipe slots. During startups and flow transitions the probability is very high that a reasonably significant volume percentage of sand can occur. The percent of sand will decrease with flow stability (no flow increases) or tend to decrease over weeks or months after startup. Every well pad is different in its characteristic operation with respect to sand. The sand in the different Oil Sands formations in Alberta also has different characteristics. In the Cold Lake formation it seems to be relatively benign and except for the seals and flush plans, don't seem to require special design considerations such as case or impeller hardening. In the Athabaska Oil Sands formation, the area south of Fort Mcmurray seems to also not be as serious a design problem in some leases, but in the Athabaska leases north of Fort Mcmurray, especially north-west, the sand is veryfine, very sharp, and very hard. As ruthless on equipment as you are ever going to see. North of Ft Mac use case boronizing and tungsten carbide hardening of shafts and impellers/wear rings or buy slurry type pumps with Ni hardened casings. Procedures will have to ensure avoidance of thermal shocks on the slurry pumps. Even with the special hardening or materials, the erosion life is less than one year. I wouldn’t recommend ESB pumps for this area. South of Ft Mac, in the Athabaska Formation, if there is no previous experience in the immediate area to give guidance, I would recommend designing for the worst sand type. See Fig 10, Map of Athabaska Oil Sands Region Acknowledgement: Government of Alberta See Fig. 11A-C, Typical Sand Erosion of Emulsion/Group Pump from Athabaska region north of Ft MemurrayWhat is also needed for the pump design is big and slow. Get the head required and keep the impeller vane velocities minimized and thereby limit the effect of possible sand erosion. For Nexen Long Lake a Ni Hard Slurry pump similar to those in use at Syncrude or Suncor for slurry services was purchased. Based on previous experience with the hard type sand the design was expected be more successful than the boronized coated pump casings which as noted above, will only last approximately a year. These pumps are limited in head and are not suitable for some plants requiring high delivery pressures through the pipelines to the Central Plant Facilities (CPF). See Fig 12, Flowserve Slurry Type Pump with Plan. 54 Seal Flush System Acknowledgement: FlowservePump Seal Requirements for SAGD Pumping The Group Separator/Pump suction pressures required can vary from 300 kPag to approximately 700kPag and as high as 1200 kPag depending on the Operations well production requirements. These equate to normal operating temperatures usually in the 110°C to 170°C range. The pump is usually defined with process data at a single rated point. It is the Responsible Mechanical Engineer who must anticipate the actual pressure, torque, and viscosity variations when specifying the equipment. Variable temperature, variable suction pressures, sand.....the logical choice for these services would be a double seal with clean service compatible barrier fluid at a controlled pressure above the process fluid and temperature cooler than the process fluid or a single seal with clean external flush. We will look at the operational development and potential problems associated with both these types.Double Seals At the well pads which (along with the CPF) tend to be located in remote locations, there are limited utilities available, if any. Atan early SAGD Plant, for a high pressure seal installation, (3600 rpm, >2500kPag), there was no double slurry seal on the market proven under such conditions. The initial seal attempted was a conventional seal with static primary face and rotating secondary face. This design unfortunately would allow bitumen/sand to set under the follower and hang up the ORing on the cartridge. We changed to (essentially) a prototype slurry seal for the high speeds and pressures. This decreased failures slightly. ‘The Slurry type primary seal has a rotating face in contact with the process fluid. This allows a centripetal pumping action to assist in keeping contaminates away from the follower seal where hangups can occur.Reference Fig 13, Typical Double Seal with rotating follower21S [a] ZattooReference Fig. 14, Typical Double Seal with rotating primary face Acknowledgement: Burgmann50 wer ‘SEAL CHAMBER PRESSURE, (@uUGse0 Gy OTHERS) g » 7 2s ais p54 aS 6$d00000 08 a 22:70 24 F/B Searing ToRGue 4x 9.625 stuns, 5 (ON 86:30 £0. SPaceD 48 50 NPT BARRIER _ FLUID INLETSeal Flush Plans For the double seals at the first plants in SAGD, without utilities available at the remote pads, we attempted the API Plan 53 nitrogen blanket system which has had a very good reliability record in refinery services. Unlike refineries which have a nitrogen source or generation capabilities, at the remote pad locations and for cost reduction, it was decided to use nitrogen bottles as the supply source.Reference Fig 15, Typical Plan 53 P&ID and photosThe following problems were experienced using Nitrogen bottles in SAGD Plan 53 services: -unable to control leaks at NPT connections, especially at the SS Barrier Fluid reservoir connections, -higher pressure sealing (>1000kPag) resulted in "fizz" of the barrier fluid which with conventional oils used as barrier fluid eventually resulted in non lube of the Seal faces. -required approximately 1 bottle nitrogen per 8 hr shift (for two x 50% pumps). -changeouts could result in barrier fluid pressure drops below the stuffing box pressure (pressure reversal). -although bottle max pressures were specified, sometimes the supplier would use higher pressure bottles. It was necessary to add PSVs downstream of control valves to be in accordance with Code. Another source of leaks. -at the SS reservoirs, the connections would gall and become almost impossible to seal. Installation of welded flanged connections would help and was attempted.-used a high grade synthetic oil (Royal Purple) to control the loss of seal face lubrication the fizz would cause if conventional oils used. Unfortunately the synthetic oil was highly permeable and at the barrier reservoir glycol tube insert seal locations leaks occurred; could not seal weld these tube connection points, because of the thin tubes used. With constant refills of the barrier fluid vessel, potential contamination to the seal flush system was possible. All problems considered, not a high success rate using the Plan 53 without a high volume available nitrogen generator blanket gas system, and although everything that could be done technically was attempted, the seal failures did continue at a higher than acceptable rates. The human element always enters and with continued failure, short-cut maintenance mode would be established, which actually was contributing to a large number of continuing failures itself. Plan 53C systems were also used at one plant. I have no records on the relative success of these.In early 2003, based on the experiences with the Plan 53 system, the API Plan 54 was introduced on new plants. This so far has been fairly successful in comparison although relative to the more simple Plan 53, expensive to install. Spend the money. I have never signed off on Plan 53 since. Again, at remote pads with limited or no utilities, or no external flush sources available, I would continue to recommend the Plan 54 flush system.Single Seals The single seal has been successful in SAGD Emulsion service with a Plan 32 external flush, usually where a suitable external fluid is available such as at the Central Plant Facility. The external flush seems to clear the sand and as long as the seal does not become isolated from the flush source during a shutdown, the possible bitumen hardening may not occur.Reference Fig 16, Typical Single Seal and Flush Plan. 32 P&ID Acknowledgement: CPC FlowserveIn one of the first SAGD plants, on Dilbit (Sales Oil —Diluent/Bitumen) service (post water separation) in the CPF I tried a diluent flush to avoid the cold exposure oil set-up problem and it worked very successfully. With that success, it was specified on the next plant only to find that Operations actually started the plant running the process 10°C higher than actual design temperature which resulted in exceeding the diluent flashpoint. Seals were being chewed up as they ran on vapour in the stuffing box. The solution, to keep it going at startup was to shutoff the diluent flush source and "temporarily" go to a Plan 11/13. As it turns out, the Plan 11/13 actually worked and we never were called on for any further assistance.. Again the lesson in the operation of these plants, is never to count on operation at design conditions. It was a lesson I have applied ever since. The designer has to make a risk/reward decision with the use of the single seal. Installed cost of a single seal and auxiliaries is significantly lower - Project Engineers and Owners prefer that; but, since pump discharge check valves tend to hang up in SAGD emulsion, a seal failure followed by pump shutdown. in parallel pumping systems can result in the building filling with flashing condensate/spraying bitumen.Quite a hazardous and unpleasant situation for Operations. With a very costly cleanup. Recommended design solutions used to enhance safety for single seals in SAGD: -Install a second check valve at the discharge. -Ensure that each pump has a minimum flow bypass inside the check valve (not the hypothetically money saving single min flow bypass downstream of the check valve for several parallel pumps), and follow pump isolation/min flow operation for shutdown. To repeat, the double seal Plan 54 system is much more expensive to install, operate, maintain, but also safer for Operations. There are many emulsion service single seals in operation in Alberta, but recognize the risk. Building (Module) Pump Installation: For Pad Emulsion Pumps especially, they are usually mounted into a prefabricated building module and with the module shipped to the field and installed. The pumps need to be on a solid foundation, ensure that the building structural steel under the pumps ison piles or even have the pumps mounted separately at site on prepoured concrete bases. Potential otherwise is that with VFD operation, the building could have a resonance point within the operating range of the pumps which can affect the operational reliability of the seals/bearings. Controls: For Pad Emulsion pumps, not only are there usually 50% parallel pumps in operation at each pad, but there are several wellpads that feed into the main pipelines back to the Central Plant Facility. With each pad potentially operating at different suction pressures, the distances elso mean that the required discharge pressures are also different. This creates a very interesting control problem for centrifugal pumps. Recommended for Centrifugal Pumps: VED controls on every pump. If tundown at any wellpad occurs, one of the pad pumps may need to be non producing. If there is a recycle valve inside the check valve, then there is theoption of keeping the down pump operating at low head/flow on full recycle and avoid any potential problem with setting up of the bitumen in a full shutdown. With the recycle valve downstream of the check valve, this is not an option for Operations. With different heads between different Wellpad sites, the addition of a pressure control valve can assist balancing the pressures. If a differential pressure is set on this valve, then essentially the VFD control allows the pump speed to directly control the flow. This can help Operations control the system when the wells are all producing at different rates.Positive Displacement Pumps in SAGD: Progressive Cavity Progressive Cavity types are recommended for CPF slop oil, and oil/water mixtures. Watch for: Material of Stator - have found that only Hydrogenated Nitrile or HNBR type will work reliably in the bitumen/sump/sales oil services. The Nitriles or Buna types tend to deteriorate quickly. Depending on the oil/diluent service properties, there may be some cases where these types may work, but it is always less risk to use the hydrogenated nitrile. Packing vs Mech Seals - the packing types tend to leak bitumen/water and create significant clean up issues, plus the maintenance people tend to tighten up the packing to stop the leaks and thereby score the shafts, actually increasing the leak. The (special) Mech Seals are cleaner running but require dismantling of the pump end to replace. I prefer the Mech Seals, especially with the EUB getting more directly involved in installations and updating interpretations of regulations with respect to containment.For the Pad Emulsion Pumps, the variable temperatures/pressures/torques/sand, the potential higher temperatures, and the variable viscosities mean that progressive cavity types have less chance to be successful when compared to the experience available with centrifugal pumps Ram Pump A Ram Pump has been tried in the pad emulsion service, but the seals have not been successful although the problem is being worked on. The extreme cost of this type also requires close attention to operational economics of the control and min flow valves, etc required for centrifugal vs the Ram installation, The potential greater ease of operation and simplified control for parallel pumping at different pressures and variable viscosities make the PD type pump option very attractive. The industry just needs one to be designed that can be technically successful and economically attractive.