SPE-184215-MS

Hybrid System of ESP and Gas Lift Application from Conceptual Design
Pilot Test to System Analysis

S. T. Tran, H. V. Vu, V. M. Le, T. N. Nguyen, and L. H. Nguyen, Lamson Joint Operating Company; P. Prajunla, GE
Oil & Gas Inc.; H. M. H. Dong, Eastsea Star Company

Copyright 2016, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Middle East Artificial Lift Conference and Exhibition held in Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain, 30 November-1
December 2016.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents
of the paper have not been reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect
any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written
consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may
not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of SPE copyright.

Abstract
Artificial lift technology application in heavy oil production has been a far-reaching development in the
industry over past decades guided by persistent efforts to improve the ultimate recovery of this "difficult"
hydrocarbon. Heavy oil discovery in a marginal field, Cuu Long Basin, Offshore Vietnam is relatively
aberrant and pose challenges to full field development. A series of systematic technical studies has been
purposely planned from the first discovery of heavy oil in the wildcat well to the modeling study and
facility design to accommodate the viscous fluid over the field life. Apart from the thermal method, pumping
technology makes remarkable advance by enlarging the drawdown created over the conventional gas lift
in several heavy oil projects. After due consideration, the Electrical Submersible Pump (ESP) was finally
decided as the key driver to reinforce well production performance. Moreover, the gas lift has been brought
in as a backup in case of pump failure which is not only to prolong well life, save workover expenditure
but also boost production if operating in hybrid mode.
This paper presents sequential events from the conceptual study to pilot test hybrid ESP/Gas lift system
and ultimately the inflow/outflow curves analysis. A proper system analysis of the inflow/outflow curves is
indispensable to model the outflow curve above the pump where the aid of gas lift complicated the upward
flow and to generate the lift curves used in reservoir simulation. The pilot test of this electro-gas system to
Well A has shown about 30% liquid production increment with lesser pump energy consumed and flexibility
in control operating point. The early results promise further extension to the remaining ESP wells to enhance
field production.

Introduction
The combination of Electrical Submersible Pump (ESP) and Gas lift (GL) has been firstly used in a viscous
oil in marginal filed, Cuu Long Basin, offshore Vietnam. The field was found commercially via three wildcat
wells with a wide range of formation and fluid properties. Its development concept is depicted in Figure 1
in which heavy oil producers in Platform B will be the candidate for artificial lift optimization. Three pay
zones were discovered in the Middle Miocene Upper - Lower Con Son formations (BII.2.20, BII.2.30, and
BII.1.10) in wildcat wells 1, 2 and 3 as stacked channel sandstones trapped. Each gross sandstone package
2 SPE-184215-MS

is about 30-40m thick, capped above by 10-30m of shale/clay stones. Figure 2 illustrates the vertical cross
section over the wildcat wells. The diverse in fluid properties (20.50 API to 350API) posed difficulty in
selecting production technology method to enhance wellbore lifting efficiency.

Figure 1—Field layout

Figure 2—Reservoir cross section over three wildcat wells

SPE-184215-MS 3

A systematic approach to studying all artificial lift methodology has been performed in order to select the
most suitable/productive producing method. The main purpose of studying is by looking into all reservoir
conditions and production requirements as shown in Table 1, and it has come out by following:

Table 1—Reservoir conditions and production requirements for pump sizing

Parameter Value

Reservoir Pressure 1946 – 2,192 psia

Reservoir Temperature 171 – 174, deg. F
Tubing Head Pressure 250 psia
Pump Measured Depth 4,406 – 4,987 ft
Designed Rate 1,500 bbl/day

Gravity 20.50 API

Viscosity @ pump depth 8.9 cp
PI 3-4 bbl/psi/d
Total GOR 5-10 scf/STB
Water Cut 0%-90%

– Maximize the overall lifting efficiency of the wells

– Accelerate production by applying more aggressive pressure drawdown
– A thorough understand of the system analysis for future field-wide application
A production technology study which imposed multidiscipline data from the reservoir, well to surface
facility, was carried out to best select the reservoir candidate and appropriate artificial lift method in the Field
Development Plan. For this particular reservoir, the process is depicted in Figure 3. Several technologies
were considered including PCP, EPCP but ESP was the final selection based on its technology advancement
well fit to the reservoir conditions, development concept, increasing oil production by lowering bottomhole
flowing pressure and increasing reserve by lowering abandonment pressure. Reservoir simulation forecasted
5 percent addition in recoverable reserve with the ESP application over GL.

Figure 3—Artificial lift selection criterion

The study has come out with results that ESPs are the best-suited lifting method for all well conditions
and requirements in the Dong Do Field. Compared to traditional and familiar lifting methods, generally
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gas lift in Vietnam oilfields, ESPs can provide higher production rates to compensate for the declining oil
production and increasing water cut. More importantly, the dual system ESP and Gas lift takes into account
that this combination provides a wide operating range, allowing individual operation of the primary, the
secondary and the combined system, reaching the optimal technical and economic performance while the
combined system is operating. The long-term benefits are a reduction in production downtime and flexible
capacity to ramp up production where necessary.
However, there are also some concerns related to the run life of ESP. For instance, the production of
solids as is the nature of shallow and unconsolidated reservoirs, if not managed properly, will potentially
lead to a reduction in run life. Therefore, a rigorous geometric and sand control study during the completion
design phase were performed beforehand to ensure sand free fluid flow in the wellbore. The other major
concern is in the case of an ESP failure, it will cause a large drop in production until the ESP is retrieved
and replaced. In this case, the GL system as a backup will play a key role to partially compensate for this
production loss during the time waiting for the ESP replacement.

Conceptual Design
Figure 4 shows equipment string where GL system is placed above ESP packer to provide a backup system
as well as optimization capability in case of simultaneously producing by both ESP and GL. The design and
selection of ESP system are evaluated by taking the well test and potential change of reservoir parameter
into consideration. With respect to the ESP, Figure 5 shows pump VSD curve per stage of selected pump,
the compression pump with a suitable operating range to achieve the target production rate (1,500 bpd) was
selected to efficiently drive the viscous fluid up to the surface by using the benefits of a mixed flow stage
design. With the candidate well having low GOR (approx. 10 scf/stb) and the intake pressure is far from
bubble point pressure (approx. 100 psi), a gas separator is not required for this case and a conventional
intake with the pump is sufficient to work well with zero percent free gas into the pump. Two tandem
L/2BP type seals were selected providing sufficient chamber expansion capability and thrust load capacity.
A motor with intake and discharge sensors provided a real-time-view of ESP performance as well as the
downhole operating conditions. Corrosive resistant housing material was used to for the ESP equipment
to better withstand the environment. Surface equipment; which is also significant system to control ESP
downhole system; Active Front End (AFE); Variable Speed Drive (VSD) was used to be key controller
offering the capability to optimize the production by adjusting ESP operating frequency in order to obtain
optimum production with a smaller footprint required on the offshore platform than a conventional VSD.
The pump sizing resulted in the number of stages varied either 37ea or 60ea, depending on reservoir and
individual well conditions.
SPE-184215-MS 5

Figure 4—A typical Dong Do ESP well completion schematic

Figure 5—Selected pump VSD curve per stage

Installation phase
From the day of finalizing equipment to meet all requirements until the readiness of equipment in the
operational facility, the transition to the operational phase, the execution plan (as described in Figure 6
Operational execution process) was made in order to shape and secure that all on-going process were in
line with the schedule and target. Surface equipment was first installed on the wellhead platform and pre-
commissioning of the equipment was also performed to ensure equipment functioned as it was designed.
Downhole equipment was systematically tested with other related equipment making sure all components
properly fit with each other without any sign of potential risk and failure during installation and operation.
Equally important was installing all combined system components into the well with proper and safe manner
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as planned. Starting up the well to achieve production within optimized condition and designed operating
range.

Figure 6—Operational execution process

Five (5) wells have been successfully installed with ESP downhole equipment as shown in Table 2 –
Installation records in which all wells have been efficiently operating within pump recommended operating
range in order to prolong run life and performance. Some of the wells have been simultaneously operating
ESP and GL and have resulted in incremental production along with a reduction of Horsepower (HP)
consumed.

Table 2—ESP installation records

Well Installation date AL method

Well #1 May 2015 Electro-gas
Well #2 June 2015 Electro-gas
Well #3 June 2015 Electro-gas
Well #4 June 2014 ESP
Well #5 August 2014 ESP

Pilot Test
The pilot test was conducted successfully on three wells since May 2015. Both wells saw instantly
incremental oil gained to date. For the purpose of examining the hybrid ESP/GL application, Well #3
was selected and denoted as well A through the succeeding sections. Figure 7 illustrates the production
performance of well A at the ESP only and hybrid mode. With identical system settings, it is apparent that
liquid rate increased from 1,340 bpd to around 1,740 bpd or 30 percent of liquid increment.
SPE-184215-MS 7

Figure 7—Production performance of well A

Well A was commenced on 3th July 2015 and on ESP mode at a frequency of 53 Hz. The initial rate
achieved 1,610 bopd with no water production. However, the first trace of produced water was recorded
after two-week on stream and water cut quickly ramped up to 40% within a month. ESP frequency was then
reduced to 49 Hz in an attempt to delay the increasing trend of water cut. Water cut then stabilized at around
50% while oil rate gradually dropped to 720 bopd. In mid of December, the well switched to the electro-
gas mode by injecting gas lift at 0.2 MMscf/d in conjunction with ESP frequency of 49 Hz. As electro-gas
was applied, well A performance showed improvement in term of incremental liquid of 30 percent.
It is apparent that the hybrid system at this specific condition is somehow comparable to a single ESP
running at 55 Hz. This fundamental finding is intriguing and important for reservoir engineer to make
the Vertical Lift Performance curves for reservoir simulation since no commercial software is capable of
modeling the hybrid ESP/GL application.

System Analysis
The gradient transverse plot is useful in addressing the pressure distribution along the tubing string and to
spot out the slope change at specific depth coincident with gas lift valves or pump depth. Examining the
gradient transverse plot for a well fitted with a hybrid ESP/GL system, it can be seen that there are four
points that characterize the shape of the curve; tubing head pressure, gas lift injection pressure, discharge
pressure, and intake pressure. In addition, the reservoir pressure is obtained via the pressure sensors mounted
at the bottom of the pump and accounting for the setting depth above the perforations. The relationship
between the parameters can be defined as follows.
Above the pump
Pd = THP + ΔPg1 + ΔPf1 + ΔPa1
And below the pump
Pwf = Pi + ΔPg2 + ΔPf2 + ΔPa2
Where (1) and (2) denoted for above and below the pump respectively
As mentioned in the previous section, there are three wells currently operating in electro-gas mode and it
is really necessary to be able to model these wells with the aim of potential production optimization during
8 SPE-184215-MS

the well life. There are many well-known software tools in the industry that are marketed as being capable
of performing ESP analysis and diagnosis. Unfortunately, most of them are virtually unable to model a dual
artificially lifted well, in this case, the ESP and GL combination. However, this challenge can be overcome
by constructing both artificial lift models separately, using the results of each to find a solution for both as
illustrated in Figure 8. One typical electro-gas well is modeled in two separate sections: ESP and GL, where
the output of the ESP section is the input of the GL section.

Figure 8—Hybrid ESP/GL model concept

– ESP section: this section is built with the ESP, tubing, and constructed only from reservoir to the
pump setting depth. After successfully modeling the well, well test data is used to perform matching.
– GL section: this section employs GL system with the reservoir being the output of the ESP section.
The model was built from the pump setting depth up to the wellhead with existing GL design. The
model in then verified by matching with production data.
The workflow presented in Figure 9 lists breakdown steps in matching individual ESP/GL Section and
finally the hybrid one against flow test data.
SPE-184215-MS 9

Figure 9—Hybrid ESP/GL calibration process

For the purpose of system analysis, flow test was conducted in the period from February to March 2016
where well A flowed stable at Frequency 49 Hz and water cut around 72 percent. Three flow test points were
examined systematically with (Test A) only ESP, (Test B) ESP and GL 0.2 MMscfd and (Test C) ESP and
GL 0.28 MMscf as illustrated in Table 3. It should be noted that 0.28 MMscfd is the max gas injection over
orifice 1/8" initially designed to unload the well when the ESP is down. The incremental liquid between
Test A and Test B is quite considerable around 30 percent and continues rising with more gas injected. In
similar, the power consumption also reduces slightly 2 percent as a result of a lighter fluid column above
pump created by gas lift injection.

Table 3—Summary well test points for system analysis

Test A Test B Test C

Liquid rates (stb/d) 1,340 1,740 1830

Water cut (%) 72 72 72

WHP (psig) 294 441 448

Gas lift rate (MMscfd) 0 0.2 0.28

Pd (psia) 2,140 2,060 2,052

Pi (psia) 1,670 1,650 1,664

Frequency (Hz) 49 49 49

HP (KVA) 31.8 31.2 31

In the ESP model section, the IPR curves at the reservoir depth and at the pump setting depth are showed
in Figure 10 below. The real well-test data are used in the matching process to ensure the model reflecting
the real condition. In this case, the ESP pump intake and discharge pressure at the setting depth, along with
production rate in the model coincided with well test date.
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Figure 10—The pressure transverse curve of the ESP Section

The ΔP across the pump is affected by frequency, flow rates, the number of stages, fluid properties, and
pump efficiency. The ΔP value is converted to head and plotted on the pump curve. As a result of reducing
density above the pump, the pairs of intake/discharge shifted downwards from 1,670 psia/2,140 psia with
only ESP to 1,650 psia/2,060 psia in the hybrid ESP/GL 0.2 MMscfd. This is feasible by tuning the PI
slightly higher (4.5 stbd/psi) than the original input. Note that the pump curve and head per stage would
change considerably to accommodate the declines in pump intake/discharge, the ΔP and increasing flow
rates even though the frequency is locked at 49 Hz. During the trial period, sometimes the ESP system
operating point dragged to the up-thrust region and out of the designed pump curve. Hence the recalibration
of pump curve is indispensable.
After having the output data, flow rate and pump discharge pressure will then be used as input in inflow
section in the GL model. In gas lift section, the model is built from pump setting depth up to the wellhead,
with the inflow model using input data from ESP model including pump discharge pressure and production
rates. The model is matched using well test data in electro-gas phase and illustrates the pressure transverse
plot in Figure 11. Since the PVT is assumed to be unchanged, the lesser fluid density forced the pump
discharge to reduce 80 psia while THP increases 154 psi (from 294 psia to 448 psia). There is a modest rise
in pressure and flow rates when injecting more gas.
SPE-184215-MS 11

Figure 11—The pressure transverse curve of the GL Section

After completing both models for ESP and GL, the final step is to couple them into one model to identify
system response in a certain trend that could be further extended to higher gas lift rates and applicable to
another well. The analysis is also valuable for production optimization, production forecast, and reservoir
simulation. The system analysis of the testing period is detailed in Figure 12 where sets of inflow curves
extracted from the ESP section model and the outflow from the GL section model.
12 SPE-184215-MS

Figure 12—System analysis of the hybrid ESP/GL system

With increasing gas lift injection, the system responded comparable to the increase of the frequency of
the system with ESP and no GL in terms of incremental liquid rates but contrary in the ΔP. Let’s look back
to Figure 7 in the period July to August 2015 in which well A was operated with solely the ESP. The well
had been producing at liquid rate 1,730 bpd but with the ESP frequency up to 55 Hz. Apparently, the pump
had to work harder, consumed more power to deliver such flow rates. The inflow/outflow response of the
hybrid ESP/GL system is favorable to the ESP run life in the sense of making less ΔP across the pump, 470
psia at no GL down to 388 psia at GL 0.28 MMscfd, but still able to lift more. Mathematically, with that
three dataset, it is possible to predict the system response when increasing frequency and/or gas lift rates.
This way we may even run the pump with exceeding its max frequency 58 Hz without replacing the new
pump, lower bottomhole pressure and considerably improve well deliverability.

Conclusions
Marginal fields require cost-effective and high-efficiency concepts to maximize revenues and make the
project economic. The pathway to the installation of the ESP in this field was challenging but rewarding as
it was the first ever successful application in Vietnam and brings enormous benefits for the company.

• Prudent studying reservoir performance is essential to understand the specifics of the flow
dynamics to assist concept selection.
SPE-184215-MS 13

• Dual artificial lift systems help reducing production downtime and provide the flexible capacity
to ramp up production when necessary.
• Injecting gas lift lightens the fluid column above the pump making changes in the fluid properties,
leading to less ΔP across the pump and enhances pump run life.
• The hybrid application in the testing period results in 30 percent liquid rate increment while the
power energy required is 2 percent less than solely ESP when injecting gas lift at rate 0.28 MMscfd.
• The electro-gas system allows the pump operated beyond its designed frequency/flow rates which
ultimately result in a cost saving of replacing the new pump and improve oil recovery factor.

Acknowledgement
The authors gratefully acknowledge Lamson Joint Operating Company, GE Oil and Gas Inc. and Eastsea
Star Software Company for various supports and permission to publish this work.

Nomenclature
PI = Productivity Index (bpd/psi)
Pd = discharge pressure (psi)
Pi = intake pressure (psi)
L/2BP = Labyrinth series Two Paralleled Bags
THP = tubing head pressure (psi)
ΔPg = hydrostatic head (gravity pressure loss in psi)
ΔPf = frictional pressure loss (psi)
ΔPa = acceleration pressure loss (psi)
Pwf = bottomhole flowing pressure (psi)
Pr = reservoir pressure (psi)
Q = well flowrate in stock tank barrels liquid (stbl/day)
PCP = Progressing Cavity Pump
EPCP = Electric Progressive Cavity Pump
VSD = Variable Speed Drive
AFE = Active Front End

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MEALF, 2008.
Mahmoud A. Rafea, Maharon Bin Jadid, Ibrahim B. Subari, M. Nazli Abu Talib, Patrick von Pattay, Daniel Saenz,
Selection Criteria for Artificial Lift Technique in Bokor Field, IPTC-12029-MS, 2008.
Qahtani, A. A., Electric Submersible Pump (ESP) Selection Optimization: A Reservoir Engineering Outlook, MEALF,
2007.
A. J. (Sandy) Williams, "Demystifying ESPs: A Technique to Make Your ESP Talk to You", ESP Workshop Houston, 2000.