PETE 409: Artificial Lift

3 credits
Three 50-minute lectures per week

King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals

Semester 161 (Fall 2016)

Instructor
Rahul Gajbhiye
Department of Petroleum Engineering
 INTRODUCTION

Course Information and Policies

 General Information

Instructor:
Name :Rahul Gajbhiye
Office :03-219-2
E-mail: rahulg@kfupm.edu.sa
Tel. : 013-860 (2511)
Lectures:
PETE-409 (01): 8:00 – 8:50 (UTR)
Location: 6-165
Office Hours: TBD
 General Information

Books:
Volumes of Technology of Artificial
Lift Method By Kermit Brown
Production System Analysis By M. J.
Economides
Petroleum Production Engineering By
Guo and Ghalambhor
General Information
 General Information

Reference Books:
Brown, Kermit E. (1980). The Technology of Artificial Lift Methods, Volumes 1, 2a

and 2b. Tulsa, OK: PennWell Publishing Co.

Brown, Kermit E. (1982). “Overview of Artificial Lift Systems.” Journal of

Petroleum Technology, Vol. 34, No. 10. Richardson, TX: Society of Petroleum

Engineers.

Clegg, J.D., Bucaram, S.M. and Hein, N.W. Jr. (1993). “Recommendations and

Comparisons for Selecting Artificial Lift Methods.” Journal of Petroleum

Technology (December), p. 1128. Richardson, TX: Society of Petroleum Engineers.

 Evaluation Components

Method of Evaluation:
Attendance and Participation: 6%
Homework assignments: 10%
Quizzes: 06%
Field Visit: 03%
Term project:10%
Exam 1: 20%
Exam 2: 20%
Final exam: 25%
Total: 100%
 Prerequisite

Prerequisite: Senior Standing

Background in:PETE205: Petroleum Fluid Properties

Familiarity with: Production system and
Reservoir Engineering
Software that are used in calculations, excel
and visual-basic will be of great use. Knowledge
of PIPESIM.
 Course Policies

Academic Integrity:
No Collaboration is allowed in doing HWs, you must present your
own work!
Make sure you understand Plagiarism:
“the practice of claiming or implying original authorship of (or
incorporating material from) someone else's written or creative work, in
whole or in part, into one's own without adequate acknowledgement”.

Copyright:
“All the material generated in the course are copyrighted.”
Prior permission from the instructor is needed for copying or
distributing the course material.
 Course Contents

Topics No. of Lec.

Introduction 1
Basics of Artificial Lift: Analysis and Applications 2
Artificial Lift Methods 3
Rod Pumps 3
Sucker Rod Pumps 6
Progressive Cavity Pumps 3
Downhole Pumps 6
Gas Lift 8
Plunger Lift 6
Selection of Artificial Lift Methods 3
Project and Exam 4
Course Contents
 Why do you need artificial Lift?

Well/Reservoir Pressure declines with time/production-

Primary Recovery
Secondary Recovery
Tertiary Recovery

Production rates needs to be maintained  Economics

Keep Production  Economics not important,
keep producing well
 Why do you need artificial Lift?

Operators Priority  increase production

and decrease cost
How to achieve it:
Proper Planning Prevent Poor Performance

Artificial lift is one of the methods used to address

production requirements in order to improve ultimate
recovery for a field or well. However, artificial lift systems
are wide and varied, and the key is to not necessarily
choose the easiest, but to select the most appropriate method.
 Why do you need artificial Lift?

There are multiple ways to increase field and or well

productivity.
These include:
Artificial lift
Waterflooding
Chemical injection
Enhanced oil recovery (EOR)
 IPR

A well never actually attains its absolute flow potential, because in

order for it to flow, Pwf must exceed the backpressure that the
producing fluid exerts on the formation as it moves through the
production system. This backpressure or bottomhole pressure has the
following components:
• Hydrostatic pressure of the producing fluid column
• Friction pressure caused by fluid movement through
the tubing, wellhead and surface equipment
• Kinetic or potential losses due to diameter restrictions,
pipe bends or elevation changes.
 Artificial Lift

Artificial lift is a means of overcoming bottomhole pressure so that

a well can produce at some desired rate, either by injecting gas into
the producing fluid column to reduce its hydrostatic pressure, or
using a downhole pump to provide additional lift pressure downhole.

We tend to associate artificial lift with mature, depleted fields, where

Pavg has declined such that the reservoir can no longer produce under
its natural energy. But these methods are also used in younger fields
to increase production rates and improve project economics.