Artificial Lift: How to Drive Cost Down and Get the Most Out of the Ground

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Artificial Lift:
How to Drive Cost Down and Get the Most Out of the Ground

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INTECH Process Automation Inc., 4903 W. Sam Houston Parkway N. Suite A-100, Houston, TX 77041, USA. Tel: +1 713 849 1000, Fax: +1 713 856 0785

Artificial Lift: How to Drive Cost Down and Get the Most Out of the Ground
Everyone knows the price of crude is driving the
market in 2016. Many would argue its also driving
them crazy. Operators have never felt greater
pressure to reduce production costs.
Todays oilfield is survival of the fittest. Operators
that rigorously work to drive costs down are the
only ones that remain competitive or simply
profitable.
This pressure is significantly greater on fields that
must rely on artificial lift systems, which affects
most onshore production.
Optimized artificial lift automation solutions are
designed to help operators achieve cost and
production goals with minimal effort and losses.

Pump Off Controller (POC)

Pump-off controller applications help to
increase productivity and extend the life of new
installations, while also providing upgrades to
existing installations.
These solutions are standalone applications.
They display dynamometer card information and
provide information about individual rod pumps in
a system using project configurations.
The greatest strength in a POC application is
accessibility. Small independents with a single rig
or two can deploy them on individual units, and
larger operators can deploy them at the enterprise
dispatch level.
Remote data collection allows operators to
react more efficiently to realtime changes in
their production environment. This greatly
reduces the maintenance and running cost
while simultaneously providing optimum pump
performance.

Gas Lift Optimization

For day-to-day production operations, the
objectives include maximizing daily oil production
rate to meet production targets and minimizing
production costs.

A typical gas lift optimization problem is how

to distribute a limited amount of gas among a
number of production wells.
Look for ways to allocate lift gas and ensures you
meet production targets in the most efficient way
possible.
The application should analyze the performance
of existing wells, then use mathematical modeling
to identify dependencies between oil production
and lift gas injection rates.
By using available gas more efficiently, you can
allocate the optimal gas lift rate and increase
overall oil production. When you combine injection
and gas-lift flow management with reliable
monitoring parameters increased reservoir
productivity follows.
Optimal solutions should be specifically designed
for robust environments. Also be sure to find
solutions that are easy to install, quickly scale,
easily integrate with SCADA, and enable faster
commissioning.
Flexibility is another critical consideration. Can
you configure over both wired and wireless
networks? Can you specify requirements across
the board?
Customization creates efficiencies. Pass on
solutions that dont give you full control to ring out
inefficiencies at every turn.

Algorithms - Garbage in, Out

The oilfield is a race against time. Your well
production schedule is everything. If you reduce
the time between acreage acquisition and first oil,
you dramatically reduce cost per barrel.
Look for applications that can drive reservoir life
up and downtime down.
The best automated solutions arent created in a
vacuum. They need to be backed by historical data
and modeled on pure data, not gut instinct.
This is where algorithms and machine learning
come in. As hard as it is to admit, we oilmen have
a finite capacity for data processing. Machines

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Artificial Lift: How to Drive Cost Down and Get the Most Out of the Ground
dont have this problem.
Much like C-3PO, they run on protocol. However,
as they say in the computer world, Garbage in,
garbage out.
Just because someone graduates doesnt mean
they know how to efficiently model a reservoir.
Automated solutions should always use algorithms
which are informed by decades of production
experience.
Without a proven track record over years, you can
never be sure a program is going to do the job.
Because algorithms are only as good as their
designers.

The Best Defense Is A Good Offence

Artificial lift is an area thats ripe for automated
optimization. With the right solution, you can get
maximum production efficiency without damaging
equipment or reducing reservoir life.
Properly deployed algorithms provide protection
against:

Fluid Pound
Gas Interference
Over Pumping Your Well
Rod Hammer Damage (Up or Down)

This doesnt just enhance equipment life. It also

reduces system outages, brings down OPEX costs,
and creates improved cost of production.
With remote real-time monitoring and checks,
system operators can quickly react to any
unpredicted outage or catastrophic asset
breakdown.

Control Loop Performance Optimization

Control loop performance optimization solutions
provide tools that identify production issues
and optimize plant-wide performance. These
applications help you analyze and diagnose
instrumentation performance, PID controllers, and
Multi-variable predictive controllers.

CLPO adds a new layer of transparency in data

processing.
It provides Key Performance Indicator (KPI)
calculations for different control states. Since
CLPO creates an environment for automated
control loop monitoring on regular basis, it
supports extended process optimization.
In turn, you have full control to fine-tune the
solution over time. This extendability helps you
prioritize resources, which creates cascading
benefits across your operation.
Reduced production variability leads to better plant
productivity, which improves reliability and reduces
maintenance costs. This naturally helps plants
operate closer to process design limits, driving up
efficiency and throughput.

Redundancy - The Bad Kind

Every business has redundant processes that
need to be eliminated. Given the extraordinary high
stakes of drilling for oil and the historic low prices
we face today, eliminating redundant processes is
mission critical.
CLPO helps you avoid abnormal process
conditions.
Without it, you run the risk of collateral damage
from inefficient plant conditions. The goal is to
eliminates control-related shutdowns and optimize
oil production.
When you dont have to keep your eye on individual
control loops, youre free to monitor and manage
your entire operation. When you can see the forest
and the trees, all of your loops work in harmony
to reduce the chance of process incidents and
improve production rates.
Predictive modeling is perhaps the greatest
advantage of CLPO environments.
Again, working on raw data and not gut-instincts,
CLPO performs predictive loop assessments.
This resolves loop problems that could have been
detected during work hours and prevents costly
evening and weekend call-outs.

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Artificial Lift: How to Drive Cost Down and Get the Most Out of the Ground

Alarms Management Solutions

Alarm management solutions minimize incidents
from bad alarm configuration.
When youre solving for alarm management,
be sure the solution classifies, prioritizes, and
optimizes alarms. Keeping a finger on the pulse
of this data will generate useful information for
operators.
With the right alarm management solution, you
should be immediately alerted when potentially
damaging incidents occur to the plant and
environment. Failures here can offset a large

portion of your plants past profitability.

Justifying the cost of an alarm management
system can be a challenging task. Internal
champions face uphill battles convincing senior
level plant management that they should invest in
advanced alarm management strategies.
If you want to successfully sell a strategic
investment internally, dont focus on the
technology. Focus on the business. Present a true
business case for risk management investment.
Here are five areas to help focus your case around
business objectives and their corresponding
benefits.

Area

Benefits

Safety

Reduced risk from incidents and human injury.

Unplanned Downtime

Avoids plant shutdown, lost product, and associated costs.

Information Management Avoids nuisance alarms, improved fault tracing.

Role of the Operator

Creates a data-driven workforce and gives operators more time to focus on the
process.

Top-down buy-in is essential here.

For a successful alarm strategy implementation
you must get commitment from everyone; from
plant management all the way down to employees
on the frontline.

You cant put a price on human life. While it pales

in comparison to the cost of a single fatal incident,
unscheduled shut downs cost $10M in damages
per incident.

Generally speaking, people move away from pain

much faster than toward pleasure.

Operational error is the single largest driver of

unscheduled shut-downs. Use these facts and the
business drivers listed above to build your case.

Highlight the risks associated with relying

on inefficient, outdated, or nonexistent alarm
strategies; poor quality, lost production time,
damage to assets, and - worst of all - endangering
the life of your crew.

Once everyone is onboard, be sure to clearly

communicate the goals and objectives of your
strategy to all stakeholders, including operations,
engineering, and plant management.

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Artificial Lift: How to Drive Cost Down and Get the Most Out of the Ground

YOU WANT TO WORK HERE, CLOSE!

Ask anyone in the industry and they will unequivocally tell you the people in oil and gas are
what makes this the greatest industry on earth.
Oilmen are outstandingly reasonable people.
When you present a technical problem to them and the corresponding solution, youve
got their attention. When you present a business problem and the corresponding revenue
outcomes, youve got their interest.

DISCOVER HOW TO DRIVE DOWN COST IN YOUR OPERATIONS

OFFER FOR OIL AND GAS THIS WEEK LISTENERS ONLY
INTECH Process Automation has been a renowned system integrator and automation solution
provider in the global oil and gas sector for more than 20 years.
We are not a typical system integrator.
Our broad automation solution product portfolio, technical skills, knowledge and expertise
around equipment from all major OEMs means you get an asset-application specific approach
to solution design.

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Just a little note to say well done. I have been very impressed with your first rotation, you have
shown excellent skills, as well as great work ethic and one of the most important things I watch for,
is how you get on in the team - and this has also been first class. You should be very proud.
- Chevron

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