CASE STUDY PROGRESSING CAVITY PUMPS

Case study

▪ The Patos-Marinza Heavy Oil Field, located in southern Albania, was

discovered in 1928. The reservoir, with oil specific gravity ranging from
0.86 to 1.05 (3 to 33 o API), contains one of the largest onshore oil
resources in continental Europe.
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▪ Primary production commenced in the 1930s and reached a peak rate of

over 3,300 m3 /d in the late 1950s. By June 2004, over 2,400 wells had
been drilled, at an average spacing of about 3.6 hectares , and cumulative
oil production amounted to about 19 million m3 . However, the expected
ultimate oil recovery by primary recovery was only about 6% of the
original-oil-in-place (‘OOIP’).
▪ As of mid 2004, under new operatorship, an aggressive campaign of well
interventions and application of CHOP technology has been implemented
Case study

▪ Cold heavy oil production with sand (CHOPS) involves the deliberate
initiation of sand influx during the completion procedure, maintenance of
sand influx during the productive life of the well, and implementation of
methods to separate the sand from the oil for disposal. No sand exclusion
devices (screens, liners, gravel packs, etc.) are used. The sand is produced
along with oil, water, and gas and separated from the oil before upgrading
to a synthetic crude.
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When a new well is completed, initial sand

influx is large: 10 to 40% of the volume of
the (gas-free) produced liquids and solids.
Over a period of a few days to several
months, the sand rate gradually decays
toward a steady-state influx rate (0.5 to
10%), depending on oil viscosity.
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The oil production rate

increases to a maximum several
months or more after placing
the well on production and then
slowly declines as reservoir-
depletion effects begin to
dominate.
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All CHOPS production is

accompanied by substantial gas
production, and gas/oil ratio
(GOR) values tend to remain
relatively consistent over many
years.
Short-term sand influx rates
and oil production rates
fluctuate chaotically about the
mean value.
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▪ Because there were no development programs in this field, the existing

data are very weak. For example there are no reservoir rock properties,
and the reservoir fluids properties are not accurate. So there are some
uncertainties in using these data. Also some required data like oil
formation volume factor was estimated. But it was tried that the using
data were close to real values. The used data in this study is presented in
Table 2. These data are prepared from previous studies and some of them
were calculated or estimated
Case study

▪ there is no production in the well (MD-6). This is because of low reservoir

pressure and high oil specific gravity. Figure 2 is the representative of IPR
and OPR curves for well MD-6 in natural flow conditions. It is clear that
with these conditions, there is no stable intersection between two curves,
so there is no oil production. As a result, some sort of artificial lift is
needed.
▪ Beam (Rod) Pump Design The suggested Pump Plunger Size will be 1 3/4
in. or 1 1/2 in. based on fluid production of 200 bbl/d and 700 m net lift of
fluid. The various effective plunger stroke and pumping speed is
calculated. The relative design that can be applied for this well is
tabulated in Table 3. With the above designs, the 200 bbl/d production
rate and minimum of 900 m oil lifting can be gained. Also various sucker
rods exists for this purpose that based on the torsion and tension
parameters and also economic criteria, the best design can be presented.
However it must be noted that this method of artificial lift has high risk
for these well conditions. Because the previous studies show that this
method of artificial lift has some failures against present conditions
(especially in their valves) and some modification is necessary for using it.
▪ Finally, this method of
artificial lift can not be used
for the proposed conditions,
because of no safe
intersection point of IPR and
OPR curves and also high risk
and failure in using ESP in
heavy crude recovery in other
fields. Also it must be noted
that ESP usually is used for