American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2016 - 80

SpecialReport: Artificial Lift Technology
"The great thing is that we will not
need to lay off a single employee because
of this process," Rutledge comments.
"We have two assembly lines, so once
we finish one line, we will start refitting
the other, and then put half of our people
on each one. That will give us more than
enough people to run both lines when
the market comes back."
Rutledge adds that the company will
have a higher total capacity. He says he
expects to continue to see relatively strong
demand because fiberglass rods address
the two biggest expenses for a rod-pumped
well: electricity consumption and workover
costs. "Because fiberglass rods weigh
much less than steel, they reduce electricity
costs 15-30 percent. We have not had a
single stress corrosion failure, so we also
are reducing workover costs.
"Because they stretch, fiberglass rods
have a longer stroke than steel rods," he
continues. "With the right amount of
weight on bottom and strokes per minute,
we can take a 120-inch stroke at surface
and turn it into a 130- or 140-inch stroke
at the pump, which equates to producing
more fluid with each upstroke."
Pumping Horizontal Wells
In a rod-pumped horizontal well, it is
ideal to keep the pump above the curve's
kickoff point as long as possible, says
Brian Ellithorp, an adviser to Echometer
Company and owner of Ellithorp Energy

Services. "We could push the pump into
the horizontal, but that likely would accelerate wear not only in the pump, but
also on the rod string and the tubulars,"
he warns.
Unfortunately, Ellithorp says, it can
be difficult to keep a pump that is positioned above the kickoff point full. "Even
what we consider a very straight lateral
'porpoises' enough to create low points
that collect liquids and high points that
trap gas, so the pump has to deal with
gas slugging even at relatively low average
gas-to-liquid ratios," he explains. "It is
possible to fight through slugs with the
right variable speed drive and pump-off
control configurations, but eventually, the
operator ends turning the pump on and
off so frequently that it may be virtually
a necessity to put the pump into the
curve."
To fill the pump more consistently
and extend the period it can stay above
the curve, Echometer developed the Ultimate Production System™, Ellithorp
relates. The earliest concept was tested
with a large independent.
"The system helped the independent
realize incremental production from Permian Basin wells by an average of 18
barrels a day and 40 Mcf a day in 16 test
wells, and by 10 bbl/d and 77 Mcf/d in
another with five test wells. In only three
months, the system increased those wells'
cumulative production by 10,000 barrels

To keep rod pumps above the
kickoff point as long as possible-
and therefore minimize wear and
tear on the pump, rod string and
tubulars-Echometer offers the Ultimate Production SystemTM. This
new approach combines a tailpipe
that reduces the flowing bottomhole pressure with an efficient
gravity-based separator designed
to keep gas out of the pump.

80 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

and 21 million cubic feet," he reports.
"Another set of 27 wells selected for
a pre-emptive pull program saw excellent
results," Ellithorp continues. "Even with
oil around $40 at the time, the independent
saw a 450 percent rate of return on the
investment and reduced its lease operating
expenses by $1.40 per barrel of oil equivalent."
According to Ellithorp, the system
has three key components. "The first is a
diverter gas separator," he begins. "It
runs on the tubing string and diverts gas
out an upper discharge port while taking
solid fluid in through a lower intake. The
second is an isolator run below the separator, which forces both gas and liquid to
flow into and through the separator, out
the upper discharge port, and into the
casing annulus, where the gas rises and
the liquid falls. The liquid then is pulled
into the lower intake, back upward through
the inner tube, and into the pump so it
can be lifted to surface.
"The gravity-based separator has a
high capacity and does a great job of
keeping gas out of the pump," Ellithorp
says. "By itself, it masks the slugs, but it
does not solve the underlying problem
of inconsistent fluid delivery."
To tackle that challenge, Echometer's
system includes the third critical component, a specifically sized and placed
tailpipe. "By reducing the area the production stream passes through, the small
tailpipe increases the gas's and liquids'
flowing velocity. More importantly, it reduces the produced mix's gas void fraction,
which makes the fluid delivery more consistent. It also lightens the liquid column
so that it flows more reliably out of the
lateral and is easier to pump," Ellithorp
says.
"In many applications, the pipe can
reduce the pumping bottom-hole pressure
by 150-200 psi," he reports. "Coupled
with the separator, this lets the pump remain in the vertical section much longer,
compared with using a standard 'poor
boy' or similar style gas separator with
no tailpipe. The net effect is that the operator can achieve similar pressures as if
pumping from much lower, without all
the wear and tear, failures and downtime."
Getting the most from the system requires careful thought, Ellithorp advises.
"The concept seems simple, but to get
the highest returns, the tailpipe and separator need to be sized and placed correctly.
The tailpipe's intake has to be at the right
American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2016

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