American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2017 - 50

SpecialReport: Industry In Motion
FIGURE 2
Eagle Ford Well Asphaltene Case History
Chemical
Shut Off
600
Pre-Tool Installation

Installation of
Five Tools

WORKOVER

300

WORKOVER

400
WORKOVER

Oil Production (bbl/d)

500

After Tool Installation

200

100

0
J

A
Time (months)

whenever the rods are pulled and without
pulling tubing.
The plunger lift tool can be installed
in a flowing well or in a plunger-lift
well. There are two installation options:
on top of the seating nipple in a stationary
position using an adaptor, or below the
seating nipple on the bumper spring assembly. When installed above the seating
nipple, a bumper spring assembly is installed by wireline on a slip-stop or collar-stop assembly above the tool.
The tools work in virtually any well
that experiences deposition and/or heavy
oil viscosity issues, including vertical, directional, horizontal, dual-completions,
steam-assisted gravity drainage, water
source and water injection wells. They
work with free-flowing wells, gas-lifted
wells and with nearly any pumping system.
Each application is customized for specific
wells depending on tubing size and fluid
volume. The tools typically are run below
the pump intake or above the pump discharge, or in the case of a flowing well, as
a tail joint at the end of the tubing string.

improvement has been seen in both lowand high-production volume new wells
and stripper wells in mature fields.
Figure 1 shows the "before" and "after"
results of installing a series of five tubing
sub tools below the depth of initial paraffin
crystallization in a free-flowing well in
Venezuela. Production rose dramatically
after the sub tools were installed. In fact,
production from the well increased so
FIGURE 3

Canadian Well Heavy Oil Case History
RPMs

Downhole Tool Installation

-95%

Pre-Downhole
Tool

Fluid Level
in Well

WORKOVER

significantly that a choke reduction was
required following the workover and tool
installation. The technology increased
paraffin solubility and decreased pour
point enough to withstand the up-well
decreases in temperature and pressure.
This minimized paraffin crystallization
and deposition, yielding produced oil
higher in paraffin than in samples collected
prior to tool installation.
The Eagle Ford Shale well shown in
Figure 2 was requiring high-frequency
workovers to mediate problems associated
with asphaltene and paraffin buildup.
Five downhole rod pump strainer tools
were installed in the well below the depth
of initial paraffin crystallization, and asphaltene flocculation and deposition. The
tools continued to stabilize production
after the chemical injection system was
shut off. The well yielded oil samples
that were higher in asphaltene than pretool oil samples because of a decrease in
asphaltene flocculation and deposition.
In the artificially lifted Canadian oil
well shown in Figure 3, a rod pump
strainer tool was installed below the depth
of initial paraffin crystallization and asphaltene flocculation/deposition. The
usual viscosity increase that had occurred
as oil flowed upward in the wellbore to
lower ambient temperatures was prevented.
This caused an 86 percent increase in ef-

+46%

Efficiency

Downhole Tool

+86%

Well Case Histories

Nanofluidity tools have been applied
in diverse geological and reservoir conditions around the world to improve fluid
viscosity and effectively combat perennial
asphaltene, paraffin, scale, heavy oil-and
most recently-bound oil, problems. This
50 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

Oil
Production
+28%
1

20
Time (days)

American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2017

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