Rod Selection Criteria for Improving Performance in Progressive Cavity Pump and Sucker Rod Pump Systems in the Cira Infantas Field

Abstract

Abstract Rod Pumping and Progressive Cavity Pumping Artificial Lift Systems have sucker rods as one of their main components exposed to failure. Given the different available brands, metallurgies and even conventional or unconventional options, a necessity emerged to develop an analysis that integrated the concepts of production engineering, artificial lift engineering, corrosion engineering, metallurgic engineering and reliability with failure history and different additional calculations, to conform a tool capable of statistically predict what type of sucker rod to use on each well according to specific characteristics. Towards September of 2016 in La Cira Infantas Field sucker rod failures reach around 150, which were associated to corrosive fluids and wear-friction between the tubing and the sucker rod. The analysis had a mathematical-statistical approach with mainly predictive characteristics based on the historic behavior of the wells and associated to different parameters of the production and operation fluids. This set of variables returned a specific behavior in some cases better than others when using certain types of materials. Once obtained all parameters of the study, it was stablished a valuation of the different sucker rods used on the field. The result of the analysis was the matrix of selection of the sucker rods with best performance, this gave way to the unification and standardization of the different sucker rods to use depending on the conditions and scenarios that they will exposed and submitted to on each particular well of the La Cira Infantas field. This allows to take short- and long-term action plans, where budget proposals can be reviewed, which will be reflected on the failure index decrease and a better technical-economical evaluation. The development of the project along with other studies and practices on the La Cira Infantas field, achieve to reduce approximately 40% the failures with respect to its previous year and in the following year 10%. This allowed to reduce the failure expending and the deferred production.