Development of a Method for Improving the Energy Efficiency of Oil Production with an Electrical Submersible Pump

Abstract

Most of the operating oil fields are in the late stages of development, in which special attention is paid to the oil production energy efficiency. In accordance with the trend toward the digitalization of technical processes, intelligent control stations for production wells are currently being developed, one of the main tasks of which is to maintain the equipment operation in an optimal mode. This work aims to develop a methodology for selecting an energy-efficient well operation mode by choosing the methods for controlling an electrical submersible pump. To solve this problem, a mathematical apparatus for calculating power consumption is presented, which considers the well pressure curve, while taking into account its degradation when pumping reservoir fluids, the fluids’ properties, the supply of demulsifier, and the equipment’s operating parameters. Based on the simulation results, it is revealed that the optimal method for controlling electrical submersible pump installations is a combination of frequency control and choke control. The reduction in specific power consumption with the combined control relative to the use of separate control types is up to 7.30%, and in the case of additional use of a demulsifier, it is up to 12.01%. The developed algorithms can be implemented based on programmable logic controllers of intelligent control stations.