Case Study

Artificial Lift Strategy

Overview

A shale oil operator had been developing a prolific unconventional oil field through Horizontal wells produced on either ESP, Rod Pump or Gas Lift. The operator wanted to settle on the method to use in future wells by making the best use of existing production, costs and operational data through a robust technical-economic decision approach considering the impact such decision would have on infrastructure development plans, budgeting and contracts.

solution
  • Used the existing data to develop cost models for different artificial lift scenarios including CAPEX, OPEX, failure statistics and downtime among other key parameters
  • Used history-matched reservoir models and VLP curves for different artificial lift types and operating conditions to generate production and revenue forecasts
  • Performed technical-economic comparisons for the different production scenarios considered in this project to make final recommendations on the method to use in future wells
results
  • Significant reductions in CAPEX and OPEX were realized after the strategy was fully adopted across the field and production targets met