A simple economic model in managing artificial lifts in Mississippian Lime production

Abstract

Production data from Mississippian Lime shows that the liquid rate at the early stage of production span is high, then the rate declines dramatically and stay in low production rate for extended time. This situation poses a great challenge in selecting the right artificial lift for Mississippian Lime development. Gas lifting and Electrical Submersible Pump (ESP) are two major types of artificial lifting methods used in producing Mississippian Lime oil in Oklahoma. The objective of this paper is to propose an easy to use and powerful model in managing current production wells with artificial lifts. We collected and analyzed the geological data, well data, historical production data, and itemized operating cost to evaluate the performance of artificial lifting and ESP from different operators in the region of Mississippian Lime development. Based on available data, we categorized and related the cost data with the production data, from which we derived a model for economic analysis and production management. We identified that the produced water disposal was the biggest cost to the operator, and the viability of Mississippian development is highly dependent on it. Because of this, we established a simple model by relating water cut, discounted oil prices, and operation costs. Through this model, operator can easily determine which well should be offline to boost the economic rate of return.

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90221 © 2015 Mid-Continent Section, Tulsa, Oklahoma, October 4-6, 2015