Guidelines of Artificial
Lift
Selection for Mature Field
By
Mohamed Ali Naguib1
(1) Suez Oil Company, Cairo, Egypt
Ras Fanar is located in the western part of the Gulf of Suez about 3 km east
of the city of Ras Gharib, Egypt (Fig. 1). Production commened in January 1984
and a peak production rate of 20 MSTB/D was achieved in January 1988. Due to the
relatively low reservoir pressure for Ras Fanar field, some of the wells
experienced lifting problems at water cuts above 20% requiring nitrogen lift
to
restore intermittent production. Clearly, some sort of
artificial
lift
was
needed in order to restore the production rate to the normal levels and to
maximize the ultimate recovery.
The decision of which artificial
lift
method to use is very important to the
long-term profitability of the field. An improper selection of
artificial
lift
can reduce production and increase the operating cost substantially. Once a
decision has been made on the type to install on a well, it can be rarely
altered whether or not the method selected was and still is the optimal for the
existing conditions.
This paper presents the screening criteria on the different artificial
lift
techniques and discusses why the choices were confined to ESP’s and gas
lift
as
the most suitable techniques to be applied in the field. The paper explains the
two different alternatives, and studies the technical consideration behind each.
Reservoir simulation model was used to predict the performance and the
ultimate recovery either naturally or using ESP and Gas Lift
. An economical
evaluation for both cases was then conducted taking into considerations both
capital and operating costs of each opinion.