By Spencer Morrison, Solutions Engineer
If you want to measure the quality of your well optimization strategy, look no further than a simple comparison of actual artificial lift setpoints implemented at the well versus operational standards (assuming they exist). What you will find is a large gap between reality at the well site and desired operating states.
An analysis of plunger lift setpoints for an operator in New Mexico found that for wells of similar production, pressures, depth, age, and artificial lift type- 95% of the wells had setpoints that deviated from what the business declared as operational standards. As an example, the operator’s standard for max wait times was defined as:
Max time to wait for arrival of a bar stock plunger = (tubing stop depth)/(300 ft/min) or (8,000 ft)/(300 ft/min) = 26.6 minutes
A thorough statistical analysis revealed over 1,000 plunger wells of similar characteristics had max wait times for plunger arrivals over 40 minutes (200 ft/min). This is 1.5 times greater than the operator’s calculated standard for max wait time. Upon further investigation, the team found no data to support the extended wait times on more than 50% of their wells. Can you find similar examples where unstandard is the standard?
This is only one of over 25 key optimization set points that play a critical role in the reliability and production of your plunger lifted wells. The standardization of these setpoints leads to increased plunger reliability, thus increased production and less time spent troubleshooting.
A time-constrained operation focused on daily fire fighting currently takes priority over standardization and scale of optimization best practices. With our extensive subject matter expertise and deep analytics platform, Ambyint assesses your current state of setpoint management alongside your operations team to deliver a solution to realign with your corporate optimization goals. The setpoint standardization analysis is just one of the many assessments conducted within Ambyint’s Well Optimization Assessment in an effort to bring your business closer to an optimized state. Contact us to learn more.
