August 31, 2000

PC-PUMP Points to Consider

This document contains a list of details regarding the use of C-FERs PC-PUMP software that all users should be aware
of. These are based on questions asked and problems reported by PC-PUMP users, as well as on observations by C-FER
staff. Most of these are in the User Guide. This document is intended as a reminder of some of the important (and
often not obvious) points which should be kept in mind when using PC-PUMP. Please note that these comments are as
of V2.5, build 2510-1134, released in April, 2000. Some of these may change as of a future release.

1. General Considerations
If a window has an OK button, you must use it to close the window, saving the entered dataif you click on
Cancel or the X at the top right corner, your changes will not be saved. Windows without an OK button, however,
are closed using the X at the top corner, and the changes are saved. This confusion will be eliminated in the next
upgrade to PC-PUMP, scheduled for release in the fall of 2000.

The energy cost, as reported by PC-PUMP (when the drive equipment is specified), is based on the power
consumption and the price of electricity as set in the Defaults tab in the Preferences window. The default value is
$0.05 per kilowatt-hour, but this can be changed. This covers only power use and does not consider other power
costs such as demand charges or power factor penalties. Different power companies will assess these in different
ways.

2. Equipment Specification
If you havent specified a pump seating depth, you will not be able to use the fill to surface method of rod
selection, since PC-PUMP will think that the pump is at the surface, and no rods are needed to fill the rod string to
surface. C-FER recommends always entering the wellbore geometry (when applicable), mid-perforations depth
and the pump seating depth first in any analysis.

In pump selection, entering the proper values for the volumetric efficiency and the friction torque can be very
important, depending on what results you are trying to achieve. These should be as close as possible to the values
expected in steady state operation in the well, and can be very different from values measured in a bench test using
water. The default values set by C-FER are 100% for the volumetric efficiency and 100 Nm for the friction torque,
and may not be appropriate for many cases. These defaults can be changed in the Preferences window, and the
existing default can always be overridden in the Pump Selection window.

Be careful entering the electric motor efficiency and power factor for surface drive motors. The efficiency should
be entered as a percentage (0-100), while the power factor as a decimal (0-1). This has caused confusion with users
in the past.

The efficiency and power factor of electric motors can change substantially depending on the loading of the motor.
For downhole drive systems, PC-PUMP can calculate appropriate values once the motor performance curves are
known. However, this is not the case for surface drive systems. For surface drive systems, efficiency and power
factor values specified as input are not changed by PC-PUMP as a function of motor load. Note that the load rating
of a motor changes with the electrical frequency, and this also is not considered when determining if a surface
motor is overloaded. In addition, because PC-PUMP calculates only steady-state conditions, it will not determine if
a selected motor is capable of starting the pump or not.

The actual pump to be used should be specified whenever possible. It is not sufficient to select a pump with a
similar displacement and rated pressure, because the axial load depends on geometry factors which are not directly
related to the displacement of the pump. Axial load has an effect on rod loading, drivehead loading (and bearing
life), and wear calculations. The chart below shows the effective area that is used by PC-PUMP to calculate the
axial load versus the displacement for a number of single-lobe pumps in the PC-PUMP database. Note the large
variation in area for pumps of similar displacement.

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 12

10

Relative Area
8

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
Displacement (m/d/RPM)

Thrust bearing life calculations are commonly done in two different ways, either based on a life of 1 million
revolutions or 90 million revolutions. The ISO standard (used by PC-PUMP) uses the 1 million revolution method,
while some major bearing manufacturers (e.g. Timken) use the 90 million revolution method. With either method,
the minimum life that 90% of bearings are expected to have can be calculated using the following equation:
10

C3 B
L10 =
P N
where C is the bearing rating (in N or lbs), P is the bearing load (N or lbs), B is a constant (1.902 for ISO method,
171.2 for C90 method), N is the speed (RPM), and L10 is the life (in years) expected to be exceeded by 90% of the
bearings. The C ratings for the two methods are compared as:
C ISO = C90 3.857
Either calculation method will give the same result, if used properly. For example, a bearing with an ISO rating of
3000 lb, operating under a load of 1000 lb at 100 RPM, as calculated using the B coefficient for the ISO method
will have a life of 0.74 years. The C90 rating for this bearing is 777.8 lb, and the life, as calculated using the B
coefficient for the C90 method, is also 0.74 years.
However, errors have occurred because the C rating for one method was used with the B constant for the other.
Users should be aware of the differences when comparing bearing ratings. The thrust bearing ratings displayed in
the Drive Equipment Specification window in PC-PUMP are based on the ISO method, and not the method used by
some bearing manufacturers. Comparisons should be made appropriately.

PC-PUMP requires that the wellbore geometry extend below all equipment entered. It also requires that casing
extend to below the pump (or any other downhole equipment) and the perforations. This means that if you have an
open hole completion, you will have to specify casing into that region, even though it isnt actually installed. If the
survey doesnt extend into the region where the perforations (or open hole) are, then you will have to enter an
extrapolated survey point below these regions. If the pump is not located below the real survey points, then
accuracy should not be affected.

If you wish to enter a bench test and have PC-PUMP calculate the appropriate volumetric efficiency and friction
torque, please be aware that the pump may not behave the same in the well as it does on the bench. If you have
accounted for this and still wish to use a test result in the PC-PUMP calculation, you must turn on this feature.
Simply entering the bench test data is not sufficient. After the test data has been entered, and all the other
equipment has been specified, you must go to the Analysis window and click on the
button (located in the equipment selection area above the Calculate button.
When you click on the Pump Model button, the following window appears:

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 In this case, two pumps have been selected, and test data has been entered for one (the 031 12 045). In order to
specify that this test data is to be used in the calculation, you must turn on the appropriate check box, so that it
looks like:

When a test is being used, a message will appear to that effect in the output messages box (Analysis Outputs
window):

3. Fluid Properties
In single-phase mode, and when the advanced viscosity feature is not being used, the single value of viscosity
entered must correspond to the total liquid viscosity, not simply the oil viscosity. This simple calculation mode
should not normally be used in wells with viscous oils. If the oil viscosity is very low or if there is a high water cut,
the temperature effects are small overall, and this simple mode can be used. If the advanced viscosity mode is
used, enter total fluid viscosity as a function of temperature if the water cut effects section is not in use. If the
water cut section is in use, enter only the oil viscosity as a function of temperature.

In single-phase mode, PC-PUMP gives you the ability to set the tubing and casing fluid densities separately. This
feature is not often needed, but occasionally can be useful. For example, a well with a high water cut that has been
operating for a reasonable period of time will have the oil separate from the water in the annulus above the
perforations or pump intake, whichever is higher. In this case, the casing density should be set to that of the pure
oil, while the tubing density should be set to that of the full mixture.

Be aware that the effect of water cut on total fluid viscosity is complex. A water-in-oil emulsion can have a
viscosity much greater than the oil viscosity. If the water cut is below 75%, great care should be taken in entering
the viscosity into PC-PUMP. At higher water cuts, an emulsion is most likely oil-in-water, with a viscosity not
much different from that of water alone. The only way to determine for certain if an emulsion will form and what
its viscosity will be, is to test the fluids in a lab. The water effect section of the advanced viscosity mode in single
phase flow allows you to have PC-PUMP calculate the effective viscosity based on the viscosity of water and oil,
and on the water cut. You have the choice of using just a simple interpolation or a built-in emulsion correlation.
The default emulsion correlation assumes that the emulsion switches from water-in-oil to oil-in-water at a water cut
of 60%, and that the viscosity at 60% water (water-in-oil) is 8.67 times the viscosity of the oil alone. Above 60%
water cut, the emulsion is assumed to have the viscosity of water. Caution: these values will be different for
different types of oils and can change drastically with the addition of small amounts of certain chemicals.

While PC-PUMP does consider the weight of sand in calculating the density in the Single Phase Specify
Composition mode, it does not consider the effects of the sand on the total fluid viscosity, nor does it evaluate
whether the fluid can carry the sand out of the wellbore.

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 In multiphase mode, the user specifies BS&W cut. The multiphase correlations use this to determine both density
and viscosity, but these calculations assume that the entire BS&W cut is essentially water and the effect of sand
being present is negligible. If this assumption is invalid, there will be some error in the results.

In multiphase flow, a large number of properties (e.g. solution gas, bubble point, viscosity) are calculated from
correlations based on parameters like the API gravity of the oil and the pressure and temperature. The correlations
used by PC-PUMP are from the literature, and the sources are listed in the User Guide. Be aware that they may not
be representative of all oils. The accuracy of these correlations may be reduced in some cases, particularly in heavy
oil. PC-PUMP will print a warning for any multiphase case with an API gravity less than 15. Note that you do
have the option of entering dead oil viscosity test datathis removes the reliance on this correlation, and is highly
recommended in heavy oil cases.

4. Operating Conditions
PC-PUMP allows you to specify operating conditions without entering IPR data (but just fluid level, for instance).
This should be done with care. A common use of PC-PUMP is to determine if a particular well can increase
production by increasing the speed (or using a larger pump). PC-PUMP can help with this analysis by determining if
the new rate will overload the rods or result in a wear or fatigue problem (among other things). However, if the IPR
is not specified, PC-PUMP cannot by itself consider the effects of the increased drawdown of the well (unless you
actually change the entered value for the fluid level or producing pressure to correspond to the increased flow rate).
Note that increased drawdown results not only in increasing loading, it may also result in larger amounts of gas
going through the pump, causing lower volumetric efficiency, for instance.

Knowing the casing head and tubing head pressures (CHP and THP respectively) is important when doing a
PC-PUMP analysis. Cases have occurred when a pump was sized only to produce fluid to surface, and when the
back pressure at the wellhead was considered, the pump was undersized. The THP is the pressure at the wellhead
at the operating flow rate. In some cases the flow rate wont have a large effect on the THP, and in other cases it
may. The casing is sometimes vented to atmosphere. However, in many cases it is connected to the flowline
(through a check valve), in which case the CHP should be set equal to the THP.

Accuracy in specifying the fluid level (or IPR) is always important (in that it affects the overall hydrostatic pressure
on the pump), but it is particularly important in multiphase cases. As flow is increased, the producing pressure (and
fluid level) will decrease. This will cause more gas to break out of solution, and the volume of the free gas will
also increase. If the pump is not located below the perforations, some of this gas will be forced through the pump,
thereby reducing its efficiency. Too much gas through the pump can have a substantial negative effect on the pump
life.

Some people have asked about specifying an IPR using the well PI (productivity index) and reservoir static
pressure. This is equivalent to the straight line IPR option in PC-PUMP. PC-PUMP requires that you enter a test
point (producing pressure and flow rate) rather than the PI. You can generate a fictitious test point by choosing any
test pressure less than the reservoir pressure and then using the following equation to determine the corresponding
test flow rate:
Flow = (Pres Ptest ) PI

The temperature gradient is the temperature gradient of the fluid in the tubing, at the operating flow rate, expressed
as a temperature per unit of vertical depth. Note that it is not the geothermal temperature gradient. This flowing
temperature gradient should be smaller than the geothermal gradient. To obtain the flowing temperature gradient,
subtract the wellhead flowing temperature from the reservoir temperature and divide by the vertical depth of the
reservoir.

5. Flow Calculations
Flow friction losses from the perforations to the pump intake are calculated by PC-PUMP V2.5. (In V2.1, only the
hydrostatic gradient was calculated, and not the flow losses.) This is not important in many cases, particularly if
the pump is located above the perforations and is driven from surface. In other cases, however, it can be very

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 important. In some cases, the pump is located below the perforations and there is very little clearance between the
casing and the pump; if there is a high flow rate or high viscosity, the flow losses can have a drastic effect on the
results. Downhole drive systems will frequently suffer from high flow losses, as they tend to have high flow rates
and the downhole motor is usually a larger diameter than the pump, leading to a smaller flow passage. Note that
PC-PUMP does not consider the flow effects of a no-turn tool or tubing anchor below the pump. If the pump is
seated below the perforations, the fluid will have to pass by the anchor to reach the pump intake. Some anchors
have a fairly small flow area, which could cause problems in high viscosity or high flow rate situations.

PC-PUMP does not consider the direct effects of the viscosity on the pump torque. While a viscous fluid provides
some lubrication, thereby decreasing the friction torque, it also causes increased flow losses within the pump.
Hence, the apparent friction torque may increase with fluid viscosity. Furthermore, as the flow rate increases, this
apparent friction torque will increase further. Currently, it is up to the user to enter the pumps friction torque
appropriately.

In the Defaults tab of the Preferences window, there is a check box labelled Use Rod String in Flow Loss
Calculations. This check box should normally be turned on. If it is turned off in surface drive calculations,
PC-PUMP will calculate the flow losses as if the rod string was not there. (Note that a rod string must still be
specified.) This feature was added in V2.1, so that users could simulate downhole drive situations before the
downhole drive module was added to the software. If you have the downhole drive module, C-FER highly
recommends that you do not turn this check box off. PC-PUMP will then consider the effects of the rod string in
surface drive cases, and not consider a rod string in downhole drive cases.

In a multiphase case, if the pump (or tail joint) intake is located below the perforations, it is assumed that all the
free gas travels up from the perforations, and not down to the pump (or tail joint) intake. In some cases (if the
velocity of the flow from the perforations to the intake is high) this assumption may not be entirely valid. C-FER is
considering an upgrade which will improve this functionality. Note that in cases where the pump/tail joint intake is
above the perforations, the amount of gas entering the pump is determined using the free gas separation input value.
An error in specifying this can cause a substantial error in the results (particularly with respect to pump efficiency,
which in turn effects the pump speed and flow rate).

In downhole drive systems, you have the option of calculating thermal effectsby turning on the check box
labelled Perform Motor Heating Analysis. Many ESP manufacturers recommend that there be a minimum of 1
ft/s flow velocity past the motor in order to remove heat generated by the motor. While this criterion is adequate in
light oil or in high water cut wells, it is insufficient in heavy oil, where the flow regime is likely to be laminar.
Using this calculation will give you a better idea of whether motor overheating is a potential problem in your well.
Also, if you are using an advanced viscosity calculation (always recommended in heavy oil) and have this feature
turned on, PC-PUMP will consider the effect of the heat transferred to the fluid from the motor on the temperature of
the fluid and therefore on the viscosityin some heavy oil cases, a viscosity reduction can be realized, leading to a
power reduction.

6. Rod/Wear/Fatigue Calculations
PC-PUMP considers only steady state. It is important to note that the effects of transients (e.g. start-ups and slugs of
sand/gas/water) are not considered. It is unwise to design a rod string such that the calculated effective stress is
very close to (or above) the yield stress of the rods. This would make transient conditions not considered by
PC-PUMP very likely to result in rod string failure.

You can perform a space-out calculation in PC-PUMP by opening the Rod Loading/Deflection graphs after clicking
on the Calculate button in the Analysis window. (Click on ) The tab on the furthest right
in this window is for space-out. When you click on the Space-Out tab, a window appears asking if you wish to
consider thermal effects. If you decide to do this, turn on the check box in the window, and then enter the average
temperature of the rod string in the well at the time the space-out is done. The space out graph shows the rod
extension due to operating stretch, rod weight and thermal extension (if selected). The minimum space-out is the
maximum operating stretch (plus thermal extension if applicable).

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 A major problem in analyzing deviated wells is the survey interval. In many cases a 30 metre survey interval is
used, and only a portion of the well (below the kick-off point) is surveyed. Vertical wells are often not surveyed at
all. Previous C-FER research work indicates that widely spaced surveys often hide doglegged sections which are
worse than the survey would indicate, and that supposedly straight sections of wells are sometimes corkscrewed or
contain other deviations. If a survey which has insufficient spacing is entered in PC-PUMP, and the software
predicts that the well is marginal in wear or fatigue, the actual field conditions may be worse (possibly even much
worse) than PC-PUMP would indicate. Similarly, users have had fatigue or wear problems in wells which were
supposed to be vertical, only to discover later that the well was drilled very poorly.

Severe doglegs are not the only indicator of possible problems with wear and fatigue. Some types of shape can be
worse than a plain dogleg, even if the actual measured dogleg severity is not as severe. PC-PUMP is capable of
analyzing these cases. (One example of a bad well is one which starts vertical, deviates out in one direction, and
then drops into the production zonean S-shaped well.)

A problem suffered by several operators in eastern Alberta (and into Saskatchewan) involves reliable operation for
a very long time, suddenly changing to frequent failures due to broken rotors or rod fatigue. One possible cause of
this type of failure is a casing deformation due to shear or subsidence in the reservoir. This would not have been
detected during the initial survey and the long initial run of the pump. Because of the nature of gyro surveys, it is
possible that such a survey would not identify the problem even if the gyro tool runs through the damaged interval.
A survey which measures the inside diameter of the pipe (such as with a caliper tool) may be more capable of
discovering this type of problem.

Rod/Tubing wear calculations in PC-PUMP do not consider wear on the rod body, but only on the tubing. In some
cases, rod body wear can be significant. (Some people have been known to run a larger diameter rod string in high-
wear parts of the well to allow for increased rod life.) Note that for standard rods, all the contact is assumed to
occur on the couplings/centralizers and rod guides, and not on the rod body. Wear on the couplings is not normally
going to have a large effect on the rod string strength. However, in some cases (and all the time in Corod strings)
the rod body can actually contact the tubing, and then rod wear may be an issue.

PC-PUMP does not consider the spin-through nature of some centralizers and rod guides when performing tubing
wear calculations. Clearly, a properly functioning spin-through centralizer or rod guide will not wear on the tubing
at all. It is up to the user to be aware of this when interpreting the PC-PUMP wear output results. The wear output
charts do show contact loads in the rod body (in Corod only), couplings, centralizers, and rod guides, so it is easy to
make this distinction.

PC-PUMP only has wear coefficients for steel couplings on steel tubing, and for urethane coated couplings on steel
tubing. Other materials may have different coefficients. The only way to determine the correct coefficients is
through lab testing, or careful analysis of field data.

PC-PUMP does not consider the burst pressure of tubing. Normally, any production tubing will have a burst
pressure capacity that is greater than the discharge pressure of a PC-PUMP, so this is not of great concern.
However, a pipe wall thickness that is reduced by corrosion or wear may cause the tubing to burst. Note that in PC-
PUMPs wear calculations, the results are given in terms of wall percentagesfailure will result at some point less
than 100% wall thickness loss, due to loss of pressure capacity of the tubing.

Corrosion is not considered in PC-PUMP. The presence of steel rods and tubing in a medium which may contain
water, brine, CO2, H2S, acid, or other chemicals means that corrosion will be a virtual certainty. Corrosion will
lead to reductions in tubing wall loss and rod diameter. Tubing wall loss from corrosion is normally not a major
concern unless the corrosion is especially severe, or unless it is in conjunction with tubing wear. Rod diameter loss
can be significantthe rods ability to withstand axial load is a function of the square of the diameter, and its
ability to withstand torque is a function of the cube of the diameter. If the rod is loaded close to yield, a small
amount of corrosion may lead to rod yield and eventually failure. Fatigue life can also be greatly reduced by the
effects of corrosion.

PC-PUMP does not consider the effects of erosion on tubing wall loss. The sand cut specified in the tubing wear
calculation only affects the rate of wear at the contact areas. High sand flow rates in areas such as constrictions
(where the flow velocity is increased) or severe dog legs (where the sand impinges on a surface) can lead to tubing
wall loss (or rod diameter loss) which will not be predicted by PC-PUMP.

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 PC-PUMP does not consider vibration effects in contributing to rod/tubing wear. The eccentric motion of the rotor
in the pump causes the bottom of the rod string also to move in an eccentric manner. This has the potential of
causing vibrations in the rod stringin some cases these vibrations are sufficient to cause the rod string to contact
the tubing wall with significant force, even in vertical wells.

It is standard practice in designing PCP systems that no rod guides, centralizers or couplings are placed near
(usually within one full rod length of) the pump. This is to ensure sufficient flexibility in the bottom of the rod
string to absorb the eccentric motion of the pump rotor. Failure to do this can result in high wear rates or short
fatigue life of the rod string near the pump. In extreme eccentricity cases, connections have broken. PC-PUMP does
not consider these factors in its calculationsthe user must be aware of this when designing and evaluating the rod
string.

7. Backspin Calculations
The backspin module is capable of some pretty complicated calculations, but is limited in use at present because
there is very little data presently available on the performance of brakes. Note that you can turn off the brake
calculation in the backspin calculations to determine how the backspin would progress if there were no brake on the
drivehead, or if the brake had failed. Simply turn on the Brake Disengaged switch on the Analysis tab of the
Backspin window. In this case, no brake data needs to be specified. All the other data does, however, need to be
specified.

When using the backspin module, first specify the brake information, if it is available. Then click on the Refresh
Specifications button. This fills in much of the information that is input in the System Configuration and Analysis
windows in the main part of PC-PUMP. The only remaining information to specify is the surface equipment friction
torque and the sheave sizes. Enter the sheave sizes (ensuring that the ratio matches the belt ratio that was specified
in the surface equipment selection). Then click on the Inertia Defaults button to have PC-PUMP determine the
appropriate inertia for the sheaves, motor and bearing/gear box. These are default values based on standard
equipment types. If you have access to the actual values (especially if you are using exotic equipment, such as a
solid sheave), you should enter these instead. The surface equipment friction torque is the last value which must be
specifiedit refers to friction in the bearings (in the motor and drivehead) and stuffing box.

When specifying the seized pump torque for the seized pump backspin case, the value entered should be the
amount of torque stored in the rod string when the backspin starts. Normally this will depend on the setting of a
shutdown switch on the electric motor. To assist you if you do not know what this value will be set at, PC-PUMP
has a torque calculator. Click on the Torque Limits button to access this. Note that the values calculated within
this window are not automatically transferred to the seized pump torque input. This calculator will help you
determine what the maximum torque of the rod string is, and what the torque of the electric motor operating at full
power and rated speed is. The shutdown torque will normally be greater than the motors torque at full power and
speed (since motors can have a maximum torque which can be 1.5-2.5 times the torque at full power) but less than
the maximum torque of the rod string.

The surface equipment friction torque in the backspin calculation should never be left as zero. If a backspin
scenario for a seized pump is run with the brake disengaged, the surface equipment is the only source of friction
which can remove energy from the system (other than some effects of rod/tubing friction, which are non-existent in
vertical wells, and a very small effect of fluid friction on the rods). In other words, the rod string will spin back and
forth indefinitely if there is no friction. Due to a numerical effect, the calculation will tend to be slightly unstable in
this casePC-PUMP will actually report that the rods will spin faster and faster with each oscillation. Even a small
amount of surface equipment friction, say 0.5 Nm (0.4 ftlb), specified will normally remove this numerical
instability.

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 Multiphase Flow Calculations
The multiphase calculation capability has improved in V2.5. For example, in V2.1, in multiphase flow, you had to
specify the flow rate and fluid level, if there was no IPR specified, and either the flow rate or producing pressure, if
there was an IPR specified. In V2.5, you have the option of entering either the flow rate or the pump speed, and either
of the producing pressure or the fluid level, if there is no IPR specified, or any one of the four, if there is an IPR
specified.

Other enhancements to the multiphase flow routines include the ability to calculate conditions that generate an annular
flow pattern in the tubing. V2.1 would give an error if this condition was encountered (normally with high GORs).

It is also now possible to run a multiphase case in PC-PUMP when the oils API gravity is less than 15. However, note
that the correlations used to determine the fluid properties were not designed to work with low gravity oil, so some
errors may be introduced. PC-PUMP will print a warning message whenever the API gravity is less than 15. You can,
however, improve the accuracy of any multiphase calculation by using the advanced viscosity feature. This feature (in
multiphase) is new in V2.5. By entering the dead oil viscosity data into PC-PUMP directly, you remove the error
generated by using a correlation for this. You still have to depend on correlations to determine the live oil viscosity and
other properties required in multiphase flow calculations, though, so the warning message will still appear if the API
gravity is less than 15.

Heavy oil, in particular, can have dead oil viscosity quite different than what would be calculated by common
correlations. The figures below show some dead oil viscosity data from oil samples collected in the Lloydminster-Elk
Point-Cold Lake area of eastern Alberta and western Saskatchewan at 20C (Fig. 1) and 30C (Fig. 2). They also show
results calculated with some correlations. Of these, only the deGhetto correlation was designed for use with heavy oils,
but it was based on oil samples obtained from the Mediterranean, Africa and the Persian Gulf. Note that PC-PUMP uses
the Ng & Egobah correlation, unless data is input using the advanced viscosity feature.

Viscosity at 20C Viscosity at 30C

AB/SK Data Glaso Ng & Egobah AB/SK Data Glaso

deGhetto Beggs & Robinson Ng & Egobah deGhetto
Beggs & Robinson
1000000
1000000

100000
100000
Viscosity (cp)

Viscosity (cp)

10000
10000

1000 1000

100 100
9 10 11 12 13 9 10 11 12 13
API Gravity API Gravity

Figure 1. Figure 2.

Clearly, none of these correlations is adequate through a wide range of API gravity and temperature when used for
calculating dead oil viscosity of western Canadian heavy oil. It is particularly important to notice that even for oils of
the same gravity taken from the same approximate area, there is a large range of measured viscosities. This is why C-
FER strongly recommends the use of the advanced viscosity feature.

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 PC-PUMP Minimum Inputs (surface drive case)
The following is a list of the minimum data required to run a reasonably accurate PC-PUMP analysis. There are some
other data which can be entered if available, but which will normally have only a small effect on the results. If any of
the data below is unavailable, the PC-PUMP user will have to guess at what input value to use. If this must be done, C-
FER advises a sensitivity analysis be done to determine how much of an effect a bad guess would have on the results.
Note that the minimum inputs vary depending on each of the different fluid properties and operating conditions options.

Survey (if well is not vertical)

Pump seating depth
Mid-perforations depth
Pump model, with friction torque and volumetric efficiency expected at reservoir conditions
Casing and tubing diameter and weight
Rod string: diameter and grade, coupling type, guide type and spacing, if applicable
Specification of surface drive equipment is optional, but if you do wish to specify it (in order to have PC-PUMP
calculate its performance) the following equipment must be specified:
Drivehead model
If belts are used: belt/sheave ratio and efficiency
If hydraulics are used: hydraulic pump model and hydraulic motor model
Electric motor power, # of poles, efficiency and power factor
The simplest single-phase case involves specifying the following total fluid properties (i.e. effects of any water
must be considered):
Density
Viscosity
Alternatively, the following can be specified for a single-phase case:
API gravity
Water and sand cuts
Viscosity
In single phase, there is the option of specifying further information about how the viscosity of the fluid changes
with temperature, shear rate, water cut, or any combination of these. This is particularly important to specify in
heavy oil.
Multiphase flow calculations require a minimum of the following data:
API gravity
Water cut
GOR
If the pump or tail joint intake is located above the perforations, an estimate of the proportion of free gas
entering the pump is required.
In multiphase, there is the option of entering the dead oil viscosity as a function of temperature. This should be
done whenever possible, and should always be done for oils with an API gravity less than 15.
In the simplest operating mode, an IPR is not specified. In this mode you must enter:
Desired pump speed or fluid rate
Estimated fluid level or pressure at perforations (at the given flow rate or pump speed).
Accuracy will be increased if IPR data is available. There are different types of IPR which can be entered into
PC-PUMP, which require different inputs.
If an IPR is specified, only one of the following is required: pump speed, flow rate, fluid level, producing pressure
(at perforations).
Tubing head and casing head pressures must be entered
Bottomhole temperature (i.e. at perforations) and flowing temperature gradient must be entered. However, these
will only affect the results in multiphase cases, or in single-phase cases for which the viscosity is specified as a
function of temperature. (They are also required if a space-out calculation is done with thermal effects considered.)

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