SPE 167464

Bringing ESP Optimization to the Digital Oil Field: Rockies Field (USA)
Case Studies
Dustin Ratcliff, SPE, Marathon Oil Company; Ivan Cetkovic, SPE, and Cesar Gomez, SPE, Weatherford

Copyright 2013, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Middle East Intelligent Energy Conference and Exhibition held in Dubai, UAE, 28–30 October 2013.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been
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Abstract

Marathon Oil operates several brownfields in the Rockies, most of which are approaching an operating life of 100 years. To
optimize the production from these mature fields, Marathon Oil is implementing several technology upgrades under the
banner of the digital oil field—using information technology innovations to better monitor, record and analyze field data for
faster and more informed optimization decisions.

One area receiving particular focus is the artificial lift method of electrical submersible pumps (ESPs). In 2010 Marathon Oil
began installing downhole sensors in all ESP wells that were pulled for either a failure or a workover and downloading the
data into an ESP real-time monitoring, diagnosis and analysis software system. The system brings intelligence to ESP
operations by monitoring pump data from each well in real time, and collecting this data in a central location. The operator
can then select from different software tools—also centrally located—to analyze the information, verify ESP operation within
required parameters and if necessary, decide how to change the operating parameters to improve pump performance and
boost production. The system also can be set with alarm capabilities to provide real-time notification of a problem.

The intelligent capabilities of the system plugged into Marathon Oil’s digital oilfield architecture help field engineers work
smarter and more efficiently. Instead of spending needless hours travelling from field to field to monitor pump performance,
engineers are notified of problems early and receive instant verification of field performance. The system minimizes
nonproductive time (NPT) and frees up the field crews to work on other projects designed to increase production.

This paper provides several case studies that highlight through a digital oilfield solution how an intelligent ESP-optimization
option is identifying problems early and extending the economic production life of Marathon Oil’s mature fields in the Rocky
Mountain (Rockies) region of the United States (US). At the time of this paper, Marathon Oil installed downhole sensors in
more than 430 of its 770 ESP wells, which are all presently being monitored via the ESP real-time monitoring and analysis
program. Within this short period of real-time monitoring, Marathon Oil has realized production gains of over 700 Barrels of
Oil per Day (BOPD) in one of the fields.
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Introduction

In the past two decades, the oil and gas industry has embraced the notion of the “digital oil field” —an umbrella term for the
integration of digital technologies and Internet or web-based software systems to optimize field and office operations, and
allow companies to leverage limited resources.i Also known as “smart fields” or “e-fields”, digitial oil fields optimize
workflows from back-office accounting and field logistics and help operators make more informed decisions on drilling,
completing and monitoring wells.

The smart field concept has received a great deal of attention for the monitoring, maintenance and optimization of producing
wells on artificial lift. The number of producing wells on some form of artificial lift to help bring hydrocarbon from the
reservoir to the surface is growing. While exact numbers are elusive, industry estimates approximate that 5% of all producing
wells require some form of artificial lift at some point in their production life cycles.ii Electrical submersible pumps (ESPs)
represent one common form of lift, which are installed downhole in the well and submerged into the produced fluid stream.
The well fluids pass through the pump and are pushed to the surface at increased pressure, thus allowing wells with
insufficient or dwindling reservoir pressure to produce at economic rates.

Improvements in software and metering technologies that allow for the real-time monitoring and control of wells have
increased the reliability of digital oil fields in recent years. However, the data collected on each well have typically been
recorded in different software systems and may be located in different business divisions or offices. This renders the task of
trying to optimize an ESP or other well system a complicated process of working with individual engineers—each with a
different segment of well information—and compiling these disparate datasets into a comprehensive picture of the well’s
performance.

Bringing intelligence to ESPs—a Digital Oilfield solution

The fundamental goal of the digital oil field platform is to increase field productivity by providing a centralized location
where different users—management, field engineers, finance and logistics planners—can access the information they require,
in the form that is most useful to them. The platform brings intelligence to data management and interpretation by allowing
information from many source systems to be combined and presented in graphical or tabular form or as key performance
indicators, rather than merely being a storehouse for data.

The digital oilfield solution automates field monitoring and data delivery to optimize in-field resources. The comprehensive
data and information management platform is able to streamline data capture, analysis and decision making, in one
centralized location. A web-based, real-time management suite, the platform integrates with supervisory control and data
acquisition (SCADA) systems in the field to continuously track ESP performance on multiple wells.

The platform is designed to perform automated diagnostics, in which the software combines the various signals coming from
the field into a mathematical algorithm. This algorithm tracks trends in the real-time data and compares it to historical data
sets, which allows for the development of an agreed-upon, mathematically tested pattern to all common ESP failures. The
software platform also comes with a set of 16 intelligent alarms, which are customized to a field’s particular monitoring
needs and allow for fast and automated operational corrections to maintain optimal pump operation.
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If the current well data shows a trend that matches the pattern for a historic failure, the algorithm generates a clear alarm for
the specific problem and delivers it to the field technicians via email or a mobile device, at any time of day. The technician
can then quickly pinpoint the abnormal ESP operation, prior to a shutdown or failure, and take appropriate corrective actions.
The intelligent monitoring and alarm capabilities of the system not only limit downtime and deferred production, but also
prevent premature failures and unnecessary cycling of the ESP. The number of start/stop cycles of an ESP directly impacts its
run life: the more frequently a pump is stopped and started, the shorter its run life. By monitoring operating efficiency with
the software platform, an operator may add years to the ESP’s operating life.

For example, typical corrections may include decreasing or increasing pump speed, or injecting water through the casing to
lower the gas fraction in the pump and prevent gas lock. Gas ingress to the pump is a major cause of failure; the system can
accurately measure the volume of gas entering the ESP and alert the operator if this volume reaches critical levels. To prevent
prolonged exposure to this gas and severe damage to the pump and motor, the system gives the operator the option to shut the
well down remotely, rather than send a crew to the wellsite. The operator can then review how much gas is moving through
the different pump stages and decide if a more permanent solution, such as the addition of a gas separator, is required prior to
restarting the well.

To be truly effective as a production optimization tool, ESP monitoring and the establishment of alarm set points should not
be considered a “one-and-done” process. Initial set points are most often not acceptable throughout the well’s operating life,
and therefore should be periodically reviewed and maintained under a management-of-change process. A review of the set
points should be completed and updated in the software platform when there is a change in well status, if a well is worked
over or recompleted, or when repeated alarms are occurring for a specific well or wells.

Smarter Workflows in the Field

The optimization benefits that an automated well-monitoring and management system provide do not necessarily reduce the
number of personnel required on an asset, but rather, allow an operator’s personnel to work in smarter, more efficient ways.
For example, the platform not only reduces the need for workers to move from well to well to manually retrieve data at the
wellhead, but it also allows the data to be analyzed more efficiently, regardless of the lift method in use. Different software
modules are included in the platform to analyze data from ESPs, beam pumps or progressive cavity pumps in a more
streamlined way. Because these modules are housed in and operate from a central platform, training in the software also
becomes more efficient.

By quickly flagging a problem with a pump or other component of the lift system through the use of specific alarms, the
platform minimizes nonproductive time (NPT) and production deferment by allowing the operator to return the system to
normal operations as quckly as possible. A repair crew can be sent to the well in question based on information relayed to the
field office, an improvement over the historical method of sending dedicated crews out to visually inspect the performance of
each well, many of which may be in remote locations and separated by distances of 100 mi or more. The time saved in
surveillance and diagnostics frees up field workers to problem remediation and other field activities that further advance
production optimization.
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Marathon Oil Fields Overview

Marathon Oil has more than 100 years of exploration and development experience in the Rocky Mountain (Rockies) region
of the US. Almost all of Marathon Oil’s oil wells in this region require some form of artificial lift, with approximately 86%
of oil production coming from ESP lift and 14% from rod lift. Prior to 2010, most ESP wells were being monitored utilizing
weekly amp charts.

Starting in 2010, Weatherford and Marathon Oil embarked on a program to enhance the monitoring and operation of
Marathon Oil ESP-supported oil wells. Marathon Oil operates a total of 770 wells with ESPs, located in a number of
Wyoming oil fields.
Table 1a shows the fields where the wells arelocated and the major oil reservoirs in each. Table 1b highlights the general
operating ranges of the wells across all fields. Given the relatively high liquid rates (from 600 to 11,000 stb/d) and high water
cuts (98-99%) for these wells, the applicability of ESP artificial lift is apparent.

Name Major Oil Reservoirs

Byron/Garland Phosphoria, Tensleep, Madison
Oregon Basin Phosphoria, Tensleep, Madison
Spring Creek Phosphoria, Tensleep
Pitchfork Phosphoria, Tensleep
Grass Creek Frontier, Curtis, Phosphoria, Tensleep, Madison
Steamboat Butte Nugget, Phosphoria, Tensleep
Maverick Springs/Chatterton Phosphoria, Tensleep
Circle Ridge Phosphoria, Tensleep

Table 1a—Marathon Oil fields and oil reservoirs using ESPs.

ESP installation depth 800 to 7,000 ft

Oil API gravity 15 to 28
Water cut 98 to 99%
Liquid rates 600 to 11,000 stb/d
Intake pressure 75 psi
Reservoir pressures 200 to 1,500 psi
Well temperatures 80 to 140 F
Gas-to-oil ratio 3 to100 scf/stb
Oil daily production 19,500 stb/d
Water daily production 1,900,000 stb/d

Table 1b—Range of operating conditions, ESP Wells.

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Case Study 01—VSD Optimization

In one field example, an engineer had noticed that the well was carrying a significantly high fluid level based on the pump
intake pressure readings in the monitoring and analysis software platform (Fig. 1). The engineer created an “Engineer Well
Test” (Fig. 2) and, based on the analysis, moved a variable speed drive (VSD) to the well to optimize production by
increasing drawdown. Upon startup of the VSD, the ESP motor was operating at critical conditions (Fig. 3) due to the
combination of higher oil cut and the higher viscosity fluid. The engineer used the RTU Read/Write screen within the
software platform, which allows the user to have access to all the registers within the ESP controller. With this access, the
engineer adjusted the motor frequency (Fig. 4) to drop the motor temperature back down to safer operating conditions while
still maintaining drawdown. This work resulted in an oil production increase of 64 BOPD (Fig. 5).

Fig. 1—ESP monitoring and maintenance platform.

Fig. 2—Simulate the production benefits that a variable speed drive (VSD) would have on the well.
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Fig. 3—Upon startup of the VSD, the software system immediately indicated that the ESP motor was
operating at critical conditions, as evidenced by its high temperature and low intake pressure, due to
the combination of higher oil cut and the higher viscosity fluid.

Fig. 4—A RTU Read/Write screen within the software platform allowed the
Marathon Oil engineer to adjust the motor frequency to drop the motor
temperature back down to safer operating conditions while still maintaining
drawdown.
SPE 167464 7

Fig. 5—The ESP monitoring and analysis software helped Marathon Oil engineers make the
decision to add a VSD to the pump motor and then fine-tune the motor frequency to optimize
pump operation, resulting in an oil production increase of 64 BOPD.

Case Study 02—Reducing Casing Pressure

An ESP system was installed in a well in early 2013, and after the first well test was completed, a Marathon Oil engineer
noticed that the pump was operating in a downthrust condition (Fig. 6) based on the analysis within the optimization
platform. The engineer also noticed that the casing pressure was fairly high for this well (~140psi) while the static
bottomhole pressure (SBHP) was only ~500psi. The engineer created an “engineered well test” in the software platform,
which directed them to reduce the casing pressure from 140psi to 35psi. After reducing the casing pressure within the
engineered well test, the engineer noticed the effect on the inflow based on the “Inflow/Outflow” chart generated in the
software (Fig. 7). Based on the analysis, work was performed to decrease the casing pressure. As a result of this work, oil
production was increased by 100 BOPD (Fig. 8) and the pump was back to operating within range.
8 SPE 167464

Fig. 6—The ESP monitoring software allowed Marathon Oil to observe that the ESP was initially
operating in a downthrust condition, due primarily to the fact that the casing pressure of
approximately 140 psi was quite high relative to the SBHP of 500 psi. An engineered well test
conducted in the software platform indicated that if the casing pressure was reduced to 35 psi, the
ESP would then be within its desired operation range.

Fig. 7—After reducing the casing pressure per the recommendations of the “Engineer Well Test,”
the engineer noticed the effect on the inflow based on the “Inflow/Outflow” chart generated in
the software platform.
SPE 167464 9

Fig. 8— Based on the analysis from the engineer well test, work was performed to decrease
the casing pressure. As a result, oil production was increased by 100 BOPD and the pump
was back to operating within its desired range.

Case study 03–Undersized ESP

A well’s initial production rate of approximately 1500 stb/d in 2005 declined to about 1300 stb/day in 2010. This continuous
decline in production rates prompted Marathon Oil to pull the ESP and install a downhole sensor and monitor the data via the
ESP optimization software. While monitoring the data, consistently high pump intake pressure was observed during
production (Fig. 9).

Further analysis of the pump data recorded by the monitoring system suggested that the fluid level over the pump was
excessively high, indicating that the ESP was undersized for the well’s productivity. The operator used this information to
select a larger pump, which was installed in 2011 (red line in Fig. 10). The downhole sensor immediately recorded a lower
head pressure on the pump, resulting in a dramatic rise in production levels.

The increased production was substantiated by the operating analysis chart in the ESP software platform (Fig. 11). This chart
shows the pump curve and the well curve with the minimum and maximum recommended ranges of the pump also indicated.
The red circle indicates the operating point or rate while the blue triangle indicates the calculated ideal rate. The operating
point is in the middle of the operating range of the pump, showing it is correctly sized for this well. Over 60 BOPD of
increased production resulted from this work.
10 SPE 167464

Fig. 9 —Analog charts showing pump intake pressure, current and motor temperature readings.

Fig. 10—Oil and water production rates for a Marathon well with an undersized ESP. Upon the
installation of a larger ESP in mid 2011, production rates rose dramatically.

Fig. 11—Pump curve with well curve overlaid. Pumps operate most efficiently where the
pump operates at or close to the best efficiency point. The initial ESP was too small for the
fluid rates in the well, which resulted in the pump head pressure being too high.
SPE 167464 11

Case study 04—Identifying a tubing leak

An ESP-monitoring system tracking pump pressure and temperature in an oil well identified both high motor temperature and
high pump intake pressure (PIP), as indicated in an analog trend chart (Fig. 12). The system generated an alarm (Fig. 13),
prompting Marathon Oil technicians to check the well. The well was not surfacing fluid, which indicated that production was
being diverted downhole through a tubing leak. This would further account for the high motor temperature and PIP readings.
The technicians pulled the well and found a tubing leak located 30 joints from the surface. Thanks to the prompt notification
provided by monitoring software platform, the operator quickly pinpointed the problem, fixed the leak, replaced the ESP seal
and re-ran the same equipment. Production resumed and the ESP continued operating within safe temperature and PIP levels.
This case further demonstrates the value of automatic monitoring to limit ESP equipment failures and deferred production.

Fig. 12 —Analog charts showing the pump intake pressure and motor temperature trends.

Fig. 13. Analog status screen, showing the motor-temperature and PIP analogs in red to indicate the alarm.
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Case study 05—Identifying plugged intake

While monitoring ESP performance on a remote well, the ESP monitor status screen showed a rise in PIP levels (Fig. 14).
Because this particular well had a history of scaling issues, Marathon Oil engineers believed the PIP increase and the drop in
liquid rate (Fig. 15) were a result of scale-induced plugging of the ESP’s intake. The monitoring system allowed the
engineers to shut down the well remotely from the office. This eliminated the need to send personnel to the well for a manual
shut-down. A shut-down was performed in an attempt to clear the pump intake.

Fig. 14—Status screen showing a dangerous rise in PIP values for the ESP, which prompted Marathon to shut down
the well remotely.
Water  Bbls/day
Oil  Bbls/day

Fig. 15— Production chart with highlighted area (circle) showing when the ESP was operating with a
plugged intake.
SPE 167464 13

Case study 06—Low static bottomhole pressure well

A screenshot of the static pump intake pressure in an analog chart (Fig. 16) from downhole sensor data showed a value of
approximately 280 psi. A static bottomhole pressure calculation of 290 psi was calculated using an analysis workbench in the
software system (Fig. 17). When the well was started, the operator noticed that the producing bottomhole pressure was only
40 psi less than the static value.

Fig. 16— Static bottomhole pressure data generated in the optimization software, using ESP sensor data.

Fig 17— Static bottomhole pressure calculation in the optimization software.

Prior to running the sensor, erroneous fluid level shots were indicating approximately 180 ft of fluid over the pump, and
therefore the operator believed the system was optimized. After running the sensor and finding this small difference between
static and producing bottomhole pressures, Marathon Oil pulled the original ESP and upsized. This work provided an oil
production increase of roughly 25 BOPD.
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Conclusions
The intelligent capabilities of the ESP-optimization software system, plugged into Marathon Oil’s digital oilfield architecture,
are helping field engineers work smarter and more efficiently. The software platform has extended the digital oilfield
capabilities beyond merely being a storehouse for data, to allow information from many source systems to be combined and
presented in graphical or tabular form. This vastly improves performance metric tracking and brings intelligence to field
optimization decisions.

Thanks to the combined effect of the downhole sensors and real-time monitoring system, Marathon Oil has enjoyed increased
production rates and lower operating costs with streamlined field operations. The automated monitoring and diagnostic
capabilities of the software, installed in more than 430 of their 770 total ESP wells, has helped Marathon Oil increase oil
production by approximately 700 BOPD (15%) in just one of the fields. By optimizing ESP operations and the drawdown
efficiencies of the wells, both total fluid and oil rate were increased while leveling off the water/oil ratio (WOR) trend. This
production increase would not have been possible without the combined benefit of downhole sensors and the monitoring
system.

Marathon Oil plans to install downhole sensors and monitoring systems on other wells in these fields as the wells are taken
offline for workovers. The operator is also investigating the benefit of downhole sensors to better understand the well
behavior during waterflooding. This monitoring pilot has already shown a positive trend in multiwell production response as
water injection increased.

Field technicians are no longer forced to travel from field to field to monitor pump performance, but instead, are notified of
specific pump problems in a centralized location. This allows field crews to focus more time and effort on other projects that
will provide further field improvements.

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Marathon Oil Company for agreeing to share their field experiences and data in preparation
of this paper.

References

i
Dickson, Brian. “Advanced Technologies Optimize Artificial Lift, Production Operations,” American Oil & Gas Reporter, June 2010.
ii
Lyons, William C., ed. Standard Handbook of Petroleum & Natural Gas Engineering 2, 6th ed. (1996).
iii
Molotkov, R.V., Stephenson, G.B. and Seale, S.R. ‘ESP Monitoring and Diagnosis Enables Operational Efficiency,” paper SPE
115340 presented at 2008 SPE Russian Oil & Gas Technical Conference and Exhibition, Moscow, Russia, 28-30 October 2008.
iv
“Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) Systems,” Technical Information Bulletin 04-1, National Communications
System, Arlington, VA, October 2004.
iv
Al-Muqbali, H., Awaid, A., Al-Bimani, A., Al-Yazeedi, Z., Al-Sukaity, H., Al-Harthy, K. “ESP Well Surveillance using Pattern
Recognition Analysis–PDO,” 2013 SPE–Gulf Coast Section Electric Submersible Pump Workshop, The Woodlands, TX, 24-26 April
2013.
vi
Dustin E. Ratcliff, Cesar Gomez, Ivan Cetkovic and Odafe Madogwe "Maximizing Oil Production and Increasing ESP Run Life in a
Brownfield Using Real-Time ESP Monitoring and Optimization Software. ATCE New Orleans, Louisiana, USA 30 September – 2
October 2013.