New Pillar

SPE-215230-MS
New Pillar of Mature Field Production Strategy: A Success Story of ESP
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Upsizing Pilot Project
Agus Aryanto, Aldani Malau, Azis Hidayat, Muhammad Hasto Nugroho, Chaidir Yassin, and Hilman Lazuardi,
Medco E&P Indonesia
Copyright 2023, Society of Petroleum Engineers DOI 10.2118/215230-MS
This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE/IATMI Asia Pacific Oil & Gas Conference and Exhibition held in Jakarta, Indonesia on 10 – 12 October, 2023.
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
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Abstract
Electric Submersible Pump (ESP) upsizing project has historically an effective tool to optimize oil
production. As a mature field, KS field currently was producing with average 97% water cut. Most of
the ESPs installed in SK field were designed to produce 1,000 to 2,500 BLPD. Meanwhile, the potential
maximum liquid rate of some wells is much higher than the current ESP rate, ranging from 8,000 to 17,000
BLPD. The oil production can then potentially be increased 3 to 5 times higher by upsizing the ESP. Hence,
the objective of this study is to accelerate oil recovery from un-optimum oil well.
This optimization can be achieved in 2 ways, either drill new big bore well or optimize existing well.
By optimizing existing wells through ESP upsizing pilot project, we can save estimated USD 1.5 MM
compared to drill a new well. The ESP upsizing project is planned into 3 phases; phase-1 pilot (2 wells),
phase-2 implementation (8 wells) and phase-3 and phase-4 full-scale (33 wells). KS-XXX1 and KS-XXX2
were selected for the pilot project and upsized using ESP pump with recommended operating range 3,500 –
10,500 BLPD at 60Hz. The reservoir simulation, fractional flow evaluation, production network modelling,
well performance and nodal analysis were conducted prior phase-1 execution to increase project confident
level. To operate these high-rate wells, some improvements in electrical system, flowline safety devices and
well test procedure are also required. Therefore, multidiscipline team was involved in this project.
The pilot project phase-1 has successfully executed and currently producing 476 BOPD from initial rate
80 BOPD without significantly increasing of water cut. Estimated cumulative oil gain of these wells are
567 MBO.
The successful phase-1 ESP upsizing will unlock the potency of phase-2, 3 and 4. Through maximizing
liquid production and reducing number of active ESP wells, oil production is expected to increase with lower
operating cost (by reducing well count). Estimated oil gain from full scale implementation is 4.93 MMBO.
This paper will describe a production optimization in mature field by ESP upsizing. Increasing liquid
production is established technology to improved oil recovery in mature reservoir. Application of upsizing
in high water cut wells has been proven to improve production decline using low expenditure.
2 SPE-215230-MS
Introduction
The KS field is a mature field, located onshore in South Sumatera, Indonesia. This field was discovered in
1996 and the oil production was started in 1998 from 3 hydrocarbon formations: Talang Akar Sandstone
(TAF), Telisa sandstone (TSF) and Baturaja Carbonate (BRF). Main oil production came from BRF
(Baturaja Formation) reefal carbonates with minor contribution from TAF (Talang Akar Formation) and
TSF (Telisa Formation) sandstone. Oil gravity produced in KS field is considered as light oil with API
gravity at 36° API. The reservoir is described as a single continuous zone with minor faults occurrence.
The BRF carbonates have good reservoir quality except at several local areas where tight facies occur, and
which provides a permeability barrier and stratigraphic entrapment exceeding the simple four-way structural
closures. In contrast, the TAF and TSF reservoirs are rather tight.
In 2000, artificial lift with gas lift was implemented thus increased production to the peak level of about
75,000 BOPD in Q4-2001. Then the inevitable decline in both reservoir pressure and production started to
kick in. To maintain BRF reservoir pressure, the peripheral waterflood was implemented in KS field starting
in 2004. As of Dec-2022, the cumulative production for BRF carbonate reservoir was around 170 MMBO
which corresponds to current recovery factor 40% of the OOIP.
Gas lift initially was the main artificial lift system in KS field, since waterflood introduced back in 2004
then Gas lift Conversion Campaign to Electric Submersible Pump (ESP) have been executed to increase
gross production and improve oil recovery in this mature reservoir. Currently total ESP installed in KS field
is around 150 wells, most of the ESPs installed were designed to produce 1,000 to 2,500 BLPD. The initial
well completion design was cased hole perforated with production casing size are 7-inch and 5.5-inch. The
typical of initial well completion design is shown in Figure-1.
Figure 1—Typical of Initial Well Completion Design with ESP: (A) 7-in Casing Size (B) 5.5-in Casing Size
SPE-215230-MS 3
Increasing liquid production is established technology to improved oil recovery in mature reservoir.
This optimization can be achieved in 2 ways, either drill new big bore well or optimize existing well. By
optimizing existing wells through ESP upsizing pilot project, we can save estimated USD 1.5 MM compared
to drill a new well. Furthermore, to accelerate oil recovery starting in 2021 the ESP Upsizing pilot project
executed in KS field.
Application of upsizing in high water cut wells has been proven to improve production decline using
low expenditure (Yunaz et.al., 2015). ESP upsizing has been success to optimize oil production in other
waterflood field (Saleh et.al., 2017). The ESP upsizing has been implemented in KS field since July 2021
for 2 wells, and will continue up to 40 wells in the following years.
Methodology
Well Candidate Evaluation
The inflow performance relationship (IPR) was build based on Vogel equation (Vogel, 1968). Vogel used
a numerical reservoir simulator to study the inflow performance of wells depleting solution gas drive
reservoirs. He considered cases below bubble point pressure and varied pressure drawdowns, fluid, and
rock properties.
Where: q = production rate at bottomhole pressure pwf, STB/d

qmax = maximum production rate, STB/d
pR = average reservoir pressure, psi.
In this study, production rate (q) is based on actual test separator rate. Reservoir pressure (pR) from static
bottom hole pressure (SBHP) survey, nearest well SBHP or pressure map data. Bottom hole pressure (pwf)
from flowing bottom hole pressure (FBHP) survey or corrected ESP pump intake pressure (PiP).
Result from this well performance evaluation, production rate from BRF wells is still low (0.1 – 0.3 from
Qmax). Meanwhile the potential maximum liquid rate of some wells is much higher than the current ESP
rate, ranging from 8,000 to 17,000 BLPD as shown in Figure 2. The oil production can then potentially be
increased 3 to 5 times higher than existing.
Figure 2—Well Candidates AOF
The evaluation then resulted more than 40 ESP wells potentially to increase production by installing
bigger capacity of ESP pump. The incremental volume for these wells were also estimated. The estimated
4 SPE-215230-MS
incremental volume is based on Water-Oil-Ratio (WOR) vs Cumulative Oil Production (Np) graphical
method. This methodology uses trend of WOR vs Np in semi log cross plot (Bondar, V.V. & Blasingame,
T.A., 2022). The trend line then picked and used to estimate the additional oil volume and generate
production forecast post installation of ESP Upsize up to the watercut of 99%. The example of this analysis
shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3—Water-Oil-Ratio (WOR) vs Cumulative Oil (Np) Method
In some cases, the upsize well candidate is also combined with additional perforation in order to improve
oil/reduce watercut post ESP Installation since the additional perforation is targeting the flow unit interval
of BRF carbonate reservoir which still has good remaining oil saturation. The remaining oil saturation
could be predicted by saturation log data interpretation that conducted prior perforation and ESP Upsizing
installation. The example of this result is shown in well KS-XXX in Figure 4.
Figure 4—Saturation Log application in KS-XXX for additional perforation target
The candidates ranked on its potential gain and incremental volume then scheduled in multiyear work
project called "ESP Upsizing Project" which consisted of four implementation phases;
• Phase 1 (2 wells) as a pilot project has been executed in 2021,
• Phase 2 (8 wells) as an implementation project has been executed in 2022,
• Phase 3 (12 wells) as an implementation project to be executed in 2023,
• Phase 4 (21 wells) as a full-scale project will be executed in 2024 and beyond.
Reservoir Simulation
Reservoir simulation (black oil) has been conducted in order to evaluate IPR performance of the well ESP
upsizing candidate, mitigate effect of liquid upsize to other well. RFD TNav software was used in this study
due to availability of water-flood tool, faster running time and availability of license. The effect to other
SPE-215230-MS 5
well is very important to get additional oil for this scenario, not only drain oil that normally can drain by
existing production wells.
Production Network Modeling

Since the target rate is up to 5 times of existing rate, pressure exposure to flowline will increased too. Flow
line rating along the production line (from well to station) should be evaluated to mitigate any leaking
potential. Production network modeling (as shown in Figure. 5) was evaluated for well candidates and
surrounding wells to mitigate pressure drop along the system. ReO software was used for this evaluation
due to network model of this field has already build using this software.
Figure 5—Production Network Modeling
ESP Design
KS-XXX1 and KS-XXX2 have good productivity index, a 108 stages Flex80SSD pump was considered
enough to deliver liquid production rate up to 10000 BLPD (estimated total dynamic head is 3310 ft for
KS-XXX1 and 3422 ft for KS-XXX2) at 60 Hz ESP frequency. A 500 HP ESP motor was chosen to
accommodate power requirement of ESP to run up to 60 Hz frequency. Well Data and ESP Design Result
for KS-XXX1 and KS-XXX2 are shown in Table 1 and Table 2.
SPE-215230-MS
Table 1—Well Data and ESP Design Result KS-XXX1
Table 2—Well Data and ESP Design Result KS-XXX2

6
SPE-215230-MS 7
Figure 6—Design Tornado Curve of 108 stages – Flex80 pump
ESP Installation
ESP KS-XXX1 and KS-XXX2 were installed in July and Aug 2021. In KS-XXX2, the ESP installation
program was combined with add perforation in upper zone. Current perforation of KS-XXX2 has not been
opened yet at the top of FU-1 BRF. By perforating top of FU-1 expected oil production improvement can
come from watercut reduction or watercut maintenance during gross-up. It is also important to note that
watercut reduction might not always be the case after opening the interval, but its contribution is expected
to slow down the watercut increase thereby improving oil recovery.
All ESP equipment were checked and confirmed in free rotation condition during the make-up process,
the cable continuity (phase to phase resistance reading), cable insulation (phase to ground resistance
reading), and down-hole gauge reading were also measured and recorded during running ESP to the setting
depth.
ESP Well Surveillance

Post execution, these ESP Upsizing wells are monitored continuously by real time monitoring by using
SCADA system in order to provide early notification and advance recommendation for further well
production optimization such as; reduce downtime and optimize the ESP Frequency through virtual
metering dashboard. The monitoring flow chart could be seen in Figure 7. SCADA monitoring showed
significant improvement in ESP well surveillance by giving notification of problem wells and field crew
can solve the well problems effectively (Lazuardi, H. et.al., 2022).
8 SPE-215230-MS
Figure 7—Workflow of SCADA data acquisition
Result
The pilot project phase-1 (2 wells) has been successfully executed in 2021; KS-XXX1 and KS-XXX2.
KS-XXX1 Performance
ESP KS-XXX1 had been started up on July 31st, 2021 at 36 Hz with initial rate 5070 BLPD with 98%
water cut. During commissioning period, the ESP frequency was ramped up to final frequency 55 Hz. Last
production test in 55 Hz was 9428 BLPD with 98% water cut (105% of target design). ESP surface and
downhole parameters were stable as shown in Figure 8.
Figure 8—Performance Chart of ESP KS-XXX1

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As shown in Figure 9, up to April 2021, the production rate then was showing stable trend and water cut
relatively stable. Liquid rate increase from 2000 BLPD to 9500 BLPD and oil rate increase from 31 BOPD
to 200 BOPD. This proved that the increasing liquid rate up to 5 times, is not affected water cut increased.
Figure 9—Production Profile of KS-XXX1
KS-XXX2 Performance
ESP KS-XXX2 had been started up on September 5th, 2021, at 36 Hz with initial rate 4902 BLPD with 98%
water cut. During commissioning period, the ESP frequency was ramped up to final frequency 53 Hz. Last
production test in 53 Hz was 8504 BLPD with 96% water cut (100% of target design). ESP surface and
downhole parameters were stable as shown in Figure 10.
Figure 10—Performance Chart of ESP KS-XXX2
As shown in Figure 11, up to April 2021, the production rate then was showing stable trend and water cut
relatively stable. Compared to existing condition water cut decrease from 98% to 96% due to contribution
of add perforation in upper flow unit. Liquid rate increase from 1500 BLPD to 8500 BLPD and oil rate
10 SPE-215230-MS
increase from 40 BOPD to 250 BOPD. This proved that combining ESP upsizing with add perforation
program could decrease the water cut.
Figure 11—Production Profile of KS-XXX2
Based on result of the 2 (two) wells above, ESP upsizing considered success to increase liquid rate 4
(four) to 5 (five) times from existing rate. The total initial oil gain of this pilot project is 396 BOPD and the
estimate cumulative oil is 567 MBO (thousand barrels oil). This is proved that the optimizing the existing
wells, gives significant impact of production. Meanwhile, investment cost is much lower than drilling new
big bore well. Cost saving from ESP upsizing is 1.5 million us dollar per well compared to big bore scenario.
The successful of pilot project is unlock 41 (forty-one) wells candidate of ESP Upsizing, with estimated
cumulative oil gain 4.93 million barrels oil.
Lesson Learnt
The current pilot project is still using 2-7/8″ tubing due to unavailability of 3-1/2″ tubing. Improvement
for the next phases, the ESP power required, and tubing friction can be reduced by using 3.5″ tubing.
Comparison power consumption between 2-7/8″ and 3-1/2″ tubing shown in Table 3.
Table 3—Comparison power consumption between 2-7/8″ and 3.5″ tubing

SPE-215230-MS 11
Conclusions
In general, application of ESP upsizing in high water cut wells has been proven to improve oil production
in mature field with low expenses with following remarks:
• ESP Upsizing program successfully increase liquid production rate from 2000 BLPD to 9500
BLPD in KS-XXX1 and 1500 BLPD to 8500 BLPD in KS-XXX2
• Oil rate increase from 31 BOPD to 200 BOPD in KS-XXX1 and 40 BLPD to 250 BOPD in KS-
XXX2
• No significant increasing of water cut in KS-XXX1 and KS-XXX2
• Add perforation program in KS-XXX2 successfully decrease water cut from 98% to 96%.
Recommendation
• Continue this application to others mature field in order to improve oil production.
• Operational challenges need to be considered, such as 3-1/2" tubing availability, some

improvements in electrical system, flowline safety devices and well test procedure.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to express their appreciation to the management of PT Medco E&P Indonesia for the
permissions to publish this paper. The authors also gratefully acknowledge our collage in Base Management
Area-1 Department and Resource Development Area-1 Department of PT Medco E&P Indonesia for their
invaluable assistance and support.
References
Bondar, V.V and Blasingame, T.A.: "Analysis and Interpretation of Water-Oil-Ratio Performance". SPE 77569, October
2002
Lazuardi, H. et al.: "Artificial Lift Real-Time Monitoring Digitalization Method: An Advanced Approach with Artificial
Intelligence to Achieve Efficient Well Surveillance by Utilizing SCADA". IPA, September 2022
Saleh, Nada, Chetri, H., Al-Twaitan, T., & Al-qenae, A. "Reaping The Benefits Of The Mega Water Flood Project In
North Kuwait-Production Enhancement Opportunities Tracking & Implementing." Abu Dhabi International Petroleum
Exhibition & Conference. 2017
Takacs, Gabor: "Electrical Submersible Pumps Manual – Design, Operations, and Maintenance" Gulf Professional
Publishing, 2009
Vogel, J. V.: "Inflow Performance Relationships for Solution-Gas Drive Wells." JPT, January 1968, 83–92
Yunaz, David., Lumbantobing, Sudianto., Walla III, Andrew. "Implementation of Pump Upsizing in SLO North Sustain
Increased Production and Leads to World Class Reservoir Management". IPA 2015

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SPE-215230-MS

New Pillar of Mature Field Production Strategy: A Success Story of ESP

Copyright 2023, Society of Petroleum Engineers DOI 10.2118/215230-MS

Where: q = production rate at bottomhole pressure pwf, STB/d

Figure 2—Well Candidates AOF

Figure 4—Saturation Log application in KS-XXX for additional perforation target

• Phase 1 (2 wells) as a pilot project has been executed in 2021,

• Phase 2 (8 wells) as an implementation project has been executed in 2022,

• Phase 3 (12 wells) as an implementation project to be executed in 2023,

Production Network Modeling

Figure 5—Production Network Modeling

Table 1—Well Data and ESP Design Result KS-XXX1

Table 2—Well Data and ESP Design Result KS-XXX2

ESP Well Surveillance

Figure 8—Performance Chart of ESP KS-XXX1

Figure 10—Performance Chart of ESP KS-XXX2

Table 3—Comparison power consumption between 2-7/8″ and 3.5″ tubing

• Operational challenges need to be considered, such as 3-1/2" tubing availability, some

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