Hydraulic Pumping Systems
Hydraulic pumping systems transmit energy to the bottom of the well by means of pressurized power fluid that flows down in the wellbore tubular to a subsurface pump. There are at least three types of hydraulic subsurface pump:
- a reciprocating piston pump, where one side is powered by the (injected) drive fluid while the other side pumps the produced fluids to surface
- a jet pump, where the (injected) drive fluid passes through a nozzle-throat venturi combination, mixes with produced fluids and by the venturi effect creates a high pressure at the discharge side of the pump.
- a hydraulicaly driven downhole turbine (HSP), whereby the downhole drive motor is a turbine, mechanically connected to the impeller-pump section which pumps the fluid.
These systems are very versatile and have been used in shallow depths (1000 ft) to deeper wells (18,000 ft), low rate wells with production in the tens of barrels per day to wells producing in excess of 20,000 bbl (3,200 m3) per day. In most cases the drive (injected) fluid can be water or produced fluids (oil/water mix). Certain chemicals can be mixed in with the injected fluid to help control corrosion, paraffin and emulsion problems. Hydraulic pumping systems are also suitable for deviated wells where conventional pumps such as the rod pump are not feasible.
Like all systems, these systems have their operating envelopes, though with hydraulic pumps these are often misunderstood by designers. Some types of hydraulic pumps may be sensitive to solids, while jetpumps for example can pump solids volume fractions of more than 50%. They are considered the least efficient lift method, though this differs for the different types of hydraulic pumps, and also when looking at full system losses the differences in many installations are negligible.
The life-cycle cost of these systems is similar to other types of artificial lift when appropriately designed, bearing in mind that they are typically low maintenance, with jet pumps for instance having slightly higher operating (energy) costs with substantially lower purchase cost and virtually no repair cost.
Read more about this topic: Artificial Lift, Technologies
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