SPE-172615-MS

Production Enhancement And Assurance Using Surface Jet Pump

Technology
Sacha Sarshar, and N. Beg, Caltec, U.K

Copyright 2015, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Middle East Oil & Gas Show and Conference held in Manama, Bahrain, 8 11 March 2015.
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
Almost 67% of worlds oil and gas is produced from mature fields, Which are facing a significant drop
in the reservoir pressure. There are also other challenges such as production from satellites, increase in
water-cut, fragmentation of reservoir and deterioration of the inflow characteristics of wells which restrict
production and total recovery from these fields. A boosting system is therefore required to maintain
production and to ensure that maximum total recovery from the field is achieved.
Surface jet pumps are amongst the most cost effective ways to revive liquid loaded wells and boost
production from low pressure oil and gas wells. This paper describes the principle of their operation and
refers to a number of field examples worldwide. The paper focuses particularly on revival of oil and gas
wells which have unstable production or have seized production.
Economics play an important role in selection of the production boosting techniques. For this reason,
the oil and gas operators wish to minimize their risks and the capital and operation costs of the boosting
systems when the production has declined. This paper also covers the effect of multiphase flow and how
to cope with this aspect of the production from LP oil and gas wells, and the use of solutions which
involve surface jet pumps.

Introduction
Recent reports reveal that almost 67% of world oil and gas is produced from mature fields. There is no
formal definition of what is defined as a mature field. Some sources define field maturity when production
has reached 50% of the plateau rate. Some consider a field reaching maturity after 10 years of production.
There are of course other criteria which affect the field maturity and selection of the solutions to maintain
production. These include water-cut, status of the field infrastructure, and whether the field is onshore,
offshore or whether it has major subsea completed systems.
In the UK, all production came from only seven fields in 1977. Today, 1.4 MMboe/d comes from 346
fields.
In many fields, if nothing is done in response to the drop in reservoir pressure and other changes to the
productivity of wells, total recovery of oil or gas from the field may be limited to around 35%.
With advances in production boosting techniques, up to 60% to 75% of reserves should ideally be
recoverable before the field is abandoned.

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The industry also faces other challenges such as the drop in the price of oil and gas, related tax regimes,
inflation, and increase in the cost of equipment, personnel, drilling and maintenance operations.
In many fields, long term, life of the field, consideration has been limited and short term solutions have
been adopted. In this case, near the end of the field life, major investments to extend the life of the fields
are avoided. In some fields major operators pass the field to small operators who may be able to take
further risks and extend the life of the field more economically.
The subject of this paper is on the use of a low cost, low risk system which is ideal for marginal or
mature fields. The system or solution involves the use of surface jet pumps (SJPs) to revive LP wells,
which applies to both oil and gas fields.

What is surface jet pump (SJP)?

Jet pump is a passive device which uses an available high pressure (HP) fluid to boost the pressure of low
pressure (LP) fluids. Figure 1 shows the key features of the SJP and the pressure profile through the
system. Jet pumps are also known by names such as eductors, ejectors or jet gas compressors. These
names refer to the same product, but have been used in different industries, including the oil and gas
industry by some operators and suppliers of this equipment. In this paper, surface jet pump or SJP term
is used to distinguish it from downhole jet pumps.

Figure 1Profile of the velocity and pressure of HP and LP gas passing through the SJP

In principle, HP fluid passes through the nozzle of the SJP where part of potential energy (pressure)
is converted to kinetic energy (velocity). As a result, the HP pressure drops significantly in front of the
nozzle. It is at this point that the LP fluids are introduced and are carried through the mixing tube with
the HP fluid. It is within the mixing tube where transfer of energy and momentum between HP and LP
fluids takes place. The mixture then passes through the diffuser section, where the velocity of fluids is
reduced gradually and further recovery of pressure is achieved. The outlet pressure of the SJP will be an
intermediate pressure between the HP and LP pressure. The amount by which the LP pressure is increased
depends on major factors such as HP/LP pressure ratio and mass flow ratio.

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Figure 2 shows typical graphs for gas production applications where both HP and LP fluids are pure
gas. There are also other factors such as molecular weight of HP and LP gas, the operating temperature,
properties of gas such as Z factor and Cp/Cv value, and presence of liquids in the HP or LP gas which
affect the performance of the SJP.

Figure 2Performance of the jet pump in gas production applications

In some applications, particularly for prevention of flaring very low pressure gas, if no HP gas source
is available, a high pressure liquid phase such as HP oil or water may be used as the motive flow.
Figure 3 shows the performance of the SJP handling LP gas and using HP water as the motive flow.
It is worth noting that using a HP liquid phase can achieve a much higher level of boost for the LP gas,
but a relatively high flow rate of HP liquid is needed for each MMscfd of LP gas.

Figure 3Performance of the SJP, using HP water to boost the pressure of LP gas

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Gas production applications

The applications of SJPs in gas production include;

Boosting the pressure of LP gas

Prevention of flaring very low pressure gas
Replacing intermediate compressors
Boosting production from LP gas wells
De-bottlenecking compressors
An alternative to re-wheeling compressors
Revival of liquid loaded gas wells

There has been numerous successful applications of each case, most of which have been covered in
previous technical papers. See reference 1.
This paper focuses on boosting production from oil and gas wells, and the revival of liquid loaded oil
and gas wells.

Revival of gas wells

Many mature gas wells produce some liquids (oil, condensate or water). As the production of gas declines,
or the flow rates of liquids increase, the velocity of gas through the wellbore becomes insufficient to
transport the liquids to wellhead. The gradual buildup of liquids in the well bore results in erratic
production and, if nothing is done, it leads to the final seizure of production.
There are a variety of solutions involving the use of downhole solutions such as using velocity strings,
gas injection, injection of foaming agents, and use of ESPs, plunger lift pumps, PCPs, rod pumps or
hydraulic pumps. These are generally referred to as artificial lift (AL) systems. For some reasons,
generally, lowering the flowing wellhead pressure (FWHP) is not counted as an artificial lift solution,
although in many cases, it may revive liquid loaded wells without having to use the costlier AL solutions.
The SJPs have been used successfully in many cases to revive liquid loaded gas wells. Figure 4, 5 and
6 show a few field examples of such a case where the cost of the system has been a fraction of the
conventional and more complex AL systems.

Figure 4 Use of the SJP to revive stranded subsea wells

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Figure 5Use of SJP to revive satellite LP wells

Figure 6 Revival of 16 gas wells which could not produce directly against the manifold pressure

The effectiveness of the use of the SJP system is based on three main factors;
The HP source and to what extent it can reduce the FWHP of the well
The inflow characteristics of the well and the severity of the liquid loading
Architecture and depth of the well
The up-to-date inflow characteristics of the well can be established reliably by allowing the well to flow
at a lower FWHP, which is normally dictated by the production manifold or pipeline pressure. In some
onshore fields the operator may open the well to a burning pit temporarily to establish the inflow behavior
of the well. In some offshore fields, the test separator may be used to operate at a low operating pressure
by temporarily flaring the gas and sending the liquids to the closed drain system (if allowed).
Figure 7 shows an alternative solution for using the test separator. This system which uses SJPs or a
booster pump for the liquid phase, prevents flaring the separated gas or sending the liquids to the closed
drain. The viability of this system depends on the availability of the HP source to handle the separated LP
gas, and by what extent it can reduce the operating pressure of the test separator.

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Figure 7Use of the test separator, combined with SJP and a booster pump to revive LP wells

Experience has shown that in some sever cases, the combination of the total depth of the well, the
extent of the liquid loading and the inflow characteristics of the well, demand the use of downhole AL
systems or flowing the well at near atmospheric pressure for the initial revival of the well, before the
simpler solution, using SJPs can become effective on its own to maintain stable production. It is for this
reason that initial testing of the wells at pressures below the manifold or pipeline pressure helps to
establish the severity of the liquid loading and the solution which is the most cost effective way to revive
the well.

The challenge of multiphase flow and oil wells

In addition to gas wells which produce some liquids, oil wells may suffer from the same fate of liquid
loading, but in this case the production rate of the liquids could be well in excess of the gas wells.
Production rate of liquids beyond 1% to 2% by volume of the mixture at the operating pressure and
temperature, affects the performance of SJPs, in both oil and gas production applications.
In such cases a HP liquid phase is needed as the motive flow for the SJP. The HP liquid phase can be
from HP wells, HP export oil, and HP water such as injection water.
Figures 8A&B show the solution where because of lack of HP liquid phase, flow from LP oil wells is
split into the gas and liquid phase, and the separated LP liquid phase is boosted by a single phase liquid
pump.

Figure 8AFlow diagram of the Wellcom system using SJP to boost the pressure of LP gas and a booster pump to boost the pressure
of LP liquids

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Figure 8BPhotograph of the Wellcom system using compact separator I-SEP/HI-SEP and the liquid booster pump

The separator needed for separation of gas and liquids in such applications should ideally be compact
and simple to operate, as in many cases the system operates in remote onshore fields or on unmanned
offshore platforms where space is also a premium. The patented Caltec system uses the cyclonic patented
I-SEP separator to separate LP gas and liquid phases. For further information on I-SEP and its range of
applications refer to reference 2
Figure 9 shows the photograph of the boosting system with I-SEP mounted on the same skid which
carries the SJP.

Figure 9 Use of the HP oil well to revive and boost production from a LP oil well

Figure 10 shows an alternative patented solution, known by the trade name of the Wellcom Boost
system. This solution is suitable for cases where no HP source, gas or liquid phase, is available. In this

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case a single phase liquid booster pump is used to generate the motive flow and the SJP handles the total
multiphase flow from the selected LP wells. One of the benefits of this system is that it allows the
selection of the booster pump and the delivery pressure of the pump to allow the SJP to generate the
desired reduction in the FWHP of the LP wells.

Figure 10 Use of a booster pump and SJP to revive LP oil well (Wellcom Boost system)

The selection of each system depends therefore on the conditions of the LP wells, and the availability
of the HP motive gas or liquids.

How to predict the achieved boost in production

The SJP system of any type reduces the FWHP of the LP oil or gas wells. The amount by which the FWHP
of the selected wells is reduced, is dictated by the following main factors;
The pressure and flow rate of the available HP source
The flow rate of LP gas and liquids
The production characteristics of the LP wells
Both flow rates of LP gas and liquids are in turn dictated by the amount of reduction in the FWHP of
the selected LP wells, particularly by the inflow characteristics of the selected LP wells and factors such
as PI (productivity index) of the LP wells.
In practice, the SJP and the producing LP wells adjust their performance so that they meet the
performance of both. Figure 11 shows this phenomenon and the point which matches the performance of
both the SJP and the LP well(s).

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Figure 11Showing how the LP well and SJP performance match

Economics and benefits of the SJP system

Selection and deployment of any boosting system can be only justified if it has a good or acceptable
business case. The field experience related to all field applications of the SJP solutions has shown that the
recovery of the capital invested is achieved within a few weeks to a few months, depending on the
complexity of the system, the materials used and the extent of the interconnecting pipe work involved.
In addition to the economic justification, the SJP solutions have the following benefits which should
be considered when comparing various production boosting options;

The operation of the system is simple and does not require active control or operator
Maintenance requirements are next to none
The system can be easily modified if the operating conditions change
Alternative solutions are costlier and more complex
The system is highly reliable and does not suffer from limited or short mean time before failure

Naturally, all SJP applications require a high pressure source to power the SJP. Lack of the existing HP
source may lead to adopting the solutions which involve the use of a booster pump. The use of the booster
pump adds to the complexity and cost of the system. However, compared to alternative solutions such as
the use of multiphase pumps, or downhole ESPs, the booster pump handling the liquid phase is still a
simpler system with good track records, and its power consumption is much less than the power needed
by multiphase pumps.

Concluding remarks
The need for a production boosting system is inevitable to maintain production, and to maximize recovery
from mature oil and gas fields. The use of the SJP solutions compliments other major EOR (enhanced oil
recovery) or IOR (Improved oil recovery) systems which are essential to ensure that total recovery from
the fields reaches values in excess of 35% of the reserves.
The SJP solutions have an excellent track record and are amongst the lowest risk solutions to maximize
production and recovery from mature fields. For oil and gas producing companies which have not used
the SJP systems, initial field trials can provide them with the confidence which they need to adopt the
system.

References
1. Some novel examples of the use of surface jet pumps (SJPs) to enhance production and
processing. Case histories and lessons learned. By; Sacha Sarshar & N. Beg. Caltec Ltd, U.K.
GPA annual conference, May 23-25, 2012, Berlin.

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2. The applications and performance of a novel compact separator in the oil and gas industry. By;
MM (Sacha) Sarshar, Technical Director, Caltec. 2nd GCC-EU Advanced oil and gas Technology
Conference. Abu Dhabi, UAE, May 21-22, 2001