ARTIFICIAL LIFT
Integrating Data Mining and Expert Knowledge
for an Artificial-Lift Advisory System
The full-length paper describes a new
workflow to accelerate and improve
decisions regarding where and when
to apply an artificial-lift system in fields
with a considerable number of active
wells. The workflow deploys a hybrid
combination of a user-driven expert
system and a data-driven knowledge-
capturing system calibrated with his-
torical data. The two systems interact
to determine the right point in time
to support a particular well with an
artificial-lift system.
Introduction
Typically, asset expertise is stored in
spreadsheets that define the limits for
condition parameters within which
a specific artificial-lift system needs
to be installed. As a first step toward
decision automation, these limits are
implemented in a rule-based reason-
ing system deploying if-then-else logic
to automate the knowledge. After suc-
cessful validation of the rule-based
approach, the information about the
limits and the combination and inter-
action of the parameters is fed into a
Bayesian belief network (BBN) capable
of performing a more robust reasoning
process under uncertainty or miss-
ing parameters. The setup process of
the BBN requires frequent interac-
This article, written by Assistant Tech-
nology Editor Karen Bybee, contains
highlights of paper SPE 128636, “Inte-
grating Data Mining and Expert Knowl-
edge for an Artificial Lift Advisory
System,” by E. De la Vega, G.
Sandoval, and M. Garcia, SPE, Pemex,
and G. Nunez, SPE, A. Al-Kinani, SPE,
R.W. Holy, SPE, H. Escalona, SPE, and
M. Mota, Schlumberger, originally pre-
pared for the 2010 SPE Intelligent Energy
Conference and Exhibition, Utrecht, The
Netherlands, 23–25 March. The paper
has not been peer reviewed.
For a limited time, the full-length paper is available free to SPE members at www.spe.org/jpt.
JPT • JULY 2010
tion with the asset team to ensure the
validity and consistency of the system
recommendations. While the iterative
validation is necessary for the BBN
setup, it also enables the asset team
to review and visualize their complex
decision-making process thoroughly
and helps to define more-efficient
decision logic.
In parallel, a data-mining analysis
on historical data is performed to find
the decision logic as it was applied
in the field. The data-mining study
incorporates operational data (e.g., tub-
inghead pressures, line pressures, and
calculated gas rates), well-test data,
and information from well-intervention
reports. The objectives of the data-
mining analysis are:
• To identify patterns in operational
and well-test data that lead to the deci-
sion of a new artificial-lift system.
• To identify potential correlations
of well-intervention activity and incre-
mental production after intervention
to quantify the success of a specific
artificial-lift installation under specific
conditions.
Case Study
Activo Integral Burgos (AIB) is a typi-
cal example of a large gas field where
production declined as a result of gas-
loading backpressure and reduced
permeability in the target formation.
The fast decline of the gas wells
during their first year of production
drove a change from a reactive to a
proactive management approach to
monitor the field and select candi-
dates for workovers and artificial-lift
systems. However, the large number
of wells in AIB (approximately 3,500
active wells) and the fact that 95%
of the data is obtained by manu-
al surveillance suggest the need for
some level of automation to aid deci-
sion making.
Current Situation. Under the current
working environment, two main situa-
tions challenge the asset team:
1. Analysis of the huge amount of
data involves a significant time delay,
which leads to lost production because
of delayed well intervention (e.g.,
installing the right artificial-lift system
in time).
2. There is insufficient processed
data to make an informed decision,
which means that the asset team initi-
ates well interventions too early and
hence blocks the intervention resourc-
es for other wells that might require the
intervention investment sooner.
Currently, AIB has a contractual
scheme in which several service com-
panies participate by measuring well
parameters in the field and creating
engineering analysis of candidates to
install the most appropriate artificial-
lift system. Because of the large number
of wells in the asset, the associated
capture of required measurements, and
the distance to the location of interest,
the existing analysis process was per-
formed at an average rate of only two
wells per week.
The current strategy focuses on
accelerating the quantity and improv-
ing the quality of the recommenda-
tions at the well level that help increase
or at least maintain the production of
the current asset. The asset team wants
to take advantage of its investment in
the automation of current processes
related to operational data storage and
engineering workflows, such as gas-
rate estimation and event detection
and notifications.
An investigation of current condi-
tions also shows that while all deci-
sions are made on the basis of field
data, analysis relies heavily on an
engineer’s experience and judgment.
Engineers typically move from one job
position to the next, and the arrival
57
 Gas Rate After (MMscf/D) Gas Rate Before (MMscf/D) Line Pressure Before (psi) Type Numeric ( )

0.1 0.3 0.6 0.8 1.1 1.3 1.6 1.8 2.1 2.3 0.1 0.4 0.7 1.0 1.3 1.6 1.9 2.2 2.5 2.8 122 294 465 636 807 978 1,149 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0
Wellhead Pressure After (psi) Wellhead Pressure Before (psi) Liquid Level Before (ft) Last Well-Test Gas Rate (MMscf/D)

190 487 783 1,080 1,377 1,874 1,971 178 478 778 1,078 1,378 1,678 1,978 89 503 917 1,330 1,744 2,157 2,571 0.1 0.5 0.8 1.1 1.5 1.8 2.1 2.5 2.8 3.1

Last Well-Test Water Rate (STB/D)

Type Numeric
Red: AL System A
Green: AL System B
Blue: AL System C
1 19 38 56 74 92 111 129 147

Fig. 1—SOM to investigate historical decision making regarding artificial-lift installations.

of new engineers makes knowledge
transfer to those in charge of the
field additionally difficult. Therefore,
the following main questions need to
be asked:
• How to capture the knowledge of
experienced personnel and make it
available to the whole organization?
• How to apply this knowledge
in a general and unbiased manner
throughout the assets of the organiza-
tion?
• How to keep this knowledge
updated by use of new experience?
The solution presented in the full-
length paper is based on an expert
system and automated reasoning tools
that are able to capture and apply
knowledge and make it available to
the whole organization. In general,
the combination of these two tech-
nology-based approaches enables the
asset team to process the field data
and apply the knowledge system-
atically at the field level, obtaining
results faster and on time for all wells
in the field and independently of
asset, well, or engineer. An automat-
ed workflow consisting of data cap-
ture, data validation and processing,
expert-knowledge application and
reasoning analysis, and finally report-
ing is implemented to run once a day.
Results are presented to the produc-
tion engineer in the form of a list in
which candidate wells are ranked by
priority of intervention according to
their critical condition. The engineer
then is empowered to initiate the nec-
essary engineering workflows (e.g.,
nodal analysis) more effectively and
make the final decision on how to
distribute resources.
User-Driven Expert System
The user-driven expert system is an
automated workflow that fully relies
on the knowledge and experience of
the engineer. The asset team has the
ability to incorporate its complex busi-
ness reasoning into surveillance rules
to detect potential artificial-lift candi-
dates. The advantage of this system
is the trustworthiness and, most sig-
nificantly, the traceability of decisions
leading to the artificial-lift candidates
detected by the system, because the
inference rules have been created in
close cooperation with the asset engi-
neers and fully reflect their provided
criteria. Additionally, the user-driven
expert system can be revised easily and
changes can be undertaken should the
need arise (e.g., technical or economi-
cal limitations).
During the implementation of the
user-driven expert system, two differ-
ent methods have been applied: (1) a
rule-based approach that can be con-
sidered deterministic because the out-
come is either “artificial lift=true” in
case the input conditions are favorable
or “artificial lift=false” in case they
are not and (2) a stochastic approach
implemented through a BBN in which
the outcome is not just true or false
but a probability distribution denot-
ing the “degree of applicability of an
artificial-lift system” that takes into
account the uncertainty of a certain
decision or choice.
Rule-Based Approach. The rule-based
approach consists of implementing the
engineer’s reasoning into an automated
routine comprising a sequence of if-
then-else loops. In this way, complex
knowledge can be captured and used
in real-time surveillance and detection
workflows. These workflows can be

58 JPT • JULY 2010


scheduled to run at any time and as
often as desired, enabling immediate
detection when the conditions of a well
indicate need of an artificial-lift system
and enabling early notification to the
asset team and engineers.
Data-Driven Expert System. Data-
driven approaches are used widely
to reveal hidden information in large
data sets. Typically, in a brownfield
with a large number of wells and
a production history spanning many
years or decades, the amount of data
available overwhelms the convention-
al approach to data screening (e.g.,
spreadsheets or production plots). A
data-driven approach allows the engi-
neer to visualize data in different con-
texts to facilitate the analysis of cor-
relations and the process of knowledge
discovery. The presented workflow
applied an unsupervised clustering
algorithm and a special visualization
technique using Kohonen’s self-orga-
nizing maps (SOMs)
SOMs. SOMs display multidimension-
al data sets in a 2D map. The SOM uses
the Euclidian distance between two
points in the multidimensional space
as a measure of their similarity. The
more similar the measurement, the
closer the points are placed together in
the 2D projection—the “map.”
In this work, SOMs have been applied
to identify a pattern in the historical
decision making of the asset team.
The objective is to discover the pattern
under which a decision for a specific
artificial-lift installation was typically
made. Ideally, this pattern corresponds
to the rule-based expert system as
discussed earlier; however, sometimes
it does not as a result of exceptional
issues (e.g., no infrastructure available
to support a certain installation).
Fig. 1 presents the depiction of
several realizations of the same SOM.
Each realization corresponds to a
parameter that has been used to cali-
brate the SOM (gas rate before and
after artificial lift installation, line
pressure before artificial-lift installa-
tion, wellhead pressures before and
after artificial-lift installation, liquid
level in the tubing before installa-
tion). The output can be seen in the
top-right realization of the parameter
(i.e., “type numeric”, representing the
artificial-lift system that was chosen
for the particular well).
JPT • JULY 2010
SPE Bookstore
It can be seen in Fig. 1 that there www.spe.org/store
is a distinction between when to use
Method A (red) and when not to
(green or blue). Artificial Lift Method
A typically is applied for low- to very-
low-gas-rate wells with low pressures
but with a moderately high static-
liquid level in the well. However, it was
considerably more difficult to clearly
identify the conditions under which NEW BOOK
Method C was applied in the well to
decrease the likelihood of liquid load-
ing in the well. The operating condi-
tions that lead to the choice of Method
C are very much like those of Method
B (higher gas rates, higher pressures).
The data that were used to calibrate
the SOM then were clustered to find
groups of similarly behaving wells.
The wells per cluster are selected by
the clustering algorithm to minimize
the variation of the individual items
(wells) in each cluster. Using the clus-
tering information, the problem space
could be reduced from several hun-
dred individual wells to five clusters Transient Well Testing
of similarly behaving wells. This gen-
eralization helps the asset team (and Monograph Series, Vol. 23
the surveillance engineer) to classify Medhat M. Kamal
a well immediately according to its
production features (which are driving
the cluster number) rather than having Transient well testing is one of the
to investigate all available production most important diagnostic tools
information of a well before knowing used by petroleum engineers to
how to classify it. characterize hydrocarbon assets
and predict future performance.
Conclusions This new monograph has the latest
After analyzing the implemented work- reference information on designing,
flow and the results obtained, the fol- running, and analyzing different
lowing conclusions were reached: types of transient tests in oil and
1. The main benefit from applying gas reservoirs.
this methodology is the reduction
of lost production by the ability to
install an artificial-lift system sooner. Contents: #BTJD
DPODFQUT
PG
USBOTJFOU
UFTUJOH
t

2. It is possible to capture the 8FMMUFTUJOH
NFBTVSFNFOUT
t
7BMVF
PG
JOGPSNBUJPO

knowledge and field experience and t
#BTJD
JOUFSQSFUBUJPO
PG
IPNPHFOFPVT
SFTFSWPJST

t
8FMMCPSF
FGGFDUT
t
0VUFS
CPVOEBSJFT
t

implement them in an automated $PNQVUFSBTTJTUFE
JOUFSQSFUBUJPO
t
1SFTTVSF
workflow, which can be used in a USBOTJFOUBOBMZTJT
TPGUXBSF
t
/BUVSBMMZ
GSBDUVSFE

systematic way, acting as a fast field SFTFSWPJST
t
8FMMUFTU
BOBMZTJT
PG
IZESBVMJDBMMZ

screening tool. The asset team then GSBDUVSFE
XFMMT
t
%FMJWFSBCJMJUZ
UFTUJOH
BOE

can focus its attention on the candi- VOEFSHSPVOE
HBT
TUPSBHF
t
4MBOUFE
BOE
QBSUJBMMZ

dates identified, saving valuable time. QFOFUSBUJOH
XFMMT
t
)PSJ[POUBM
XFMMT
t
5FTUJOH

VOEFS
NVMUJQIBTF
n
PX
DPOEJUJPOT
t
*OUFSQSFUBUJPO

3. As knowledge is captured—
PG
TJNVMUBOFPVTMZ
NFBTVSFE
USBOTJFOU
n
PX
SBUF

including multiparameter criteria— BOE
QSFTTVSF
EBUB
t
1FSNBOFOU
HBVHFT
BOE

and applied systematically, the meth- QSPEVDUJPO
BOBMZTJT
t
.VMUJMBZFS
SFTFSWPJST
t

odology can be applied in an unbi- *OKFDUJPO
XFMM
UFTUJOH

t
'PSNBUJPO
UFTUJOH
t

ased way to the whole field, allowing %SJMMTUFN
UFTUJOH
identification of new opportunities
for artificial lift systems that could
not have been identified simply by
selecting one parameter as the rank-
ing criterion. JPT
Visit our online bookstore at
www.spe.org/store