PO173969 DOI: 10.
2118/173969-PA Date: 25-January-17 Stage: Page: 1
Gas Effect in Electrical-Submersible-Pump-
System Stage-by-Stage Analysis
G. B. F. F. Oliva, H. L. C. Galvão, D. P. dos Santos, R. E. Silva, A. L. Maitelli, R. O. Costa, and
C. W. S. P. Maitelli, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte
Summary
One of the main problems regarding the use of the artificial-lift
method of electrical-submersible-pump (ESP) systems is the pres-
ence of gas in the pump. This paper presents and describes an
analysis of ESP systems with a stage-by-stage calculation to
determine intake and discharge pressures to adjust total dynamic
head (TDH) for each stage of the pump.
The modeling was designed to acknowledge free gas in the
pump, and iterative calculations are applied to recalculate, for
each stage, fluid characteristics and physical properties, such as
viscosity, density, formation volume factor (FVF), surface ten-
sion, solubility ratio, gas/oil ratio (GOR), and other flow charac-
teristics along the tubing, such as temperature and pressure.
Developed modeling validation was achieved by comparisons in
two scenarios. In the first one, fixed values of intake pressure and
changeable values of GOR were used to assess gas effect. In the
tests for the second scenario, fixed values of GOR and changeable
values of intake pressure were used.
Necessary research was conducted through a developed com-
putational tool used to size ESP components. The results were dif-
ferent from those obtained with the usual calculations, and it may
be implied that the developed modeling is more accurate to deter-
mine parameters related to this artificial-lift method. Also, the
results were more consistent and closer to the actual behavior of
multiphase-flow phenomena within the tubing because each stage
has its characteristics individually evaluated. These observations
may have an effect on the number of pump stages and influence in
choosing the adequate equipment of the system.
Introduction
ESP systems are composed of surface and subsurface equipment.
The surface equipment comprises a surface electrical source,
transformers, wellhead, and an electrical power supply. On the
subsurface, the main components are an electric motor, protector
or seal section, pump, and cables that are inside the well, sheltered
by the casing, as shown in Fig. 1. In the ESP system, electric
power is transmitted to the bottom of the well through an electri-
cal cable, and then it is converted to mechanical energy by a sub-
surface motor that is connected to a centrifugal pump.
The use of ESP systems is a trend for the coming years, not
only by the high flow rates of production, but also by the versatil-
ity in design and increased reliability of the equipment, which
reduces failures and increases the mean time to intervention.
Operation by ESP systems does not require large amounts of fluid
injection or gas, which becomes an advantage when production is
offshore, far from the coast, and when there is lack of gas reserves
for injection.
This work aims to evaluate the degradation effect caused by
free gas in the centrifugal pump and how this effect may affect
the determination of total number of stages that should be intro-
duced in the pump. Two scenarios were adopted to determine the
necessary number of stages. In the first one—most common in the
literature—all stages have been subjected to an average pressure
Copyright V
C 2017 Society of Petroleum Engineers
This paper (SPE 173969) was accepted for presentation at the SPE Artificial Lift
Conference—Latin America and Caribbean, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, 27–28 May 2015, and
revised for publication. Original manuscript received for review 19 June 2015. Revised
manuscript received for review 4 November 2016. Paper peer approved 14 November 2016.
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Total Pages: 11
obtained from the intake and discharge pressures of the pump. For
the second scenario, an iterative stage-by-stage calculation was
performed so that each stage had its own calculated variables.
The results from those two scenarios were obtained from a
developed ESP-system sizing software, and they were compared
in two ways. For the first one, intake-pressure value was constant
whereas GOR varied (56, 281, 561, and 1,123 scf/STB). Another
way to compare the results was to fix the GOR value while pump-
intake pressure varied (100, 500, and 1,000 psi). The GOR and
intake-pressure values used in the study are consistent with those
found in data available in the literature and in actual wells.
Theoretical Aspects
In this section, the main theoretical topics for developing this work,
as well as the main equipment of the ESP system, are explained.
Adjustment for Viscosity Effects. Increased fluid viscosity may
lead to decreased head, decreased efficiency, and increased power
required by the pump. With no adjustment, the system may over-
load or not supply enough energy to reach the desired flow rate.
One approach used in the developed software to solve this
problem was the model proposed by Turzo et al. (2000). This
model does not consider the pump-stage geometry nor the increas-
ing of temperature generated by the pump. Moreover, it is im-
portant to emphasize that the model is valid only to low or
moderate viscosities.
The corrections are made by selecting four points on the origi-
nal water performance curve at 60% (CH1), 80% (CH2), 100%
(CH3), and 120% (CH4) of the water rate belonging to the point of
best energetic efficiency of the centrifugal pump (BEP). These
four points are corrected individually with the correction factors
for the flow rate, the head, and the efficiency, respectively, CQ,
CH, and Cg, as shown by Eqs. 1, 2, and 3:
Qvisc ¼ CQ  Qw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð1Þ
Hvisc ¼ CH  Hw . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð2Þ
gvisc ¼ Cg  gw : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð3Þ
In addition, in the head curve, Prado (2007) proposes the con-
sideration of two more points besides the other four corrected
points, as mentioned previously. The first one is the same point
obtained by the water-performance curve when the flow rate is
null. In the second point, the maximum flow rate is corrected by
the factor CQ, and the head is the same as published by the manu-
facturer curve in the flow Qmax.
In the ESP-sizing software, new polynomials generated by
Newton’s divided-differences interpolation represent the adjusted
curves through the viscosity effect of the fluid over the pump.
Synthetically, the equation used to demonstrate the Newton
divided-differences interpolation polynomial is Eq. 4:
X
n Y
i1
Pn ðxÞ ¼ y0 þ r i y0 ðx  xj Þ: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð4Þ
i¼1 j¼0
The procedure to determine the polynomial with this method
is better presented according to Burden and Faires (2011). The
new polynomials generated for head and brake horsepower (BHP)
1
 PO173969 DOI: 10.2118/173969-PA Date: 25-January-17 Stage: Page: 2 Total Pages: 11

Wellhead

Switchboard

Junction box

Casing

Tubing

Electric
cable

Submersible
pump

Pump intake

Gas separator

Seal

ESP Motor

Perforations

Reservoir

Fig. 1—Equipment of ESP system.

curves considering the viscosity effect were depicted in Figs. 2a
and 2b, respectively.
Free Gas Affects Adjustments. Centrifugal pumps are dynamic
devices that use kinetic energy to increase liquid pressure through
their rotational speed. They are successful in handling water and
other incompressible fluids, ranging from low to medium viscos-
ities, but are severely impacted by free gas or highly compressible
fluids. The fact that the liquid particles are denser than the gas
makes them gain more kinetic energy, which results in perform-
ance loss for pumps working with significant quantities of free
gas (Barbosa 2011).
Significant amounts of free gas may be found during hydrocar-
bon production. The consequences of entrained gas on centrifugal
pumps depend on the relative amount of gas and liquid present,
and vary from a slight deterioration of performance up to a com-
plete blockage known as “gas locking.” The gas locking at the
pump intake—meaning excessive gas presence—may interrupt
the pumping process, and the surging phenomenon may cause cy-
clical fluctuations in flow rate at the pump discharge.
API RP 11S2 (1997) provides the curve performance require-
ments that should be presented by the manufacturers. These
curves are usually obtained experimentally with fresh water as
fluid to be pumped at a temperature of 60 F and a rotation of
3,500 rev/min.
The design of an ESP system with the water information for oil
wells with high free-gas fraction at pump-intake conditions is a
harder task, and is based on the prediction of performance curves
by modification of the water curves. The leading parameter is the
mixture density at the flow conditions of each stage. Applying this
procedure, the ESP system often shows some degree of under- or
oversizing when operating (Pessoa and Prado 2001).
The performance of ESP stages under two-phase flow has been
traditionally compared with the single-phase-flow performance
curves, in terms of head. Two methods have been used to estimate
the ESP two-phase behavior that is based on the water-

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35 Manufacturer curve 1.4 Adjusted BHP

(made for water) curve (New polynomial)
30 CH1 1.2 Turzo et al. (2000)
CH2

Head Developed (ft)

25 Adjusted head curve 1
CH3
(New polynomial)

BHP (hp)
20 0.8
CH4
CH2 CH3 CH4 Qmax
15 0.6 CH1
Turzo et al. (2000)
10 0.4

5 0.2 Manufacturer curve

Prado (2007) (made for water)
0 0
Qmax
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
Pumping Rate (B/D) Pumping Rate (B/D)

(a) (b)

Fig. 2—(a) The head curves with correction considering the viscosity effect and (b) the BHP curves with correction considering
the viscosity effect.

!
performance curves (Pessoa and Prado 2001). The first method qsuc
g
assumes that a lower head is delivered by the pump in two-phase
flow because of a higher volume of fluid. The second method is qsuc
liq
s ¼ 2000  : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð6Þ
the homogeneous model. This method is empirical and calculates 3Ppmp
suc
the head degradation that is based on the water-performance curve
that is adjusted by a factor that corresponds to the ratio of the mix- Determination of TDH. Head increase by the pump affects
ture density to the liquid density, according to Eq. 5: directly the total number of stages and other equipment choices.
! Two mathematical modelings were implemented to determine
qm head. The first one was designed considering liquid single-phase
H g ¼ Hw  : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð5Þ flow, and the second one considering multiphase flow. The TDH
qliq
considering single-phase flow was defined by Eq. 7:

In this work, the model used to estimate the head degradation ðPhd  Pcas Þ
caused by free-gas effects was the homogeneous model. By TDH ¼ DL þ DPfrc þ ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð7Þ
0:1  cliq
applying the procedure (Eq. 5) for different free-gas percentages
at the pump intake, one can generate head-performance curves, as
DPfrc and DL were obtained by Eqs. 8 and 9, respectively.
shown in Fig. 3.
The traditional methods allow predicting head, but no correla-
tion was available to estimate surging and/or gas-locking limits 2   3 1
until experimental studies were carried out. 0:000189  Qd 0; 54
In regard to stable operational limits of the centrifugal pump 6 7  
6 IDtub 2 7 Lpmp
when it works with free gas, Dunbar (1989) and Lea et al. (1986) DPfrc ¼6   7  : . . . ð8Þ
agreed that the pump-intake pressure (PIP) plays a key role in
4 IDtub 0;63 5 0:3048
1:32  Coef
determining the amount of free gas that may cause the least per- 48
formance degradation. To establish these limits, the Turpin corre-
lation (s) was used. A stable pump operates when s < 1, and a Ppwf
DL ¼ Lper  : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð9Þ
pump with excessive gas interference when s > 1. In the devel- 0:1  cliq
oped program, it was possible to obtain information on the Turpin
correlation, calculated by Eq. 6: Losses caused by friction across the tubing were determined
through the Hazen-Williams equation (Williams and Hazen
1920). The dynamic liquid level is defined as the vertical distance
from the surface to the top of existing oil in the tubing/casing
60 annulus. Fig. 4 illustrates this concept.
When multiphase flow was considered, its correlations, char-
50
acteristics of production fluids, well mechanical schemes, and
Head (feet of water)

operational conditions were studied to determine the TDH. In this

40
case, the TDH was expressed through Eq. 10:
30 DPpmp ðPdis  Psuc Þ
TDH ¼ ¼ : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð10Þ
0:1  cliq 0:1  cliq
20 λg = 0%
8%
10 15% PIP was obtained by Eq. 11:
20%
30%
0 Psuc ¼ Ppwf  0:1  ðLper  Lpmp Þ  cliq : . . . . . . . . . . . . ð11Þ
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000
Liquid Flow Rate (B/D) To obtain the discharge pressure, the developed program di-
vided the tubing in one hundred sections of equal length. For each
Fig. 3—Head curves with adjustment considering free-gas of them, parameters were calculated regarding the multiphase-
effects in the pump—homogeneous model (Pessoa and Prado flow correlations previously chosen. For each section, it was con-
2001). sidered an average temperature obtained from Eq. 12:

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Dynamic
liquid Pump
level discharge
depth

Pump
intake
depth

Perforations
Pump depth
Perforations
submergence

Motor

Fig. 4—Parameters of the system.

   
i 1 Tbot  Tsur The proceedings used in the program to determine average
Tsec ¼ Tsur þ i  : . . . . . . . . . . ð12Þ
2 100 temperature and pressure of the sections were portrayed in Fig. 5
in a simplified way.
On the basis of this, the pump-discharge pressure (PDP) was
determined, conforming to Eq. 13: Determination of Total Number of Stages. Total number of
stages, nstg, was defined by Eq. 14, with no adjustments:
X
100  
Lpmp TDH
Pdis ¼ Phd þ DPDLisec  : . . . . . . . . . . . . ð13Þ nstg ¼ : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð14Þ
i¼1
100 Head=Stage

Pwellhead Tsurface
1
1.
Section 1 Tsection=(Tsurface + T1)/2
P1 = Pwellhead+ DPDLsection Lsection T1
Section 2
Pump Setting Depth

Section n–1
Tn–1 n
Section n Tsection=(Tn–1 + Tn)/2
1+ n
Pn = Pwellhead+ (DPDLsection...+DPDLsection).Lsection Tn
Section n+1

Section 99
P99 T99
100
100
Section 100 Tsection= (T99 + Tbottomhole)/2
Pdischarge = P99+ DPDLsection .L Tbottomhole
section

Fig. 5—Simplified representation used for calculations in multiphase flow.

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PDISCHARGE
Head Curve - Stage k
Head (manufacturer) Head (viscosity effect) Head (gas effect)
Pdischarge n

Stage n

Psuction n

Head (ft)
Pdischarge k
Flow Rate (B/D)
Stage k

Psuction k

Head Curve - Stage j

Head (manufacturer) Head (viscosity effect) Head (gas effect)
Multistage Centrifugal Pump

Head (ft)
Pdischarge j

Stage j

Psuction j

Flow Rate (B/D)

Pdischarge 3
Head Curve - Stage 1
Stage 3 Head (manufacturer) Head (viscosity effect) Head (gas effect)

Pdischarge 2 --> Psuction 3

Head (ft)

Stage 2

Pdischarge 1 --> Psuction 2

Stage 1

Psuction 1 Flow Rate (B/D)

Psuction

Fig. 6—Simplified representation of the proceedings used in stage-to-stage calculation of the ESP pump for determining the total
number of stages.

When considered, adjustments were made individually for the curve. One can control the speed and hydraulic output of the pump
head of each stage. Total number of stages was determined iteratively by varying the frequency of the power supply because changes of
until discharge pressure of a given stage surpassed the TDH of the the motor’s operating frequency affect proportionally on the
system. For calculations for each stage, Eq. 15 was applied to find pump’s speed. When the pump’s speed changes, head, power, and
discharge pressure. These proceedings were represented in Fig. 6. flow rate change accordingly, resulting in new curves being plot-
 pmp  X ! ted. To understand this concept better, it is considered a frequency
k k
k Psuc cliq  Hstg of f1, a flow rate of Q1, a head of H1, and a power of Pow1. Chang-
Pdis ¼ þ ; . . . . . . . . . . . ð15Þ ing f1 to a different value of f2 affects Q1, H1, and Pow1, with no
14:223 k¼1
10:01
effect in efficiency, as expressed by Eqs. 17 through 19:
where relative density of liquid was obtained from Eq. 16,  
f2
Q 2 ¼ Q1 ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð17Þ
cliq ¼ cw  BSW þ co  ð1  BSWÞ: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð16Þ f1
 2
f2
The overall flowchart for the calculation of the total number of H 2 ¼ H1 ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð18Þ
f1
stages is shown in Fig. 7.  3
f2
Centrifugal-Pump Analysis. From the centrifugal-pump per- Pow2 ¼ Pow1 ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð19Þ
f1
formance curves, operational range and TDH can be obtained. This
performance is defined for a given speed with a head vs. flow-rate where Q2, H2, and Pow2 are the new values after changing f1.

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Start

Input Data
(API, BSW, GOR, Well data, IPR data,
WHP, CHP, Surface Temperature, BHT, etc.)

Calculate PIP
(Eq. 11)

Calculate Pump-Discharge Pressure (PDP)

(Eq. 13 and Fig. 5)

Calculate TDH
(Eq. 10)

TDHiterative = 0; n°stg = 0; Pressure = PIPtt

No n° stg= TDH/Head stage

Calculate the total n°
of stages iteratively? (Eq. 14)

Yes

Yes
TDHiterative > TDH Total number of stages = n°stg

NO

Pressure = Pressure + ΔPstg n°stg = n°stg + 1 End

Calculate Fluid Properties

Calculate ΔPstg (Rs, Bo, Bw, Bg, bubblepoint, ρo,ρw,ρg,Co,
Holdup, Qo, Qw, Qg, etc.)

Calculate the head developed by the stg n°

TDHiterative = TDHiterative + Head stg n°i i
(according to the pump performance curve)

Calculate the head of the stage n°

i Calculate the density of the mixture
considering the adjustment – Head stg n°i
and the liquid – ρm and ρliq
(Homogeneous model – Eq. 5)

Fig. 7—Overall flowchart for the calculation of the total number of stages of an ESP pump (WHP 5 wellhead pressure, kgf/cm2;
CHP 5 casinghead pressure, kgf/cm2; BHT 5 bottomhole temperature, 8C).

Developed Program for ESP-Systems Sizing
This program has a database containing information regarding
ESP-system equipment used in the industry. Calculation proce-
dure accounts for physical properties of multiphase flow and
empirical correlations, which determine the main parameters con-
cerning this flow type.
This software allows the user to configure characteristics of
the well, reservoir, flow properties, and operating conditions to
perform proper sizing of the system. The interface functionalities
permit equipment filtering, warning the user of unwanted condi-
tions, and improving the perception of what is being sized.
Graphical User Interface. The first screen is used for selecting
the casing and the tubing and determining perforations and pump-
setting depth, tubing absolute roughness, well inclination, well
fluid properties— API value, percentage of water (BSW),
GOR—specific gravity of water and gas, geothermal gradient, and
surface and bottomhole-temperature data.
There is a screen focused on well inflow-performance-relation-
ship (IPR) curves plotting, with mathematical modeling chosen by
the user. It is possible to find the maximum production rate of a reser-
voir and choose a desired flow rate. To achieve its purpose, well tests
(test rate and pressure), reservoir static pressure, head, and casing

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Value

Input Parameter Well 1 Well 2 Well 3 Well 4

Casing inside diameter (in.) 6,456 6,366 7 7

Tubing inside diameter (in.) 2,441 2,441 2,875 2,992

Perforations depth (ft) 6,500 9,485.4 8,100 7,644.7

Pump depth (ft) 5,000 8,924.4 8,000 7,580.3

Static pressure (psi) 2,200 2,559.6 4,285 3,660

Wellhead pressure (psi) 100 426.6 400 490

Casing pressure (psi) 20 142.2 0 0

Surface temperature (°F) 70 104 77 77

Bottomhole temperature (°F) 150 231.3 260 275

°API 33 40 37 39.2

BSW (%) 50 85 76 53

Pump model GC2200 P6 P18 P30

Pump operating frequency (Hz) 60 60 60 60

Desired flow rate (B/D) 2,000 774 1,400 2,600

Table 1—Input data of the wells.

pressure data need to be provided by the user. Following this screen,
it is possible to see the pump discharge, the pump intake, and the well
flow-pressures conditions to determine the pump differential pres-
sure, which is supplied for a desired flow rate.
There is a screen for the centrifugal pump, in which it is possi-
ble to choose the pump, determine its operating frequency, and
see the liquid viscosity at the pump suction and the desired pro-
duction rate. The user may use buttons to filter the pumps that are
in desired operational ranges. Then, the number of necessary
stages and BHP are calculated, considering or not considering vis-
cosity and/or gas effects. To enable stage-by-stage calculation,
the user may select an iterative-calculation option.
Regarding the motor, the minimum power is shown to prevent
the motor from overloading. The user may choose one of the
registered motors, its diameter, and its need of shroud. For cables
sizing, the user may set the length of the cable used on the sur-
face, choose the power cable, and add information about the
extension cable of the motor. The last part of the developed soft-
ware is the output screen. It presents the chosen equipment
during sizing, as well as some operating conditions. Each part of
the graphical interface, previously mentioned, has its accompany-
ing verifications.
Graphical User Interface. Two scenarios were designed to test
the mathematical modeling and extract information about changes
in the ESP-system variables caused by gas effects. In Scenario 1,
pressure inside the centrifugal pump was calculated by arithmetic
mean between intake and discharge pressures. Therefore, intake
pressures at each stage of the pump were considered as the above-
mentioned calculated mean pressure. In Scenario 2, calculations
were made iteratively. Intake pressure of the first stage was the
same as in the pump, and each following stage had its own calcu-
lated intake pressure. As stage-by-stage calculations are applied,
intake pressure of a given stage is equal to the previous stage’s
intake pressure plus a pressure increment provided by it. This pro-
cedure is repeated until calculated stage pressure equals PDP,
which means production may be achieved with desired flow rate.
Because of this modeling, each stage has its variables recalcu-
lated, such as viscosity, density, FVF, surface tension, solubility
ratio, GOR, and other flow characteristics along the tubing, such
as temperature.
Tests were created to estimate the effects that free gas within
the pump may cause to the artificial-lift system and, conse-
quently, total number of stages necessary to overcome lifting and
friction losses. Four wells were used to evaluate the developed
modeling. Table 1 shows input-parameter data to be used in nec-
essary calculations.
Results and Discussion
Wells 1, 2, 3, and 4 obtained similar results regarding observa-
tions of degrading effects caused by free gas in the pump stages.
To avoid extensive analysis, Well 1 will be evaluated, and its rele-
vant results and analysis are applicable to the results of the other
wells. Table 2 shows obtained results for Well 1 with three differ-
ent cases of constant intake pressure; for each pressure, there are
changeable GOR values related to them.
Through analysis of Table 2, one may see that, by establishing
a constant PIP and varying GOR, increasing GOR leads to a
greater difference between the number of stages calculated in the
two scenarios. This result is expected because larger amounts of
free gas within the pump cause significant losses in lift capabil-
ities of the stage, making more stages needed to overcome the
TDH of the system. It was noted that the stage-by-stage calcula-
tions tend to give greater numbers of stages when compared with
the mean-pressure method. In some cases, this difference is zero.
This happened mainly when PIP was high enough so that all free
gas had dissolved in the liquid. Therefore, head degradation by
the gas effects within the pump is minimal or nonexistent.
By analyzing Fig. 8, it is observed that, with greater GOR,
stage head-degradation increases and the number of stages suffering
from this effect increases as well. Note that when GOR was 56 scf/
STB, pressure increase was nearly constant for all stages (approxi-
mately 47 ft per stage), which is an indication that there was no free
gas at the pump suction. For the 1,123 scf/STB GOR graph, as new
stages were added, there was a pressure increase stage after stage,
and pressure increase inside the centrifugal pump dissolves more free
gas in the liquid. It is observed that, after 80 stages, the following
stages have approximately 47 ft per stage, which represents the
moment when all gas becomes dissolved.
One may see the pressure increasing stage by stage in the
pump in Fig. 9. Note that, for higher GORs, the pressure-increase
rate was lower than those with smaller GORs. This occurs

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Total Number of Stages

Stage-
PIP Free Gas at the Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Number
GOR (scf/STB) (psi) PDP (psi) Pump Intake (B/D) (Mean Pressure) (Stage by Stage) Differences
56 2,179.3 0 105 105 0

281 2,149.7 1,159.8 103 106 3

100
561 2,071.1 2,674.8 100 108 8

1,123 1,894.9 5,705 91 116 25

56 2,179.3 0 85 85 0

281 2,149.7 0 83 83 0
500
561 2,071.1 106.2 79 80 1

1,123 1,894.9 680.6 71 74 3

56 2,179,3 0 60 60 0

281 2,149.7 0 58 58 0
1,000
561 2,071.1 0 54 54 0

1,123 1,894.9 32.9 45 46 1

Table 2—Results obtained for Well 1 with constant intake pressure and changeable GOR.

Constant PIP (100 psi) and Changeable GOR

50
45
40
35
Head (ft)

30
25
20
15
10
5
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Stage no
. GOR 1,123 scf/STB . GOR 561 scf/STB . GOR 281 scf/STB . GOR 56 scf/STB

Fig. 8—Head of each pump stage obtained through iterative calculations (changeable GOR and constant 100-psi intake pressure).

because the early stages are subjected to greater amounts of free only plotted for intake pressure of 100 psi because the amount of
gas and, therefore, lower pressure-increment values. However, all free gas was the highest in this case.
graphs tend to be linear, indicating that gas was completely dis- It was observed from Table 3 that, for GOR lower than 56 scf/
solved in the stages closest to the pump discharge. Graphs are STB, the results obtained in both scenarios were identical. In such

Constant PIP (100 psi) and Changeable GOR

2,000
1,800
Intake Pressure at

1,600
Each Stage (psi)

1,400
1,200
1,000
800
600
400
200
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Stage no
. GOR 1,123 scf/STB . GOR 561 scf/STB . GOR 281 scf/STB . GOR 56 scf/STB

Fig. 9—Intake pressure at each pump stage obtained through iterative calculations (changeable GOR and constant 100-psi intake
pressure).

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 PO173969 DOI: 10.2118/173969-PA Date: 25-January-17 Stage: Page: 9 Total Pages: 11

Total Number of Stages

Stage-
GOR Free Gas at the Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Number
(scf/STB) PIP (psi) PDP (psi) Pump Intake (B/D) (Mean Pressure) (Stage by Stage) Differences

100 2,179.3 0 105 105 0

56 500 2,179.3 0 85 85 0

1.000 2,179.3 0 60 60 0

100 2,149.7 1,159.8 103 106 3

281 500 2,149.7 0 83 83 0

1.000 2,149.7 0 58 58 0

100 2,071.1 2,674.8 100 108 8

561 500 2,071.1 106.2 79 80 1

1.000 2,071.1 0 54 54 0

100 1,894.9 5,705 91 116 25

1123 500 1,894.9 680.6 71 74 3

1.000 1,894.9 32.9 45 46 1

Table 3—Results obtained for Well 1 with constant GOR and changeable intake pressure.

Constant GOR (1,123 scf/STB) and Changeable PIP

50
45
40
35
Head (ft)

30
25
20
15
10
5
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Stage no
. PIP 100 psi . PIP 500 psi . PIP 1,000 psi

Fig. 10—Head of each pump stage obtained through iterative calculations (changeable intake pressure and constant 1,123-scf/STB GOR).

cases, all free gas at the pump intake was dissolved, so there was
no head decrease for the stages.
However, for higher GOR values, one may realize that lower
intake pressures lead to greater differences in the obtained results.
For a given temperature, if intake pressure is reduced, the tend-
ency of the gas was to not be dissolved anymore. Therefore, the
amount of free gas increases, and head of each stage started to
decrease. Also, from Figs. 10 and 11, the influence of intake-pres-
sure changes was observed even when GOR was the highest
(1,123 scf/STB).

Constant GOR (1,123 scf/STB) and Changeable PIP

2,000
1,800
Intake Pressure at

1,600
Each Stage (psi)

1,400
1,200
1,000
800
600
400
200
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Stage no
. PIP 100 psi . PIP 500 psi . PIP 1,000 psi

Fig. 11—Intake pressure at each pump stage obtained through iterative calculations (changeable intake pressure and constant
1,123-scf/STB GOR).

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 PO173969 DOI: 10.2118/173969-PA Date: 25-January-17 Stage: Page: 10 Total Pages: 11

Conclusions bot ¼ bottomhole

It is important to predict and control pressure values and the amount cas ¼ casing
of gas in the ESP system. However, pressure and head determination d ¼ desired
are commonly made with overall-average stage performance that dis ¼ discharge
does not account adequately for effects of multiphase flow inside the flu ¼ fluid
pump. This paper proposed a stage-by-stage analysis to improve this frc ¼ friction
determination and the perception of gas-effect behavior. g ¼ considering gas effect
From results of the simulated scenarios, it was noted that, in geo ¼ geothermic
general, increasing GOR values and/or reducing intake pressure H ¼ head
directly influence the amount of free gas at the pump suction and, hd ¼ head
consequently, further deterioration of head was observed. This liq ¼ liquid
result was expected because the increase of GOR values and m ¼ mixture gas/liquid
decrease of intake pressure result in lesser amounts of free gas g ¼ efficiency
being dissolved in the liquid. o ¼ oil
In Scenario 1, all stages had the same characteristics, and pres- per ¼ perforation
sure in all of them was defined as a mean pressure between intake pmp ¼ pump
and discharge pressures. It was observed for this scenario that Q ¼ flow
there was no degradation caused by free gas because the average sec ¼ section
pressures obtained in all cases were very high, causing all free gas stg ¼ stage
to dissolve in the liquid. suc ¼ pump suction
The observations for Scenario 1 were not seen in Scenario 2 in sur ¼ surface
which stage pressures were calculated iteratively. The closest tub ¼ tubing
stages to the pump intake showed higher values of head decrease visc ¼ viscous case
and lower pressure increment at each stage because there was w ¼ water
more free gas within the pump. As a result, it was necessary to wf ¼ flow in front of the perforations
add more stages so that the pump can lift the production fluids,
and desired operating flow rate is achieved.
Therefore, it is important to note that in wells that produce Superscripts
with larger free-gas volumes, especially at pump intake, Scenario Grad ¼ gradient
1 might lead to unsuitable values to determine total number of i¼ current analyzed variable
pump stages in ESP systems. In these cases, it is suggested that k¼ current analyzed variable
Scenario 2 has adequate results to deal with harmful effects pmp ¼ centrifugal pump
caused by free gas, preventing the system from having an suc ¼ suction
improper design.
Acknowledgments
Nomenclature The authors acknowledge the PRH-PB 221, Petrobras, CAPES,
B ¼ volume factor and researchers working at the Laboratory of Automation in Pe-
BSW ¼ percentage of water, % troleum (Laboratório de Automação em Petróleo–LAUT), Federal
C ¼ correction factor University of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil.
Coef ¼ coefficient for the type of tubing, Hazen-Williams
DL ¼ dynamic level, m References
DPDL ¼ pressure gradient
API RP 11S2: Recommended Practive for Electric Submersible Pump
Grad ¼ local gradient,  C/m
Testing. 1997. Washington, DC: American Petroleum Institute.
H ¼ head, m
ID ¼ inner diameter, in. Barbosa, T. S. 2011. Ambiente para a Avaliação de Controladores Fuzzy
L ¼ length, m Aplicados ao Método de Elevação Artificial por Bombeio Centrı́fugo
OD ¼ outer diameter, in. Submerso. Dissertação (Mestrado em Ciência e Engenharia de Petró-
P ¼ pressure, kgf/cm2 leo). Programa de Pós Graduação em Ciência e Engenharia de Petró-
Pn(x) ¼ polynomial generated by Newton’s divided differ- leo, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Natal, Brazil (July
ence 2011).
Pow ¼ potency, hp Burden, R. L. and Faires, J. D. 2011. Numerical Analysis, ninth edition,
q ¼ production flow rate, m3/d Youngstown State University.
Q ¼ pump operational flow rate, m3/d Dunbar, C. E. 1989. Determination of Proper Type of Gas Separator. SPE
Rs ¼ gas-solubility ratio, scf/STB Microcomputer Users Group Meeting, Long Beach, California, USA,
T ¼ Temperature,  C 15–17 October.
TDH ¼ total dynamic head, m Lea, J. F., Turpin, J. L., and Bearden, J. L. 1986. Correlation of Perform-
Value ¼ result obtained from a computational program ance Data for Electric Submersible Pumps With Gas-Liquid Flow.
xj ¼ abscissas of the points to be interpolated Proc., 33rd Annual Southwestern Petroleum Short Course, Lubbock,
y0 ¼ ordinate of the first point to be interpolated Texas, USA April, 267–281.
DP ¼ losses along the tubing, m Pessoa, R. and Prado, M. 2001. Experimental Investigation of Two-Phase
g ¼ centrifugal pump efficiency, % Flow Performance of Electrical Sumersible Pump Stages. Presented at
q ¼ density, kg/m3 the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, New Orleans,
s ¼ gas interference index of Turpin 30 September–3 October. SPE-71552-MS. http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/
l ¼ dynamic viscosity, cp 71552-MS.
 ¼ kinetic viscosity, cS Prado, M. G. 2007. Electrical Submersible Pumping Course. R. J. Brazil:
c ¼ relative density (dimensionless) Petrobras.
Turzo, Z., Takács, G., and Zsuga, J. 2000. A Computerized Model for Vis-
cosity Correction of Centrifugal Pump Performance Curves. 47th
Subscripts Southwestern Petroleum Short Course, Texas, April.
abs ¼ absorbed Williams, G. S. and Hazen, A. 1920. Hydraulic Tables, third edition, New
act ¼ actual York: John Wiley and Sons.

10 2017 SPE Production & Operations

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 PO173969 DOI: 10.2118/173969-PA Date: 25-January-17 Stage: Page: 11 Total Pages: 11

Diogo P. dos Santos is a researcher at LAUT. His research area

SI Metric Conversion Factors is focused on artificial lift. Dos Santos holds a BS degree in
computer engineering from UFRN.
B/D  1.84 E06 ¼ m3/s
ft  30.48* E02 ¼ m Raphael E. Silva is a researcher at LAUT. His research area is

F ( F – 32)/1.8 ¼ C focused on artificial lift. Silva holds a BS degree in petroleum
engineering from UFRN and is currently an MS degree student
hp  745.7 ¼W in automation and control of petroleum processes.
in.  2.54 E02 ¼ m
André L. Maitelli is a professor in the Department of Computer
kgf/cm2  9.81 Eþ04 ¼ N/m2 Engineering and Automation at UFRN. He is the coordinator of
psi  68.94 Eþ02 ¼ N/m2 the AUTOPOC project. Maitelli graduated in electrical engi-
scf/STBO  0.1781 ¼ m3/m3 neering at the Federal University of Mato Grosso, Brazil, and
holds a PhD degree in electronics and computer engineering
*
Conversion factor is exact. from the Technological Institute of Aeronautics (Instituto Tec-
nológico de Aeronáutica).

Gabriel B. F. F. Oliva is a researcher at the LAUT in the Federal
University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), Brazil. His research
area is focused on artificial lift. Oliva holds a BS degree in pe-
troleum engineering from UFRN and is currently an MS degree
student in automation and control of petroleum processes.
Rutácio O. Costa is a professor in the Petroleum Engineering
Department at UFRN and also works as a technical adviser at
Petróleo Brasileiro S/A. He graduated in electrical engineering
from the Federal University of Ceará, Brazil, and holds a PhD
degree in petroleum engineering.

Hannah L. C. Galvão is a researcher at LAUT, at UFRN. Her Carla W. S. P. Maitelli is the vice director of the technology
research area is focused on artificial lift. Galvao holds a BS center at UFRN, a professor in the petroleum engineering
degree in petroleum engineering and is currently a PhD-degree department, and a researcher at LAUT. She holds a PhD
student in automation and control of petroleum processes. degree in petroleum engineering from UFRN.

2017 SPE Production & Operations 11

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