Publications

Heavy oil fields are notoriously difficult to produce. The main obstacles, namely but not limited to high viscosity and high pour point characteristics, augmented with sand problems. Batang field, located in Siak Block, is one of Indonesian heavy oil fields that is treated with Cyclic Steam Stimulation (CSS) to improve oil mobility, recovery, and prevent oil congealing below pour point. Nonetheless, sand accumulation in this field often causes high-pressure drop in the well due to friction or hydrostatic loss affecting the well to become unable to produce oil anymore. These problems lead to intensive pump recondition and sand bailing. This paper is focused on evaluating pilot Progressive Cavity Pump (PCP) implementation performance on four selected low priority wells, which previously utilized Sucker Rod Pump (SRP). The analysis includes oil producibility, sand handling performance, power consumption, and economic evaluation. Both pumps are known for the ability to perform under several ranges of high temperature environment and handle solid to some extent. Field data analysis were conducted in two periods. The first period was six months SRP usage (prior to PCP trial) and the second period was six months PCP implementation (trial period). During observation period, Batang field was producing with average of 1700 BOPD. The result shows that by using PCP, oil production from these particular wells increased by around 142 BOPD. Additionally, two out of four selected wells were successfully reproduced after long idle period due to severe sand accumulation rate. Besides, well service frequency was tremendously decreased from four to one activity in evaluation period, which effectively reduced operational cost through avoiding sand caused failure. Based on this study, PCP is successfully proven to be suitable artificial lift alternative in Batang field.