First Installation of Hydraulic Jet Pump for High Viscous Oil in Shaikan Oil Field with Significant Concentration of Hydrogen Sulfide

Abstract A significant productivity loss occurs when the pressure in an oil reservoir is depleted to the point where the wells no longer flow. Post-pandemic COVID-19, operators worldwide are looking for an increase in production from the existing wells so that the cost of drilling new wells is minimized. Some means of an artificial lift must be adapted to efficiently bring the well fluid to the surface. For this application, a highly viscous crude oil (17.5 API) but inactive well with no natural production was selected as a candidate well and the data from the customer was utilized to construct a Jet Evaluation and Modeling Software (JEMS) model. A reverse circulation jet pump with a 12B combination was installed in the sliding sleeve door (SSD) at a depth of 5,250 ft using a slickline. The production performance was achieved by injecting the power fluid into the annulus via a jet pump to generate the required drawdown and to lift the reservoir fluid through tubing to the surface. The monitoring of the production rate was performed based on the surface pumping parameters. Initially, the injection pressure and injection rates were kept low to gently offload the well. The flow behavior was further optimized at an increased pumping rate where the effect of injection pressure and the flow rate (1,700 psi and 2,350 barrels per day) was adjusted to optimize the production performance. The production enhancement of approximately 1,400 barrels per day (BPD) was noticed when the injection pressure was set at 1,700 psi. The production was routinely monitored in the customer facility for investigating the jet pump performance evaluation and further fine-tuning of surface parameters. The setup was further extended to safely handle 120,000 ppm of Hydrogen Sulfide and would be flared in case of any emergency release. This paper will discuss in detail the operation which generated 1,400 BPD additional production for the operator from a heavy oil well, which was previously inactive, with exceptionally lesser operational costs. This was the first jet pump installation for this operator, and the project's success significantly increased their production and revenue. The pump has been producing for the last thirty six months without any maintenance being done to the pump, which significantly reduces the cost of the operation. The operator considers the application of this technology to be a success and will consider installation in more wells in the future.