Abstract
Wells near the oil rim of one of the major oil fields in Abu Dhabi experienced a decline in wellhead flowing pressure. Several options were evaluated to produce these wells. These options included Electric Submersible Pumps (ESPs), conventional wellhead separation as well as multiphase pumping. A pilot project was implemented using a multiphase pump to produce the wells. The selected multiphase pump was of the positive displacement reciprocating type known as the RamPumpTM system.
Key challenges facing this project includes; no power source near the wellhead sites; oil rim wells have a broad range of operating conditions, high GOR wells and high H2S.
In order to allow the multiphase pump to be used for different wells, it was decided to have the pump mobile. Thus, the multiphase PumpPump unit, its driver and associated equipment were all mounted on flat bed truck.
Although multiphase pumping is now recognized as a state-of-the-art technology, this is the first time that a mobile multiphase pump was used in an oil field. This paper describes this unique application.