Abstract
The continuous evaluation of electric submersible pumps (ESP) performance and its integration within the energy management system in the operation of Blocks 16 & 67 of Ecuador allowed to develop a specific procedure to assess the efficiency of ESPs in order to identify energy improvement opportunities.
This procedure is summarized with the Significance Matrix, a tool that integrates ESP's field data such as production history and electrical measurements to estimate hydraulic and electrical power requirements, and a specific method for efficiency evaluation.
The result of the Significance Matrix is the categorization of each ESP system as significant or no-significant use of energy. The significant uses of energy are further analyzed to design an action plan that is prioritized through technical and economic assessment.
The comparison between the Significance Matrix of December 2014 and November 2017 showed that the optimization of eight (8) ESP systems resulted in an average reduction of 49 BDPD in fuel consumption that can be translated to a decrease in greenhouse gases emission of 20 tCO2 per day. Moreover, the increase in average efficiency of the ESP systems from 25.4% to 40.9% projected a reduction of 0.99 MW-day of energy consumption for artificial lift.
This analysis also led to identify wells that were not profitable at the actual operating conditions. A total of 10 wells were closed in the same time period to be replaced with production of more efficient and cost-effective wells.
This approach of energy management was developed considering the methodology of the ISO 50001 standard. The conclusion of the study demonstrated that well intervention to improve energy efficiency of ESP systems led to achieve net cost savings and greenhouse gases emissions reduction.
