Wells in X-ray area of Northwest Java Production Sharing Contract were all produced by Electrical Submersible Pump (ESP) system until gas zone was discovered in XM area in 1987. During development drilling, gas zone was discovered in XM structure 4 miles from the southern portion of XA filed. The gas zone was tested to be sufficient in term of pressure and gas volume for the support of a local gas lift project. The gas zone were then completed as a source gas to supply gas lift for all the XMA wells. Recently, the source gas has somewhat depleted to maintain all the production wells in that area. For that reason, several wells need to be selectively shut in. As pressure of gas depletes, the conversion from gas lift (GL) to ESP wells, as primary artificial lift mechanism is required. To minimize the down time period during ESP change out, ESP- GL hybrid was proposed to take the advantage of the limited source gas availability. This action allows the wells to continue on production while scheduling a pulling unit to replace the failure ESP.

Keywords:
gas-lift hybrid application, esp operation, operation, hybrid application, society of petroleum engineers, gas zone, valve, installation, esp, artificial lift system
Subjects:
Artificial Lift Systems, Electric submersible pumps, Gas lift, Completion Selection and Design, Completion equipment
Copyright 1999, Society of Petroleum Engineers
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