Abstract
In times of increased focus on return on investment, Operators look beyond negotiating lower prices for surface and downhole Electrical Submersible Pump (ESP) equipment and strive to harness greater efficiencies across the board. In regions with expensive utility costs, high water cuts and/or heavy crudes there has been a focus on with power consumption.
When the downhole conditions of an ESP lifted well are steady, the electrical power consumption is stable and conventional measuring methods are reliable (although risky). In many cases, well conditions vary considerably causing fluctuations in power comsumption, making trending difficult. In addition, the practice of measuring power quality is considered a High-Risk task with the technicians being exposed to Medium Voltage when taking manual readings with specialised measuring instruments. Several cases of electrical accidents have occurred in the oil industry so far and sometimes increasing the protection for the executor of work is not enough to prevent any incident.
This paper presents the performance of one smart tracking system of continuous power quality measurement that reflects the real power consumption over a given period allowing to determine the most accurate voltage optimisation for the entire ESP system. The results is increasing energy savings, reducing potential penalties from utility companies and makes a potentially hazardous procedure redundant.
