Operators are investing more than ever in electric submersible pump (ESP) systems. While choosing the right equipment for an application is key, once the unit is installed downhole, real-time data acquisition combined with continuous well surveillance is a necessary component of maximizing return on an artificial lift investment.

About 120,000 wells around the world are equipped with ESPs. They account for nearly 60% of the global oil production and are the largest and fastest-growing segment of the artificial lift industry. Operators have made significant investments in ESPs; improving performance in unconventional wells, preventing failures, optimizing efficiencies and increasing run life are crucial in ensuring field profitability.

SCADA-driven surveillance systems organize and store key operating parameters in a centralized location for remote monitoring, analysis and control. The ESP’s downhole sensor provides data to a remote telemetry unit on the surface that transmits real-time data into the surveillance system via a satellite or cellular modem. Field operators and engineers are automatically notified of operating problems and are able to review well performance and make remote adjustments to equipment. This allows operators to optimize production, identify data anomalies and correct problems before they lead to costly system failures.

Without the use of an effective ESP monitoring system, optimizing an ESP system is a manpower-intensive process. Operators are forced to send field personnel to the well site to collect performance data and restart the wells after nuisance shutdowns due to safety set points that quickly become irrelevant as well conditions change. An effective well surveillance program can virtually eliminate these manual interventions. Operators can specify acceptable ranges on all operating parameters remotely via a computer or mobile device. When the system drifts outside those parameters, operators are alerted via text messages, phone calls or emails. This allows them to intervene and make changes rapidly and remotely without the added expense or deferred production due to delays associated with dispatching field personnel to remote well sites.

A few examples of scenarios that are commonly detected and remedied via remote monitoring systems include gas interference, excessive cycling, rising sand and solid production, and dangerous fluctuations in operating parameters. Effective well monitoring systems also provide historical trends analysis of fieldwide well performance. Operators are able to view time-normalized graphs and compare well performance with their production type curves.

Remote access combined with automated well reports makes a SCADA-driven surveillance system a true centerpiece of an evolving digital oil field. Without this visibility, operators are constrained to old data and assumptions—an age-old recipe for unnecessary cost, increased opex and lost revenue.

This technology seemed leading-edge in 2004. More than a decade later, thousands of wells are under surveillance, but the majority still remain off the grid. Operators that have made the switch know now more than ever that a good SCADA-driven surveillance program is a key to realizing maximum return on their ESP investment.

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