Abstract
Electric submersible pumps (ESPs) are often used in steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) wells where they are exposed to harsh conditions, including high operating temperatures and live steam.
To reduce the steam-oil ratios and greenhouse gas emission intensities associated with these well conditions, many operators have recently increased the use of non-condensable gas (NCG) injection in the reservoir; however, this has also introduced production challenges due to an increased amount of free gas passing through the ESP.
In high operating temperatures, this free gas also increases the amount of water flashing to steam in low pressure areas of the ESP, such as in the initial stages of the ESP. While ESP gas handling technology exists to mitigate these issues, there is limited conclusive data on performance in thermal applications with bitumen, water, steam, and NCGs.
A group of ESP thermal operators have collaborated in a joint industry project to experimentally evaluate gas handlers in a consistent test facility under representative thermal conditions. The flow loop was constructed to test gas handlers and pumps with high-temperature mixtures of surrogate oil, water, steam, and gas.
The test facility allowed for monitoring of the performance of individual gas handler and lift pump stages, and direct observation of fluid mixtures entering the gas handler.
Key considerations for the testing strategy included how the results of testing could be interpreted for field-level decisions, including baseline tests with pumps in isolation (no gas handler in the system), controlled variables, and differences from ISO 15551 validation tests for gas handlers.
The high-level learnings from the test results included the impact of qualification procedures and representative conditions on system gas handling capabilities.
Anonymized test results are presented to support the lessons learned and to provide additional insight into the performance and impacts of gas handlers.To the author’s knowledge, qualification of various gas handling technologies in near-thermal conditions has never been conducted before.
Effective use of gas handling and/or gas separating technologies is key in allowing long-term use of NCG co-injection in SAGD operations, and the key considerations for qualification testing and interpretation of data presented in this paper may benefit anyone seeking to evaluate gas handling technologies.
Author:
Swaffield, Steven
Publisher:
2025 SPE Gulf Coast Section Electrical Submersible Pump Symposium
Year Published:
2025
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