February 2026 Unconventionals Workshop
On February 11th, unconventional ESP operators will gather in Denver, Colorado for the next Unconventionals ESP-RIFTS Workshop. This full-day workshop will focus on operator presentations and roundtable discussions on recent ESP failure mechanisms, ongoing reliability improvement initiatives, field trials, and production optimization strategies. The latest Unconventionals ESP Run-Life Benchmarking Report will also be presented and discussed.
If your company has unconventional ESP operations and you are interested in joining these workshops, please contact C-FER.
Permanent Magnet Motors
In February, ESP-RIFTS will continue to investigate permanent magnet motors (PMMs), with a focus on understanding surface electrical equipment requirements and settings. In the coming months, C-FER plans to reach out to vendors to collaborate in discussions on:
- Qualification of variable frequency drive (VFD) models for compatibility with PMMs
- Selection of surface equipment for PMM applications (e.g., sinewave filters, step up transformers)
- VFD control algorithms for PMM operation
ESP-RIFTS Website
Over the coming months, C-FER will be working to update the ESP-RIFTS Participant website to allow ease of access to ESP-RIFTS deliverables.
Recent Participant feedback has indicated that there is interest in having individuals from the field using the ESP-RIFTS Troubleshooting Assistant Tool and easier login/access would allow wider use of the tool.
Recent Data Uploads
In January, C-FER received new data submissions from four ESP-RIFTS Participants, containing ESP reliability data from conventional, unconventional, and thermal operations. After C-FER has processed and qualified the data, it will be made available for analysis on the ESP-RIFTS website and the Power BI benchmarking dashboard.
Contributor
Shannon Kennedy
Senior Research Engineer
Shannon (Hill) Kennedy, is a Research Engineer at C-FER. She is the project manager for the Electric Submersible Pump Reliability Information and Failure Tracking System (ESP-RIFTS) Joint Industry Project.
