Manual Tubing Rotation Reduces Rod Pumping Failures by 76

摘要

A large Illinois oil field implemented the use of a new lowcost manual tubing rotator in 25 marginal oil wells to reducewear failures. Wear failures were indicated by “tubing splits”(Mechanical Wear1) or “corrosion occurring along a straightline due to corrosion inhibitor being wiped off from wear(Corrosion Due to Wear)”. The failure rate was lowered from203 repairs/year to 49 repairs/year (a 76% reduction) for “allfailure mechanisms”. Failures due to “Mechanical Wear orCorrosion Wear” were reduced from 108 repairs/year to 18repairs/year (an 83% reduction). This success yielded over a100% rate of return since the tubing rotator will normally payout after eliminating the first pulling job and requires only 15minutes per year of extra labor. Economics suggest that 100%to 20% investment rate of returns are achievable in wellsfailing once every 24 months or more often (not consideringdowntime losses). Thus, the manual rotator is not just for“problem” wells and significantly reduces wear failures.