Volume 10, No. 2, 2nd Quarter 2004

 

 Petroleum Technology Transfer Council   

        WWW.PTTC.ORG

Accelerating Technology Adoption

Our lead article outlines actions California producers took to reduce their energy usage, plus realize other benefits. Many of the technologies employed have a track record where performance and economics can be calculated. Still, the rebates that were available provided that extra "oomph" to stimulate adoption. The frontrunner operators who entered the program when it was first presented found the paper work reasonable and the results impressive.
In a World Oil column, Flatern notes how many believe that the average time from concept to market is 25 years—maybe an exaggeration, but the cycle is rarely short. Another quandary he highlighted is that, although many technologies are developed through joint

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In This Issue

Environmental Corner.................. 3
Tech Transfer Track................... 4-5
State-of-the-Art Summary.......... 7-9
DOE Digest............................ 10-11
Solutions From the Field............ 12
Upcoming PTTC Events............. 15

PTTC is a national not-for-profit information network formed in 1994 by oil and natural gas producers. Programs are funded by matching funds from the US Department of Energy (DOE) with funds from State Governments, Universities, State Geological Surveys and Industry. This program would not be possible without contributions from the DOE Office of Fossil Energy through the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL).

Reducing Oilfield Power Consumption

At the depths of the oil price crash a few years ago, PTTC focused on operating costs and the subject remains of interest. Power is a primary cost element, especially in mature U.S. reservoirs that produce lots of water, which describes California's geological environment well. Add in high power rates and a stretched supply system and you have a strong driver for California producers to review their operations. This article highlights results of a federal, state and industry effort in applying energy-savings techniques.
Under a grant from the California Energy Commission and EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute), West Coast PTTC conducted a detailed study on the energy efficiency performance of 1,000 pumping wells throughout California. An astonishing 45% of pumping units were found to be energy inefficient, which led to California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) becoming involved and funding a pilot study for improving the performance of a limited number of wells and for demonstrating the merits of energy efficient systems. Thus was born a CPUC rebate program administered by Global Energy Partners working through Trouble Shooters associated with PTTC's West Coast Region to reach producers. Program results were shared in a May 27th workshop in Los Angeles that was also webcast. Several producers have now participated, making changes in 140 wells that realized energy savings of 15,722,910 kWh (as of 5/20/04 per Global Energy Partners). Changes made to realize the savings varied widely, from straightforward pump-off controllers to changing the frequency of power for a submersible pump to decrease consumption during high-price rate periods.

There were some common elements in the information that was shared.

  • Few of the technologies were rocket science; that is, they have been around for some time, but for whatever reason, operators hadn't been applying them in their situation.
  • Other benefits (increased production, fewer failures, longer equipment life) often equaled or exceeded the benefits from power savings.
  • Payout varied widely. Some changes were "no-brainers" with payout even without rebates occurring within just a few months. Some changes, even with rebates and benefits other than power savings, took a couple years to payout.The message here is that each situation must be examined on its own merits and there are instances where rebates are required to stimulate application.

Readers are encouraged to check the West Coast regional website (www.westcoastpttc.org/) for an archive of the webcast, or contact Iraj Ershaghi, PTTC's West Coast Director, E-mail ershaghi@usc.edu, for more information . Most of the techniques described and benefits realized are broadly applicable. What will change is the economics with the rate structure in your area of operations.