A Unique Electrical Submersible Reciprocating Pumping (ESRP) System Design Applied in Unconventional Oilfield

Abstract In recent years, a unique electrical submersible reciprocating pumping system (ESRP) was developed and has been applied in Daqing Oilfields. The main structure of ESRP is similar with ESP, consisting of an electrical submersible motor, pump, tubing and cable. The key equipments of ESRP are the reciprocating motor and the pump. The motor is a novel permanent magnetic line motor consisting of stator and mover. The pump is a special reciprocating pump. In operation, the mover slips in the stator from one end to the other periodically controlled by surface equipment, applying the power to the plunger of the reciprocating pump. Because of its small outerdiameter, the whole system could be run into the horizontal wellbore conveniently. This unique lifting system was designed mainly for the production of satellite oilfields in Daqing Oilfield. Unlike the properties of the main blocks of Daqing Oilfield with thick pay zones, high permeability and shallow imbedded reservoir, these satellite oilfields distributed discontinuously, the layers are thin and imbedded deeply with poor permeability. The producers’ averaged production is below 35 bpd. Beam pumping system showed poor benefit due to the high investment and operating cost. PCPs and Bailing lifting systems were applied later in a larger scale. But the management was relatively complicated and still limited in horizontal wells. As the result, ESRP showed great advantages both in technical and economic respects in the production. Till the end of 2010, ESRP has been applied in more than 30 wells in Daqing Oilfield. The longest running life has reached above 400 days. It showed remarkable advantages in the production of low displacement and deep reservoir, especially for horizontal wells. With the improvement of displacement and other specifications, this unique lifting system design has great potential in the development of unconventional reservoir as well as mature oilfields.