Extraordinary Application of Electrical Submergible Centrifugal Pumping Equipment
Authors: Schultz H.F. 
Published: December 2007

This paper was prepared for the South Plains Production Technology Symposium of the Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME, held in Lubbock, Tex., Nov. 1–2, 1973. Permission to copy is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon requested to the Editor PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon requested to the Editor of the appropriate journal, provided agreement to give proper credit is made.

Discussion of this paper is invited. Three copies of any discussion should be sent to the Society of Petroleum Engineers office. Such discussions may be presented at the above meeting and, with the paper, may be considered for publication in on of the two SPE magazines.

Very little has been written in the past on the application or use of electrical submergible centrifugal pumping equipment. Only a few of the Petroleum Engineering Manuels discuss this type of equipment, and then only rather briefly.

This paper will attempt to point out the numerous ways this type of equipment can be used. The most common usage is for the production of relative high volume oil wells production of relative high volume oil wells and the pumping of water supply wells. Actually, the submergible pump is used extensively in pumping fresh water for the individual homes, in industry, for irrigation and municipalities. A special arrangement is available for the pumping of refined products such as gasoline, jet fuel, diesel fuel products such as gasoline, jet fuel, diesel fuel and kerosene.

Introduction

The original electrical submergible pumping equipment was developed in Russia pumping equipment was developed in Russia by Mr. Armais Arutunoff. It was used for pumping water, mine dewatering and oil pumping water, mine dewatering and oil wells. The concept for this type of pump was brought to the United States by Mr. Arutunoff in 1923. The fast pump was built and demonstrated in Los Angeles. In 1927, operations were moved to Bartiesville, Oklahoma and the first pumps manufactured at the new location were installed in oil wells near Russell, Kansas. It was demonstrated that the electrical submergible pumping unit could produce more fluid from pumping unit could produce more fluid from greater depths than any other type of pumping equipment. This type of equipment pumping equipment. This type of equipment readily lent itself to secondary recovery, both as to equipment for producing wells, water supply wells, in well injection pumps and on the surface injection plants.

DEEP WELLS AND HIGH BOTTOM HOLE TEMPERATURE

The original design of the submergible pump is shown in figure 1. The multistage pump is shown in figure 1. The multistage centrifugal pump is powered (driven) from below by a sealed oil-filled electric motor, with power being furnished from the surface by an armored, insulated electric cable as shown in figure 2. In this configuration it is used to produce oil wells, water supply wells, brine or chemical wells. Installations have been made in oil wells in Montana with 5-1/2" O.D. casing to depths of over 11,000 feet. The pumps produced at the rate of 600 to 700 BPD and with BHT in the range of 265 degrees to 280 degrees F.