Enverus reports U.S. shale oil production at approximately 7.5 million barrels per day. To reach the oil in these tight formations, operators pump huge volumes of water into the rock through fracking, so that hydrocarbons can flow more freely to the surface. With some basins producing between 7 and 10 times as much water to oil per well, on-site storage capacity quickly becomes a bottleneck if producers don’t have a safe and efficient means to move all that water.
For one player in the Permian, this realization caught them at a standstill. Despite having an ESP system installed and ready to lift the well, a 3-month lead time on water-handling equipment from a well-known service company threatened to delay their payback. To get the well producing as quickly as possible and avoid trucking the water, Valiant provided a time-saving disposal solution to solve their predicament safely and economically.
For a saltwater disposal application like this, a horizontal multi-stage centrifugal pump at the surface is an ideal counterpart for the downhole ESP. Capable of handling not only the high volume of fluid being produced, but also the abrasives present, and achieving the pressure required to reinject the water back down to the disposal formation, an HPS was the missing link this operator needed to get production on track.
In a pinch, Valiant was able to quickly install and start up a trailer-mounted Aquarius® horizontal pump, allowing the operator to produce 180 barrels of oil per day in the first three months of production. With a 95% water cut, this means they recovered just over 16,000 bbl of oil and more than 300,000 bbl of water in that period. Designed to meet the pumping specifications to reach the target formation, Valiant’s Aquarius HPS injected the excess water at a nearby disposal site at a pressure of 2000 psi. In terms of dollars recovered, the ESP-HPS configuration facilitated over $900,000 in oil and potentially saved the customer thousands of dollars in trucking costs.
For operations that can’t afford to sit at a standstill, Valiant provides peace of mind by delivering quality solutions with competitive lead times. Our Aquarius horizontal pumping systems serve operators across a spectrum of horsepower and pressure requirements while delivering reliable performance in demanding production environments. If you have a surface pumping application and are looking for a service company you can count on, contact us today.
Don’t need a new unit? We can service, maintain, replace, or upgrade your current equipment too. Click here to learn more about our HPS Retrofit Services.
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