Abstract
OMV Austria E&P looks back on more than a decade of polymer flooding in one of its mature oil fields within the Vienna basin. Rapidly increasing material prices and longer delivery times put especially the chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) operators under pressure. Production improvement and run life optimization of Artificial Lift (AL) systems are two key aspects to enhance the cost effectiveness of their brown fields. In OMV Austria, the operation of Sucker Rod Pumps (SRPs) in polymer back producing fields is a standard technology, while Electrical Submersible Pumps (ESPs) still represent a novelty in this special application.
Both the success of design adaptations and operational challenges over a decade of polymer flooding got reviewed. Special attention was drawn to the potential negative effects of the non-Newtonian back produced polymer. In addition, internal tear-downs of all pulled pump installations rendered valuable data for the subsequent root cause analysis on the most common failure mode.
The comparison of failures in polymer back producing versus conventional AL systems in OMV Austria showed a significant increase in corrosion and wear failures in polymer wells. For both SRPs and ESPs remedial actions were defined in order to elongate the run life of the installations. Furthermore, the necessity for design adaptations could be validated and further optimized.
The presented analysis supports the pilot scope of the ESP wells with more information and clearly demonstrates that ESPs can be used in future polymer development projects within the OMV Group. Addressing the operational and run life challenges effectively leads to improved oil recovery rates and extended reservoir life, making polymer waterflooding a viable EOR option for mature oil fields.
