Automating the Rod Pump Wellhead
Our industry faces new challenges and demands in operating wells with rod pump artificial lift systems. Little attention has been focused on either the mechanisms that seal the wellbore at the surface from the environment or the changing needs of the operators. Every well with a rod pump has a stuffing box of some design. Failure to properly maintain the stuffing box is a leading cause of downtime. Traditionally, pumpers visit wells on regular periodic intervals, during which they lubricate and adjust stuffing boxes, verify rod rotator units are functioning, and (if necessary) shut the well in sealing the wellbore at the wellhead. Changing environmental regulations increase the responsibilities on field operations staff. As there are now fewer available experienced field personnel, there is a pressing need to transition seemingly mundane tasks from field personnel and onto automation equipment. In this SPE Live, we will discuss applying automation technology to the Artificial Lift problem of stuffing box and associated seal maintenance, and then continue the conversation with Rod Blowout preventer (BOP) automation, an examination of why this area of design is becoming increasingly important in the areas of producing oil in populated areas.
Speaker: Jason Pitcher, North American Automation
Moderator: Anthony Allison, Occidental Petroleum
This SPE Live is a sneak peek of the SPE webinar available on-demand “Automating the Rod Pump Wellhead: Chasing Uptime”.
