Zilift presents at SPE Artificial Lift Conference

Zilift® jointly presented a paper as part of the technical programme at the SPE Artificial Lift Conference and Exhibition in Houston, which unveiled lessons learned from field trials of the Zilift’s TorqueDrive product in the Kern River Field, Bakersfield, California, during 2013/14.

The presentation detailed the progressive field trials and the path forward for the innovative artificial lift system, which combines a submersible permanent magnet motor (ES) with a progressive cavity pump (PCP).

The benefits of the system were discussed during the presentation, including system efficiency, pump placement, reduced power consumption, use in deviated or horizontal wells, and its ability to handle produced solids.

Zilift’s business development manager, Allan Denholm, commented: “The need for new artificial lift technology has become increasingly important as development teams within operators continue to pursue challenging well paths. Added to this are business needs which have shifted to focus closely on reliability, energy savings and environmental impacts. We believe TorqueDrive presents a significant opportunity for operators to improve these aspects of production operations.

“Due to the innovative nature of the technology, many lessons were learned during the field trial process for TorqueDrive. The session was well attended and the paper very well received, it was felt that sharing the findings with our industry peers was of great interest and further place Zilift as a pioneer in this specialism.”

Thanks to the successful field trials, Zilift® has made significant investment in North America, creating a US entity, Zilift Inc., through which it intends to market TorqueDrive from its facility in Bakersfield.

Iain Maclean, CEO of Zilift® added: “The Kern River field alone has more than 10,000 producing wells. Development teams continuing to drill several hundred new wells per year, targeting one of seven heavy oil reservoirs. The US is a key target market for Zilift, moving forward and we look forward to growing our business in the region.”

Adapted from press release by Katie Woodward

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/drilling-and-production/10102014/zilift-presents-results-of-artificial-lift-trials-1599/