运营商采用了多种人工举升技术来提高陆上和海上深高温井的产量。电潜泵 (ESP) 一直是解决井下问题的首选系统，但设备由于恶劣的条件而磨损严重，影响其长期可靠性。

Lift Well International 的总裁兼联合创始人 Tim Bridges 与联合创始人兼首席技术官 Paulo Waltrich 一起开发了 Lift Pod 技术，使传统的人工举升方法能够更好地适应非常规油井。

“我们已经能够解决 ESP 的许多问题，”Paulo Waltrich 说。“但是，当用于润滑和泵送设备的流体中含有沙子和碎屑时，任何类型的往复式设备（无论是泵、汽车发动机还是地面上的 ESP）都无法正常工作。 ”

Lift POD 技术是一种新型液体辅助气举方法，无需高压压缩机和井下阀门等井下设备，所有操作均通过放置在井附近的盒子进行。

正如他所描述的，旧方法是前往油井确认问题，安排干预措施，其中包括引入修井干预钻机和可能的盘管，打开井口，将设备从井中拉出，进行维修，然后再次执行整个操作，将维修后的设备放回井中。

该技术利用该技术的软件来调度气液混合物，逐渐改变井筒中循环流体的密度。密度的变化能够将较重的流体（例如沙子）从井眼中去除，并将井底压力降低到储层压力以下以促进生产。

Bridges 表示，传统技术的问题在于它是为传统直井设计的。当 ESP 击中井的水平部分时，设备会变得无效，因为它面临着固体和高气液比。

“以目前的技术，不仅在井的使用寿命内可能需要使用两种或三种不同的人工举升技术，而且由于井中存在大量压裂砂以及从井中排出的井中的段塞”，由于地形的原因布里奇斯说，在井的水平部分，井上使用的典型人工举升设备就会遇到这种情况，而且性能不佳。

他补充说，过时设计的并发症包括高昂的维修成本、干预和生产损失。

传统气举需要多个卸载阀和心轴来降低注入压力。然而，Lift POD 取消了阀门，从而降低了油管至套管泄漏和油井干预的风险。  

“非常规油井的生命周期与常规油井有很大不同，因此人们正在寻找使用不同技术来优化油井性能的方法，”布里奇斯说。“我们对这项技术的想法是在油井生命周期的大部分时间里运行它，这样就可以消除那些井下维修和干预。”

据 Bridges 称，该方法表明它可以将表面注入压力要求降低多达 75%。到目前为止，该公司已与东部国家石油公司、二叠纪盆地的陆上客户合作，并与路易斯安那州立大学进行了概念验证工作。

Lift POD 允许操作员远程实时监控注射压力。“由于这是带有 RTU 的地面设备，可通过调制解调器传输信息，因此客户有机会查看每个井并更改任何个体的气体流量、气体液体流量或气体液体化学品流量随时通过他们的计算机，”他说。

可移动的盒子可以应用于井、垫甚至整个油田，并且可以重复用于其他井。

Operators have sourced a myriad of artificial lift techniques to increase production from deep, high-temperature wells, both onshore and offshore. Electric submersible pumps (ESP) have been the favored system for resolving downhole issues, but the equipment wears tremendously due to the harsh conditions, compromising its long-term dependability.

Lift Well International’s President and Co-Founder Tim Bridges, along with Paulo Waltrich, co-founder and CTO, developed the Lift Pod technology to allow conventional artificial lift methods to better suit unconventional wells.

“We have been able to resolve a lot of the problems with ESP,” Paulo Waltrich said. “But no type of reciprocation equipment—whether it be a pump, a car engine or a ESP in the ground—perform very well when you have sand and debris in the fluids that are used to lubricate and pump through the equipment.”

The Lift POD technology is a new liquid-assisted gas-lift method that eliminates downhole equipment such as high-pressure compressors and downhole valves, all while performing from a box placed near the well.

The old method, as he described it, would have been to go to the well and confirm the problem, schedule an intervention which includes bringing in workover intervention rigs and possibly coil tubing, open up the wellhead, pull the equipment out of the well, make repairs, and perform that whole operation again to get the repaired equipment back into the well.

This technique uses the technology’s software to dispatch a gas-liquid mixture, which gradually changes the density of the circulating fluid in the wellbore. The change in density enables the removal of heavier fluids, like sand, out of the wellbore and decreases the bottomhole pressure below the reservoir pressure to prompt production.

Bridges said the problem with conventional technology is that it was designed for conventional vertical wells. When ESPs hit the horizontal section of the well, the equipment becomes ineffective because it is faced with solids and high gas-liquid ratios.

“With the current technology, not only do you have to possibly use two or three different artificial lift technologies in the life of the well, but because of so much frac sand in the well and slugging from the well—because of the terrain in the horizontal part of the well—that typical artificial lift equipment that is used on the wells suffers from that and it doesn’t perform very well,” Bridges said.

Complications with the antiquated design include high repair costs, intervention, and lost production, he added.

Conventional gas lift requires multiple unloading valves and mandrels that decrease the injection pressure. The Lift POD, however, removes valves which reduces the risk of tubing-to-casing leaks and well interventions.  

“The life-cycle on an unconventional well is a lot different than a conventional well, so people are looking for ways to optimize the well’s performance with a different technology,” Bridges said. “Our idea for this technology is to run it over most of the well’s life, so you eliminate those downhole repairs and interventions.”

The method has shown it can lower the surface injection pressure requirements by up to 75%, according to Bridges. So far, the company has worked with national oil companies in the East, onshore customers in the Permian Basin and conducted proof of concept work with Louisiana State University.

The Lift POD allows operators to monitor injection pressures remotely and in real-time. “Because this is a surface piece of equipment with a RTU that’s transferring information over modem, it gives the customer the opportunity to look at every individual well and change the gas flow, gas liquid flow or gas liquid chemical flow to any individual well at any moment through their computer,” he said.

The moveable box can be applied across a well, pad or even an entire field and can be reused for other wells.