Well Testing:

The need for accurate and timely well production data is critical. The extremely erosive and harsh environments in which well pumping systems operate create constant, and many times, rapid equipment failure. In the constant effort to stem production declines, oil operators invest substantial resources in well maintenance. For steam drives and waterfloods, well servicing is frequently the highest non-energy cost. Still, determining the performance from various well servicing activities remains a problem to be answered to ensure that individual well performance is its highest. Now more than ever, accurate, reliable, and frequent well testing is the most important tool for maximizing oil production and optimizing reservoir management, while ensuring the lowest operating costs.

Current well testing systems available today vary greatly in method, features, and components. Each design has its particular strength, but each is also beset with significant limiting characteristics.

Design Philosophy:

ProGauge, by ProGauge Technologies, Inc., was developed using the advantages of proven production measurement system designs, married to highly accurate and robust instrumentation, and sophisticated control algorithms to produce state-of-the-art accuracy and reliability, under the most stringent conditions.

The ProGauge system was designed to test producing wells under true operating conditions while eliminating fugitive emissions. Total fluid flow rate is measured while the oil and gas components are accumulated. The innovative collection chamber's internal design reduces the total accumulation volume required for an accurate oil and gas sample. Adaptive process-control rules automatically adjust each well's test duration to produce the optimum sample size for each well. These ProGauge characteristics provide fast and accurate testing of even low oil rate wells.

In addition to accuracy, the ProGauge well test system is designed for extremely reliable operation and low maintenance. Only highly accurate and durable components are incorporated. Measurement devices are full-line-size with no moving parts, and are based on proven and stable technology. Liquid control devices are high performance ball valves for tight shutoff and long life.

Complementing accurate and reliable testing is sophisticated data analysis. Individual well production trends are retained in memory and analyzed for consistency. Based on a well’s historical variation, any gauge that represents abnormal conditions is identified so that special action can be taken. Using this consistency calculation technology, the performance of the entire test measurement system can be analyzed for further improvement.

Automatic well test systems, along with stringent reliability characteristics, must seamlessly integrate into your automatic data collection process, requiring minimum human intervention for operation or data collection. The volume of data generated by even a few testing units can consume significant resources in data collection, archiving, and analysis. The ProGauge system minimizes manual data manipulation by using open-architecture PLC devices that are fully networkable using generally used communication protocols.

Operating Features:

• As many as 60 wells may be tested by a basic ProGauge station.
• Well test times are based on the time it takes to accumulate a measureable oil sample to produce maximum accuracy in the least duration of time. Typically, total test time for a 1000 Bbl/Day (gross), 200 Bbl/Day (oil) well can be less than 60 minutes.
• Test times have configurable minimum and maximum durations.
• The order of well testing is dynamically adapted, based on production volumes, with provisions for field-level or remote manual override.
• Each well's 10 most recent production tests are retained and available for local or remote display, and statistical analysis.
• By the separation of fluid phases prior to measurement, the ProGauge system provides the following full fluid analysis:
• Free gas - total rate, non-condensible vapor rate, steam vapor rate, NC vapor fraction.
• Oil emulsion - rate, water cut, gas cut.
• Free water rate.
• The system's most recent 50 gauges are retained for display and/or remote transmission.
• Local operator interface terminal provides all control and operating values, the last 50 tests, and manual well test selection. This interface is designed for simplicity and easy use.
• Monitoring capability for well and test fluid temperatures.
• Measurement of production and supply fluid pressures.
• Full supervisory control capability.