100% Reliability For Corrosive Frac Water Source Wells
Energy companies in the Permian Basin are spending hundreds of millions of dollars per day in order to supply water for hydraulic fracturing operations. Rather than purchase water from municipalities, many energy companies pump water from underground aquifers. Most common are the Capitan Reef, and the Dockum Aquifer because of their high yield. They have highly corrosive brackish water which quickly destroys downhole equipment, and are considered to be among the world’s toughest wellbore conditions.
Figure 1: Texas map of Dockum & Capitan Reef Complex reservoirs
The Problem
Electrical Submersible Pumps (ESP) are used for bringing this water to surface. Downhole gauges and instrumentation cable fail less than 3 months after installation due to electrolytic corrosion. The corrosion is caused by brackish water and a small amount of AC current leaking from the ESP. Without the downhole gauge the client can not update their aquifer reservoir models and operate the ESP blindly. The lack of downhole data was negatively impacting their ability to efficiently deliver water for upcoming fracs, and increased the risk of damaging the ESP.
Figure 2: Competitors heavily corroded downhole gauge
The Solution
2 years ago, we introduced a cost effective cathodic protected downhole gauge system, the CP105 SRO. The cathodic protection system combats leaked energy from the ESP. The cathodic protection system combined with a sacrificial anode protects the downhole instrumentation system from corrosion.
Figure 3: CP105 SRO Downhole Gauge with Cathodic Protection
The Results
In the past two years, we have installed over 50 gauges in the worlds toughest wellbore conditions with a 100% success rate. With gauges like our CP105 SRO, we are providing solutions that far out perform the competition.
Figure 4: Competitors gauges vs. the CP105 SRO
