New jet pump hydraulic artificial lift for lowest cost of lifting a barrel of fluid

22 March, 2021

For over 40 years, Wanner has been designing, manufacturing and selling Hydra-Cell API 674, seal-less and packing-less positive displacement, hydraulically balanced diaphragm pumps for the oil and gas industry; a unique solution as a power fluid surface pump combined with downhole jet pump technology for a controllable and reliable production solution and optimisation.

Wanner’s unique design of their seal-less, no packing Hydra-Cell Surface Power Fluid Pump enables 25+ year life and dramatically reduces servicing and maintenance costs compared to plunger pumps, and greatly lowers energy costs compared to multistage centrifugal pumps. The lifetime costs of this new artificial lift solution are lower than any other hydraulic artificial lift methods:

Energy saving – when combined with the 90% efficient HydraCell seal-less surface pumps, jet pumps have the best overall total process efficiency, in barrel per day produced per horsepower consumed.

Maintenance and servicing saving – no workover rig needed – forward and reverse flow mode for easy retrieval of the jet pump for easy servicing and maintenance. The seal-less, packing-less design of the API 674 Hydra-Cell pump results means no sperate lubricators, or site services for lubricators, no seal flushing and no fine filtration needed.

With production rates of 10 BPD to 10K BPD, typical applications for the Wanner Hydra-Cell jet pump hydraulic artificial lift solution include: conventional oil and gas production, high volume frac fluid unloading, gas well dewatering, well tests, and wells with bad casing. As well as standard production, the solution maximises production from a range of well types, including deviated or horizontal wells, or those with damage casing.

Paul Davis, managing director of Wanner International, says: “The Wanner Hydra-Cell jet pump hydraulic artificial lift solution can be installed at a significantly lower cost over the lifetime of the well. There are no downhole movable parts and the surface high pressure power fluid injection units can be operated by natural gas, diesel or electric powered drivers.”

On the surface, the positive displacement Hydra-Cell seal-less hydraulically balanced diaphragm pump has a minimum suction pressure of approximately -ve 0.2 barg and maximum suction pressure of 34 barg. The pumps have a flow rate controllable available to meet to API 675 performance standards to provide ultimate optimisation of Jet Pump production and up to 90% significant energy savings.

The key benefits of Wanner’s new jet pump hydraulic artificial lift technology includes its controllability and high efficiency, which is achieved through its design. The jet pump design delivers increased efficiency due to larger inflow and outflow areas. The flow areas, direct fluid delivery to the draw down point, coupled with EDM machined (patent pending) outlet sub gives the jet pump a marked advantage over other types of hydraulic artificial lift.