29+ reasons why you can not increase the production
From wiki.pengtools.com
Contents
To safe time please pick a number ?
(multiple numbers are acceptable)
- It's all foam and the well is pumped off!!!
- Can not produce below the bubble point: IPR curve reverses
- The hole is too deviated and pumps don't work inlined
- Pulling the chokes will make production decrease
- Scale will form
- Water will break through sooner
- Anaerobic bacteria will grow at the perforations
- Facility is full
- Oil bubbles through water at 30 t/d; the physical production limit
- Sharp decline of base production
- Will damage the Reservoir
- Bad Sucker Rods
- We don't have big pumps
- Production below the bubble point will foul the ESP with gas
- Ran out of cable
- Bigger pump will cause interference with adjacent wells decreasing total production
- It's on order but won't be here for at least 2 months
- Hydrates
- Not enough electricity for a bigger pump
- Casing collapse
- FRACs go away
- Every well has a right to life
- Casing is too small
- Pumps will burn up
- Cannot increase the frequency because of vibration
- Cannot commingle sandstones and carbonates
- Cannot commingle because different waters will precipitate salt
- Can not increase production as we have no money for helicopter gasoline
- Not enough gas is being produced to cool the pump (not enough Joules-Thomson)
- Material balance does not work
- Velocity of the nozzle of the separator will increase
- We don't open the chokes on weekends
- It's Easter time
- This physical law works good in the theory, but can not be applied to the real fields we have here.
- Can't have dP over the choke equal to zero. The well would not flow into the line.
- My optimum Frac design criteria is 2.9 tons per meter. That’s well known I’m surprised you don’t know that.
- Production plateau rate should not exceed 10% of the reserves per year. GKZ will not approve the field development plan.
- ESPs are not economic
Discussion
Sounds familiar?
All of those are the real world excuses given by the people in the oil an gas industry why not to increase production.
People who say something like this usually has no math and physics done to support what they are saying, only "field experience", stories, testimonials, gossip etc.
It's a folklore!
The performance based organizations rule is:
All enhancement opportunities are pursued unless somebody with the math and physics proves the opposite.
Background
The idea of the list and the first 29 reasons are captured by Joe Mach and Don Wolcott.
The list is growing since then.