American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2016 - 97

replaced with every replacement ESP
"for maximum optimization."
According to Shotter, Multilift and its
partners developed the technology over
four years, and successfully tested it in the
North Sea before bringing it to the United States in 2014. He says the system has
been used in several hundred wells, both
overseas and domestically, specifically in
the Mid-Continent and Permian Basin.
However, he clarifies that any well with an
ESP is a candidate, especially unconventional wells.
"The U.S. market is crying out for this
technology," Shotter emphasizes. "Before,
an ESP might last only 30 days at a time
in a sand-producing well. That was expected. Operators planned for that when they
really should not have had to. With this
technology, operators are seeing their
ESPs last more than 400 days without any
sand fallback-related issues."
1
SandGuard is available for both 5 ⁄2- and
7
7-inch wells, with 2 ⁄8-inch connections.
"With SandGuard, operators can keep their
ESPs down hole longer, thereby reducing
the cost of production and the number of
well failures," Shotter concludes. "Early
ESP failure has become an ingrained expectation among unconventional well operators, but the SandGuard's success illustrates that it does not have to be."
Vapor Recovery Controller
Vapor recovery applications are expected to increase markedly in coming years
as a result of ever-more stringent emissions
restrictions on tank batteries and other production facilities. But vapor recovery
also is being driven by the compelling economic proposition that oil and gas companies potentially can turn a regulatory

compliance requirement into a new revenue stream by capturing the value of tank
vapors, which are often high in Btu content.
"Recognizing that vapor recovery is an
emerging market, we talked with oil and
gas producers to get feedback on what was
needed to optimize the performance of vapor recovery units in the field," says Roel
Rodriguez, product manager, applications solutions for Murphy by Enovation
Controls, which is headquartered in Tulsa. "We realized that one of the biggest
needs was an electronic controller specifically for VRU operations."
In response, he says Enovation Controls' engineers went to the drawing board
to design the VRU Pro™ for comprehensive signal monitoring and control for the
smaller-horsepower rotary screw, scroll
and single-stage reciprocating compressors
associated with VRU systems.
The technology is certified for Class I,
Division 2 hazardous area operations using either AC or DC power, Rodriguez
points out. Equipped with 18 fit-for-purpose fixed digital, analog, thermocouple
and frequency inputs and nine field-effect
transistor and analog outputs, he says VRU
Pro is rated to operating temperatures of
-40 to 185 degrees Fahrenheit.
"The controller provides a highly flexible, all-in-one solution that the operator
can buy off the shelf and set up himself
however he likes, whether using an electric motor or natural gas engine, or a rotary screw or reciprocating compressor,"
Rodriguez details. "Unlike many programmable logic controllers, it requires no
custom programming."
The flexibility is built into the controller's software architecture by a platform

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Multilift Welltech Inc.'s SandGuard™ is a tubing-string tool designed to be installed
above an electrical submersible pump to protect it from sand fallback. Instead of sand
falling back onto the pump and clogging it, the tool allows the sand to go back into solution and be produced to surface along with the fluid stream.

1902 N. Yellowood Ave.
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma 74012 U.S.A.
7/6 FAX 918-250-4666

JANUARY 2016 97

American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2016