Pumping up ESP uptime with reliable power

A hydrocarbon exploration company in West Texas was ramping up the number of electrical submersible pumps (ESPs) on its wells in the Delaware Basin. But it needed to power most of these ESPs through a combination of unreliable utility power and separate 500 kW diesel generators.

The customer wanted to power each ESP with utility power but in parts of Delaware the grid was overloaded.

As a result, the customer was experiencing significant power issues: from voltage fluctuations and power surges to brownouts and frequent power outages – often for hours at a time, multiple times a day. In some cases, it could only get about 15% uptime on its ESPs.

The average cost per well running on diesel generators was $50,000 per month with fuel. What’s more, the utility company wanted $3 million to upgrade the lines. So the customer turned to Aggreko to see if improvements could be made.