Page 16 - Artificial Lift Methods

Hydraulic Lift

Petroleum Extension-The University of Texas at Austin

Hydraulic Lift

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In this chapter:
• Typical applications of hydraulic lift

• Configurations of hydraulic-lift systems
• Principles of hydraulic jet and piston pumps
• Surface equipment required for hydraulic lift

n 1932, C.J. Coberly installed the first hydraulic piston pump in
IInglewood, California as a solution to pumping oil without using a
sucker rod string. Later, Coberly formed Kobe, Inc., and the company
was the first to successfully use a hydraulic jet pump to produce an
oilwell. Since then, jet pumps have been used to pump up to 35,000
barrels of well fluids per day. Hydraulic pumping represents one of the
most flexible forms of artificial lift; it can often successfully produce
wells in which other lift technologies have failed (fig. 71).
Hydraulic-pumping systems consist of four basic parts:
• Power-fluid conditioning and supply
• Surface power unit and hydraulic pump
• Piping to transfer the high-pressure power fluid to the
subsurface pump
• Subsurface jet pump or piston pump (fig. 72)
The fluid-conditioning system cleans and prepares the power
fluid, which is typically a produced well fluid, such as water or oil. Courtesy of Weatherford International

Figure 71. Hydraulic-lift
system

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