Development of a Digital ESP Performance Monitoring System Based on Artificial Intelligence

Wintershall Dea is developing together with partners a digital system to monitor and optimize electrical submersible pump (ESP) performance based on the data from Mittelplate oil field. This tool is using machine learning (ML) models which are fed by historic data and will notify engineers and operators when operating conditions are trending beyond the operating envelope, which enables an operator to mitigate upcoming performance problems. In addition to traditional engineering methods, such a system will capture knowledge by continuous improvement based on ML. With this approach the engineer has a system at hand to support the day-to-day work. Manual monitoring and on demand investigations are now backed up by an intelligent system which permanently monitors the equipment. In order to create such a system, a proof of concept (PoC) study has been initiated with industry partners and data scientists to evaluate historic events, which are used to train the ML-systems. This phase aims to better understand the capabilities of machine learning and data science in the subsurface domain as well as to build up trust for the engineers with such systems. The concept evaluation has shown that the intensive collaboration between engineers and data scientist is essential. A continuous and structured exchange between engineering and data science resulted in a mutual developed product, which fits the engineer's needs based on the technical capabilities and limits set by ML-models. To organize such a development, new project management elements like agile working methods, sprints and scrum methods were utilized. During the development Wintershall Dea has partnered with two organizations. One has a pure data science background and the other one was the data science team of the ESP manufacturer. After the PoC period the following conclusions can be derived: (1) data quality and format is key to success; (2) detailed knowledge of the equipment speeds up the development and the quality of the results; (3) high model accuracy requires a high number of events in the training dataset. The overall conclusion of this PoC is that the collaboration between engineers and data scientists, fostered by the agile project management toolkit and suitable datasets, leads to a successful development. Even when the limits of the ML-algorithms are hit, the model forecast, in combination with traditional engineering methods, adds significant value to the ESP performance. The novelty of such a system is that the production engineer will be supported by trusted ML-models and digital systems. This system in combination with the traditional engineering tools improves monitoring of the equipment and taking decisions leading to increased equipment performance.