Dear Production Engineers,

ESPs don’t make sense in 90% of the applications you think they do. Stop using them (did I get your attention?!)

Each artificial lift technology has an intended use- where it works well and where it doesn’t but you install it anyway. There is no cookie cutter solution: that is why we pay you- not the service company engineer- to fix problems. Learn how to design YOUR OWN rod string. Learn when an ESP MIGHT make sense (hint: high water cut, low GOR, exceptionally long run time and power in place).

Let’s talk power. Sure- you can rent a generator for $10,000 per month but if it can’t run field wet gas- you need propane for $50,000 a month or diesel for $80,000 to run an ESP. This isn’t 2014 when your boss was actually working and could hide these ridiculous charges because oil was $147/bbl.

Ask your reservoir engineer to run the economics on your “peak rates” and the incremental charges required to get them vs flat production for 3 months. Ta Da! Crazy, right?! The only thing that matters is cost when the cost of capital is 6% on your debt.

Finally: try new things. I’ll give Branden Pronk credit for some papers on high pressure gas lift that replace ESPs at much lower cost. THAT is good stuff. Do more like that.