International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) – Volume 21 Number 2 – March 2015 ISSN: 2231-5381 http://www.ijettjournal.org Page 67 Multiphase Pumping to Enhance Oil Recovery Saurabh Goswami Project Quality Manager, Chevron Corporation, Houston, TX, USA Abstract— Recently, interest in the subsea deployment of multiphase pumps has grown as operators search for methods to improve production and economics for subsea completed wells. Multiphase pumping improves the production and economics by increasing flow rates and optimizing the production cycle of oil and gas reservoirs. Subsea pumping is one of the most important methods to enhance oil recovery from oil well. Crude oil exists in various forms such as seawater, sand and gas, as well as oil in an oil well. Therefore, a phase separator is needed at the front of a single- phase pump for pressurization and transfer of crude oil. The application of a multiphase pump can provide such advantages as simplification of the equipment structure and cost savings, because there is no need for a phase separation process. Therefore, the crude oil transfer method using a multiphase pump is being applied to recently developed oil wells. This study summarizes the research work with reference to the Multiphase Pump in terms of its types, Working principles, Applications and its advantages in oil production. Keywords— Multiphase pump, Oil & Gas Production, Offshore, Sub-sea, Enhance Oil Recovery. I. INTRODUCTION Even though subsea completed wells enable development of deep water resources as well as marginal fields in normal water depths, without some form of subsea processing, these wells are expected to experience poor ultimate recoveries due to the high backpressures. Study of researchers’ shows that operating on continual high backpressure has direct impact on production decline behaviour that wastes reservoir energy. Energy that could be used to move reservoir fluids to the wellbore and out of the well is instead lost to flow through a choke or a long flow line. It is expected that some form of subsea boosting and/or processing of produced fluids will be necessary to improve efficiencies, allowing longer production from these wells and better recovery factors. Subsea processing covers a wide spectrum of subsea separation and boosting scenarios. Subsea multiphase pumping technology provides many advantages in terms of intervention when compared with single phase artificial lift methods. And also, an increasingly large number of producing wells are maturing so operators must resolve a number of new problems which will impact the total economics of their production. The most common development for maturing gas wells is reduced bottom hole pressure and increased production of liquids, predominantly water. Abandoning a mature well was once an option but now regulatory bodies are appearing more and more unreceptive toward abandoning producing wells too early so operators are looking at new technologies such as multiphase boosting as options to enhance oil recovery and maintain economical late-life production. II. MULTIPHASE PUMPING Conventional methods for producing oil and gas can now be replaced by a simple and economical technology known as MULTIPHASE PUMPING. It does not require separation of oil, gas, water so production from the oil wells can be gathered and pumped to a central processing facility without requiring separate flow lines, separators, intermediate storage tanks, gas flares, compressors, and separate pumping facilities. Elimination of these equipment means a smaller platform and a much more economical installation can be used to boost the production so it can move downstream for processing. Multiphase pumping can handle low inlet pressures, which makes it ideal for lowering the backpressure against the well. In many wells, particularly those on artificial lift, substantial gains and an accelerated production rate can be achieved with even a modest drop in pressure which is enough to payout the additional costs. By definition a multiphase pump is a Pump that is also able to transport gas. It is an isothermal machine in which the heat generated by compressing gas is carried away by the flow stream through the pump, contrary to a compressor, which