CANADIAN HEAVY
OIL ASSOCIATION
SPE/PS-CIM/CHOA 97796
PS2005-365
Development Status of a Metal Progressing Cavity Pump
for Heavy Oil and Hot Production Wells
J.-L. Beauquin and C. Boireau, Total E&P, and L. Lemay and L. Seince, PCM Pompes
Copyright 2005, SPE/PS-CIM/CHOA International Thermal Operations and Heavy Oil Symposium
This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2005 SPE International Thermal Operations
and Heavy Oil Symposium held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 1–3 November 2005.
This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE/PS-CIM/CHOA Program Committee
following review of information contained in a proposal submitted by the author(s). Contents of
the paper, as presented, have not been reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers,
Petroleum Society–Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy & Petroleum, or the Canadian
Heavy Oil Association and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material, as
presented, does not necessarily reflect any position of the SPE/PS-CIM/CHOA, its officers, or
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Abstract
Cold Heavy Oil Production is mainly achieved by Progressing
Cavity Pumps (PCP) nowadays, thanks to its low CAPEX and
OPEX and adaptability to viscous and abrasive fluids.
However, for thermal recovery, standard PCP is not adapted,
as the elastomer composing the stator, the heart of the pump,
can't withstand fluid temperature above 160°C (320F) so far.
Innovative research led to the development of an original
manufacturing process of a complete metallic pump, avoiding
the elastomer weakness. The use of metallic PCP is in an
advanced test phase. PCM and TOTAL launched industrial
validation tests early 2005 in TOTAL test bench using extra
heavy crude with temperatures up to 200°C (390F), pressure
up to 75 bars (1090psi) and flowrate up to 260 m3/day
(1600bpd) at 350 rpm. The flowrate range will be as high as
1000 m3/day (6300bpd) with new models available later this
year. The validation program includes long-time running
performance tests to validate its behaviour on abrasion & gas
handling. Field tests will be performed before the end of the
year. This paper presents the technology and promised
performances associated with metal PCP used for heavy oil
cold or thermal production.
Introduction
Most of the oil field developments require artificial lift. When
HP gas is available, gas-lift may be an attractive lift method
since it involves relatively low cost well interventions and
tolerates numerous flow constraints such as high gas content,
gas slugging, sand production, high temperature.
However, gas-lift is unable to efficiently provide a great
head when it is required by the well. In order to get a quick
look about it and the lift requirement of a well, one can
calculate the lift gradient G which characterizes the natural lift
capability of the well:
G =10 x ( BHP – THP) / Zv
Where :
- BHP (bar) is the natural Bottom Hole Pressure
available in flowing conditions,
- THP (bar) is the actual Tubing Head Pressure
required to export production
- Zv (m) is the True Vertical depth of the well.
When the lift gradient G is less than 0.3, strong gas-lift
will be required. That means poor outflow efficiency and low
liquid capacity of the well. Moreover, in the case of thermal
production of heavy oil and bitumen, gas-lift encourage
flashing of steam downhole and various physical or rheology
troubles that affect the efficiency of this recovery process.
When gas-lift is inadequate, too expensive or not possible,
the artificial lift needs challenge downhole pumps capabilities
and features. Some wells are propitious to the use of
hydrodynamic pumps such as centrifugal, helico-axial or
hydraulic jet-pumps because of very high volume to be lifted.
However these pumping technologies are very expensive and
most pumped wells are preferably equipped with positive
displacement pump, as it generally corresponds to lower
capital and operational costs and offer acceptable versatility to
changing conditions of pumped fluid.
For a long time, beam and rod driven plunger pumps were
used for handling all kind of fluids because they were simple,
robust and well-known. However, numerous drawbacks also
limited pumping performance and production of these wells.
In heavy oil, the rod fall is the most common limitation of this
technique, which obliges operators to drastically limit the well
production and worsens the risk of sand settling in the pump.
The slow closure of traveling and standing valves is another
important cause of poor efficiency in viscous mixtures.
Pumping in horizontal or very deviated wells is also limited
since the plunger downstroke is powered by the driving part of
the rod string weight. Lastly, thermal methods generate
fluctuating inflow properties that cause rod fall rate to change
and reduce the runlife of the system.
During the eighties, rotating rod driven PCP (progressing
cavity pump, also named “Moineau pumps”) were developed
for oil field applications. This offered new perspectives for
oilfield operation, particularly for viscous oil, horizontal wells
2 SPE/PS-CIM/CHOA 97796
and sandy production. Then, rod driven PCP were largely
deployed for cold production of heavy oil and often used on
conventional mature fields as a cheaper lift method than the
beam pumps. Nevertheless, the standard stator of the PCP is
made of elastomer and this is the cause of most of its
limitations, which are fluid temperature, gas or aromatics
content, etc.
Now, PCP kinematic provides major advantages for
downhole pumping:
- it realizes continuous high volume axial suction that
minimizes stress on well reservoir interface and
improves sand lift.
- it generates a continuous “progressing” helical seal
contact between stator and moving part, which
reduces risk of localized wear and leak.
- it tolerates very low inlet pressure as a vacuum pump.
- as a positive displacement pump, it is able to
compress gas as far as the seal between stator and
rotor is maintained.
- as it is a rotating low torque system, mechanical,
hydraulic and electrical downhole drives are suitable
and rod drive can be set even in horizontal well.
Considering the above exceptional features and the
potential enhancement of applicability of PCP, TOTAL and
PCM decided to join their experience and efforts to develop
the PCM designed metal version of PCP through an intensive
manufacturing and testing program. This paper firstly explains
the Metal PCP technology designed by PCM. Then, it presents
the experimental program carried out by both partners to
assess behavior and performance of prototypes, shows tests
results obtained and gives further steps forecast for the next
months.
Metal Progressing Cavity Pump technology
Standard PCP principle
The PCP’s are used to pump a wide range of multiphase
mixtures, including high viscosity fluids with entrained gases
and solid particles in suspension. The traditional design
consists in a high strength (coated) metallic rotor (single
helix), rotating inside a stator (double helix). The stator itself
is commonly made from a metallic pipe containing an
elastomer with an internal helical shape mating the Moineau
profile [1]. Rotor is run from surface using API standard
sucker rods whereas stator is connected to API standard
tubings up to flow tee. The geometry of the assembly is such
that it achieves series of separated cavities. When the rotor
turns inside the stator, the cavities move in a spiral form from
suction end of the stator to delivery, creating the pumping
action – see Figure 1.
The limitations of such a pump consist in :
- the chemical compatibility between the elastomer and
the pumped fluid (typically with aromatics, resulting
in swelling and/or hardening)
- the maximum allowable temperature above which the
elastomer chain structure changes irreparably (for
nitrile or fluoro-carbonated compounds, this
temperature is around 160°C=320F)
The fundamental progress to overcome these limitations is
to withdraw the use of elastomer in PCP and create an
innovative metallic progressive cavity pump.
Stator
(elastomer)
Q
n
delivery
pressure
Rotor
(steel)
Figure 1: PCP principle
Hydroforming principle
Among manufacturing processes, hydroforming is particularly
interesting when complex surfaces with uniform thickness
have to be achieved. This technology is now widely used in
automotive and aircraft industries to build frame parts or
manifolds. Regarding pumps, this is a new technology well
fitted to manufacture metal stator, for which PCM has a
patent.
Hydroforming consists in putting a steel tube in a die and
injecting water under high pressure so that the tube fills the
cavities of the die and gets to the final shape. The die may be
external with an internal pressure, or the die may be internal
with an external pressure. In the case of a metal stator, the
internal die with external pressure is preferred since the active
area in contact with the rotor in operation is the internal
surface of the stator. Therefore, this surface has to be in close
contact with the die to have very good precision on the final
dimension of the stator. The process begins with prebending to
preshape the tube in a form that roughly fits into the final die.
Following this, special lubricants are used to minimize friction
between the part and the hydroforming dies – see Figure 2.
External envelop containing
pressurized fluid
Pre formed stator
Die
Figure 2: Hydroforming principle
This process involves using steel with very good properties
for high plastic strain.
After hydroforming, stator can be internally coated to
increase hardness, resistance to abrasion and consequently
increase its lifetime.
Metal PCP technology
The metal PCP design consists in :
SPE/PS-CIM/CHOA 97796 3

- a (coated) rotor, comparable with the elastomer pump

Workshop test
rotor
400
- the hydroformed active stator surface
0b
- an external envelop that enable the connection of 25b
elements together as well as the API end connections to 300 50b
adapt with the production tubing – see Figure 3.

Flow rate, m3/d

75b

200
External envelop
Hydroformed stator
100

0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
RPM

Figure 4: flowrate characteristic curve

Figure 3: Metal PCP principle
Elastomer and metal PCP comparison
The metal pump has a wider range of applications than the
elastomer in terms of :
- operating temperature : steels and coatings can be chosen
for high temperature applications (more than
200°C=390F) as well as low temperature (low or
negative temperature); steels for rotor and stator are
chosen in order to have the same thermal expansion so
that the fit between those parts remain the same whatever
the operating temperature is
- chemical compatibility with the pumped fluid : the steel
will not react with pumped fluid in most cases – except
where H2S content gets too high and would imply use of
duplex steels or equivalent.
The overall efficiency of the pump closely depends on the
contact features between the rotor and the stator. It is defined
as hydraulic power [Q x delta-P] delivered by the pump to the
fluid divided by the absorbed power [torque x speed]. Both
friction and leakage downgrade the pump overall efficiency.
Due to high leakage, pumping non viscous fluid is not very
efficient especially under high delta-P. The efficiency curve
with water shown on Figure 5 is derived from flowrate,
pressure and torque measurements performed with the
prototype in new condition before to be tested with heavy oil.
When pumping viscous crude or mixtures, the leakage
flowrate will decrease and efficiency will be higher.
efficiency ( water at 20°C )
60.0
efficiency %

Metal PCP will require the same installation and operating

tools than elastomer PCP, and will still offer low CAPEX and 40.0 350 rpm
OPEX to end users. 20.0 250 rpm

Prototype bench testing
The first progressive cavity pump prototype made by PCM is
designated 400MET1000. PCM models are designated by two
numbers. The first one is an approximation of the capacity in
m3/d at 500 rpm and zero head; the second one indicates the
nominal head capability in meters.
Preliminary test with water
First, the pump was tested in PCM water closed loop at 20°C
in order to determine hydraulic characteristics (flowrate,
pressure, absorbed torque measured on pump shaft with
torquemeter)- see Figure 4
This test has demonstrated the capacity of a metal-to-metal
pump to operate. The leakage at 75 bars (1090psi) is
100 m3/day (630bpd), which represents 30% of the total
flowrate at 500 rpm. This leakage is constant upon speed, like
for a traditional PCP.
The rate of change of leakage versus pressure slowly
decreases when the pressure increases. This phenomenon is
different compared with an elastomer stator where leakage
increases quicker when pressure increases.
0.0
0 20 40 60 80
pressure - bar
Figure 5 : efficiency with water at 20°C (70F)
Bench Tests objectives
Following performance tests of the prototypes implemented
with water at PCM facilities, the development program of the
metal PCP includes high temperature bench testing with heavy
oil. The objectives are to validate prototype performance in
actual fluid and conditions, temperature drastically changing
the liquid viscosity. Endurance test and final pump tear down
are also planed to assess the wear resistance of the system.
Test bench description
The bench test is located at the CERT in Gonfreville
(Normandie, France), one of the Total research centers. The
flow loop is designed to handle heavy crude up to 230°C
(450F) and 90 bars (1300psi). It is located outside, then
efficiently thermal insulated. The pump and the drive systems
provided by PCM were installed in March 2005. Figure 7
shows the flow loop as it was installed before the actual tests.
4 SPE/PS-CIM/CHOA 97796
The measuring devices allow getting liquid flowrate, motor
torque, temperature and pressure along the flow loop. An
orifice meter provides flow data. The correlation between the
differential pressure measured and the actual oil flow was
established during preliminary tests.
Tests program and results
Performance tests
The loop was filled with 100% heavy oil (8,5°API) – see
viscosity curve Figure 6. The initial test program included the
following fluid parameters: flow temperature of 100°C, 150°C
and 200°C (212, 300, 390F) and differential pressure (delta-P)
of 0, 25, 50 and 75 bars (0, 360, 725, 1090psi). It provided the
pump performance data for 100, 200, 300 and 350 rpm. Also
an additional test session was finally performed at 400 rpm
and 200°C (390F). For each set of these parameters
(temperature, delta-P, RPM), pressures, flowrate and torque
were measured and recorded in order to verify the pump
performance under these actual fluid conditions. However, due
to flow restrictions, the existing flow loop equipment didn’t
allow performing under nil delta-P at highest flow rates and
viscosities.
100000
10000
Viscosity (cSt)
1000
100
10
1 vibration, etc.).
50 100 150
Temperature (°C)
Figure 6 : crude oil viscosity
The Figure 8, Figure 9 and Figure 10 show the prototype
performance curves with 8°API heavy oil at 92°C, 150° and
200°C (200, 300, 390F) respectively, for various delta-P and
rotation speeds (RPM). It shows how flowrate is proportional
to speed. Also at high temperature, due to viscosity lowering,
the flowrate drops more rapidly versus the delta-P applied on
the pump.
The pumping capability is strongly dependant on the
volumetric efficiency of the pump. The Figure 13, the
Figure 14, and the Figure 15 show this efficiency for the
various pumping conditions. The slippage (leakage) represents
the unavoidable back flow within the running pump between
stator and rotor. It may be defined by the difference between
the theoretical volumetric displacement of the pump and the
actual flow rate:
Slippage = (RPM * pump capacity) – actual flow rate
The flow rates actually reached at low speed (100 rpm) are
close to the theoretical ones. Conversely, as a zero delta-P
could not be maintained for high flowrate, it becomes more
difficult to make the same comparison with the higher speeds.
Figure 11 shows viscosity influence on the flowrate due to
its impact on the fluid slippage in the pump. The slope of the
flowrate vs delta-P curves increases as the viscosity decreases.
The slippage is shown on Figure 12. We can notice that for
low temperature oil (92°C=200F), slippage percentage
(leakage divided by flowrate at 0 bar) strongly increases with
delta-P when viscosity and RPM are low. Then, for higher
temperature (200°C=390F) slippage percentage is inversely
proportional to speed. For low temperature, viscosity is high
and the volumetric efficiency becomes very good.
These data allow assessing the overall efficiency of the
prototype. This efficiency is defined by the following relation:
hydraulic power Q * ∆P
ηoverall = =
mechanical power T *ω
For low viscosity (hot fluid) the overall efficiency clearly
decreases with Delta P but it is strongly improved by higher
rpm. For more viscous fluid, overall efficiency becomes
constant upon Delta P. It is still improved by higher rpm.
Here, it reaches 65% at 92°C (200F), 320 cpo, 300 rpm. The
plot is shown in Figure 16.
Tests in steam flashing conditions
As the test bench also offered the possibility to run in presence
of steam at pump intake, it was finally decided to try creating
steam conditions before the pump tear down. Then, the flow
loop was filled back with water. Water temperature was
maintained at 200°C (390F) and two existing valves were
handled to generate steam flashing upstream from the pump.
When steam flashed at pump intake, the pump did not
show any sign of kinetic trouble in spite of a sharp drop in
liquid flowrate up to apparent liquid pump off. For various
intake pressures, the maximum head the pump generated was
checked by closing the outlet choke valve. Thus the pump
progressively provided a delta-P up to 35 bars (510psi) for a
couple of minutes without apparent torment (torque, noise,
200
Endurance tests
After these validation tests, the prototype kept on working
during a couple of weeks (up to 1500 hours) at 350 rpm and
50 bar (725psi) delta-P with heavy oil at 150°C (300F). The
data picked up afterwards show a decrease of the rate. Further
tests and tear down of the prototype at PCM factory revealed
actual wear of the stator, which increased the fit – and
therefore the leakage - of the metal-to-metal assembly. More
accurate assembling process and surface hardening are two
corrective actions that PCM considers now for fixing the
problem.
Further testing forecast
A new 400MET1000 prototype is to be build and qualified
before to be field tested as soon as possible.
Two other pump models are scheduled after these first
tests. A 550MET750 model is being tested on CERT flow
loop. Besides, a 3 meter sample of 550MET750 pump is
planed to be tested by the CETIM (Nantes, France) in summer
2005 to assess the pump behaviour with charged and abrasive
fluid. A third model designated 1000MET450 is also planed
by the end of 2005.
SPE/PS-CIM/CHOA 97796 5

Conclusions
A metal-to-metal positive displacement pump realizing a
continuous axial pumping like the current elastomer PCP’s
should provide oil industry with a very attractive system for
artificial lifting of heavy oil and mature fields or harsh
environment.
PCM and TOTAL are committed in a join project having
the objective of developing such a technology. The
manufacturing process is completed now and several
prototypes are being tested with encouraging results. The
bench tests performed so far showed a suitable behavior of the
metal-to-metal pump with increasing temperature above
200°C (390F). When choosing the right materials, elongation
of rotor and stator are compatible and pump can operate within
a large range of temperature. The pump has also withstood the
steam flashing test showing it will have the capacity to operate
downhole in such conditions. Metal pump technology pushes
up the limits for extracting heavy oil, mature fields and
aggressive fluids that traditional elastomer pump cannot cope
with. After fixing the youth shortcomings, TOTAL and PCM
will qualify this new technology through a program that
includes field testing.
Figure 7 : CERT bench test

Acknowledgements
The authors wish to acknowledge the management of TOTAL Appendixes
and PCM for their permission to publish this work and their
permanent support of our research effort.
Liquid flowrate vs head @ 92°C - 318 cpo
Nomenclature 260
240 350 RPM
̇ P: pressure, differential pressure
220 300 RPM
̇ T: temperature
200 200 RPM
̇ Q: pump flow rate
180
̇ N: pump rotational velocity 100 RPM
160
m3/d

140
References 120
1. Cholet H.Progressing Cavity Pump ( PCP ) Institut français du 100
pétrole – Edtions Technip – ISBN 2-7108-0724-6, 1997.
80
60
SI Metric Conversion Factors 40
1 inch ( in ) = 2.54 cm 20
1 foot ( ft ) = 0.305 m - 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
1 barrel (B) = 0.159 m3 Delta-P (bar)
1 bar = 105 Pa
1 psi = 6.89 kPa Figure 8 : heavy oil pumping performance at 92°C (200F)
(5/9)*(°F-32) = °C
6 SPE/PS-CIM/CHOA 97796

Liquid flowrate vs head @ 150°C - 37 cpo Slippage vs delta p

60 200°C- 17 cpo @ 200 RPM
260
240 350 RPM 200°C- 17 cpo @ 300 RPM

220 300 RPM 50 200°C- 17 cpo @ 350 RPM

200 200 RPM 92°C-320 cpo @ 100 RPM

180 40 92°C-320 cpo @ 200 RPM

100 RPM

Slippage (%)
160 92°C-320 cpo @ 300 RPM
m3/d

140 30
92°C-320 cpo @ 350 RPM
120
100 20
80
60 10
40
20 0
- 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
Delta-P (bar) DeltaP (bar)

Figure 9 : heavy oil pumping performance at 150°C (300F) Figure 12 : Fluid slippage (leakage) vs delta-P

Liquid flowrate vs head @ 200°C - 17 cpo Volumetric efficiency @ 92° - 318 cpo
260 100
240
90
220
Volumetric efficiency (%)
200 80
180
160 70 100rpm
m3/d

140 200rpm
60
120 400 RPM 300rpm
100 350 RPM 50 350rpm
80 300 RPM
40
60 200 RPM
40 100 RPM 30
20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
- 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 DeltaP (bar)

Delta-P (bar) Figure 13: Volumetric efficiency at 92°C (200F)

Figure 10 : heavy oil pumping performance at 200°C (390F)

Volumetric efficiency @ 150°C - 37 cpo
100
Viscosity influence vs delta-P
270 90
Volumetric efficiency (%)

80
220
350 RPM 70
Flowrate m3/d

170 100rpm
60
200rpm
120 50
300rpm
200 RPM 92°C-318 cpo 40 350rpm
70 150°C- 37 cpo
30
200°C- 17 cpo 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
20 DeltaP (bar)
20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Figure 14: Volumetric efficiency @ 150°C (300F)
DeltaP (bar)

Figure 11: Influence of the fluid viscosity on pump capacity

SPE/PS-CIM/CHOA 97796 7

Volumetric efficiency @ 200°C - 17 cpo

100
100rpm
90 200rpm
300rpm
Volumetric efficiency (%)

80 350rpm
400rpm
70

60

50

40

30
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
DeltaP (bar)
Figure 15: Volumetric efficiency @ 200°C (390F)

Overall efficiency vs delta p

70%

65%
60%
Overall efficiency (%)

55%

50%

45%

40%
92°C-320 cpo @ 300rpm
35% 92°C-320 cpo @ 200rpm
30% 92°C-320 cpo @ 100 rpm
200°C- 17 cpo @ 400rpm
25%
200°C- 17 cpo @ 300rpm
20% 200°C- 17 cpo @ 200rpm
- 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
DeltaP (bar)

Figure 16 : Pump overall efficiency vs Delta-P