Customer Company profile 

• #2 natural gas producer in North America
• Revenues (2011): Over $8 billion (est.) USD

Business Challenge 

The dual completion well is located in a shale formation and had a very high H2S content. The initial goal was to get the well producing and online. In order to expedite the preliminary production, the Customer required dependable pneumatic chemical injection pumps that would safely handle the H2S application.

Technical Challenge 

Furthermore, once production would be underway, the Customer sought a significant drop in chemical use to improve operation costs. The remote location of the well, the constant management of the pumps due to the challenging H2S situation, environmental risks, and the lack of field operators once other wells eventually go online required an automated solution.

Solution 

Four CheckPoint Model 1250 pneumatic chemical injection pumps were used for start-up. Customer’s injection rate was 60 gallons per day, with chemical cost approximating $12.50 per gallon for the injection of H2S scavenger at the well. An alternative CheckPoint solution was selected to optimize the total cost of ownership.

CheckPoint’s Solar intelliJECT was chosen as the preferred solution. The remote location of the well lent itself to the use of the communications link between the solar unit and the existing SCADA unit (the fully customizable CheckPoint Solar intelliJECT can be utilized with all common SCADA). In turn, it effected changes in the flow rate of the chemical without having to dispatch personnel. The design criteria for this solution:

• Discharge: 2,000 PSIG
• Flow: 5-10 GPD
• Autonomy: 5 days
• Insolation Factor: 4.0
• Chemical: H2S Scavenger

Benefits 

This CheckPoint Solar intelliJECT has been running continuously and without repair since commissioning on July 24th, 2010.

Since commissioning almost two years, an estimated recurring chemical savings has been benefitting the Customer’s bottom line production operations budget greatly, spending less in chemicals, field dispatch, and potential pipeline shutdown from under or over injection of the H2S scavenger. When compared to the alternative, the demonstrated payback with the CheckPoint Solar intelliJECT was within 30 days.

As it is operating at this point, the customer has to monitor the H2S level at their sales point via their SCADA system and log onto the chemical injection system and make the rate changes manually. There is a PLC available for the customer to utilize CheckPoint’s Solar intelliJECT which can take in the customer’s remote signal from the H2S monitor and send it through the SCADA system to the chemical injection system. This will allow the PLC to operate the pump speed proportionally to the H2S level requirements, eliminating the need to dispatch personnel to the location, or to remote in vis-à-vis manual supervision and operation.

“The remote solar chemical injection unit has been… operating perfectly. [It] is very accurate and has never lost prime. Remotely adjusting the chemical injection rate from a laptop saves time and money.” 

CheckPoint Solar intelliJECT Customer