TOUGHMET® SUCKER ROD COUPLINGS: FEWER WORKOVERS, INCREASED PRODUCTION & IMPROVED EFFICIENCY
Approximately 96 percent of oil wells in the United States require artificial lift to produce oil and natural gas. In rod pumped wells, nearly half experience failures of tubing or sucker rod couplings, most often because of the wear from couplings contacting the inner tube wall in deviated sections of the wells. The cost of well workovers and production losses runs into the hundreds of millions of dollars per year across the oil and gas industry.
ToughMet sucker rod couplings, made from non-galling ToughMet 3 TS 95, were designed to mitigate failures caused by coupling-on-tubing wear. The couplings were successfully qualified in field tests in deviated Bakken wells with higher than average failure rates. During testing, operators more than tripled the mean time between failures. In addition, engineers monitoring those wells reported significant, unanticipated production and well efficiency benefits.
As a result of the successful field tests, ToughMet couplings have been installed by 35 operators in more than 1,000 oil wells located in the Bakken, Permian and West Coast Basins.
RESULTS FROM THE FIELD
To quantify the additional production and efficiency improvements that engineers identified in the test wells, operators have maintained well designs but changed from conventional couplings to ToughMet couplings throughout the entire rod string. On average, test results show a 12.6 percent increase in oil production and a 20.6 percent increase in system efficiency. Read our white paper to see more results.
A HIGH STRENGTH ALLOY ENGINEERED FOR THE OILFIELD
The couplings are made of ToughMet® 3 TS 95—the strongest, most fatigue resistant coupling material available that mitigates tubing wear. ToughtMet is a copper-nickel-tin spinodal alloy originally engineered by Materion specifically for use in the oilfield. With its unique combination of properties, ToughMet 3 TS 95 resists mechanical wear, thread damage, corrosion and erosion. The material is non galling and retains its strength even at elevated temperatures.
TOUGHMET 3 TS 95 ALLOY PROPERTIES | 95+ KSI Yield Strength | 20+ Rockwell C Hardness | 65 KSI Fatigue Limit | 30 ft-lb Charpy Impact Energy | Chloride SCC, Pitting & Crevice Corrosion Resistance | Erosion, HE, SSC and General Corrosion Resistance | Mechanical Wear & Thread Damage Resistance | Non-Galling to Steel | Strength at Elevated Temperatures
To learn more about ToughMet TS 95 alloy properties, download our datasheets or view our ToughMet 3 Sucker Rod Couplings Brochure.
SEE HOW TOUGHMET COUPLINGS INCREASED WELL RUN TIMES IN HESS WELLS IN THE BAKKEN
TOUGHMET COUPLINGS IN THE NEWS
Read World Oil’s feature article about the increased efficiency and oil production of ToughMet couplings or access their webcast for an in-depth explanation of these advantages.
NEW TOUGHMET 3 TS95 ALLOY VALVE ROD GUIDE BUSHING COUPLING
Materion’s newest addition—the ToughMet 3 Valve Rod Guide Bushing Coupling— eliminates production interruptions in artificial lift systems by reducing HIT failures in an area prone to extreme rod buckling and tubing wear. This oversized coupling is installed directly above the pump connecting the rod string to the pump drive rod and helps to avoid costly workovers and lower production costs.
View more information about ToughMet Valve Rod Guide Bushing Couplings