Fundamentals of Rod Pumping
& Dynagraph Interpretation

An intensive 2 day course at Odessa College in Odessa, Texas.

Wednesday-Thursday September 18-19, 2024
Wednesday-Thursday October 16-17, 2024

Wednesday-Thursday
November 13-14, 2024

This class combines technical knowledge with years of field experience analyzing and optimizing rod pumped wells (along with the bad days that come with it, including the story that goes along with my pick-up getting covered in oil from a blown out stuffing box) to bring you the industry’s most interesting, practical, and comprehensive course on sucker rod pumping. 

There’s still time to reserve your seat to learn about the Fundamentals of Rod Pumping and Dynagraph Interpretation.

See the course description below…

Fundamentals of Rod Pumping and Dynagraph Interpretation Course Description:

1. Fundamentals of Sucker Rod Pumping:  Prime movers (motors and engines), pumping units (gearbox, structure, weights, stroke length, rotation), tubing and TACs, fiberglass and steel sucker rods, different API pumps, production potential (IPRs), different reservoir drive types, basic review of mechanics, torque, pressure, pressure gradients, behavior of oil, gas and water, bubble point pressure, solution GOR.

2. Dynagraph Interpretation: derivation and explanation of data used by SAM rod pump controller, the utility of the surface dynagraph card, the evolution of the down hole card, the 4 corners of every pump card, understanding rod stretch, surface and pump card basics, buoyancy, buckling, and fluid load, the four corners of the pump card, the effects of different pump diameters, pump intake pressures, tubing head pressures, 12 basic downhole dynagraph cards:

full pump                                                                                             tubing movement

incomplete fillage                                                                             gas interference

flowing well/inoperative pump/deep rod part                          pump tag downstroke and upstroke

bent barrel/sticking pump                                                             leaking traveling valve/pump slippage

leaking standing valve                                                                    split barrel

viscous friction                                                                                  drag friction

Advanced dynagraph card analysis, rod parts-shallow, midway, and deep, comparison of all the flat line card conditions, stuffing box friction, rod tubing friction-uncorrected and corrected pump friction, paraffin with fiberglass and steel, incorrect rod string data – fiberglass instead of steel, steel instead of fiberglass, data reversed, incorrect rod modulus, leaking to fill pump, leakage vs. pumping speed, excessive leakage imitating pump fillage, tagging and its effect on the surface card, combating gas interference.

3. Fluid Level Analysis: full explanation of how the fluid level gun system works (Echometer), fluid level analysis and pump intake pressure calculations from fluid level, production potential from the fluid level gun software.

4. SAM RPC training: Historical Data, Troubleshooting the SAM WM, Valve Check Routine, SAM well test, pump intake pressure using the SAM RPC, optimization of run times, gearbox loading using the SAM.

Design and Optimization of Vertical and Deviated Rod Pumped Wells with SROD/RODSTAR Course Description:

1. This course begins with a step by step guide to understanding data input into the SROD and/or RODSTAR programs, along with the operation of included subprograms as applicable.

2. Example wells are built and the resulting reports that are generated by SROD and/or RODSTAR are discussed.  In particular, the data that is input and computed for every single output on each report is fully explained, providing the student with an in-depth understanding of the programs.  This is a of fundamental importance to understanding of the output results from the programs, as well as to developing the ability to discern when the program may not be properly modeling the system.

3. Different optimization methods are discussed using SROD and/or RODSTAR that can immediately be applied to existing rod pumped wells.

4. There is also discussion on how different wellbore and pumping unit system design parameters impact side and drag loads in deviated wells.