Electric Forma tion Heaters and Their Applicationt
h. E. ALLEN * AND R. K. DAVIS
ABSTRACT
The ever-present problem of increasing productlon
In 011 wells nearing depletion has prompted various
types of remedlal work in the Cut Bank Fleld, Gla-
cler and Toole Counties, hlorrtana. Attractive re-
sults have been obtalned by the use of subsurface
electrlc heaters. This report revlews design fea-
Field Illstory and Produc~ngCharactenstics
The Cut Eank k i e l d , located in north-central
Montana on the west flank of the Sweetgrass Arch,
was discovered In 1926. O r ~ ~ i n aconsidered
ll~ a low-
er Cretaceous g a s field, exploitation resulted in oil
discovery and an ensuing developnlent program re-
sulted in defining a productive area of about 39,000
acres by drilling over 1,200 wells. Various lower
Cretaceous s a n d s produce i n the field with the Cut
Eank sand, at average depth of 2,800 ft, being the
principal zone. Accun~ulated production from the
field has been over 70,000,000 bbl with solution gas-
drive recovery n~echanismpredominant. I n 1953, to-
tal production from 1,100 \%ellswas about 2,500,000
bbl, an average of 6 bbl per well per day.
Description and Installation
bevelopment of a suitable electric formation heat-
er has been by a program of field experimentation.
Fig. 1 revlews construction details of the assembly
now in use. It consists of a combination of commer-
clally available conlponents into an assembly suited
for service under prevailing well conditions. An im-
mersion-type, 230-volt, 5-kw heater element i s in-
stalled in a c a s e of 4-in. line pipe, perforated to
permit con~pletesubmergence of the element. Ter-
minal head of the heater, which must be completely
~ s o l a t e dfrom well fluids, i s enclosed In an assem-
bly of conventional pipe fittings with one terminal
grounded to the c a s e and the other connected to a
lead wire, conducted from the heater c a s e by a '4-
in. pipe and stuffing-box arrangement. For additional
*The Carter 011 Co., B l l l ~ n g s ,Mont.
$ The Carter 011 Co., Cut Bank, Mont.
t Presented b y H. E. Allen at the sprlng meeting of the R o c k y
Mountam Dlstrlct, Dlvlslon of Productlon. Casper. Wyo.,
Aprll 1954.
tures, installation procedures, and performances of
electrlc heaters used in 28- wells operated by The
Carter 011 Company. The first heater application In
the field was made by another company in 1950 and
several operators are now using the method to ob-
tam appreciable productlon increases.
protection of the heater terminals, the space in the
head is filled wlth a thermoplastic resin. F'ig. 2 IS
a photograph of the heater.
The formation heater IS installed on the tubing,
below the mud anchor custonlarily used in Cut Bank
sand wells. Installation arrangement is shown in
F'ig. 3. Experience has ~ n d i c a t e dthat placement of
the heater wlth respect to the producing horizon i s
critical. Inasnluch a s virtually all wells were com-
pleted without electric logs, customary practice,
after brief cleanout, is to run a radioactivity log to
define the producing zone and provide b a s i s for ac-
curate measurements. The heater is located opposite
the best-developed pay sectlon, with i t s base above
the underlying shale interval. T h i s location insures
complete immersion in well fluid and maximum util-
ization of heat while protecting the assembly against
plugging by caving.
No. 10, 600-volt, solid copper conductor with hy-
drocarbon-resistant sheath i s used to connect the
heater to surface electrical energy source. T h l s
wire, purchased in 3,000-ft lengths, i s secured to
the tubing by hose clamps and i s protected from
clamp and tubing by tank gasket material. Because
the insulation is not highly abrasion-resistant, cen-
tralizers are placed on every other tubing collar.
Current practice i s to weld three %-in. by 1'4-in.
by 2-ln. spacers on the collar. If evidence of hole
deviation i s available, such a s that indicated by
tublng collar wear or wire failure at a particular
depth, closer centralizer spacing is used. At the
surface, the wire i s conducted out of the tubing-
casing annulus through a tubing head side outlet
and stuffing-box assembly. Electrical circuit i s com-
pleted by connecting a ground wire to the tubing
through this stuffing box, thereby making the tubing
100 H. E. ALLEN AND R. K. D,AVIS

1/4" Pipe Plug - No. 10 Solid Geotrol Wire L eod

2" Heavy Bull Plug

- //2" Pipe Coupling

Ill- 1/2" X 8" SS Pipe Nipple

This spoce filled with

Thermoplastic Resin

(p N- 4 " X 2" Swage Nipple

Ground t o element head

Perforate 4" Coupling

below p l a t e with
4.3/8' holes 90° oport
- -One
+--
holf o f 4" Coupling
3/8" Plote Welded

2" Pipe coupling with recess

machined off both ends
welded to 3 / 8 " plate.

5 KW 2 3 0 Volt
Oil Immersion Heoter

Heoter case 4" x 4 0 " line pipe,

perforated with 3 / 4 " holes

Fig. 1-Construction Details of Fig. 2-Electric

Electric Formation Heater Formation Heater
 ELECTRIC FORMATION HEATERS AND THEIR APPLICATION 101

removes paraffinic residue from the sand face and

reduces reservoir fluid viscosity in the immediate
vicinity of the well bore. buring early producing
life, Cut Bank sand wells experienced severe paraf-
fin accumulation in tubing and flow lines. T h i s oper-
ating difficulty has subsided with reduced produc
tive capacity. Subsurface measurements have indi-
No 10 Geotrol cated the normal temperature of 80 I?. to be increas-
Clamped to tub~ng ed to about 180 F. in the immediate viclnity of a
formation heater. Criteria for selection of wells to
be subjected to heating are not established because
UPPER
CUT BANK
Table 1
E l e c t r ~ cForrnat~onHeaters
Status at January 1, 1954
Daily Average
Production, Accumulated
Heater Gross Bbl of 011 Production
.-. Servlce, - , Increase,
L"V,L r,
CUT BANK SAND Rells Months Before After Gross Bbl of 011
1 25 7.4 19.2 7,148
2 21 15.2 33.0 10,991
Bottom of Heater 27.0 3,803
2 ' 3 ' Above
3 15 22.8
3000 - - - r/ 4 14 8.6 15.3 2,711
5 12 3.0 11.6 3,246
ELL 15
6 10' 12.0 12.0 2,279
3005' 7 9 5.3 18.0 3,192
8 8 9.8 16.8 2,010
Fig. 3-Typical Installation 9 8 7.0 13.2 739
t l e c t r i c Formation Heater 10 6 5.8 15.8 2,197
the conductor for the ground circuit. Surface equip- 11 5 9.2 19.3 1,669
ment includes conventional conduit, circuit breaker, 12 5 9.8 16.4 1,096
and other equipment necessary for use of purchased 13 5 21.0 26.8 756
power. 14 4 10.8 26.3 917
15 4 15.4 19.2 650
Installation c o s t s vary over a considerable range
16 4 . 1.4 3.7 366
because of individual well-cleanout requirements.
17 4 6.4 6.7 33
Average cost for the 28 wells thus far equlpped has
18 4 2.1 16.3 1,503
been about $2,300. Usual operating practice, follow-
ing heater installation, is to produce the well for 19 3 9.2 32.7 1,319
sufficient time to establish stabilized rate and de- 20 3 2.9 9.4 4 70
fine cleanout benefits before the heater i s activated. 21 1 3.0 7.5 124
Typical well performance i s portrayed by Fig. 4. In- 22 1 5.0 12.0 238
itial increase at this well was from 15.2 to 33.0 bbl 23 1 2.5 9.2 100
per day, ~ i t haccumulated increase to January 1, 24 1 3.2 5.6 212
1954 of 10.991 bbl-1,323 bbl resulting from clean- 25 12 14.0 14.0 ......
out and 9,668 bbl attributed to heating. Reaction is
26 1.2 7.2 7.2 ......
usually obtained soon after heat application, al-
27 .. 3
3.5 ...... ......
though in two wells nmximunl benefits here obtained
28 .. 3
1.0 ...... ......
after 7 and 10 months. Total 175 47,769
Application and Performance . ' Heater removed after 10 months servrce w ~ t hno r e a c t ~ o n .De-
l a y e d reactlor. h a s s l n c e b e e n e x p e r ~ e n c e d .
Exact function of formation heaters i s not known, Heater removed b e c a u s e of s e v e r e caving.
although it i s suspected that the application of heat Heater ~ n s t a l l e dm December, 1953.
102 H . E. ALLEN AND R. K . DAVIS

Fig. 4-Formation Heater and Cleanout Reaction

Well No. 2

of brief operating history and llm~tednumber of ap-
plications. No obvious reasons for s u c c e s s or fall-
ure are now apparent.
At January 1, 1954, electric formation heaters had
been Installed In 28 Carteroperated Cut Bank sand
wells. Two installations were completed but had
not experienced lnltial reaction; two had been re-
moved because of caving conditions, and two for
day have been experienced, ~ l t hthe average galn
for 26 wells belng from 8.5 to 15.7 Lbl per day. Ac-
cumulated increases shohn by the tabulat~onrepre-
sent only p r e l l m ~ n a r benefits
~ because 21 of the
heaters now In operation were installed In 1953 and
have recorded only b r ~ e fservlce, w h ~ c hfor the en-
tire group averages 6.7 months per well. E'lg. 5 IS
a cornposlte product~onperformance curve for b e l l s
I n the program, the departure of actual production

lack of response. The two wells w~thouti n ~ t i a lre-
actions are being considered for replacement be-
cause delayed reactions have been noted since
heaters were removed.
A summary of benefits i s provided in Table 1.
Total production galn has been 47,769 bbl, of which
2,539 bbl are attributed to cleanout procedures. In-
~ t production
~ d increases a s great a s 23.5 bbl per
from normal decline extrapolat~on 1 s notable. I n
becember, 1953, product~on galn i s shown a s 179
bbl per day.
l ' y p ~ c dwell performance IS portrayed by Fig. 6.
kormat~onheater was Installed In t h ~ sbvell I n be-
cember. 19511 for i n ~ t i a lproduction lncrease from
7.4 to 19.2 gross bbl per day. Total galn at the end
of 1953 was 7,148 bbl.
ELECTRIC FORMATION HEATERS AND THEIR APPLICATION 103

Fig. 5-Production performance-Formation Heater Installations

Fig. 6-Production Performance-Formation Heater Installation

Well No. 1
104 H. E. ALLEN AND R. K. DAVIS
SUMMARY
Subsurface electric heaters have been found to
provlde attractive benefits by i n c r e a s ~ n gproduction
in marg~nalwells of the Cut Bank Field, Montana.
Applicability to other producing areas i s not known
and must be established by actual trial. Present
heater designs have been developed by a program
of field experimentation and no doubt wlll be im-
proved with further use and experience.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I h e authors express acknowledgment to The
Carter Oil Con~panyfor permission to present this
P al'er.
DISCUSSION
Turner Smith (Pegasus Uiv., Socony-Vacuum Oil
Co., Inc., Casper): I wonder if any corrosion trou-
bles have been encountered from currents from the
heaters?
Mr. Allen: h e have not experienced anything of
that sort. I should t h ~ n kthere IS a possibility, al-
though the use of alternating current makes this
remote.
L. N. Uunlap (The California Company, Lenver):
One question occurs to me, and that i s the possi-
bility of the formation of coke on the heating ele-
ments. 1 wonder if you would comment on that pos-
sibility-of coke formation burning out the heaters.
Mr. Allen: b e have had no burning out that we
can contribute to coking. Complete immersion has
reduced that p o s s i b ~ l i t ~1 . can s e e that i t might be
an operating problem with certain crude oils and
with increased heater output.
b. T. Hoenshell (Pegasus J ~ i v . , Socony-Vacuum
Oil Co., lnc., Casper): Are you using a resistance-
type heater or an induction-type heater'
Mr. Allen: It i s a resistance-type heater.
Mr. Hoenshell: I s anyone e l s e in the Cut Bank
F'ield using resistance- or induction-type heaters?
Mr. Allen: I understand other operators are using
both types.
Mr. Hoenshell: Hhat temperature do you attempt
to keep at the bottom of the hole?
Mr. Allen: h e have not used temperature a s a crit-
erion. It is dilTic~ilt to measure temperatures in
pumping wells without specialized equipment.