Energy Conservation and Efficiency Improvement for the Electric Motors Operating in U.S. Oil Fields

Abstract

Because of its versatility, electricity consumption continues to grow all over the world more rapidly than any other energy form. The portion of the United States' primary energy supply used as electricity has expanded from near zero at the turn of the century to 38 percent in 1987. Electric motors use as input about 64% of all electricity in the U.S. and many other countries. The cost of powering motors in the U.S. is estimated to be roughly $90 billion a year. In terms of primary energy input, motor energy use in the U.S. is comparable to all auto energy use. Electric motors are the largest users of energy in all mineral extraction activities. In oil fields, electric motors drive the pumping units used for lifting the oil and water to the surface. To find out actual efficiencies of operating motors in the oil fields, the University of Wyoming and the U.S. Department of Energy -Denver Support Office have been working for the last twelve months on two Naval Petroleum Reserve oil fields -one each in California and Wyoming. So far, actual motor loading of all operating oil fields motors has been determined by actual field measurements. We have also completed the analysis of economy of operation of existing motors and evaluating the candidate replacement motors. In this paper, we will present these results along with the methodologies and protocol developed for motor energy efficiency improvement in oil field applications.