Weibull-regression models to study failure data in oil pumps

Abstract

This work presents a reliability study conducted among on-shore oil fields in the Potiguar Basin (RN/CE) belonging to PETROBRAS, Brazil. The main study objective was to verify the existence of a relationship between oil pump lifetime and some characteristics such as the elevation method, the amount of water produced in the well (BSW), the gas/oil ratio (RGO), the depth of the production pump, the oil field operational unit, among others. The study was based on a retrospective sample of 450 oil columns from all that were functioning between 2000 and 2006. Statistical hypothesis tests under a Weibull regression model fitted to the first failure data allowed the selection of some covariates in the set considered to explain the failure time in the oil pumps.

Reliability; Weibull regression model; On-shore oil fields