Standards Development

Scope

This document specifies the design, design verification and validation, quality control, functional evaluation, transportation, handling, storage and installation requirements for tower-type pumping units.

This document is applicable to the tower-type pumping unit and its components, including the motor, gear reducer, tower, belt/rope, counterbalance device, drive system, control system.

Purpose

Pumping units serving as the core artificial lift equipment in the oil and gas industry, convert surface power into reciprocating motion to lift crude oil or well fluids from reservoirs. Based on structural differences, pumping units can be classified into two types: beam pumping units and beamless pumping units. As a typical representative of beamless pumping units, tower-type pumping units are designed with a symmetrical direct balancing structure. This design offers improved balancing effectiveness and transmission efficiency compared to beam pumping units.

During late-stage-oilfield development, declining well fluid supply and increasingly complex well conditions impose higher demands on artificial lift equipment. Tower-type pumping units, with their advantages of long stroke length (up to 10m) and low SPM (strokes per minute) (0-4 min-1), have become important equipment to improve production efficiency and economic benefits.

Their advantages include:

--Enhanced Production Efficiency: The long stroke design can enhance the single-cycle lifting capacity, improving both lifting efficiency and pump efficiency. The high proportion of constant-speed stroke range (>65%) reduces rod inertia loads and minimizes stroke loss.

--Extended Service Life and Reduced Maintenance: Low SPM operation allows longer pump fill time and reduces plunger/valve cycling frequency, which can extend the service life of key components and reduce maintenance costs.

--Compact Footprint and Environment-friendly: The vertical tower structure integrates moving parts, occupying just 1/3 to 1/2 of the space of beam pumping units. The operation with low noise (about 50 dB) and minimal environmental impact.

--Safety and Intelligent Operation: The internal counterweight eliminates external detachment risks. An integrated control system enables single-click precision adjustment of stroke length and speed. Sensors at key points, combined with an intelligent monitoring system, facilitate real-time remote operation tracking, data analytics, and predictive fault alerts—significantly improving safety and operational efficiency.

Since its introduction in the 1980s, tower-type pumping units have gained global attention, with over 20,000 installations across China, the United States, Russia, Argentina, Indonesia, and the Netherlands. Compared with beam pumping units, tower-type pumping units deliver 15% higher pump efficiency, 13% greater system efficiency, and 29% lower power consumption on average. These benefits position them as essential solutions for late-stage fields and complex well environments, highlighting significant market potential.

However, a critical standardization gap exists. Current international standards for pumping units, ISO 10431:1993 (withdrawn) and API Spec 11E-2022, are developed just based on the beam pumping units. Due to these fundamental differences, existing standards cannot be applied to tower-type pumping units, resulting in a lack of international standardization for their design, manufacturing, and inspection.

Developing this international standard is essential to:

Address global petroleum industry demands

Advance manufacturing technology

Regulate market practices

Enhance international technical collaboration