The artificial lift industry will continue to boom, even with low oil prices. That was the claim by oil industry consultant and electrical submersible pump expert Gordon Kappelhoff.

Speaking at the fifth Middle East Artificial Lift Forum (MEALF 2009), he said that the need to maximise the production of oil wells meant that the oil lift industry was largely immune to price fluctuations.

'When the price of oil is high everyone wants to get as much out of the ground as possible so they are prepared to invest in technology that will get oil from reservoirs that do not flow on their own and in increasing the amount of oil they can get out of reservoirs that do flow.

'When the oil price is low, producers have to maximise their capacity to cover the production cost of the well. So in both instances they invest in lift technologies.'

'Around 94 per cent of all the oil wells in the world need artificial lifts,' he said.

'But of the 6pc that do not, producers still want to increase the daily flow of oil so they also invest in the latest lift technology.'

He said that MEALF 2009 had been a major success because the industry had no alternative but to be there.

'What you have here in the exhibition is the latest technologies in lift products and the most cost-effective and in the speakers forum you have the experts who know where this section of the industry is going.'

If you are trying to introduce new technologies to the industry then this event is a must, according to Weather Field Middle East & North Africa marketing communications head Carine Bouery.

'We are using this event to introduce our gas well deliquification products, our capillary technology and our cavity pumping systems and we are getting a very good response,' she said.

Bouery said the three products removed blockages from water in gas extraction, were used to deliver chemicals to valve systems and to improve the flow of heavy oil respectively.

'The lift business is doing very well at the moment and the industry needs and event like this. It is a requirement to keep people up to date with the latest technology. Lift technology is not only a way of improving production from existing wells but is a cost effective way of increasing production.

'At a time when budgets are tight people are looking for cost-effective systems and that is what lift technology offers.'

Scottish-based Wood Group area manager Ator Tetenta said that as one of the leading players in the electrical submersible pumps business in the region the conference and exhibition was a must for them.

'So far this has been a pretty positive conference with a very high quality of technical papers being delivered.'

MEALF 2009, which has attracted more than 160 industry specialists closes this evening.-TradeArabia News Service