The Golfo San Jorge basin is the oldest productive basin of Argentina, and is located in south Patagonia. With 12,630 active oil wells, the basin produces 269,937 bpd of oil, and 2.9 MM bdp of water. The artificial lift systems are distributed as follows: 9,648 Sucker Rod Pumps (SRP), 1,615 Progressing Cavity Pumps (PCP) and 1,336 Electric Submersible Pumps (ESP). There are some important experiences with gas lift, plunger lift and hydraulic jet pump, but are not considered in this study. Close than 90% of the pumps are installed between 3,000 ft to 8,000 ft depth, producing flow rates over 1,500 bpd of fluid More than 3.1 MMbpd of water are injected in 2,400 wells in water flooding projects, therefore 41% of the oil is produced from this method. Due to the mature state of the basin, every year, new waterflooding projects are implemented for increasing and to hold the oil production of the basin. With every new project, not only increases the gross production per well, but also increases the depth of the new reservoirs. The combination of these factors resulted in a higher power to be transmitted from the prime mover to the pump, coupled with the increasing down hole temperature.
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