1. Home
  2. Explore in 3D
  3. Pumpjack

How a pumpjack lifts oil

Most conventional wells in Alberta eventually need help getting fluid to surface. This beam pump is modelled from real linkage geometry. Change its speed, see what the well could make, and follow the stroke down to the pump.

Production calculator
Pump bore
2.53 mSurface stroke
Seconds per stroke
Estimated production

Estimate = plunger area × stroke × strokes per day × fillage. Real wells also lose stroke to rod stretch. The model's animation follows the speed you set.

Below ground

What the stroke does at the bottom of the well

Cutaway of a rod pump: casing, tubing, sucker rod, plunger with travelling valve, barrel with standing valve, and the producing formation. Surface Producing formation TubingSucker rodPlunger andtravelling valveStanding valveCasingPerforations
Upstroke

Lift

The travelling valve on the plunger closes and carries the column of fluid above it toward surface. The standing valve opens and the barrel fills from the formation.

Downstroke

Refill the plunger

The standing valve closes and holds the fluid in the barrel. The travelling valve opens so the plunger slides down through it, ready to lift again.

The red balls are the valves. The cutaway runs at the speed set above. Depth is compressed: rod strings are often hundreds of metres to a few kilometres long.

Parts of a pumpjack

Nine parts, from motor to wellhead