The past decade has witnessed an ever-expanding utilization of electric submersible pumps (ESPs) in the unconventional plays throughout North America. Unfortunately, performance and runlife have not achieved the results that many operators desired or expected. ESPs are recognized to provide high-rate volumes that operators demand in today’s current environment. As initial high production volumes decline, gas void fractions can rise dramatically, or in many cases, large slugging cycles occur. Additionally, completion methods often lead to large volumes of solids being produced through the ESP. All these issues have led to less than desirable performance from the ESP systems. Jeff will present examples and discuss methods and options to address the challenges faced in maintaining ESP performance in the challenging world of unconventional wells and completion technologies. A broad ranging discussion on applications, performance and failure analysis with specific examples and methods will be discussed that could lead to performance improvement, if properly implemented.