Petroleum Production Engineering III University of Basra Dr. Eng. Ahmad K.

Jassim

Lecture number (4)

Gas Lift
Lectures for Petroleum Engineering Department

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Petroleum Production Engineering III University of Basra Dr. Eng. Ahmad K. Jassim

Gas Lift
A. Gas Lift

Gas lift technology increases oil production rate by injection of compressed gas into
the lower section of tubing through the casing–tubing annulus and an orifice installed
in the tubing string. Upon entering the tubing, the compressed gas affects liquid flow
in two ways: (a) the energy of expansion propels (pushes) the oil to the surface and (b)
the gas aerates the oil so that the effective density of the fluid is less and, thus, easier
to get to the surface.

There are four categories of wells in which a gas lift can be considered:

1. High productivity index (PI), high bottom-hole pressure

2. wells
3. High PI, low bottom-hole pressure wells
4. Low PI, high bottom-hole pressure wells
5. Low PI, low bottom-hole pressure wells

Wells having a PI of 0.50 or less are classified as low productivity wells. Wells having
a PI greater than 0.50 are classified as high productivity wells. High bottom-hole
pressures will support a fluid column equal to 70% of the well depth. Low bottom-
hole pressures will support a fluid column less than 40% of the well depth.

Gas lift technology has been widely used in the oil fields that produce sandy and gassy
oils. Crooked/deviated holes present no problem. Well depth is not a limitation. It is
also applicable to offshore operations. Lifting costs for a large number of wells are
generally very low. However, it requires lift gas within or near the oil fields. It is
usually not efficient in lifting small fields with a small number of wells if gas
compression equipment is required. Gas lift advancements in pressure control and
automation systems have enabled the optimization of individual wells and gas lift
systems.

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Petroleum Production Engineering III University of Basra Dr. Eng. Ahmad K. Jassim

B. Gas Lift System

A complete gas lift system consists of a gas compression station, a gas injection
manifold with injection chokes and time cycle surface controllers, a tubing string with
installations of unloading valves and operating valve, and a down-hole chamber.

Figure 1 depicts a configuration of a gas-lifted well with installations of unloading

valves and operating valve on the tubing string. There are four principal advantages to
be gained by the use of multiple valves in a well:

1. Deeper gas injection depths can be achieved by using valves for wells with
fixed surface injection pressures.
2. Variation in the well’s productivity can be obtained by selectively injecting gas
valves set at depths ‘‘higher’’ or ‘‘lower’’ in the tubing string.
3. Gas volumes injected into the well can be ‘‘metered’’ into the well by the
valves.
4. Intermittent gas injection at progressively deeper set valves can be carried out to
‘‘kick off’’ a well to either continuous or intermittent flow.

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Petroleum Production Engineering III University of Basra Dr. Eng. Ahmad K. Jassim

Figure 1: Configuration of a typical gas lift well

A continuous gas lift operation is a steady-state flow of the aerated fluid from the
bottom (or near bottom) of the well to the surface. Intermittent gas lift operation is
characterized by a start-and-stop flow from the bottom (or near bottom) of the well to
the surface. This is unsteady state flow.

In continuous gas lift, a small volume of high-pressure gas is introduced into the
tubing to aerate or lighten the fluid column. This allows the flowing bottom-hole
pressure with the aid of the expanding injection gas to deliver liquid to the surface. To
accomplish this efficiently, it is desirable to design a system that will permit injection

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Petroleum Production Engineering III University of Basra Dr. Eng. Ahmad K. Jassim

through a single valve at the greatest depth possible with the available injection
pressure.

Continuous gas lift method is used in wells with a high PI (0:5 stb=day=psi) and a
reasonably high reservoir pressure relative to well depth. Intermittent gas lift method
is suitable to wells with (1) high PI and low reservoir pressure or (2) low PI and low
reservoir pressure.

The type of gas lift operation used, continuous or intermittent, is also governed by the
volume of fluids to be produced, the available lift gas as to both volume and pressure,
and the well reservoir’s conditions such as the case when the high instantaneous BHP
drawdown encountered with intermittent flow would cause excessive sand production,
or coning, and/or gas into the wellbore.

Figure 2 illustrates a simplified flow diagram of a closed rotary gas lift system for a
single well in an intermittent gas lift operation. The time cycle surface controller
regulates the start-and-stop injection of lift gas to the well.

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Petroleum Production Engineering III University of Basra Dr. Eng. Ahmad K. Jassim

Figure 2: A simplified flow diagram of a closed rotary gas lift system for single
intermittent well

For proper selection, installation, and operations of gas lift systems, the operator must
know the equipment and the fundamentals of gas lift technology. The basic equipment
for gas lift technology includes the following:

 Main operating valves

 Wire-line adaptations
 Check valves
 Mandrels
 Surface control equipment
 Compressors

This chapter covers basic system engineering design fundamentals for gas lift
operations. Relevant topics include the following:

1. Liquid flow analysis for evaluation of gas lift potential

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Petroleum Production Engineering III University of Basra Dr. Eng. Ahmad K. Jassim

2. Gas flow analysis for determination of lift gas compression requirements

3. Unloading process analysis for spacing subsurface valves
4. Valve characteristics analysis for subsurface valve selection
5. Installation design for continuous and intermittent lift systems.

C. Evaluation of Gas Lift Potential

Continuous gas lift can be satisfactorily applied to most wells having a reasonable
degree of bottom-hole maintenance and a PI of approximately 0.5 bbl/day/psi or
greater. A PI as low as 0.2 bbl/day/psi can be used for a continuous gas lift operation if
injection gas is available at a sufficiently high pressure. An intermittent gas lift is
usually applied to wells having a PI less than 0.5 bbl/day/psi.

Continuous gas lift wells are changed to intermittent gas lift wells after reservoir
pressures drop to below a certain level. Therefore, intermittent gas lift wells usually
give

lower production rates than continuous gas lift wells. The decision of whether to use
gas lift technology for oil well production starts from evaluating gas lift potential with
continuous gas injection.

Evaluation of gas lift potential requires system analyses to determine well operating
points for various lift gas availability. The principle is based on the fact that there is
only one pressure at a given point (node) in any system; no matter, the pressure is
estimated based on the information from upstream (inflow) or downstream (outflow).

The node of analysis is usually chosen to be the gas injection point inside the tubing,
although bottom hole is often used as a solution node. The potential of gas lift wells is
controlled by gas injection rate or gas liquid ratio (GLR). Four gas injection rates are
significant in the operation of gas lift installations:

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Petroleum Production Engineering III University of Basra Dr. Eng. Ahmad K. Jassim

1. Injection rates of gas that result in no liquid (oil or water) flow up the tubing.
The gas amount is insufficient to lift the liquid. If the gas enters the tubing at an
extremely low rate, it will rise to the surface in small semi-spheres (bubbly
flow).
2. Injection rates of maximum efficiency where a minimum volume of gas is
required to lift a given amount of liquid.
3. Injection rate for maximum liquid flow rate at the ‘‘optimum GLR.’’
4. Injection rate of no liquid flow because of excessive gas injection. This occurs
when the friction (pipe) produced by the gas prevents liquid from entering the
tubing.

Figure 3 depicts a continuous gas lift operation. The tubing is filled with reservoir
fluid below the injection point and with the mixture of reservoir fluid and injected gas
above the injection point. The pressure relationship is shown in Figure 4.

The inflow performance curve for the node at the gas injection point inside the tubing
is well IPR curve minus the pressure drop from bottom hole to the node. The outflow

performance curve is the vertical lift performance curve, with total GLR being the sum
of formation GLR and injected GLR. Intersection of the two curves defines the
operation point, that is, the well production potential.

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Petroleum Production Engineering III University of Basra Dr. Eng. Ahmad K. Jassim

Figure 3: Sketch of continuous gas lift

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Petroleum Production Engineering III University of Basra Dr. Eng. Ahmad K. Jassim

Figure 4: Pressure relationship in a continuous gas lift.

In a field-scale evaluation, if an unlimited amount of lift gas is available for a given

gas lift project, the injection rate of gas to individual wells should be optimized to
maximize

oil production of each well. If only a limited amount of gas is available for the gas lift,
the gas should be distributed to individual wells based on predicted well lifting
performance, that is, the wells that will produce oil at higher rates at a given amount of
lift gas are preferably chosen to receive more lift gas.

If an unlimited amount of gas lift gas is available for a well, the well should receive a
lift gas injection rate that yields the optimum GLR in the tubing so that the flowing
bottom-hole pressure is minimized, and thus, oil production is maximized. The

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Petroleum Production Engineering III University of Basra Dr. Eng. Ahmad K. Jassim

optimum GLR is liquid flow rate dependent and can be found from traditional gradient
curves such as those generated by Gilbert.

Similar curves can be generated with modern computer programs using various
multiphase correlations. It can be used for predicting the optimum GLR in tubing at a
given tubing head pressure and liquid flow rate. After the system analysis is completed
with the optimum GLRs in the tubing above the injection point, the expected liquid
production rate (well potential) is known. The required injection GLR to the well can
be calculated.

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