Paper: Designing a Closed Rotative Gas Lift System

The purpose of this paper is to outline the procedure for designing an efficient closed rotative gas lift system. The system discussed includes both continuous-flow and intermittent gas lift wells. The importance of considering future as well as present gas requirements is noted. Adequate capacities of the high-pressure injection and the low-pressure gas systems are emphasized. Intermitting gas lift characteristics are reviewed to emphasize further the necessity for adequate volumes in both the low-and the high-pressure systems. Equations for calculating the gas volumes and the pressure losses in these systems are offered. Information required for properly sizing the compressor by the manufacturer is outlined. A flow diagram of a rotative gas lift system complete with regulators is presented. The purpose and the location of each regulator are given. Considerations and operational practices for efficient overall operation are noted. The paper is concluded with example calculations of a closed rotative gas lift installation for an eight-well system.