Paper: Rober Lestz, ChevronTexaco, James Lea, Chris Cox, Akani Lawal, T. Oetama and Divyakumar Garg, Texas Tech Unviersity

As gas wells deplete, it is very common for additional water and sometimes condensates to begin to accumulate in the flow path (tubing) of the well. This liquid loading reduces the gas flow rate and can even stop the flow rate completely. There are many solutions to the gas well de-watering problem, but what is the best solution? Solutions include smaller tubing, plunger lift, addition of surfactants, wellhead compression, smaller tubing, pumping methods such as beam pumping, possibly injection of liquids below a packer to an underlying zone, gaslifting of gas wells, and other methods. This problem is sometimes solved by fieldwide investigations of what has worked best in a particular field. Here considerations are presented for perhaps a newer operator, to allow a better selection of methods for lifting fluids from a gas well initially. Factors such as effectiveness, initial cost, continuing costs such as chemical costs or power costs, manpower or servicing needs, and well characteristics and other factors are examined to help an operator decide what method/s may be best suited for dewatering a gas well or a group of gas wells.