Gas Lift

This 2-day course is intended to provide operations personnel with a general understanding of gas lift wells, with a particular emphasis placed on operational issues. Upon completion of this course, learners will be able to: (1) describe the key components of gas lift wells and facilities and explain their purpose, (2) explain the process of safely unloading a gas lift well, (3) describe the various slickline operations used in conjunction with gas lift wells, (4) list the various troubleshooting tools and techniques used to support gas lift operations.

Gas Lift (GL) has emerged as a preferred Artificial Lift (AL) technology in the Permian Basin. As GL wells age, operators are looking at late-life AL alternatives, such as Plunger Assisted Gas Lift (PAGL) and Gas Assisted Plunger Lift (GAPL) to reduce gas injection and improve overall lift efficiency. However, conversion to these plunger-based late-life AL systems has been slow and somewhat costly, often requiring surface modifications through a Management of Change (MOC) process and, in some cases, a workover.

Gas lift is the primary artificial lift system utilized across approximately 2,000 wells in Oxy’s Delaware Basin assets. As the number of wells increase and personnel resources remain constrained, production engineers frequently focus on resolving urgent operational issues, such as well or equipment failures. This situation results in limited time for consistent and proactive surveillance and analysis of well performance.

Using gas to displace fluid and reduce hydrostatic pressure has been a producing practice since the late 19th century. As time has passed and technology has accelerated, we now are able to build a communication stream between gas lift optimization and the data acquired during production operations. 

Gas lift remains a cornerstone of artificial lift technology, particularly for addressing challenges in high Gas-Liquid Ratio (GLR) wells and heavily deviated wellbore geometries. However, declining reservoir pressures, high water cuts, and limited gas compression capacity present significant operational challenges. Coupled with increasing emphasis on cost efficiency and sustainability, these factors necessitate innovative solutions to maintain production and optimize lifting costs.

High Pressure Gas Lift (HPGL) has established itself as a viable and valuable high-rate artificial lift method well suited to the challenges in modern unconventional production environments. Operators across all unconventional basins in North American unconventional basins are increasingly turning to HPGL to help them produce wells, especially during the initial production (IP) phase of the well’s life.

The Eagle Ford, Bakken and other operating areas often prove to be challenging areas for the successful, long-term operation of gas lift valves due to numerous factors which may compromise the efficiency of the installation and reduce production and life expectancy of the valve. These factors may include well bore heat, well bore fluids and gases, well bore contaminants and debris, offset fracturing activity, natural formation pressure and introduced, non-naturally occurring pressure. 

Electric Gas Lift (eGL) is a relatively new artificial lift method. While fundamentally similar to traditional gas lift, using gas to aid in the production of wellbore fluids, the operating principle of the valves are different. Traditional gas lift systems use nitrogen charged bellows to open and close the valves at certain wellbore conditions, whereas electric gas lift valves (eGLVs) function by electro-mechanical means, such as an electric motor or solenoid.

During intermittent gas lift, a low-density fluid (gas) is used to lift a high-density fluid (oil) from the bottom of the well to the surface. As a result of the oil having a higher density than the gas, some amount of the oil falls back in the form of droplets or in a film along the wall of the tubing to join the next slug of oil. However, there is still no method to accurately estimate the fallback factor in the presence of several variables in the process.

In many industries, technology improvements in high end devices eventually improves performance in lower cost like devices. The same is true in that gas lift equipment development for deepwater gas lift applications can help improve gas lift equipment designs used in land based gas lift wells. Today’s standards and client specifications for deepwater gas lift equipment requires extraordinary demands on equipment. The cost of intervention in deepwater installations due to an equipment failure is extremely high so the cost is justified.