Designing a Gas Lift System

Timing
Ideally, an artificial-lift system should be chosen and designed during the initial planning phase of an oil field.
However, in the haste to get a field on production, artificial lift may not be considered until after other production
facilities are designed and installed. It is difficult to choose and install the optimum artificial-lift system after the
surface production facilities have been installed. This is especially true in the case of gas lift.

Factors Having an Effect on the Design of a Gas Lift System

Most production equipment affects the design of a gas lift system, so it is best to design the gas lift system
concurrently with the design of surface facilities. The entire purpose of a gas lift system is to reduce the bottomhole
flowing pressure of the well. Anything that restricts or prevents this from occurring will have an impact on the system
and must be considered in the design.

Field Layout and Well Design. Consideration of gas lift operations should be a prime factor in sizing the hole for the
desired oilwell tubulars. This is particularly true in offshore wells where all of the downhole gas lift equipment, except
the valves, is installed during the initial completion. In on-shore fields, gas lift affects the size and location of gathering
lines and production stations. Artificial lift should be considered before a casing program is designed. Casing
programs should allow the maximum production rate expected from the well without restrictions. Skimping on casing
size can ultimately cost lost production that is many times greater than any savings from smaller pipe and hole size.
The same is true in flowline size and length. Production stations should be relatively near the producing wells. In most
cases, increasing the size of the flowline does not compensate for the backpressure generated by the added pipe
length. Any item of production equipment that increases backpressure at the wellhead, whether it be wellhead
chokes, small flowlines, undersized gathering manifolds and separators, or high compressor suction pressure,
seriously impacts the operation of a gas lift system. Fig. 12.3 illustrates the effect of backpressure on injection-gas
requirement and fluid production in a 6,900-ft gas lift well.[1]

Injection-Gas Pressure. Choosing a proper injection-gas pressure is critical in a gas lift system design. [2] Several
factors may affect the choice of an injection-gas pressure. However, one primary factor stands out above all others.
To obtain the maximum benefit from the injected gas, it must be injected as near the producing interval as possible.
The injection-gas pressure at depth must be greater than the flowing producing pressure at the same depth. Any
compromise with this principle will result in less pressure drawdown and a less efficient operation. High volumes of
gas injected in the upper part of the fluid column will not have the same effect as a much smaller volume of gas
injected near the producing formation depth because the fluid density is reduced only above the point of gas injection.

The equilibrium curve[1] illustrates the effect of injection-gas depth on a particular well. The equilibrium curve is
established by determining the intersection of the formation-fluid pressure gradient below the depth of gas injection
with the produced gas lift gradient above the depth of gas injection for various producing liquid rates (See Fig. 12.4).
In Fig. 12.4, the intersections of the flowing formation-fluid pressure-gradient traverses for a 400-B/D rate and a 600-
B/D rate with the flowing total (formation plus injection gas) -pressure-gradient traverses above the point of gas
injection to the surface for both rates are shown. If intersections are established for a large number of rates, as are
shown in Fig. 12.5, the points can be connected and will form what is referred to as an equilibrium curve. When
injection-gas pressure traverses are drawn from the surface, it is possible to determine the maximum gas lift rate from
the well for various surface injection-gas pressures. Referring again to Fig. 12.5, a 1,200-psig surface injection-gas
pressure would gas lift this well at a rate slightly above 600 B/D.

Less downhole equipment may be required when higher injection-gas pressures are used (see Fig. 12.6). The higher
injection-gas pressure provides a greater pressure differential between the injected-gas pressure and the flowing
tubing pressure; thereby, allowing a greater spacing between valves. Thus, fewer mandrels and valves are required
to reach the maximum injection-gas depth. Note that in Fig. 12.6, the 800-psig design reaches only the depth of
4,817 ft and requires seven gas lift valves. In comparison, the 1,400-psig design uses only four gas lift valves to
reach the full depth of the well at 8,000 ft. The maximum pressure drawdown at the formation with the 800-psig
injection gas is only 210 psi (2,200 to 1,990) compared to 1,010 psi (2,200 to 1,190) when 1,400-psig injection gas is
used.

Major Factors That Have an Effect on Choosing the Most Economical Injection-Gas Pressure. Only the basic
conditions that must be met to ensure the most efficient injection-gas pressure to maintain operating pressure for a
given well have been discussed. A variety of other factors can affect the selection of the most efficient surface
injection-gas pressure. These may include such things as the pressure/volume/temperature (PVT) properties of the
crude, water cut of the producing stream, density of the injected gas, wellhead backpressure, pressure rating of the
equipment, and design of the well facility.

Calculating the Effect of Injection-Gas Pressures on Surface Production Facilities. The selection and design of
compression equipment and related facilities must be closely considered in gas lift systems because of the high initial
cost of compressor horsepower and the fact that this cost usually represents a major portion of the entire project cost.
In most instances, the injection-gas pressure required at the wellhead determines the discharge pressure of the
compressor. Higher injection-gas pressures increase the discharge pressure requirement of the compressor, which is
translated into a related increase in the compressor horsepower required for a given volume of gas. However, if the
gas lift system is designed properly, the related decrease in gas volume requirements will result in an improvement in
overall operating efficiency.

Gas Volume. The total injection gas required for a continuous-flow gas lift well may be determined by well-
performance prediction techniques. Well-performance calculations are discussed later in this chapter, but they are
typically obtained by simultaneously solving the well inflow and well outflow equations. Well inflow, or fluid flow from
the reservoir, can be simulated by either the straight line pressure drawdown (PI) or the inflow performance
relationship (IPR) methods. [3] Likewise, well outflow, or fluid flow from the reservoir to the surface, is typically
predicted by empirical correlations such as those presented by Poettmann and Carpenter, [4] Orkiszewski, [5] Duns and
Ros, [6] Hagedorn and Brown, [7] Beggs and Brill, [8] and others. Once typical gas volume requirements for individual
wells are determined, totals for the entire field can be calculated.