A simulation model for oil production by intermittent gas lift technology

Abstract

The operating principle of the oil production by intermittent gas lift (IGL) technology and the mechanical processes occurring in it are complex with many different stages and many flows interacting with each other in each stage. This leads to many difficulties in calculating and optimizing oil well production system with IGL technology. This study develops a hydrodynamic simulation model of the flows occurring during oil production by IGL. By improving until now published hydrodynamic simulations the model in this work is developed based on changes/adjustments to be applicable for specific field conditions. Simulation of the IGL process is performed based on numerical solutions of the systems of conservation equations of mass and momentum and closure equations for each system component and each stage of the IGL process. The ordinary differential equations in the model are solved by the implicit Euler method. The simulation program has been developed and used in selecting a reasonable design of IGL technology for an oil well previously produced by the continuous gas lift (CGL). After the IGL system was installed and put into operation, the daily liquid production rate of the well increased by 91% and the measured data showed good agreement with the simulated results. The application result has initially demonstrated the applicability of the proposed model and the developed simulation program. Keywords: well; intermittent gas lift; simulation model; oil production.