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Related terms:
Gas Lifts, Wellheads, Gas Injection, Mandrels, Closing Pressure, Gas Flowrate,
Injection Pressure, Liquid Slug, Pilot Valve
Understanding gas lift valve mechanics is important because gas lift designs and
troubleshooting analyses depend on the opening and closing pressures of the
unloading and operating valves. Once gas lift mandrel-spacing calculations are
done, the calibration of gas lift valves can be determined from the valve temperature
at operating conditions and from the production and injection pressures at valve’s
depth. The mandrel-spacing and gas lift design procedures that are explained in
chapter: Design of Continuous Gas Lift Installations determine the valve’s port size
and its operating temperature, as well as the production and injection pressures
at valve’s depth. Because these procedures depend on the type of the gas lift valve
being used, it is advisable to understand first the ways in which the different types
of gas lift valves operate and how they are calibrated.
Production Engineering
In Standard Handbook of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering (Third Edition),
2016
A typical valve must have a closing force (provided by a spring, gas pressured
chamber, or both of these), an opening force (provided by a metal bellows upon
which either tubing or casing pressure acts) and a flow-controlling orifice.
If tubing pressure is exerted against the bellows in the open position, this valve is
referred to as a fluid-operated or production pressure — operated (PPO) gas lift
valve. If casing pressure in applied on the bellows in the open position, then we have
a casing-operated or injection pressure — operated (IPO) gas lift valve.
Gas lift valves operate similarly to pressure regulators. Note that a casing-operated
valves acts to maintain a set casing pressure. If casing pressure increases, the valve
opens further, attempting to relieve the additional pressure. Conversely, a pressure
decrease causes the valve to pinch down in an attempt to decrease gas flow and
thereby maintain casing pressure.
The force balance equations (see Craft, Holden, and Graves [1]) give the following
relationships for a casing-operated valve that is open and on the verge of closing:
In the case of a valve fully closed and on the verge of opening, we have the equation
Note that Pv0 and Pvc are not equal due to the fact that the casing pressure is applied
to the valve stem during flow and tubing pressure is applied to the valve stem
during closed conditions. This difference is called the valve spread and is utilized
in the gas lift unloading process to ensure that valves above the lifting valve are
closed. Hence, a casing-operated valve will have a gas passage somewhat as shown
below in Figures 6.4.34. For exact valve performance characteristics, one would have
to consult the valve manufacturer or utilize the computer software program, Valve
Performance Clearinghouse (VPC) 2002 (current version for year 2003). The VPC
Program is a proprietary software program available only to VPC members. This
gas lift valve performance correlation program is based on tested valve performance
and incorporates valve parameters such as loadrate, maximum effective travel, flow
coefficients, dynamic test data. Other gas lift valve performance correlations
available are Thornhill-Craver (use for orifice valves only), Winkler-Eads, Bertovic
(developed for PPO valves only), API Simplified, TUALP (Tulsa University Artificial
Lift Project), and VPC/TUALP. Typical flow performance curves, as predicted by VPC
correlation, for 1” OD IPO and 1” OD PPO valves are illustrated in Figure 6.4.35 and
in Figure 6.4.36 respectively. In Figure 6.4.37, the predicted flow performance for
same IPO valve is compared with different correlations. This shows the reason for
not using a square-edged orifice table or correlation (Thornhill-Craver) to select the
correct port size in a gas lift valve.
Figure 6.4.34. Gas passage characteristics for casing and tubing operated valves.
Figure 6.4.37. Comparison of Correlations — IPO model R-1 under same conditions.
Since the bellows volume can be considered constant, the bellows pressure at any
temperature is related to that at shop conditions of 60°F by the equation
The gas deviation factor for nitrogen is given by Sage and Lacy [15] or Craft, Holden
and Graves [1]. However, Z factors for nitrogen are very close to 1.0 and only deviate
from that value by up to 5%.
Gas Lift
Boyun Guo PhD, ... Xuehao Tan PhD, in Petroleum Production Engineering (Second
Edition), 2017
(17.56)
The values of the port area to bellows area ratio R are fixed for given valve sizes
and port diameters by valve manufacturers. Table 17.4 presents R values for Otis
Spreadmaster Valves.
Example Problem 17.6 Size port for the data given below:
Solution
Table 17.1 shows that an Otis 1½-in. outside diameter (OD) valve with ½-in.
diameter seat will meet the requirement. It has an R value of 0.2562.
Production Engineering
Michael Economides Ph.D., ... Pudji Permadi Ph.D., in Standard Handbook of
Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering, Volume 2, 1996
Valve Mechanics
Gas lift valves, by necessity, are constructed as shown in Figure 6-139, where all
components must be built into a small cylindrical-shaped tube. The diameter and
length will vary according to size restrictions imposed by tubing size, mandrel size,
etc. A typical valve must have a closing force (provided by a spring, gas pressured
chamber, or both of these), an opening force (provided by a metal bellows upon
which either tubing or casing pressure acts) and a flow-regulating orifice.
If tubing pressure is exerted against the bellows causing gas flow regulation, this
valve is referred to as a tubing-operated or fluid-operated valve. If casing pressure is
applied on the bellows, causing gas flow regulation, then we have a casing-operated
or pressure-operated valve.
Gas lift valves operate similarly to pressure regulators. Note that a casing-operated
valve acts to maintain a set casing pressure. If casing pressure increases, the valve
opens further, attempting to relieve the additional pressure. Conversely, a pressure
decrease causes the valve to pinch down in an attempt to decrease gas flow and
thereby maintain casing pressure.
where
In the case of a valve fully closed and on the verge of opening, we have the equation
where
Note that Pv0 and Pvc are not equal due to the fact that the casing pressure is applied
to the valve stem during flow and tubing pressure is applied to the valve stem during
closed conditions. This difference is called the valve spread and is utilized in the
gas lift unloading process to ensure that valves above the lifting valve are closed.
Hence, a casing-operated valve will have a gas passage somewhat as shown below
in Figure 6-140. For exact valve characteristics, one would have to consult the valve
manufacturer.
Figure 6-140. Gas passage characteristics for casing and tubing operated valves.
Since the bellows volume can be considered constant, the bellows pressure at any
temperature is related to that at shop conditions of 60°F by the equation
The gas deviation factor for nitrogen is given by Sage and Lacy [70] or Craft, Holden
and Graves [60; Figure 6.13]. However, Z factors for nitrogen are very close to 1.0
and only deviate from that value by up to 5%.
Gas Lift
Boyun Guo Ph.D., ... Ali Ghalambor Ph.D., in Petroleum Production Engineering,
2007
(13.56)
The values of the port area to bellows area ratio R are fixed for given valve sizes
and port diameters by valve manufacturers. Table 13.4 presents R values for Otis
Spreadmaster Valves.
Size port for the data given below:Upstream pressure:900 psiaDownstream pressure for
subsonic flow:600 psiaTubing ID:2.259 in.Gas rate:2,500 Mscf/dayGas-specific gravity:0.75 (1 for
air)Gas-specific heat ratio:1.3Upstream temperature:110 °FGas viscosity:0.02 cpChoke discharge
coefficient:0.6Use Otis Spreadmaster Valve
Solution
Table 13.1 shows that an Otis 1½ -in. outside diameter (OD) valve with ½ -in.
diameter seat will meet the requirement. It has an R value of 0.2562.
The problem with valves with upstream chokes is that their discharge coefficients
and dynamic behavior have not been reported yet. Usually, the choke is not a single
orifice, but many small-diameter orifices.
If the valve is fully open, the discharge coefficient depends only on the geometry
of the choke: number of orifices, their diameters, shape, axial length, etc. A good
approximation to size the choke (if no information is available) is to use the Thorn-
hill–Craver equation with the total area of the choke equal to the summation of all
areas of the small orifices (the reduction of the discharge coefficient caused by
having many orifices is compensated by the reduced thickness of the longitudinal
length of the orifices).
The determination of the flow coefficient when the valve is not fully open is
much more complex. The dynamic behavior of the valve restricts the gas flow rate
in throttling flow in ways that have not been reported in the literature. The reader
is advised to review Sections 8.2.1 and 8.2.2 to have a better understanding of the
explanations given in the next paragraphs.
Because the bellows is always exposed to the injection pressure and the ball to
the production pressure, the simplified method described in Section 8.2.1 can be
used. With this method, the area of the horizontal plane that has to be used to
determine the value of C v is A–B –C –D instead of the area A–B–C–D used by the
dynamic model presented in Section 8.2.2 for single element valves without chokes,
see Fig. 8.34.
Figure 8.34. Dynamic behavior of valves with upstream chokes.
For valves with upstream chokes, the determination of the flow coefficient is
much more complex than just using the surface indicated by the simplified model
presented in Section 8.2.1 to find the value of C v. A valve without choke is fully
open in the region above line C –D, while a valve with upstream choke is fully open
above C –D; but, because the seat of the valve with upstream choke is usually large,
a small stem movement will cause the ball seat area (frustum) to be larger than the
area of the choke. The gray area in Fig. 8.34 (A –C –C –D) represents the zone
in which the valve is sufficiently open so that the area of the downstream ball
seat frustum is larger than the area of the upstream choke. This is due to the fact
that the area of the seat is greater than the area of the choke. A modified version
of the simple model presented in Section 8.2.1 can then be used to find the flow
coefficient: for practical purposes, the throttling flow region will only be A–B –C
–A . For the region above line A –C the ball is sufficiently away from the seat
so that it is the area of the choke the one that is restricting the flow. The problem is
limited then to only find (from dynamic tests) the position of the line A – C to be
able to predict the gas flow rate in the gas lift design for a given combination of seat
and choke diameters.
The seat of a gas lift valve is in reality a choke that controls the maximum gas flow rate
from the annulus into the production tubing (or from the tubing into the annulus
if the lift gas is injected down the tubing). As it is explained in chapter: Gas Lift
Equipment, a gas lift valve can be a simple orifice valve or a calibrated valve. In the
former case, the valve acts as a fixed-diameter choke and in the latter case the valve
acts as a choke of variable inside diameter. The equations that are used to predict the
gas flow rate through orifice valves are derived in this chapter, while the equations
(or dynamic models) that need to be applied in case of calibrated valves are explained
in detail in chapter: Gas Flow Through Gas Lift Valves.
For IPO valves: For whatever reason explained so far an upper valve fails open
but because of its small seat diameter, the injection pressure is maintained at
a high value. Once the lower valve (which is working properly) is uncovered,
the total gas flow rate that passes through both valves is equal to the gas
flow rate injected at the surface, so that the injection pressure does not drop
to values less than the closing pressure of the lower valve (the valve right
below the one that has failed open) and, additionally, this injection pressure
is not high enough to overcome the production pressure further down the
well. The point of injection cannot be transferred to deeper valves and the
well is left producing from two upper points of injection in a stable fashion.
It is also possible that the injection pressure drops to values less than the
closing pressure of the valve below the one that has failed open once this lower
valve is uncovered. This valve would then close but once it does, the injection
pressure starts to increase to eventually open the lower valve again, giving the
impression that the well is producing on intermittent gas lift. If, additionally,
the injection pressure is not high enough to overcome the production pressure
further down the well, the point of injection cannot be transferred to deeper
valves and the well is left producing from two upper points of injection in an
unstable fashion.
Also for IPO valves: It might be possible that the surface injection gas flow rate
is higher than the gas flow rate that the calibrated valve (or orifice valve) at
the design point of injection can pass at the current injection pressure and,
in consequence, the following events can happen: (1) the injection pressure
increases above the opening pressure of the unloading valve just above the
operating point of injection, so that this upper valve opens and stays open
in a stable manner because the gas flow rate at the surface is capable of
maintaining two injection points at the same time, or (2) the injection pressure
increases above the opening pressure of the unloading valve just above the
operating point of injection, but the upper unloading valve closes shortly after
it opens because the injection gas flow rate at the surface is not capable of
maintaining two injection points at the same time and, in consequence, the
injection pressure begins to drop once the upper valve opens. This could also
give the impression that the well is producing on intermittent gas lift. These
events can also take place for PPO valves installed in wells producing in annular
flow (with mandrels normally used for tubing flow) because, in this case, PPO
valves behave as IPO valves (the check valves of PPO valves should be reversed
for these applications).
For PPO valves: An upper valve fails “open” but because of its small seat diam-
eter, the injection pressure is maintained high enough to reach the next valve
below. If, once the next lower valve has been reached, neither the production
pressure drops to values less than this lower valve’s closing pressure, nor the
gas injection pressure drops to values less than the production pressure at
this lower valve’s depth, then the production could be maintained in a stable
manner with two points of injection (if the injection pressure is not high
enough to overcome the production pressure further down the well). However,
it can also happen that, once the valve just below the one that has failed open
is reached, the injection pressure begins to decrease, eventually dropping to
values less than the production pressure at this lower valve’s depth and gas
injection through this lower valve is interrupted for a while (until the injection
pressure increases to overcome the production pressure of the lower valve
once again).
Also for PPO valves but in good working conditions: once the next lower valve
has been reached the production pressure at the upper valve does not drop to
values less than its production closing pressure because it was calibrated for a
lower production closing pressure. Contrary to what is recommended for IPO
valves, the upper valve could close by increasing the gas flow rate to decrease
the production pressure (if the injection gas/liquid ratio for minimum pressure
gradient has not been reached yet). In this way, even though the injection
pressure increases, it is possible that the production pressure drops and the
upper valve, that reacts mainly to the production pressure, closes. If the upper
valve cannot close and, additionally, the injection pressure is not high enough
to transfer the point of injection to lower valves, the well is left producing from
two points of injection in a stable fashion.
Troubleshooting wells with multiple points of injection is a very complex task and it is
very difficult to find out which of the valves are opened. It is usually concluded that
there are several points of injection because valve mechanic equations predict several
valves opened at the same time and gas balance calculations indicate that it is not
possible to inject into the tubing, through a single gas lift valve, all the gas injected
to the well at the surface. To determine in which proportion each valve is passing the
injection gas or, for wells with more than three or four valves, knowing which of these
valves are the ones opened, is extremely difficult to do in an accurate manner. The
best way to find the points of injection is by a conventional downhole temperature
survey (if the well is stable) or with a temperature survey using fiber-optics in the
way that is presented in Section 11.5.7 (if the well is unstable). Pressure surveys by
themselves are, most of the time, of little use to detect the points of injection when
there are several points of injection because they usually do not show a change in the
production pressure gradient at some, or all, of the points of injection. However, at
the same time, if the liquid flow rate is very large, it might be difficult to detect the
points of injection by just measuring the temperature along the production tubing
if very sensitive temperature sensors (currently available) are not used.
The calculation procedures explained in Section 11.4.2 for single point injection can,
to a point, be used for stable multiple points of injection. In this case, the gas balance
will predict that it is just not possible to pass all the gas injected at the surface
through a single valve. This is only an approximation because for multiple points
of injection there is no way to accurately calculate the production pressure.
Unstable multiple points of injection usually give the impression that the well is
producing on intermittent gas lift, when in reality the well has: (1) one or more
continuous points of injection, (2) one or more intermittent points of injection,
which could be valves opening and closing or, at the deeper point of injection, the
injection pressure is varying at regular intervals between values that are lower and
higher than the production pressure, and (3) a continuous liquid flow rate, which can
be easily visualized by looking at the way the liquid production (or the liquid level, if
the test separator is a dump type separator) changes with time at the test separator,
as explained in Section 11.5.8.
With the maximum liquid and gas flow rates first and then with the minimum
liquid and gas flow rates to have two extreme values of the production pressure
at each valve’s depth, for which all calculations are carried out (valve mechanic,
gas balance, and reservoir flow rate) separately, or
Using multiphase flow correlations with the average liquid production and gas
injection.
These approximations might be appropriate for IPO valves but should not be at-
tempted for PPO valves.
If the gas injection and liquid production instabilities are not too severe, unstable
wells with multiple points of injection and continuous liquid production could be
troubleshoot using well dynamic models. The description and analysis of these
dynamic models are beyond the scope of this book.
Due to the impact that emulsions have on the operation of a gas lift well, the rest
of this section concentrates on explaining the different problems associated with
emulsions and how to handle them.
GAS LIFT
James F. Lea, ... Mike R. Wells, in Gas Well Deliquification (Second Edition), 2008
Conventional mandrels accept threaded gas lift valves mounted on the outside of
the mandrel. These valves can be retrieved and changed only by pulling the tubing,
and usually are not run where workover costs are high.
Side pocket mandrels (SPM) allow the gas lift valves to be retrieved using slickline
from the surface without the need to pull the tubing. These mandrels are most
commonly used today. Both systems are discussed next.
(courtesy Schlumberger-Camco)
The high-pressure gas in a gas lift system usually is supplied by a central compressor
that compresses the gas produced by the field for reinjection into those wells on gas
lift. If the field gas supply is insufficient to meet the needs of the artificial lift
system, more gas generally is obtained from the sales line.
Gas lift compression can also be supplied for individual wells when one or two wells
in a field are being lifted with gas lift. These small well site compressors are typically
skid-mounted for easy mobilization when it becomes necessary to move the system
from one well to another. Figure 11-7 shows a typical system for an individually
compressed low pressure well on gas lift. This might be a system on a gas well to
help lift liquids.
Figure 11-7. Typical Compression System for Low Pressure Gas Lift System
Chamber lift is one method of producing a relatively high volume of liquids in a low
pressure formation without loss of gas production due to excessive liquid head in
the tubing.
In Figure 11-8, a chamber is formed between two packers. Well liquids are allowed
to enter the space between the packers at low pressure. After the chamber is filled,
gas is injected into the top of the chamber, displacing the liquids into and up the
tubing. An additional gas lift effect is added to the liquids as rise with gas injected
from gas lift valves spaced higher in the tubing. A time-cycle controller is provided
to control the cycles.
11.7.3 Horizontal Well Installations
Over the past decade, the number of horizontal wells has ballooned worldwide. Many
of these wells are on gas lift to either increase oil production or, in gas wells, to more
effectively produce the liquids.
Some operators have attempted to install gas lift in the horizontal section of the hole
but found this not to be practical for a variety of reasons.
The preferred completion configuration for a horizontal well on gas lift is to use the
gas lift mandrels only in the portion of the wellbore where the deviation from vertical
is less than 70 degrees. Figure 11-9 shows a horizontal well with inherent slugging
in the vertical portion of the well. If gas lift is used, then gas lift valves should be
placed in the vertical or near vertical portion of the well and not in the horizontal
section. This eliminates the problems discussed earlier while producing the well at
an optimum rate and efficiency.
Figure 11-9. Flowing Horizontal Well (if gas lift is used to enhance production, install
mandrels in the near-vertical portion only)
Horizontal wells are also notorious for slugging, which dramatically reduces the
overall production. Slugging can also create many problems with pumping systems
such as ESPs and beam pumps, where the slugging typically causes intermittent
shutdowns in the equipment as well as cooling problems with the ESP motors.
Slugging in the near vertical portion of a horizontal flowing well is shown Figure
11-9.
Installing gas lift in a horizontal well can stabilize slugging and thereby increase
production. Gas lift removes the liquid head and controls the influx of gas to prevent
or drastically reduce slugging, returning the production stream to more continuous
flow. Gas lift also is not affected by slugging as are most other mechanical pumping
methods.
Figure 11-10 shows a typical spoolable gas lift system with a close up view of the
spoolable gas lift valves. This system has the valves made up inside the CT during
run-in and the CT must be retrieved if the valves are to be serviced. Figure 11-11
shows a new system by Nowcam whereby the valves are inside the CT but the valves
can be serviced by wireline.
The gas pump is applicable only for shallow gas wells where there is sufficient
injection pressure to overcome a hydrostatic gradient to the bottom of the well.
The gas pump is a form of chamber lift in that a large downhole chamber is used
to collect the liquids prior to being pushed to the surface by the gas. This method
requires high-pressure gas at surface, but the volume of lift gas required is small
compared to conventional intermittent gas lift systems.
Operation of the system begins with the chamber filling with produced liquids.
After a predetermined time, high-pressure gas is injected rapidly into the chamber,
forcing the liquid into the production tubing. During the injection process, the liquid
is pushed into the production conduit with very little of the injection gas. An intake
check valve closes during gas injection to prevent backflow into the formation. Once
the injection gas begins to break around the bottom of the chamber, the well is shut
in and again allowed to accumulate liquids and the cycle is repeated.
Figure 11-14 shows how this is done with injection and also using a compressor to
reduce the wellhead pressure.
Figure 11-14. Gas Injection to Stay above Critical Velocity in Tubing with Gas Com-
pressor and Wellhead Compression
Figure 11-15 shows how a compressor can be used to lower the wellhead pressure
and also inject gas downhole to stay above the critical velocity.
Figure 11-15. Gas Injection to Stay above Critical Velocity in Tubing with Single
Compressor
Gas lift
James F. LeaJr, Lynn Rowlan, in Gas Well Deliquification (Third Edition), 2019
• Orifice valves;
Schematic examples of injection and PPO valves are given in Fig. 11.3. Most gas lift
for gas wells use the Type 1 arrangement. However, for some high rate early time
unconventional wells, the Type 4 arrangement may be used to accelerate annulus
production.
Fig. 11.4 shows a schematic of an IPO gas lift valve where the injection pressure is
applied to the base of the bellows and the produced fluid pressure is applied to the
ball (stem tip) through the valve orifice area. Since the bellows area is much larger
than the orifice area, the injection pressure dominates control of the valve operation.
Injection pressure valves act as back-pressure regulators and close when the back
pressure (casing pressure) reaches a predesignated “minimum” value. Typically, this
minimum value is designed to be when the kill fluid in the casing/tubing annulus,
being pushed downward by the injection gas during the unloading process, just
reaches the next lower valve. This allows the upper valve to close the flow of injection
gas, forcing the pressure to continue pushing the fluid level further down the
annulus to eventually reach the operating valve.
• where the production fluid is produced through the annulus and injection gas
is down the tubing;
• in dual completions where two gas lift systems are installed in the same well
to produce two differently pressured zones;
• to reduce requirements for interaction with the well by the operator to “valve
down”;
• for intermittent lift.
PPO valves are ideal for intermittent lift applications since the valve is designed to
remain closed until a sufficient fluid load is present in the tubing, at which time
the valve opens producing the liquid.
Once an unloading valve closes during the unload process, it should remain closed.
Both IPO and PPO valves use a charged bellows (pressurized with nitrogen), a spring,
or sometimes both to obtain the valve closing force. The nitrogen-charged bellows
is the most common. The bellows type valves are set to the design pressure in a
controlled laboratory environment by the valve manufacturer.
All gas lift valves are equipped with reverse flow check valves to prevent backflow of
fluid through the valve. For subsea completions, where minimal intervention is a
design objective, the spring-loaded valve may provide the most reliable since in the
event of a bellows rupture the spring will keep the stem on seat and the valve will
remain closed. The spring-loaded valve is also not sensitive to temperature variations
as is the nitrogen-charged bellows. For a well with a packer and check valves, once
the well liquids are unloaded then they will not return to the casing if the compressor
goes down or is shutoff in the future. Few of gas lift installations for dewatering gas
wells use PPO valves in North America.