Gas lift simulation and experiments in conjunction with the Lyapkov P. D. methodic

Abstract

The present Master’s thesis reports the study of continuous gas lift for a production oil well. The objective of the present work is a better understanding of processes occurring in a gas lift well, as well as optimization of the gas lift system. Numerical simulation for a gas lift well was carried out by means of Matlab. The program and a step-by-step guide were developed on the basis on nodal analysis, with implementation of the Lyapkov’s methodic; the program calculates pressure distribution curves along with local mixture properties along the wellbore in tubing and annulus space for steady state flow of multiphase mixture. The gas lift simulation has been performed for different gas injection rates to see how the liquid production will increase. For experimental purposes, a 5 m experimental loop was used. All experiments were carried out with tap water as reservoir fluid and compressed treated air from the atmosphere as injection gas. A range (from 0,01 to 5 standard liters per minute) of different gas injection rates were chosen to observe a shape of the liquid production curve. Finally, experimental results are to be confirmed by calculations, based on Bernoulli’s equation for the experimental setup. During the experiments it was a great luck to install and use a new gas flowmeter provided by Alicat Company and a Sensirion SQT-QL500 liquid flowmeter.