High-Pressure Gas Lift for Deep, Sour Production - OnePetro

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High-Pressure Gas Lift for Deep, Sour Production

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R.J. Dickens (Exxon Co. U.S.A.)

http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/14347-PA
SPE-14347-PA
Society of Petroleum Engineers
SPE Production Engineering
3
01
February 1988
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Summary. An innovative high-pressure N2 gas-lift design has been used to return
several wells to production in the Jay/Little Escambia Creek (LEC) field of
northwest Florida. The N2 was available from a field tertiary in injection project and
provided the means for the first continuous N2 lift system, and some of the deepest
gas-lifted wells in operation.

The design accommodates the unique demands of gas-lifting a deep, sour oil well
with high water cuts through the operation of a continuous N2 lift system. Because
the project design was not limited to conventional artificial lift techniques, a solution
was achieved with the resources available. The high-pressure N2 lift enabled wells
to return to production that would not have been economically attractive or
mechanically feasible with a standard hydrocarbon gas lift or submersible pump
design.
Introduction

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High-Pressure Gas Lift for Deep, Sour Production - OnePetro

The Jay/LEC field, located in the Florida panhandle and south Alabama (Fig. 1), has
been in production since 1970. The production fluids contain 10% H2S and flow
from the Smackover production fluids contain 10% H2S and flow from the
Smackover formation at a depth of 15,500 ft [4275 m]. In 1981. a tertiary oilrecovery project was initiated that used high-pressure N2 injection. The system
consists of a compressor station designed to compress 67 x 106 ft3 [1.9 X 106 m3]
of N2 and to distribute the high-pressure gas through a series of field flowlines to
targeted injection wells. The high-pressure injection helps maintain field reservoir
pressures and enhances oil recovery, but several of the producers were identified
as being partially or totally isolated from any tertiary response and were shut in
because of a combination of increased water cuts and the lack of downhole
pressure support.
The solution involved tapping the high-pressure tertiary N2 laterals as an unusual
source for a lifting gas. The high-pressure lift required several innovative measures,
including modifications for valve spacing and valve setting pressures. Special
metallurgy and safety features were necessary for producing the sour fluids, and a
casing pressure relief system was installed to relieve the tubing/casing annulus
from any excessive pressures.
N2 Gas Lift
The Jay/LEC field consists of 127 wells, including 40 injection wells. The EOR
project initiated in 1981 uses high-pressure N2 as a miscible agent for oil
displacement. A compressor station compresses N2 up to 7,000 psi [48 MPa] and
feeds it through a series of high-pressure flowline laterals to tertiary injection wells
throughout the field.
Various N2 profiles left several areas isolated from receiving any tertiary support.
These wells had died from an increase in water cuts but were not seeing the
increases in reservoir pressure support expected from the N2 injection. As a result
of a combination of permeability and field position, these wells had significant
secondary permeability and field position, these wells had significant secondary
reserves that would not be captured unless the wells were returned to production.
Because the estimated date for a tertiary breakthrough was several years away, if
at all, there were also accelerated reserves that increased the profitability of the
project.
Several artificial-lift methods were reviewed as alternatives to return some of these
wells to production. A conventional gas-lift design was not economically attractive
because of the well depths and field size. The producing intervals are below 15,500
ft [4725 m], with water cuts ranging from 50 to 95%. The sales gas pressure of 950
psi [6.6 MPa] would have to be boosted considerably pressure of 950 psi [6.6 MPa]
would have to be boosted considerably to optimize the lift design for operating
depths capable of maintaining a continuous lift at the present water cuts, as well as
the increased water cuts expected in the future. The targeted wells were several
miles from the treating facility, so flowline purchase and installation costs were
considerable.
A submersible pump design was also studied, but the packoff requirements, depth
of operation, and H2S concentration made such a proposal impractical. Jet pump
designs that use fresh water as proposal impractical. Jet pump designs that use
fresh water as the circulating, fluid had been tried, but they could not be
successfully sealed off inside the existing production string.
The proposed solution was to design a gas-lift system using the high-pressure N2
available from the field tertiary injection project. The project included a series of
7,000-psi [48-MPa] N2 laterals that fed targeted injection wells throughout the field.
This gas would provide a high-pressure lifting medium for the required depth of

https://www.onepetro.org/journal-paper/SPE-14347-PA[9/26/2015 6:44:50 PM]

from :Robert E. Sheriff's

Encyclopedic Dictionary
of Applied Geophysics,
fourth edition.

High-Pressure Gas Lift for Deep, Sour Production - OnePetro

operation provide a high-pressure lifting medium for the required depth of operation
and was easily accessible from the field lateral installations.
A closed-loop design was possible through the field tertiary project's nitrogen
rejection unit. This facility would enable all the project's nitrogen rejection unit. This
facility would enable all the N2 to be separated from the produced gas through a
series of six "cold" boxes operating at supercryogenic temperatures. The high
percentage of N2 in the produced gas could then be recycled to percentage of N2
in the produced gas could then be recycled to the compressors and reinjected as
lifting gas, providing the only closed-loop N2 gas lift in operation. Few data were
available, however, on gas-lift designs fed by a high-pressure N2 source. The
design data and computer simulator programs normally used for company gas-lift
designs all used hydrocarbon gas as the lifting fluid. Being a heavier gas (0.97
specific gravity) with a different compressibility, N2 presented a much different
injection gas gradient and required corrective factors to be applied to the simulator
models. As Fig. 2 shows, the N2 gradient is heavier than a hydrocarbon gas
gradient, allowing for a wider valve spacing.
High-Pressure Design
Injection-Pressure Limitations. Because of the uncertainties involved in lifting with
high-pressure gas down the production casing/ tubing annulus, 3000 psi [21 MPa]
was chosen as the operating injection pressure. This pressure provided for a
minimum safety factor of 2.8 in the casing burst analysis, allowing for a substantial
corrosion allowance. This was an important factor because many of the casing
strings had been in corrosive service for 8 to 10 years. Obviously, a 7,000-psi [48MPa] injection would be ideal, allowing the 15,200-ft [4630-m] operational depth to
be reached in one or two steps. The decision was made, however, that the
additional safety afforded by 3,000-psi [21-MPa] injection was worth the added cost
of two or three more gas-lift mandrels. The design could be optimized because the
3,000-psi [21-MPa] injection pressure would still provide a high enough pressure for
a pressure would still provide a high enough pressure for a lifting depth of 15,200 ft
[4630 m] under the worst expected conditions. This is the deepest possible gasinjection depth. A deep gas-injection depth minimizes the injection gas volume
required to reach the mininmum flowing gradient, providing for the maximum
drawdown at the perforation depth.
SPEPE
P. 100
File Size 406 KB

Number of Pages 4

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https://www.onepetro.org/journal-paper/SPE-14347-PA[9/26/2015 6:44:50 PM]