A recommended practice for operation, maintenance, and troubleshooting gas lift

installations is given in API RP 11V5.[1]

Contents
Unloading procedures and proper adjustment of
injection-gas rate
The importance of properly unloading a gas lift installation cannot be overemphasized in
terms of possible damage to gas lift valves and for attaining the optimum depth of lift. If
a permanent meter tube is not installed in the injection-gas line to the well, provisions
should be made for the installation of a portable meter tube before unloading and
adjustment of the injection-gas rate to the well. Preferably, the meter tube and the orifice
meter or flow computer should be located near the wells injection-gas control device so
that the effect of changes in the adjustment of the injection-gas volume can be observed.

A two-pen pressure recorder should be installed before unloading all gas lift installations.
The ranges of the pressure elements in the recorder should be checked before hookup. A
typical recorder will have a 0- to 500- or 0- to 1,000-psig range element for the flowing
wellhead production pressure and a 0- to 1,000- or 0- to 2,000-psig range element for the
injection-gas pressure, depending on the kick-off and available operating injection-gas
pressure at the wellsite. These pressure elements should be calibrated periodically with a
dead eight tester to ensure accurate recordings.

Recommended practices before unloading

If the injection-gas line is new, it should be blown clean of scale, welding slag, and the
like, before being connected to a well. This precaution prevents damage and plugging of
the surface control equipment and entry of debris with the injection gas into the casing
annulus. Debris may cause serious operational problems to gas lift valves.

The surface facilities for a gas lift installation should be checked before the well is
unloaded. This includes all valves between the wellhead and the battery, the separator gas
capacity, and the stock-tank room. It is important to check the pop-off safety release
valve for the gas gathering facilities if this is the first gas lift installation in the system.

Recommended procedure for unloading gas lift installations

Preventing excessive pressure differentials across the gas lift valves during initial U-
tubing operations minimizes the chance for equipment failure because of fluid and sand
cutting. The following procedure avoids excessive pressure differential across the valves
during the unloading operation. The permissible rate of increase in the injection-gas
pressure downstream of the control device can be greater for an open installation without
a packer than for an installation with a packer. Most of the load fluid from the casing
annulus will be U-tubed through the lower end of the tubing in an open installation;
whereas all the load fluid in the annulus must pass through the small ports of the gas lift
valves in an installation with a packer. The initial U-tubing is the most critical operation
during the unloading procedure. There is no reason to hurry the U-tubing of the load fluid
to uncover the top gas lift valve. Because the tubing remains full of load fluid during the
U-tubing operation, there is no drawdown in flowing bottomhole pressure. Gas lifting
does not begin until the initial U-tubing is completed and injection gas enters the tubing
through the top valve. The load-fluid production rate is controlled by the rate of increase
in the injection-gas pressure, which in turn, depends on the injection-gas rate. Because
most gas lift installations include a packer, the load fluid enters the tubing through the gas
lift valves. If the load fluid contains sand and debris and full line injection-gas pressure is
applied to the casing by opening a large valve on the injection-gas line, the gas lift valves
may leak after the well is unloaded. An instantaneous pressure differential that is
approximately equal to the full line injection-gas pressure occurs across every gas lift
valve because the casing and tubing are full of load fluid. If sand or debris is in the load
fluid, the resulting high fluid velocity through the small valve ports might fluid cut the
seats. The following procedure is recommended for monitoring and controlling the
unloading operations for all gas lift installations to prevent damage to the gas lift valves
and surface facilities.

1. Install a two-pen pressure recorder that is accurate and in good working condition.
The injection-gas pressure downstream of the gas-control device and the wellhead
tubing pressure should always be recorded during the entire unloading operation.
2. If the well has been shut in and the tubing pressure exceeds the separator pressure,
bleed down the tubing through a small flowline choke. Do not inject lift gas
before or while the tubing is being bled down.
3. Remove all wellhead and flowline restrictions including a fixed or adjustable
choke if the well does not flow after all load fluid has been produced. If the gas
lift installation is in a new well, or a recompletion that could flow, a 2464- to
3264-in. flowline choke is recommended until the well has cleaned up and does
not flow naturally. The selected range of the element for the flowing-wellhead-
pressure pen in the two-pen recorder should be able to handle the maximum
flowing wellhead pressure with a choke in the flowline.
4. Inject lift gas into the casing at a rate that does not allow more than a 50-psi
increase in casing pressure per 10-minute interval. Continue until the casing
pressure has reached at least 300 psig. Most companies use a standard choke size
in the injection-gas line for U-tubing and initial unloading operations. A typical
injection-gas choke size ranges from 664 to 864 in. for the U-tubing operation.
5. After the casing pressure has reached 300 to 500 psig, the injection-gas rate can
be adjusted to allow a 100-psi increase per 10-minute interval until gas begins to
circulate through the top gas lift valve (top valve is uncovered). After the top gas
lift valve is uncovered and gas has been injected through this valve, a high
pressure differential cannot occur across the lower gas lift valves. Any time the
casing injection-gas pressure is increased above the opening pressure of the top
 valve, the valve will open and prevent a further increase in the injection-gas
pressure. Gas lifting begins with injection gas entering the top valve.
6. If the gas lift installation does not unload to the bottom valve or the design
operating gas lift valve depth, adjustment of the injection-gas rate to the well is
required. An excessive or inadequate injection-gas rate can prevent unloading.
This is particularly true for intermittent gas lift on time-cycle control where the
maximum number of injection-gas cycles per day decreases with depth of lift. It
may be necessary to decrease the number of injection-gas cycles per day and to
increase the duration of gas injection as the point of gas injection transfers from
an upper to a lower valve. Proper adjustment of the injection-gas volume to a well
is not permanent for most installations. The injection-gas requirements change
with well conditions; therefore, continuous monitoring of the injection-gas rate
and the wellhead and injection-gas pressure is recommended to maintain efficient
gas lift operations.

Depressing the fluid level ("rocking" a well)

If the top gas lift valve cannot be uncovered with the available injection-gas pressure, the
fluid level can be depressed when there is no standing valve in the tubing. The injection-
gas pressure is applied simultaneously to the tubing and casing. Several hours may be
required to depress the fluid level sufficiently in a "tight" low-permeability well. The
tubing pressure is released rapidly, and the source of the major portion of the fluid
entering the tubing is load fluid from the annulus. This procedure may be required several
times to lower the fluid level in the casing annulus below the depth of the top gas lift
valve.

High-production-pressure-factor valves in an intermittent gas lift installation or an

installation with production-pressure-operated valves may cease to unload after the top
valve has been uncovered. Gas lift valves with a high degree of tubing-pressure
sensitivity may require a minimum production pressure at valve depth to open the valve
with the available injection-gas pressure. This problem occurs more frequently with the
top one or two gas lift valves and may be referred to as a "stymie" condition. The stymie
condition can be corrected by applying an artificial increase in production pressure at
valve depth by "rocking" the well. The valve cannot detect the difference between a
liquid column and a pressure increase from partially equalizing the tubing and casing
pressure with injection gas. If a well should stymie, the proper procedure for "rocking"
the well follows:

First, with the wing valve on the flowline closed, inject lift gas into the tubing
until the casing and tubing pressures indicate that the gas lift valve has opened. A
small copper tubing or flexible high-pressure line can be used for this purpose.
When a valve opens, the casing pressure begins to decrease and to equalize with
the tubing pressure. The tubing pressure also should begin to increase at a faster
rate with injection gas entering the tubing through the valve and surface
connection.
 Next, stop gas injection into the tubing and immediately open the wing valve to
lift the liquid slug above the gas lift valve into the flowline as rapidly as possible.
A flowline choke may be required to prevent venting injection gas through the
separator relief valve. Some surface facilities are overloaded easily, and bleeding
off the tubing must be controlled carefully.

Last, the rocking process may be required several times until a lower gas lift valve
has been uncovered. As the depth of lift increases, the possibility of stymie
decreases because of a higher minimum production pressure at the greater depth
and the decrease in the distance between valves.

Controlling the daily production rate from continuous-

flow installations
The daily production rate from a continuous-flow gas lift installation should be controlled
by the injection-gas volumetric flow rate to the well. A flowline choke should not be used
for this purpose. Excessive surface flowline backpressure increases the injection-gas
requirement. Production-pressure-operated gas lift valves and injection-pressure-operated
valves with a large production-pressure factor are particularly sensitive to high wellhead
flowing pressure. Inefficient multipoint gas injection can result and prevent unloading an
installation to the maximum depth of lift for the available operating injection-gas pressure
when the flowing wellhead backpressure is excessive.

Adjustment of a time-cycle-operated controller for

intermittent-flow operations
When initially unloading an intermittent-flow gas lift installation, an excessive injection-
gas-cycle frequency may prevent "working down" (unloading the gas lift installation
beyond a certain depth). As the depth of lift increases, the maximum possible number of
injection-gas cycles per day decreases and the volume of injection gas required per cycle
increases. If the number of injection cycles per day becomes excessive and there is
insufficient time between gas injections for the casing pressure to decrease to the closing
pressure of an upper unloading gas lift valve, the unloading process will discontinue until
the number of injection-gas cycles is reduced. Many installations require several
adjustments of the time-cycle controller before the operating valve depth is reached.

The following procedure is recommended for final adjustment of a time-cycle-operated

controller to minimize the injection-gas requirement when lifting from the operating gas
lift valve:

1. Adjust the controller for a duration of gas injection that ensures an excessive
volume of injection gas used per cycle (approximately 500 ft3 /bbl/1,000 ft of lift).
For most systems 30 sec/1,000 ft of lift results in more gas being injected into the
casing annulus than is actually needed.
 2. Reduce the number of injection-gas cycles per day until the well will not lift from
the final operating valve depth and/or the producing rate declines below the
desired or maximum daily production rate.
3. Reset the controller for the number of injection-gas cycles per day immediately
before the previous setting in Step 2. This establishes the proper injection-gas-
cycle frequency.
4. Reduce the duration of gas injection per cycle until the producing rate decreases
and then return to the previous setting and increase the duration of gas injection
by 5 to 10 seconds for fluctuations in injection-gas-line pressure.

A time-cycle-operated controller on the injection-gas line can be adjusted as previously

outlined, provided the line pressure remains relatively constant. If the line pressure varies
significantly, the controller is adjusted to inject ample gas volume with minimum line
pressure. When the line pressure is above the minimum pressure, excessive injection gas
is used each cycle. One solution to this problem is a controller that opens on time and
closes on a set increase in casing pressure. Several electronic timers are designed to
operate in conjunction with pressure control.