Gas Lift Valve

Related terms:

Gas Lifts, Wellheads, Gas Injection, Mandrels, Closing Pressure, Gas Flowrate,
Injection Pressure, Liquid Slug, Pilot Valve

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Gas lift valve mechanics

Ali Hernández, in Fundamentals of Gas Lift Engineering, 2016

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.

> Read full chapter

Production Engineering
In Standard Handbook of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering (Third Edition),
2016

6.4.2.3 Valve Mechanics

Gas lift valves, by necessity, are constructed as shown in Figure 6.4.30 and 6.4.31,
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. Gas Lift Valves are available in two different configurations:

Figure 6.4.30. Simplified drawings of IPO and PPO valves.

Figure 6.4.31. Cutaway view of 1” IPO model R-1 and 1” PPO model RF-1.

Source: (courtesy of Weatherford-Production Systems)

• Wireline retrievable valves–installed in sidepocket mandrels and will not re-

quire pulling the tubing string or completion string for repair or recalibration
on gas lift valves (example shown in Figure 6.4.32).Figure 6.4.32. Example
of sidepocket [wireline retrievable gas lift valve] mandrel (valve installs into
mandrel pocket—valve not shown).Source: Courtesy of weatherford-PS
• Tubing retrievable valves–installed on conventional mandrels and can only be
repaired or recalibrated by removing the tubing or completion string (example
shown in Figure 6.4.33).Figure 6.4.33. Example of conventional gas lift valve
mandrel (valve screws on the lower lug adapter—valve not shown).Source:
Courtesy of Weatherford-PS

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.

On the other hand, a tubing-operated valve attempts to maintain a set tubing

pressure. An increase in tubing pressure opens the valve to allow additional gas
into the tubing in an attempt to lighten the fluid column above. If tubing pressure
decreases, then the valve pinches down in an attempt to increase the tubing fluid
gradient by reducing the gas flow into the tubing. There are several variations on
this arrangement such as balanced valves, etc., but these will not be covered here.

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 6.4.35. VPC correlation — flow performance on IPO model R-1.

Source: (courtesy of Weatherford-PS)

Figure 6.4.36. VPC correlation — flow performance on PPO model RF-1.

Source: (courtesy of Weatherford-PS)

Figure 6.4.37. Comparison of Correlations — IPO model R-1 under same conditions.

Source: (courtesy of Weatherford-PS)

In the case of a tubing-operated valve, the situation is somewhat different in that a

valve spread is meaningless. One would calculate a valve tubing closing pressure at a
tubing pressure greater than the valve tubing opening pressure. This is impossible;
thus the actual closing pressure for a tubing operated valve is determined experi-
mentally in a test rack at the shop; however, the valve closing equation above for a
casing operated valve is very close if we substitute tubing pressure for Pvc.

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%.

> Read full chapter

Gas Lift
Boyun Guo PhD, ... Xuehao Tan PhD, in Petroleum Production Engineering (Second
Edition), 2017

17.5.4.1 Valve sizing

Gas lift valves are sized on the basis of required gas passage through the valve. All the
equations presented in Section 17.4.2.3 for choke flow are applicable to valve port
area calculations. Unloading and operating valves (orifices) are sized on the basis of
subcritical (subsonic flow) that occurs when the pressure ratio Pt/Pc is greater than
the critical pressure ratio defined in the right-hand side of Eq. (17.11). The value of
the k is about 1.28 for natural gas. Thus, the critical pressure ratio is about 0.55.
Rearranging Eq. (17.12) gives

(17.56)

Since the flow coefficient C is port-diameter dependent, a trial-and-error method

is required to get a solution. A conservative C value is 0.6 for orifice-type valve ports.
Once the required port area is determined, the port diameter can then be calculated
by and up-rounded off to the nearest  in.

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.

Table 17.4. R Values for Otis Spreadmaster Valves

Port Diameter (in.)  in. OD Valves 1-in. OD Valves 1½-in. OD Valves

R 1–R T.E.F. R 1–R T.E.F. R 1–R T.E.F.

(⅛) 0.1250 0.1016 0.8984 0.1130 0.0383 0.9617 0.0398

0.1520 0.1508 0.8429 0.1775
0.1730 0.1958 0.8042 0.2434
0.1875 0.0863 0.9137 0.0945 0.0359 0.9641 0.0372
0.1960 0.2508 0.7492 0.3347
0.2031 0.1013 0.8987 0.1127
0.2130 0.2966 0.7034 0.4216
0.2460 0.3958 0.6042 0.6550
(¼) 0.2500 0.1534 0.8466 0.1812 0.0638 0.9362 0.0681
0.2812 0.1942 0.8058 0.2410
0.3125 0.2397 0.7603 0.3153 0.0996 0.9004 0.1106
0.3437 0.2900 0.7100 0.4085
(⅜) 0.3750 0.3450 0.6550 0.5267 0.1434 0.8566 0.1674
0.4375 0.4697 0.5303 0.8857 0.1952 0.8048 0.2425
(½) 0.5000 0.2562 0.7438 0.3444
0.5625 0.3227 0.6773 0.4765
(⅝) 0.6250 0.3984 0.6016 0.6622
(¾) 0.7500 0.5738 0.4262 1.3463

Example Problem 17.6 Size port for the data given below:

Upstream pressure: 900 psia

Downstream pressure for subsonic flow: 600 psia
Tubing ID: 2.259 in.
Gas rate: 2500 Mscf/day
Gas-specific gravity: 0.75 (1 for air)
Gas-specific heat ratio: 1.3
Upstream temperature: 110°F
Gas viscosity: 0.02 cp
Choke discharge coefficient: 0.6
Use Otis Spreadmaster Valve

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.

> Read full chapter

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.

Figure 6-139. Casing and tubing operated valves.

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.

On the other hand, a tubing-operated valve attempts to maintain a set tubing

pressure. An increase in tubing pressure opens the valve to allow additional gas
into the tubing in an attempt to lighten the fluid column above. If tubing pressure
decreases, then the valve pinches down in an attempt to increase the tubing fluid
gradient by reducing the gas flow into the tubing. There are several variations on
this arrangement such as balanced valves, etc., but these will not be covered here.
The force balance equations (see Craft, Holden, and Graves [60]) give the following
relationships for a casing-operated valve that is open and on the verge of closing:

where

Av = area of the valve port

Ab = effective area of the bellows
S = spring constant in psig
PbT = bellows pressure temperature T in psig
Pvc = casing pressure opposite the valve at closing in psig

In the case of a valve fully closed and on the verge of opening, we have the equation

where

Pt = tubing pressure opposite the valve in psig

Pv0 = casing pressure opposite the valve at opening in psig

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.

In the case of a tubing-operated valve, the situation is somewhat different in that a

valve spread is meaningless. One would calculate a valve tubing closing pressure at a
tubing pressure greater than the valve tubing opening pressure. This is impossible;
thus the actual closing pressure for a tubing operated valve is determined experi-
mentally in a test rack at the shop; however, the valve closing equation above for a
casing operated valve is very close if we substitute tubing pressure for Pvc.

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%.

> Read full chapter

Gas Lift
Boyun Guo Ph.D., ... Ali Ghalambor Ph.D., in Petroleum Production Engineering,
2007

13.5.4.1 Valve Sizing

Gas lift valves are sized on the basis of required gas passage through the valve. All the
equations presented in Section 13.4.2.3 for choke flow are applicable to valve port
area calculations. Unloading and operating valves (orifices) are sized on the basis of
subcritical (subsonic flow) that occurs when the pressure ratio Pt/Pc is greater than
the critical pressure ratio defined in the right-hand side of Eq. (13.11). The value of
the k is about 1.28 for natural gas. Thus, the critical pressure ratio is about 0.55.
Rearranging Eq. (13.12) gives

(13.56)

Since the flow coefficient C is port-diameter dependent, a trial-and-error method

is required to get a solution. A conservative C value is 0.6 for orifice-type valve ports.
Once the required port area is determined, the port diameter can then be calculated
by and up-rounded off to the nearest in.

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.

Table 13.4. R Values for Otis Spreadmaster Valves

Port Diameter (in.) . OD Valves 1-in. OD Valves 1½ -in. OD Valves

R 1–R T.E.F. R 1–R T.E.F. R 1–R T.E.F.

(⅛) 0.1250 0.1016 0.8984 0.1130 0.0383 0.9617 0.0398
0.1520 0.1508 0.8429 0.1775
0.1730 0.1958 0.8042 0.2434
0.1875- 0.2508 0.7492 0.3347 0.0863 0.9137 0.0945 0.0359 0.9641 0.0372
0.1960
0.2031- 0.2966 0.7034 0.4216 0.1013 0.8987 0.1127
0.2130
 0.2460 0.3958 0.6042 0.6550
(¼) 0.2500 0.1534 0.8466 0.1812 0.0638 0.9362 0.0681
0.2812 0.1942 0.8058 0.2410
0.3125 0.2397 0.7603 0.3153 0.0996 0.9004 0.1106
0.3437 0.2900 0.7100 0.4085
(⅜) 0.3750 0.3450 0.6550 0.5267 0.1434 0.8566 0.1674
0.4375 0.4697 0.5303 0.8857 0.1952 0.8048 0.2425
(½) 0.5000 0.2562 0.7438 0.3444
0.5625 0.3227 0.6773 0.4765
(⅝) 0.6250 0.3984 0.6016 0.6622
(¾) 0.7500 0.5738 0.4262 1.3463

Example Problem 13.6

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.

> Read full chapter

Gas flow through gas lift valves

Ali Hernández, in Fundamentals of Gas Lift Engineering, 2016

8.4 Use of chokes installed upstream of the seat

There are gas lift valve models that have chokes downstream of the valve’s lat-
eral-gas-entrance ports but upstream of the ball and the seat, see Fig. 6.2b in
chapter: Gas Lift Equipment. With this arrangement, the ball is always exposed to
the production pressure and the bellows to the injection pressure. The valve is still an
unbalanced valve in the sense that both, the injection and production pressures, try
to open the valve, but the spread of the valve is equal to zero. The injection opening
pressure still depends on the value of the production pressure. If the production
pressure is reduced, the injection opening pressure necessarily has to increase to
open the valve (this production pressure effect increases for larger seat diameters).
The size of the seat does not affect the valve’s discharge coefficient or the difference
between the opening and closing pressure of the valve (known as the “spread of
the valve,” which is equal to zero in this case). In this way, the unloading valves can
be designed for the same surface opening pressure but with a “design” production
pressure larger than the “actual” production pressure, which is the one the well will
have after the well has been unloaded and it is producing from the operating point
of injection determined in the design (in other words, once the well is unloaded,
the production pressure is less than the design production pressure). This reduction
in the production pressure causes an increase in the opening pressures of the
unloading valves, eliminating the need of having injection opening pressure drops
per valve. In this way, the operating valve can be reached with the available maximum
surface injection pressure. The reader is advised to review the design procedure
for spacing and calibrating gas lift valves of this type, given in chapter: Design of
Continuous Gas Lift Installations, Section 9.2.1, to gain more insight on the use of
upstream chokes and on the concepts that are presented here.

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.

> Read full chapter

Single and multiphase flow through re-

strictions
Ali Hernández, in Fundamentals of Gas Lift Engineering, 2016

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.

> Read full chapter

Continuous gas lift troubleshooting

Ali Hernández, in Fundamentals of Gas Lift Engineering, 2016

11.3.2 Multiple points of injection

For any type of gas lift valve, a valve below the static liquid level might not be able
to close because of any the reasons already described, such as (1) the valve has a cut
seat, (2) the bellows has a hole (flat valve) or it lost pressure through the tail plug (the
dill valve failed), (3) the valve is unseated in the gas lift mandrel, (4) dirt is keeping the
valve opened, etc. In these cases, it might be feasible to reach the next lower valve
but the gas lift system might not be capable of providing gas at a rate high enough to
keep the injection pressure at an adequate level to overcome the production pressure
at valves further down the well or even to keep gas injection through these two
points (the upper valve that would not close and the one below) in a stable manner.
The unloading process cannot continue and the well is left producing with multiple
points of injection in a stable or unstable gas injection pattern. Multiple “stable”
points of injection take place when the injection gas flow rate at the surface is equal to
the gas flow rate that can be injected through two or more gas lift valves at the same
time. This could make it impossible to reach the desired point of injection or gas
could be injected through the design operating point and an upper unloading valve
at the same time. In the latter case, the target liquid production might be reached
but with an unnecessarily high injection gas/liquid ratio. The following examples
(presented for specific types of gas lift valves) are some of the many conditions that
cause stable or unstable multiple points of injection.

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.

It is completely unacceptable to use intermittent gas lift troubleshooting techniques

for wells with multiple points of injection and continuous liquid production; but it
might be, up to a point, appropriate to use the calculation procedure explained in
Section 11.4.2, for which the production pressure could be calculated in different
ways:

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.

> Read full chapter

GAS LIFT
James F. Lea, ... Mike R. Wells, in Gas Well Deliquification (Second Edition), 2008

11.7 GAS LIFT COMPLETIONS

The heart of a gas lift installation is the gas lift valves. Their placement in the tubing
string is fixed during the installation of the tubing by the gas lift mandrels. Gas lift
mandrels are placed in the tubing string to position each gas lift valve to the desired
depth.
There are two basic “conventional” gas lift systems in use today. These are systems
using conventional mandrels with threaded nonretrievable gas lift valves and sys-
tems using side pocket mandrels (SPM) with retrievable gas lift valves.

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.

11.7.1 Conventional Gas Lift Design

A schematic of a gas lift system using conventional mandrels is shown in Figure
11-5. With this system gas lift mandrels and valves are installed at the surface when
the tubing is run in the well. The valves are threaded into the mandrels and therefore
cannot be removed without removing the entire tubing string. Gas lift designs using
conventional mandrels are among the lowest cost gas lift designs available.
Figure 11-5. Gas Lift Design Using Conventional Mandrels (left) and Side Pocket
Mandrels with Wireline Retrievable Valves (right)

(courtesy Schlumberger-Camco)

An added benefit of using conventional mandrels, particularly when removing

liquids from gas wells, is that they can readily integrate with plunger lift systems. This
is not the case for installations using side pocket mandrels. The ID of a conventional
mandrel is relatively uniform but the internal pocket of a side pocket mandrel
is eccentric to permit the insertion of gas lift valves via slickline. This presents a
problem for plunger operations because as the plunger assembly enters the SPM's
eccentric pocket it allows gas to bypass liquid. This typically results in a loss of
plunger velocity and in some cases makes it difficult for the plunger to reach
the surface. Some operators have successfully adapted extensions to the plunger to
effectively straddle the pocket, but these have succeeded only for shallower wells.
Side pocket mandrels were developed to reduce the costs of changing a gas lift sys-
tem to maintain a gas lift valve design that optimizes production as well conditions
change. A schematic of a side pocket mandrel (SPM) is shown in Figure 11-6. The
primary feature of side pocket mandrels is the internally offset pocket that accepts
a slickline retrievable gas lift valve. The pocket is accessible from within the tubing
using a positioning or kickover to place and retrieve the valves. The gas lift valves
use locking devices that lock into mating recesses in the SPM. Both conventional
and SPM mandrels are installed in the well in the same manner, but only the SPM
system is serviceable with slickline operations for post-completion repair or well
maintenance.

Figure 11-6. Gas Lift Valve in Side Pocket Mandrel

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

11.7.2 Chamber Lift Installations

When the completion configuration prevents the point of injection from achieving
the desired depth, or when the volume of gas in an intermittent lift installation is
less than acceptable, a chamber lift design is used.

The concept of chamber lift is to create a large diameter volume (chamber) to

collect liquids. The larger diameter of the chamber, as opposed to the tubing,
allows higher volumes of liquid to accumulate while keeping the liquid column
height to a minimum. Lower liquid column heights put less hydrostatic pressure
on the formation. Increasing the diameter of the chamber can drastically reduce
the hydrostatic head since the bottomhole pressure is reduced by the square of the
chamber diameter. For example, increasing the chamber diameter from 2-3/8-inch
to 3-inch will drop the hydrostatic pressure at the bottom of the hole by almost half
for the same volume of liquid.
Typically, the chamber consists of a portion of the casing as shown in Figure 11-8.
Chamber packers isolate the chamber, and a dip tube frequently is used in the top
packer to allow the gas collected in the chamber to bleed off into the casing above
the packer. Chambers also can be manufactured at the surface and installed in the
tubing string.

Figure 11-8. Chamber Lift Design

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.

• Gas lift operates by reducing the hydrostatic head on the formation. In a

horizontal, or near horizontal section of the hole, there is very little vertical
head. Placing gas lift valves in the horizontal lateral gains little benefit over
valves located up-hole in the vertical section.
• In the horizontal section of the well, the two-phase (gas/liquid) flow tends to
become stratified, allowing the gas to pass over the top of the fluid without
pushing the fluid to the surface. This greatly reduces the efficiency of the
gas lift.
• Servicing gas lift valves with slickline becomes increasingly difficult with
increased wellbore inclination.

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.

11.7.4 Coiled Tubing Gas Lift Completions

To reduce costs while improving the versatility of gas lift systems, coiled tubing
suppliers have developed spoolable systems that can be run on coiled tubing.
These systems provide complete downhole assemblies that can be installed in small
diameter casing or even tubing strings. The system can save initial costs with rigless
completions and lower installations times. The cost of the coiled tubing gas lift string
is comparable to a jointed tubing installation. The smaller diameter coiled tubing
can also improve the efficiency of the lifting process by reducing the overall area
of the pipe, but at the expense of the added frictional drag imposed by the smaller
cross-sectional flow area.
Coiled tubing gas lift completions have been in use for nearly a decade. Several
successful installations have been presented in the literature. Development of the
systems continues to improve string reliability and better algorithms to predict the
depth of the gas lift valves that include the sometimes significant stretch of the
coiled tubing.

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.

Figure 11-10. Spoolable Coil Tubing Gas Lift System (Schlumberger)

Figure 11-11. Valve in CT That Is Wire-Line Retrievable (Schlumberger)

11.7.5 A Gas Pump Concept

A gas pump (see Figure 11-12) is a form of intermittent gas lift where the injection
gas does not mix with the produced liquids [3], Although developed for viscous oil,
this method can also be used for dewatering gas wells.
Figure 11-12. A Gas Pump Concept [3]

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.

11.7.6 Gas Circulation

Another method of controlling liquid loading is to inject gas continuously down the
casing and up the tubing to keep the gas velocity above the critical velocity at all
times [4]. Figure 11-13 shows a schematic where this is done by compressing some
of the gas back down the annulus.

Figure 11-13. Gas Injection to Stay Above Critical Velocity in Tubing

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

> Read full chapter

Gas lift
James F. LeaJr, Lynn Rowlan, in Gas Well Deliquification (Third Edition), 2019

11.6 Gas lift valves

The key to a properly designed gas lift system is the proper choice of gas lift valves.
Gas lift valves fall into one of the three major categories:

• Orifice valves;

• Injection pressure operated (IPO) valves; and

• Production pressure operated (PPO) 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.

Figure 11.3. Typical gas lift valve types.

11.6.1 Orifice valves

Strictly speaking, orifice valves are not valves because they do not open and close.
Orifice valves are simply orifices, or holes, providing a communicating port from the
casing to the tubing. Because they do not actually function as valves, orifice valves are
used only as operating valves to provide the correct injection flow area as required by
the valve design and to properly disperse the injected gas to minimize the formation
of slugs. Orifice valves are typically used only for continuous flow applications. The
valve includes a check to prevent tubing to casing flow. The orifice valve, if used, is
at the bottom of the unloading valves.

11.6.2 Injection pressure operated valves

IPO (sometimes called casing pressure (CP) operated, Type 1 in Fig. 11.3) valves
are the most common valve used in the industry to unload gas lift wells. Although
somewhat influenced by the pressure of the flowing production fluid, IPO valves are
controlled primarily by the pressure of the injection gas.

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.

Figure 11.4. Schematic of gas lift valve.

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.

11.6.3 Production pressure operated valves

PPO valves (sometimes called tubing pressure valves) are primarily operated by
changes in pressure of the production fluid. Unloading is then controlled primarily
by the reduction in hydrostatic pressure in the production stream by injecting lift
gas.

PPO valves are used typically:

• 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.

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