Engineering considerations of artificial gas lift in an oil well

Artificial gas lift is an artificial production method, since it is an alternative for when the oil reservoir does not have enough to produce oil by itself.

Artificial gas lift consists of pumping a gas bubble into the well so that the production fluid (oil) can be lifted from the bottom of the well to the surface, for this it is necessary to inject gas into a vertical outlet pipe.

The question we could ask ourselves for this case is:

Why does gas injection into the well help oil production?

By its own characteristics the gas expands, in this expansion process the gas rises inside the well, causing a drop in hydrostatic pressure to occur, since the gas lowers the density of the production fluid (oil), so the fluid column lowers its density, the underlying fluids (oil) can rise from the bottom to the surface as a result of this drop in hydrostatic pressure.

Why is gas lift used in the production of an oil well?

The use of gas lift is used in a number of very limited oil wells that have insufficient reservoir pressure to produce on their own, gas lift is used if the injection conditions in the well meet the surface facilities of the gas needed for injection.

The gas is injected through the annular space between the casing and the production tubing, all with the intention that oil production will occur through the production tubing.

The injection of gas into the well can be done continuously or intermittently, everything will depend on the characteristics of the producing reservoir, mechanical characteristics of the well due to its completion, and the disposition of the gas artificial lift equipment.

References

How Does Artificial Lift Work?

Performance of a gas-lifted oil production well at steady state