To obtain high values of the current gas production and the final coefficient of gas extraction from deposits under the water-pressure regime, it is necessary to ensure complete and continuous removal of liquid from the bottom hole to the surface. An effective method of intensifying the operation of watered gas wells and extending the period of their natural flow is the use of a plunger lift. The purpose of the study was to substantiate the area of effective use of a plunger lift to intensify the removal of fluid from watered gas wells using the reservoir gas’s own energy depending on the value of the water factor. The tasks were solved by conducting research on a hypothetical (model) watered gas well using mathematical modelling methods. The proposed mathematical model of the plunger lift operation has been tested for the conditions of a hypothetical gas well at different values of the water factor from 0 to 125 L/thousand m3. For the well under consideration, the area of effective application of the plunger lift is limited to the values of the water factor of 12-41 L/thousand m3. According to the research results, the maximum value of the width of the gap between the plunger body and the wall of the tubing, which should not exceed 0.0025 m, is substantiated. The developed mathematical model of the plunger lift operation in a watered gas well, which includes the choice of the area of its effective application and the maximum value of the gap width between the plunger body and the tubing wall, makes it possible to ensure stable operation of watered gas wells with increased gas production due to the use of reservoir gas’s own energy and to extend the wells’ flowing period. As a result, in practice, the current gas production and the final coefficient of gas extraction from the field are increased
Received 31.05.2024
Revised 30.09.2024
Accepted 29.11.2024
[1] Burns, M. (2018). Plunger-assisted gas lift and gas-assisted plunger lift. In SPE artificial lift conference and exhibition – Americas (article number SPE-190937-MS). Woodlands: SPE. doi: 10.2118/190937-MS.
[2] Cope, B., & Gilmore, D. (2023). Case study: Gas lift-plunger lift combination creates full life cycle production solution. Journal of Petroleum Technology, 75(10), 49-53. doi: 10.2118/1023-0049-JPT.
[3] Hashmi, G.M., Hasan, A.R., & Kabir, C.S. (2016). Design of plunger lift for gas wells. In SPE artificial lift conference and exhibition – Americas (article number SPE-181220-MS). Woodlands: SPE. doi: 10.2118/181220-MS.
[4] Kondrat, R., & Matiishyn, L. (2022). Improving the efficiency of production wells at the final stage of gas field development. Mining of Mineral Deposits, 16(2), 1-6. doi: 10.33271/mining16.02.001.
[5] Kondrat, R., Dremliukh, N., & Uhrynovskyi, A. (2017). Study of foam formation process with use of water solutions of foam-forming PAIRS and foam stabilizers. Naukovyi Visnyk Natsionalnoho Hirnychoho Universytetu, 3, 20-26.
[6] Lea, J.F., & Nickens, H.V. (2004). Solving gas-well liquid-loading problems. Journal of Petroleum Technology, 56(4), 30-36. doi: 10.2118/72092-JPT.
[7] Marques De Jesus, J.J., & Simonelli, G. (2018). Conventional plunger lift designusing Excel. American Journal of Engineering Research, 7(10), 255-263.
[8] Matkivskyi, S., & Khaidarova, L. (2021). Increasing the productivity of gas wells in conditions of high water factors. In SPE Eastern Europe subsurface conference (article number SPE-208564-MS). Kyiv: Hilton Kyiv. doi: 10.2118/208564-MS.
[9] Matkivskyi, S., Kondrat, O., & Burachok, O. (2021). Investigation of the influence of the carbon dioxide (CO2) injection rate on the activity of the water pressure system during gas condensate fields development. E3S Web of Conferences, 230, article number 01011. doi: 10.1051/e3sconf/202123001011.
[10] Nguyen, T. (2020). Plunger lift. In Artificial lift methods. Petroleum engineering (pp. 279-316). Cham: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-40720-9_6.
[11] Nurkas, Z. (2020). Case study: Plunger lift application doubled oil production. In SPE annual Caspian technical conference (article number SPE-202524-MS). Virtual: SPE. doi: 10.2118/202524-MS.
[12] Nurkas, Z., & Khabibuyev, K. (2020). Plunger lift system case studies in Kazakhstan. In SPE petroleum technology conference (article number SPE-201877-MS). Virtual: SPE. doi: 10.2118/201877-MS.
[13] Olszak, E., Yoho, M., Greaser, R., Srivastava, R., Lanke, R., Moffett, R., Chan, S.C., Dabrowski, D., Pond, B., & Hingerl, F. (2022). Case study: Plunger lift optimization leveraging physics-assisted AI and the impact on greenhouse gas emissions reductions. In SPE annual technical conference and exhibition (article number SPE-210222-MS). Houston: George R. Brown Convention Center. doi: 10.2118/210222-MS.
[14] Pan, D. (2017). Investigation of plunger rise velocity and liquid fall back in plunger lift of vertical gas wells. (Master thesis, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, United States).
[15] Rahmati, E., Moffett, R.E., Pond, C.B., & Hingerl, F.F. (2022). A data-driven approach to predict critical gas flow rate in gas wells. In SPE artificial lift conference and exhibition – Americas (article number SPE-209745-MS). Galveston: SPE. doi: 10.2118/209745-MS.
[16] Rajvanshi, S., Nischal, R., Prasad, B.V.R.V., Yadav, M.P., Kumar, A., Gaur, D.P., Sethi, D., & Aman, S. (2023). A mathematical modelling of the plunger lift considering effects of fluid friction and plunger travel velocity. In Gas & oil technology showcase and conference (article number SPE-214043-MS). Dubai: SPE. doi: 10.2118/214043-MS.
[17] Sayman, O., Pereyra, E., & Sarica, C. (2021). Comprehensive fall velocity study on continuous flow plungers. SPE Production & Operations, 36(3), 604-623. doi: 10.2118/201139-PA.
[18] Sayman, O., Pereyra, E., & Sarica, C. (2022). Application of a mechanistic PAGL simulation tool to San Juan field operations. In SPE artificial lift conference and exhibition – Americas (article number SPE-209760-MS). Galveston: SPE. doi: 10.2118/209760-MS.
[19] Sayman, O., Pereyra, E., & Sarica, C. (2020). Hydrodynamics of continuous flow plunger lift. In SPE annual technical conference and exhibition (article number SPE-201639-MS). Virtual: SPE. doi: 10.2118/201639-MS.
[20] Wang, Z., Guo, L., Zhu, S., & Nydal, O.J. (2017). Prediction of the critical gas velocity of liquid unloading in a horizontal gas well. SPE Journal, 23(2), 328-345. doi: 10.2118/189439-PA.