Gas Lift Manual

Gas lifting can be used throughout the whole lifespan of an oil well: from the time it dies until its abandonment. The Gas Lift Manual is a handbook of theories and practices that offers a complete review of gas lift technology. The first book devoted to gas lifting since K. Brown's Gas Lift Theory and Practice published in 1967, it serves as a reference that is essential to the practicing engineer needing to successfully perform this type of artificial lift project. In his manual, Takacs imparts more than 30 years' experience and research in the artificial lift methods arena. It includes practical advice on the analysis and troubleshooting of gas lift installations. All necessary calculations are fully discussed, and the many charts in the appendices are intended to help field engineers.

The manual starts the with an introduction to gas lift, and then moves on to the various parts of the gas lift model, including analysis and troubleshooting, as well as, common gas lift malfunctions. The pressure drop calculation procedures for vertical, inclined, and horizontal wells including the latest mechanistic models are fully described. The chapter on production engineering fundamentals includes, in addition to a very detailed treatment of multiphase flow, a review of fluid properties, well inflow performance, basic hydraulics, well temperature, and systems analysis. Further chapters systematically introduce the reader to the hardware of gas lifting, reflecting the latest developments in gas lift valve and other equipment designs. A chapter on continuous flow gas lift fully describes the different ways to optimize the wells' operation, including the latest optimization theories (lift gas allocation to wells, systems analysis, etc.). The discussion of intermittent gas lift includes conventional, chamber, and plunger-assisted installations and describes the performance, design, and optimization of such wells. A detailed treatment of the surface gas lift system follows, including the operation and design of the complete system consisting of the compressor station, and the distribution and gathering facilities. This book will be particularly useful to those needing to research this technology, as the author has supplied extensive resource references to other literature sources.