Increasing Production via Foam Assisted Gas Lift in a Mature Oil Well

Abstract

Continuous Foam Injection is a proven deliquification technique in gas wells, but the technology typically struggles to perform in wells with high fractions of liquid hydrocarbons. For gas-lifted oil wells operating at high water cut, continuous downhole foam injection via the gas-lift system may prove feasible and open-up a whole new area of production enhancement. To establish if this technique could deliver sustainable and cost effective production enhancement in the field, Shell Malaysia Exploration & Production (SMEP) successfully conducted a trial in October 2016 in a mature oil field where a liquid foamer was injected into the gas lift system of an oil well. The project team took 10 months to conduct candidate well screening, comprehensive lab testing for chemical selection, well performance modelling, procurement, site visit, plant change requirements and finally site execution. Although the candidate well was located in an aging facility with limited production monitoring facilities, the available surface pressure/temperature transmitters and fluid sample points were sufficient to ensure a robust assessment of the trial results was possible. Over the trial period, a 22% increase in the gross production rate was seen in the candidate well, with downhole foamer and surface defoamer being applied on a continuous basis. Throughout the trial, the fluid properties were closely monitored to ensure secondary effects such as excessive surface foaming or untreatable emulsification did not occur and this strategy proved successful with the trial being completed without any downstream system upset. The trial being described in this abstract was the first time a foamer had been applied in this manner in Shell Malaysia.

A Comprehensive Review on Well Completion Operations and Artificial Lift Techniques for Methane Gas Production from Natural Gas Hydrate Reservoirs

“…This reduction will increase the drawdown and, hence, productivity of the well. This method seems to particularly suit the gas hydrate reservoir since the presence of gas and water may enhance foaming; furthermore, fine sand particles could get removed through entrainment and the entire cross-sectional area can be used for production. , Foamers selected should be tailor-made for gas hydrate reservoir temperature and pressure conditions; further a high amounts of water encountered in the well would require a suitable surfactant, that could be compatible with the specific wellbore …”

Application of Flow Pattern Map for Solving Liquid Loading Problems in Well AA

“…Mature wells may come with a lot of various problems during the production period. The examples of various problem is high liquid loading, Slugging, and high water cut [1]. These problems can appear caused by an uncontrolled flow pattern in a well, extremely low reservoir pressure (i.e.…”