Gas Lift Troubleshooting

According to many industry experts, Gas Lift is the least understood artificial lift method, but its complexity is not the reason behind its misunderstanding. Instead, the challenge behind Gas Lift is that after implementing a lousy design, the well will often keep producing, unlike other artificial lift methods (e.g., ESP) that stop producing. Thus, operators fail to recognize design or operating errors that restrain production. Therefore, there is a significant potential to increase production by oil and gas professionals who understand the Gas Lift system and its fundamental and advanced principles.

Our Gas Lift Troubleshooting course is a comprehensive training program that gives the skills and knowledge to identify, diagnose, and fix problems with gas lift wells. This gas lift course explains how to find wells that require troubleshooting. It then describes a method to properly identify the issue that the well suffers from, list the different diagnostics that can be performed to confirm the issue, and proposes solutions to be implemented to solve the problem. Participants will gain practical skills to utilize these concepts in real-world scenarios.

During this gas lift course, our expert instructor will thoroughly discuss analysing data from downhole pressure gauges, or surface parameters (well test or pressure gauges) to perform troubleshooting.

The course then guides participants across must-know troubleshooting tools, methods, and operations. Students will learn how nodal analysis (Quick look function in Prosper) can help them in their diagnostic, the different methods that can be used to start a Gas Lift well, and the effect of temperature on Gas Lift valve opening and closing pressure...

A large section of the training is dedicated to leaks, how to detect them (tubing casing communication tests), what survey can be done to precisely identify their depth (flowing pressure and temperature surveys, spinner, spectral noise logging tool…), and how to fix them. Several troubleshooting exercises will then be shown to get practice using the presented gas lift troubleshooting method.

This lesson is the 5th and last of a series designed to help you reach an advanced level in gas lift oil production and operations. It follows the 4 courses ‘Forms of Gas Lift’, ‘Gas Lift Equipment’, ‘Gas Lift Unloading Sequence and Mandrel Spacing Design’, and ‘Gas Lift Optimization and Design with Existing Mandrels’. After completing this program, you will have the skills to develop and implement appropriate gas lift troubleshooting and optimization strategies for efficient and cost-effective production that brings maximum value from any gas lift system.

We provide you with all the hands-on experience necessary for conquering today’s complex challenges in oil & gas production. We ensure you leave the class confident of returning to your worksite with one effective strategy for swift detections and corrections when issues arise. Enroll today!

Objectives:

Participants will acquire a deep understanding of how to troubleshoot a gas lift well. From integrity issues to multi-pointing… the course will provide you with the necessary tools needed to identify which problems your well suffers from and then troubleshoot them. The gas lift troubleshooting method explained in this training has been developed by the author of the course himself and is, therefore, not available anywhere else in the industry.

Curriculum:

Section 1:

• The troubleshooting challenge – how to identify wells that need troubleshooting
• Troubleshooting methodology
  
• Problem and symptoms table
• Troubleshooting flowcharts presentations
• Review of all possible issues one by one, their symptoms, the available diagnostics, the possible causes and the solutions
• Troubleshooting summary – The most useful solutions that should always be tried

Section 2:

• Nodal analysis – The Quicklook ad Multipoint Quicklook in Prosper
• The effect of temperature on Gas Lift Valve opening closing pressure
• The different method to start a Gas Lift well and when to use each of them
• Generalities on tubing casing leaks
• Tubing casing communication tests - Procedure and depth estimation
• Leak depth methods of identification review – description, advantages and limitations
  • Pressure/Temperature/Spinner surveys (and also how to use them for monitoring)
  • Multi finger caliper
  • Leak detection tool by Peak Well System
  • Pony tail and tell tale
  • Spectral noise logging tool
  • CO2 tracer aka WellTracer from AppSmiths
  • Summary table for better selection of most appropriate method
• Description of available solutions to fix a leak
• Use of an Echometer to confirm a leak

Section 3:

• Troubleshooting exercises
• Barton Charts analysis

Designed for:

• Production, Petroleum or Well Performance Engineers to learn how to troubleshoot a Gas Lift well and review all the tools available to help them to do so
• Field Production Personnel to understand how to identify wells that need troubleshooting and what can be done at their level to solve the issue

Pre-requisites:

• Understanding of the well production mechanisms (inflow & outlfow) is preferred
• Knowledge of the existing forms of Gas Lift and Gas Lift equipment (especially Gas Lift valves and orifice)
• Understanding of the Gas Lift unloading sequence and Gas Lift optimization
• Basic knowledge on well architecture
• Awareness on the oilfield terms.