II SPE 36598 Pig Lift: A New Artificial Lift Method PCR. Lima, Petrobras ni 10 Sct ot Penn Ergot be ‘peepee ot tt Telnet Teter mont menenna ran ceo e En leasa eeotee eae Abstract Anifcial Lift of oil wells is a fairy broad subject There are many diferent methods availble but in a few cases none of ‘them turns ut to be @ ft opion. Some specific stuation such as high viscosity or waxy oil, high gas-o-liquid ratio (GLR). horizontal andior very deep well generate artificial iN prob- Jems that causes high reservoir back pressure, and, conse- ‘quently, low production rates. Pig lif is a new novel artificial if method developed 19 solve some of these problems, It uses a Usshaped double ‘completion string inthe wellbore, with a full bore bottom hole connector, and a surface piping and control system. This physical arrangement is put together 10 allow the cyclic and _aulomated launching of a low density foam pig from the sut- face, pushing along with it the liquid phase accumulated into the tubing string, The method i, therefore, cyclic, High pres- ‘sure gas i used to displace the pig The sysiem was successfully installed in five wells in ravi, increasing the production flow rate significantly, as ‘compared to conventional anificial it methods, This paper resents the description ofthe pig il method, snd reports the results obtained in these field rials Discussions ofits tech cal and economical advantages and potential areas of appli- sation is aso given Introduction ‘A widely employed anificial iN method is pneumatic pump- ing, beter known as gas lift, which consists of injecting gas ‘tothe annular, and allowing it 0 pass into the production siring through appropriate valves installed downhole, Basi- cally, there are two types of gas lift systems, namely the 209 Sosety af Palau Engines “continuous gas lit” and he “interminent gas Hi”, Inthe intermittent g3s lit”, the well is first allowed to produce ‘with no gas injection into the tubing. A column of liquid ac- ‘cumulates in the botiom of the tubing. Next, gas is injected into the production string atthe bottom of the liquid column, pumping the liguid column to the surface as a slug. Gas lift has some advantages over other pumping systems, bocause of| the lower number of components prone fo fare. Ic is very simple, and it has great operational Nexibiiy too, In spite ofthese advantages, gas ft wo has some serious disadvantages. One of them is the high reservoir back pres- sure, which isa limiting factor in oil production. Another one is the slippage between the gaseous an fiquid phases. a ‘imation in which the gas lows to the surface faster than the ‘uguid oun ivermautet systems, this causes liquid fal back, with part of the liquid column remaining in the interior of the ‘production string in each cycle, ‘A solution for the slippage problem is the utilization of plungers (1) In moving upward the plunger pushes the oil accumulated in the string, reducing fall back, This method, however, alto has some restrictions It is necessary to shut the valve existing at surface after the plunger reaches its highest position so as to make it possible for it to descend back tothe bottom of the well. For deop wells, the waiting time forthe plunger to get back dovmhole can be very long, Thus, the {intermittent gas lit with plunger is applicable only 10 low flow rate wells, and itis not recommended for high produc- Livty wells Application of plungers in lughly deviated and horizontal well isnot recommended ether. ‘Another method ullzes synthetic rubber spheres to cause the flowing of the oil accumulated in the production string ‘This method, named ball pump (2), fauled to gain widespread industry acceptance, peshaps due to the complexity ofthe f= cilities atthe surface and of the subsurface components, the risk that the sphere may become stuck, and the cosvquality of the spheres Many wells now being ifted are reaching 10 an economic limit, and in the ongoing pursuit of tower lifting costs, crea- live engineering techniques have to be applied. It was in this ‘context that the pig it method (3) was developed2 POR UMA ‘The Pig Lift installation and Operation ‘Two production strings, one shorter than the other ssretch from the well head to one joint piece which is respon- sable for their interconnection downhole (Fig. 1). The con- nection tool (Fig, 2) is run together with the longest string. ‘hich algo carries a standing valve in its ower end. ‘As a consequence of the utilization of two production strings, several surface components ar utilized pairwise, ic., ‘certain components that appear in the portions interoon- nected with one ofthe tubing strings have equivalent cnes in the portion interconnected with the other tubing sting, with ‘both components performing one single function. ‘The pig lit operation begins with the opening of the pig valve ofthe launching device, so a8 to enable the introduction ‘of atleast one pig (Fig, 1). The pig must be positioned be- tbwoen derivations A and B. Next, production valves are open ‘whilet gat valves are closed. This procedure aime at accurm- tung oul mn both production strings. After a certain peri of ‘ume, the pig is launched. For this, either one of the produc- ‘uon valves is closed and cither onc of the gas vals is opened; they must be the ones installed in the same portion where the pig, was introduced before Teasmuch as the pees- sure of the supply gas i higher than the pressure ofthe exist- ng production strings. the pig is pushed by the gas The pig descends through the whole production string until it reaches the special coupling: it then initiates the rise through the ‘ther production sring, causing the displacersent 1 the sut= {face of the liquid accumulated in both production strings The upward movement of the pig is naturally interupted right ‘afer its passage through derivation A, because the pressures ‘upstream and downstream of the pig become equal, the pig then stope between derivation A and B. A pressure sentor installed in the production line perceives the moment at ‘which both gas and ol tart flowing out ofthe well. At such a ‘moment, this sensor commands the closure ofthe gas feeding valve. Afr certain adjusted time, that assures the pig arrival, the production valve that was closed is opened, thus enabling, ‘the beginning of « new filling cycle of the two production ‘After the amount of oil has reached an adequate level jn the production strings, the pig is launched again, now in the opposite direction. "Mutatis mutandis" the same opera- tions previously described must be performed If one wishes to have a quicker depreseurization of the system, minimizing backpressure to the formation, one can imerconmnect the annular space of the well with the production lune; am additonal check valve would be necessary. ‘The pigs employed so far are made of low densi ‘thane foam, which, due to its great exibility and sion resistance is considered to be the most udoquate material Nitrile rubber foam pigs are under development, though. Oth- rs types of abrasive pigs can also be used in order 10 assure an effective cleaning ofthe tubing strings Equipment Al equipment used in pig lift is conventional, except the downhole coupling (Fig. 2), that was specially developed for the system (4), Two pneumatic valves allow gas injection in cach side of the ystem and two production valves infercon- ‘et the production strings to the production flowline. In the wells already installed all these valves are 2 in, bot there may be cases in which such a big diameter would not be necessary. ‘The valves opening and closing are controlled by 2 PLC. Derivations A and B must have small holes only (Fig. 3), allowing the uid to low, but assuring that the pig wil al- ‘ways bein the production string. ‘Simulation Software ‘A model for the sysiem operation was developed, and incor- porated into a tftware (8) The model is simplified tran- sent model that calculates # bottom pressure, and the core- sponding flow rate from the reservoir to well, in each time sep of the process. The following simplifications were as- sumed: Uusuntaneeus deprewuration after pig amvul at che surface, instantaneous separation berween gas and ligud phates; negligible pig friction negligible; isothermal flow, “The bottom hole pressure is calculated ccording tothe equa tions given in the Appendix. Although very simple, the sft ‘are is an important tool for determining the initial condi- lions o operate the pig lift insallaion. Adjustmems based on ‘well tess, however, are oflen required in order to achieve ‘optimal operational conditions. Field Application ‘The pig lif is already operational in fie wells on and off shore Brazil, Table | summarizes dala on these wells, Table 2 ‘summarizes operational conditions ofthe pig lift system. ‘The very first pig lit installation occurred in 1993, on the LV-28 well (Hig, 4). The well was. being gas lifled, bul the low reservoir pressure did not allow big. drawdowns This installation. with a packer. is simular (oan intermittent gas it ‘one. Through experimentation, it was found that this well ‘operates best with 3 to 4 minute of gas injection time followed by 14 minutes shut-in periods. 1.6 Bol slugs are prodced in cach pig run Such a high frequency was used in order 19 ‘maxumize oil production, that increased from 88 to 132 BPD. allt ofthe pig lif on te MG-393 well Fig. 8) was specific mass, WL’ bnvin’ ~ exwvily axeeration, 1A ins? = fengsh of phase. L, {= tnction factor Ne = Reynolds umber GLR = gas liquid ratio Subscripts Acknowledgments ‘The author thanks Petrobras for permission to publish this anicle, and all his Petrobras colleagues who contributed 10 ‘and supported this development. References 1, MeMumry, E:D.: “Use ofthe Automatic Free Piston in Oil ‘Well Production Problems," Petroleum Transactions (Vol 19) 1953 2, Vincent, RP., and Wilder, LB."New Gas Lift System.” ‘The Petroleum Engineer (Nov.) 1952. 3. Lima, PCR: "Method and Apparatus for intermittent Production of Oil with a Mechanical Interface," USA Pat- cent Appl. 08/542,324 (1995) 4, Pinheiro EE, Gomes, MP: "Adaptor for oil well tab ings” Brazilian Patent App. PL 950,555-5 (1995). 5. Lima, PCR, Cardoso, MA, Tze, CAR. Almeida, ‘AR. "Compuzational Simulation of Pig Lif) Method” PETROBRAS Report (1993), in Portuguese 6 Binil, 1P and Beggs. HD "Two Phase Flow in Pipes,” University of Tulsa, USA (1984), Appondix - Flow Rate in the Bottom of Strings Tn case a packer is installed it was assumed that there is no ‘ansient phenomena in the reservoir, ic, the flow rate from reservoir tothe wel is given by: e-s0eP ten 4 imi Pa Pes (AP Pu (AP bPa)* «(AP AP) APsa~ enn hap e bane anb Le» una et igs ptt Pe emt tin TEN © 2000, fis given by: & Ne for Ny > 2000, the equation developed by Drew, Koo and ‘Mena (6) gaven by £=0.0056 + 05,9" is usd. Fig. 7 shows the algorithm for the determination of the ‘low rate in the bottom ofthe strings during pig iN operation, ‘The pig velocity and the depressurization tume must be specified by the user 2514 POR.UMA Pe a8 ‘SI Matric Conversion Factors BPD x 160278 E-06 = mis BBL x 159000 BOL pei X 6894757 E+00 = KPa Thm x 2208638 E+00 = Kj iP x 16876 E05 = ot in’ x 64816 E04 = me in x 2580 E002 = m Ax 3088 B.0l = m Wx 2831685 Es 02 = ‘TABLE 1- WELL DATA wall Lvs MGI CAD Cae ESS-26 Casing diameter (in) 7 7 7 7 oh Bovtom hole temperature F) 138 167 a7 ut a7 Water content (2) 2 % 40 4 6 Reservoir static presure (sig) 469 a mm 336 m Depth (ty 2608 3036 ase 1936 309 Gat ol ratio (6eOBL) 489 as 626 1661 1899 Productivity index (2PDYps) 065 040 7 ox Las Oil gravity CAPD) %0 * 36 36 6 Wellhead presure (pxigy 8 as 121 1 11 I ‘TABLE 2-PIG.LIFT DATA Wal Tue Meio Cao C06 ES Tubing dameser in) 2h rh ah 2" 2h Removal frequency (3600 5") as 1 24 27 26 aim gas pressure (pi) 40 100 360 960 560 ‘Shug volume (BEL) 16 1 58 23 4s Bottom hoe pressure (pi) D8 * 50s 380 416 Gas injection ie (in) 4 10 7 6 1s (Depresunzaton Filling time (min) B 2 8 8 8 ‘TABLE 3 - COMPARATIVE DATA Wal Tae MEISE TAO oer SEI Attica it msthod Cont Antcrm Con. Cont. Con. castit PELE actin PRUE Gactin PELE Gactin RLM Gagtig BLM Gasconnumprion (cfdsy) 240127 176—=SsTORS 74S 1068.10 RR 382 Jon tow raz PD) ws: yee ak HST [Os production increase (%) * 100 «0 1 n Liguid flow mic(@PD) 5013S gz teksts 628 22PIGLIFT-A NEW ARTIFICIAL IFT METHOD LINE PRESSURE GAS VALVES FOAM PIG PRODUCTION ‘STRINGS. PRODUCTION ZONE in COUPLING STANDING VALVE, SHORT PRODUCTION TUBING ig. 1 - Typical pig lift imtaltation 253PCR UMA SPE se ig. 2- Tubing coupling Aig 4-Lv-28 Well am Fig, 3 Derivations A and Bsre oe PIG UFT-A NEW ARTIFICALUFT METHOD Tnitial Botiom HolPressure -———oL__Fiow Rate Cateulation PVT Calculation r ‘Newt Time Step I Gavliquid Separation i" [Determination of le tiquidfenght Jo gat lenght ——- etormination of new Ration: Hole Prescure No. Bottom Hole Pressure > "% Stauc Pressure Fig 6 - Offshore CA-Wells [Sop gas injection Fig. 7~ Algorithm in Pig Lift Computer Program ig. 8 - Pig Lift in horizontal Well 255