SPE 128337
A simple operational approach to ascertain the viability of your offshore
gas lift project before fully committing: The Meji Jacket X and Y pilot
case.
Francis Nwaochei, SPE; Adebayo Olufemi, SPE; Vincent Eme, SPE; and John Ibrahim, SPE, Chevron Nigeria
Limited; Eseoghene Nakpodia, SPE and Wole Areo, SPE, Flostar Oil & Gas Nigeria Limited
Copyright 2009, Society of Petroleum Engineers Inc.
This paper was prepared for presentation at the 33
rd
Annual SPE International
Technical Conference and Exhibition in Abuja, Nigeria, August 3-5, 2009.
This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE Program Committee following
review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents
of the paper, as presented, have not been reviewed by the Society of Petroleum
Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material, as
presented, does not necessarily reflect any position of the Society of Petroleum
Engineers, its officers, or members. Papers presented at SPE meetings are subject
to publication review by Editorial Committees of the Society of Petroleum Engineers.
Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper for
commercial purposes without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum
Engineers is prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract
of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must
contain conspicuous acknowledgement of where and by whom the paper was
presented. Write Librarian, SPE, P.O. Box 833836, Richardson, TX 75083-3836,
U.S.A., fax 01-972-952-9435.
Abstract
Application of improved Oil Recovery in mature
fields is almost inevitable. However, the method
applied in the IOR process is dependent on the
economics and value of the method. In the
Southern Offshore area of Chevron operations,
there are huge cost implications in the
implementation of gas lift on several offshore
jackets.
New facilities for gas lift operation entails the
installation of a compressor, liquid knock out
equipment, pipelines, manifold configuration and
associated piping etc. In many cases, gas lift
sourcing might require completely fresh
construction of entire facilities, which will involve
project development, management costs,
infrastructure cost and space limitation especially
in the case of offshore locations.
In the Southern Offshore Area of Chevron
operations, several wells have quit and require
some kind of support to flow to surface. Artificial lift
(gas lift) has been identified as the best method to
optimize production from the wells reviewed in this
case. However, the infrastructure required to
implement the gas lift in the offshore location will
come at a huge cost and there is a time factor as
well to consider to install the infrastructure.
Numerous gas lift opportunities have been
identified in the Meji Field (offshore location) which
currently has no gas supply. Wells in the shallow,
strong water drive, reservoirs of this field flow
naturally to terminal water cuts of between 60 to
70%. Based on the observed trend of terminal
water cut, the challenge for the team was to
quantify the incremental oil gain if this terminal
water cut is raised by introducing gas lift. If this
proved to be substantial, it will make a case for the
expenditure on pipelines and associated
infrastructure.
In a bid to confirm that installing the gas lift
infrastructure is a viable project, a simple
operational approach of installing a temporary
piping system was implemented after the
necessary engineering analyses which are all
discussed in this paper. Other operational
methods of confirming the viability of applying
artificial lift technology (gas lift) on the jackets
were also reviewed with a resolution to utilize the
temporary solution. An estimated production gain
of about 1105 BOPD from three wells, through gas
lift was identified in the field. The total production
gain from the simple operation yielded 1540
BOPD.
This paper reviews a safe and simple operational
approach to evaluate the viability of a gas lift
project in an offshore environment. This was
applied on Meji jackets X and Y by using gas from
a high pressure source well delivered to the target
wells with segmented pipe to ensure deliverability
and accelerate production based on a 3-well pilot
case on the 2 jackets.
2 F. Nwaochei, A. Olufemi, V. Eme, J. Ibrahim, E. Nakpodia and W. Areo
Introduction
Artificial lift technology has been recognized as a
standard improved oil recovery method in
resuscitating wells in mature fields that are unable
to flow naturally due to depleted reservoir
pressures. Maximizing oil recovery from the
producing reservoirs at a reasonably cheap and
efficient way is critical in optimizing the available
resources. The global economic meltdown
currently being experienced in most parts of the
world in which oil is being produced makes it
imperative to ensure investments in our capital
intensive industry result in the desired profitable
outcome. Implementing gas lift technology in
Chevron Nigeria offshore locations have yielded
positive dividends over the year. However, there
are several reasons why one must seriously
consider the technology before implementing it.
These reasons include:
• Cost of equipment to handle gas supply
• Cost of Gas pipelines to be laid from gas
source to gas lift candidate
• Maintenance and logistics involved in
managing operations
• Wellbore integrity issues
• Adequate gas supply
• Adequate gas supply pressure
Gas lift has the advantage of being more flexible
than other artificial methods because the gas lift
system can be designed to operate over a wide
range of production rates without changing the
subsurface equipment. The efficiency and
economy of a gas lift system depends on accurate
design and correct operation. Complete well data
and modern techniques contribute greatly to the
design accuracy. In the early application of gas lift,
the lift gas was furnished by gas wells but the
majority of modern gas lift systems use
compressors to supply the high pressure lift gas.
Also, since the cost of compression is an
important part of the lift costs, it is necessary to be
concerned with efficient operation of the system.
The consideration of the cost implications were
the main drivers in implementing this simple
approach to ascertain the viability of the gas lift
candidates.
SPE 128337
Beneficial applications of Gas Lift1
Gas lift technology has been successfully applied
in diverse conditions as:
• Inaccessible well sites (offshore platforms,
swamps, city lots). Very little space is
required for well head and surface gas
controls.
• Wells with reasonably low THP.
• Wells at depths of 7000 ft and deeper. As
the well deepens, gas lift becomes even
more attractive.
• Multiple completion with very little space
available in the casing and on the well
head.
• Ability to retrieve gas lift valves with
wireline where possible.
• Wells in which production rate is expected
to change rapidly.
• Wells in reservoirs with declining
pressure.
• Production decline mitigation.
Gas Lift Components
The components of a gas lift system consists of a
source of high pressure gas, distribution lines to
conduct the gas to the well head, surface controls,
subsurface gas lift equipment and other
subsurface equipment, flow lines, separation and
storage equipment. The efficiency of the gas lift
system depends on proper engineering of all
these components.
The portion of the system we will be most
concerned about is the distribution lines to
conduct the gas to the well head and the source of
high pressure gas. In order to create a doable
design that meets Chevron’s stringent operational
excellence and safety requirements, several
factors were considered and tested against the
required standards.
The standard pipe specifications used in Chevron
operations for distributing gas were mainly guided
by the pressure rating, the size of the pipe and the
ability to withstand erosion due to high erosional
velocity from fluid or sand.
3 A simple operational approach to ascertain the viability of your offshore gas lift project before fully committing: The Meji Jacket X and Y
pilot case SPE 128337

Ga s 2” 1502 Tee 2” 1502 elbow

Manual Valve
F luid

1” Bleed off
T w o Pha se valve and
S eparato r
testing point.
Flu id Fluid Tan k 2” 1502 pipes
an d
Ga s
F luid PSHL
001

G G CP
Check Valve
G as M et ering
D ev ice

Gauge Point
G as G as
F low F low Data header w/ certified
needle valves for tie ins
O ffs hore
J ac k et
M anif old
Gas lifted well

To production Source Well

Manifold skid

2
Fig. 1 Typical Gas lift distribution system

Fig. 3. Simple proposed gas lift hook up setup

Meji Gas Lift Hook-up Overview

Criteria for selecting simple gas lift Hook-
Numerous gas lift opportunities hade been
identified in the Southern Field Area; installing gas up piping system
lift on some of these wells would lead to a total The criteria used to evaluate gas lift hook up
estimated production gain of about 5,500 bopd. alternatives were:
These opportunities required huge investments in
pipeline installation running into millions of dollars. 1. Operational Excellence Compliance
Given the resource constraints and delays • Remain within design limits of
associated with the fabrication and installation of equipment
hard-piping, the reviewing team performed a • Have Emergency Shutdown
review of hook-up alternatives that could serve as Systems in place
a suitable high-integrity, temporary measure that • Corrosion/Erosion Resistant
would allow early realization of the production-add • Other oil field applications
opportunities. • Installation safety
2. Time Required to Install
3. Cost to Install and Maintain
Line to second
lifted well
(if
necessary
)
4. Modeled performance-adaptability to
PI
002
SDV
002
changing downhole dynamics.
¾”
XCV
002
2"
SDV
001
XCV Two primary alternatives to hard piping were
001
H1
D1 3"SDV PSHL
reviewed based on availability along with an
001
4"X3"
PSHL
existing traditional stainless steel ¼” pipe and the
001 SSV
001
PSH
002 PI
alternatives ranked against the solution criteria
003
PI
001
X
X
X
-X ¾”
used. The two primary alternatives can be
1
D
To production
manifold skid
-P
-4
" 2"-P-H1-XXXX described below as:
Gas Gas
Source Lift
Well Well
, .
1) Flexible, high pressure metal hose (US
. Hose Corp)
2) 1502 Weco pipe (high-pressure
Fig. 2. Typical gas lift hook up setup segmented pipe).

Both of the alternatives were found to be viable,

however, the 1502 Weco pipe was found to be the
4 F. Nwaochei, A. Olufemi, V. Eme, J. Ibrahim, E. Nakpodia and W. Areo SPE 128337

preferred alternative as it offered the following Also the economics was run to see the viability of
benefits over the US Hose Corp hard pipe.- the simple piping installation vis a vis waiting to
• High-pressure (10Kpsi) and NACE design, fabricate and install the permanent piping
compliant pipe and seals. system. The results of the economics
• The pipe is used in the oil field for flowing demonstrated that:
back wells under various working
conditions. • It is more economic to accelerate
• The high strength steel and 2” diameter production by renting and installing a
pipe is more erosion resistant. This will temporary hard piping solution, than wait 5
limit the effect of erosion that was found to months to install permanent hard piping.
have caused problems with the stainless
steel tubing.
• Available through Flostar Oil and Gas • Chevron can rent for over 1.5 years before
Nigeria Limited. switching to the permanent solution and
• Currently being used in Nigeria by another still be economic.
major E & P company for high pressure
fluid flow solutions. • Greater annualized production gains
means more barrels to meet and exceed
The existing ¼” stainless steel pipe was eliminated our targets
for safety and security reasons due to its
vulnerability to damage by heavy equipment and
• For our larger GL opportunities (500+
vandals.
BOPD), there is a larger disparity in NPV
between the two scenarios - strongly in
Themes Stainless Steel 1502 Weco Temporary Hard Hard Piping favor of accelerating.
Tubin Pipe (Conventional Option)
(Proposed Option )
Erosion R esistance Small diameter pipe 2”, high strength alloy steel. 2”, Standard grade pipe.
(Larger diameter = makes it susceptible (More erosion resistant than
Lower to erosion – standard ASTM A106 Grade
especially in well - B piping)
t -well hookups.
Pressure Rating 2000 -5000 psi (?) 15,000 psi 15,000 psi (+/-)
Oil Field Application Used in other areas. 1) Currently used in Nigeria
b leading multinational oil &
1) Standard permanent
installation
Gas lift Supply cost
gas company . 2) Also used in
another Multinational ’s
Angola deep water hookups.
Gas lift supply to the well candidates being
Cost Per Installation <$100 1) $10,500/month per well +
~$3000 tree cap
1) $430,000/well
(recent AFE costs)
reviewed here involved installation of gas pipelines
Time to Install 1 Day 1) 1-2 Weeks to
equipment + 2 days to install .
1) 4-6 Months to design
& fabricate. 2-3 days
from the gas gathering Compression Plant to the
2) 1-2 months to order new
piping, but for the first few
installation respective jackets referred to as Meji Jackets X &
installations the equipment
will already be in country.
Y.
Potential Operational High velocities 1) Need to ensure the hammer 1) Although viewed as a
Excellence Concerns result in rapid unions are made up properly permanent solution,
erosion of the pipe using brass hammers. 2) Seals erosion is still an issue
if sand is present. must be NACE compliant and and could go unnoticed. Pip
Pipeline
eline Pipeline Cost Average cost Average Comment
properly installed and
maintained. 3) Installation will Sta
Start
rt Point End Point ($MM) to hook Line NPV
require proper support . 4) to well ($M)
Need to plan out installation to
avoid creating trip hazards.
Others Easy to install. 1) Relatively quick to install. 1) Welded joints. 2)
2) Known successful use of Proper gas monitoring
Meji
Meji GGCP Meji 37.6 198 5.30
pipe by a kno n mu ltinati nal instrumentation. Jacket X
c mpan y in Nigeria.3)
Servicing of pipe ensures that
erosion issues are addressed .
4) Allows us to t est
questionable gas lift Meji
Me ji Meji 47.2 198 6.00 Pipeline is an
opportunities without Jacket
Jacket X Jacket Y extension
committing to hard piping.
Other negat ive Operational 1)B -annual maintenance & Requires a construction from jacket X
Excellence issues servicing is required. crew to install. 2) Long
when used during (However, th is will help catch lead times and expensive.
well to well any erosion issues and is 3) In some cases, by the
installations performed by the contracting time the piping is installed
company.) 2) Possible theft it might not be required Fig. 5. Investment cost of transporting gas from Gas Plant to
3) Additional OPEX for much longer.
associated with renting candidate wells. Note that costs are exclusive of produced
fluids handling cost

Fig. 4. Selection Criteria Table

A total of 16 gas lift candidate wells with an

accompanying 12 gas source wells were selected
for the project. The pilot case was agreed to only
begin with 3 wells for the project.
5 A simple operational approach to ascertain the viability of your offshore gas lift project before fully committing: The Meji Jacket X and Y
pilot case SPE 128337

Economics is based on the total field gas lift
project comprising of 16 wells and 11 jackets. The
length of the pipelines are between 2500 to 4000
meters. The water depth for the supply lines range
from 6 to 8 ft and the size of the pipelines are 6”.
Well Candidate Selection
pipelines were also a deliverable of the field visit.
A security factor which included painting the pipes
similar colour to those already on the jackets so as
not to attract vandals was also considered.
The suitable candidates were ranked and formed
part of the decision criteria in the selection of the
well candidates.

The screening process evaluated the wells from

The well candidate selection was very critical in the engineering, operations, reservoir and
ensuring the success of the project. A total of 16 Production aspects and the candidates below
wells had initially been selected for the project but were selected. MJ-XH1 and MJ-XH2 from Meji
for the pilot case an initial total of 4 were selected Jacket X as well as MJ-YH1 from Meji jacket Y
with 3 eventually executed. were selected as pilot wells.
Two of the three well candidates had stopped
The criteria for selecting the wells can be flowing naturally and required artificial lift to flow to
enumerated as: surface. The reserves from the well are shown
below with incremental gains from gas lift.
• Reserves
• Possibility of success
• Production gain MJ-XH1 DCA Estimate
• Flowline capabilities Incremental
Base Case GL Installation from GL
• Existing annular fluid (mud or brine) 75% 95%
• SEWOP approach constraints 981,660 1,729,846 748,186
• Estimated time to fabricate and install MJ-XH2 DCA Estimate
Incremental
permanent solution Base Case GL Installation from GL
• Gas lift design complexity (static fluid 75% 95%
level) 1,031,675 1,294,302 262,627
MJ-YH1 DCA Estimate
Incremental
This process of selection for each candidate was Base Case GL Installation from GL
reviewed by a multidisciplinary team of earth
scientists, Petroleum engineers, facility engineers 1,180,278 1,311,732 131,454

and production technologists. The candidate wells

were reviewed utilizing Chevron’s world class 5-
phase project management approach namely:
• Identify and Assess Opportunity
• Generate alternatives and select preferred
alternative
• Develop the preferred alternative
• Execute the preferred alternative
• Operate and evaluate the preferred
alternative
A field visit was made to the locations by the
Flostar Oil & Gas Engineers to evaluate the
project feasibility. This was possible through a
checklist developed to ensure that pipe
connections, space constraints, pipe
measurements, instrumentation, valve
implementation issues were all incorporated into
the checklist. Digital pictures were taken for further
evaluation and analysis. A report was generated
from the field visit that identified the candidates
suitable for the project. Offshore jackets layout
design incorporating the proposed temporary
Fig. 6. Reserves Estimate for gas lift candidates
Simple gas lift Hook up piping system
installation procedure
The installation process was initialized with a field
visit to assess the feasibility of the project. It
involved inspecting the gas source candidate and
gas lift candidates on the desired offshore jackets.
The inspection would require an audit of the jacket
with a field checklist (Appendix A) to ensure all
possible challenges that could occur during
installation and implementation are considered.
A work process review using the data from the
field checklist assists in developing a detailed
work procedure as follows:
I. Hold safety meetings.
6 F. Nwaochei, A. Olufemi, V. Eme, J. Ibrahim, E. Nakpodia and W. Areo SPE 128337

II. Mark pipe route from source wells to Jacket Gas Source Well GL Well Reservoir Before Hook-up After Hook-Up Gain
target wells as identified during site BOPD BOPD BOPD
surveys. X XS1 XH1 C-01 1373 1269 -104
X XS1 XH2 C-01 0 1143 1143
Y YS1 YH1 D-01 0 501 501
III. Install hard pipe, adjustable choke, valves, Total 1540
elbows, flow tees, check valves and cross-
overs to cover gaslift requirements from Fig. 7. Table showing Pre and Post Temporary Hook-Up
source wells (high pressure well) to production gains
target wells.
The project yielded a total production gain of 1540
IV. Test mechanical integrity and perform BOPD with 2 of the 3 wells being successful. The
proper pressure test on installed third well (on jacket X) did not yield the desired
equipment. result because gas supply could not be optimized.
Inability to optimize gas supply to the two wells on
V. Install automatic shutdown valve and the jacket was due to the fact that gas supply was
pressure switches on the temporary gas- being controlled by one choke.
lift line.
An estimated 1150 BOPD was planned as
VI. Install fittings, SS tubings, and isolation production gain from the wells. However, this was
valves necessary for the installation of the exceeded by 33%. Two of the wells MJ-XH2 and
PSHL and SDV on the platform. MJ-YH1 had quit on LTP (Low Tubing Head
Pressure) prior to execution of the project.
VII. Tie-in the new instrumentation to the
existing emergency shutdown system on A review of the Pre and Post Economics of the
the platform. project showed that not only was the temporary
solution viable but the execution yielded better
VIII. Function test all safety devices. than expected results.

IX. kick off wells on gaslift.

Themes Well Cost Facilities Total Production NPV DPI
($MM) Cost Cost (BOPD) ($MM)
X. Perform inspection on hard pipes and ($MM) ($MM)
accessories on as need basis to ensure
Planned 0.47 0.50 0.97 1150 2.49 8.71
they are in compliance with agreed
standards.
Actual 0.46 0.35 0.81 1540 3.07 10.94

Project Execution and Results

The execution of the gas lift hook-up was
performed in a safe and reliable way ensuring all
safety devices were in place and functioning. The
two (2) wells on jacket X were connected to the
gas source well and a tee-junction was used to
divert gas supply to both wells.
This diversion utilizing a Tee was a cost saving
measure to reduce the pipe length and rental fees.
The gas lift design and installation was executed
prior to the installation of the gas lift hook-up. Gas
lift designs were implemented on the wells utilizing
a Self Elevated Work Operating Platform and a
slickline unit.
The results from the wells are as seen below:
Fig. 8. Pre and Post temporary Hook- Up
Economics
Key Lessons Learned
Several key lessons learned were gained through
this operation namely:
1. Temporary Gas lift Hook-up in this project is a
relatively simple, cheap and suitable method of
confirming the feasibility of a larger permanent gas
lift system.
2. Involving the right people in decisions that affect
procedures and equipment ensured the project
was operationally successful and economic.
3. Installing choke on individual line hook ups to
candidate wells is a necessity to optimize
production from the wells.
 7 A simple operational approach to ascertain the viability of your offshore gas lift project before fully committing: The Meji Jacket X and Y
pilot case SPE 128337

4. Field visits were crucial in ensuring the right

candidates are selected in a project of this nature.

Conclusions
Piping to casing Hook up to source
The simple temporary hard piping system solution Of candidate well well crown valve
to channel gas from a high gas source well on an
offshore jacket location to lift candidate wells on
the same jacket proved quite successful in
confirming the viability of embarking on laying
flowlines from the Gas Gathering Compression
Plant to the jacket and subsequently deploy the
same method to ascertain the viability of a full field
wide gas lift network in the Meji field. It also
accelerated production from the candidate wells
that otherwise would have been idle until the
Fig. 9. Gas lift hook up to source well
seabed gas flowlines are laid. A permanent
solution to the gas lift system is currently being
reviewed in the final stages and will be
implemented soon.

Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the
management of Chevron Nigeria Limited for
permission to publish this work and would also like
Shut Down
to thank their co-workers for their contributions to Valve
the material presented herein.

References
1. Zelimir Schmidt (n.d.), “Gas Lift Optimization
using Nodal Analysis” Course manual:
Fig. 10. Shut down valve system for the gas supply line.
University of Tulsa Division of Continuing
Education.
2. Tang, Y. L. et al., SPE 38814 (n.d.), “Transient
Dynamic Characteristics of the Gas Lift
Unloading Process”.
3. FMC Energy Systems product brochure

Gas lift hook up to

Candidate well casing

Fig. 11. Gas lift hook-up to candidate well

8 F. Nwaochei, A. Olufemi, V. Eme, J. Ibrahim, E. Nakpodia and W. Areo SPE 128337

Hook Up Solution: The Seals/Union

– Notes from Manufacture – FMC:

– Use Viton (NACE compliant) seals for sour well applications.
– Weco Pup Joints have been used for many years in both temporary
applications (such as Frac, well testing, or cementing lines) by Well
Service Companies and permanent application such as piping on Drilling
Rigs, Offshore platforms and Well Service offshore vessels such as Frac
Boats. In either application, it is important that a routine method of
inspection be utilized to determine the amount of wear that is taking
place in the piping and seals. Generally Well Service companies, that
utilize this piping almost every day in very abrasive applications, inspect
their piping on an annual basis.
– Also use Weco pipe during long term well tests – as long as a month or
more without changing out the pipe.
– Notes from EXPRO with regards to the TOTAL well-to-well GL
installations:
– We change out the seals on service due dates (bi-annually). Have not
seen any noticeable damage to the seals, but we change them out
regardless.

3
Fig. 12. Seals/ Union specifications