China’s unconventional gas fields have a large number of low-productivity and low-efficiency wells, many of whichare located in remote and environmentally harsh mountainous areas. To address the long-term stable prod...China’s unconventional gas fields have a large number of low-productivity and low-efficiency wells, many of whichare located in remote and environmentally harsh mountainous areas. To address the long-term stable productionof these gas wells, plunger-lift technology plays an important role. In order to fully understand and accurately graspthe drainage and gas production mechanisms of plunger-lift, a mechanical model of plunger-liquid column uplift inthe plunger-lift process was established, focusing on conventional plunger-lift systems and representative wellboreconfigurations in the Linxing region. The operating casing pressure of the plunger-lift process and the calculationmethod for the maximum daily fluid production rate based on the work regime with the highest fluid recovery ratewere determined. For the first time, the critical flow rate method was proposed as a constraint for the maximumliquid-carrying capacity of the plunger-lift, and liquid-carrying capacity charts for conventional plunger-lift withdifferent casing sizes were developed. The results showed that for 23/8 casing plunger-lift, with a well depth ofshallower than 808 m, the maximum drainage rate was 33 m3/d;for 27/8 casing plunger-lift, with a well depth ofshallower than 742 m, the maximum drainage rate was 50.15 m3/d;for 31/2 casing plunger-lift, with a well depthof shallower than 560 m, the maximum drainage rate was 75.14 m3/d. This research provides a foundation for thescientific selection of plunger-lift technology and serves as a decision-making reference for developing reasonableplunger-lift work regimes.展开更多
At present,the optimization of the plunger mechanism is shale gas wells is mostly based on empirical methods,which lack a relevant rationale and often are not able to deal with the quick variations experienced by the ...At present,the optimization of the plunger mechanism is shale gas wells is mostly based on empirical methods,which lack a relevant rationale and often are not able to deal with the quick variations experienced by the production parameters of shale gas wells in comparison to conventional gas wells.In order to mitigate this issue,in the present work,a model is proposed to loosely couple the dynamics of gas inflow into shale gas wells with the dynamics of the liquid inflow.Starting from the flow law that accounts for the four stages of movement of the plunger,a dynamic model of the plunger lift based on the real wellbore trajectory is introduced.The model is then tested against 5 example wells,and it is shown that the accuracy level is higher than 90%.The well‘switch’,optimized on the basis of simulations based on such a model,is tested through on-site experiments.It is shown that,compared with the original switch configuration,the average production of the sample well can be increased by about 15%.展开更多
基金the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China(No.20CX02308A)CNOOC Project(No.ZX2022ZCCYF3835).
文摘China’s unconventional gas fields have a large number of low-productivity and low-efficiency wells, many of whichare located in remote and environmentally harsh mountainous areas. To address the long-term stable productionof these gas wells, plunger-lift technology plays an important role. In order to fully understand and accurately graspthe drainage and gas production mechanisms of plunger-lift, a mechanical model of plunger-liquid column uplift inthe plunger-lift process was established, focusing on conventional plunger-lift systems and representative wellboreconfigurations in the Linxing region. The operating casing pressure of the plunger-lift process and the calculationmethod for the maximum daily fluid production rate based on the work regime with the highest fluid recovery ratewere determined. For the first time, the critical flow rate method was proposed as a constraint for the maximumliquid-carrying capacity of the plunger-lift, and liquid-carrying capacity charts for conventional plunger-lift withdifferent casing sizes were developed. The results showed that for 23/8 casing plunger-lift, with a well depth ofshallower than 808 m, the maximum drainage rate was 33 m3/d;for 27/8 casing plunger-lift, with a well depth ofshallower than 742 m, the maximum drainage rate was 50.15 m3/d;for 31/2 casing plunger-lift, with a well depthof shallower than 560 m, the maximum drainage rate was 75.14 m3/d. This research provides a foundation for thescientific selection of plunger-lift technology and serves as a decision-making reference for developing reasonableplunger-lift work regimes.
基金The authors would like to acknowledge the National Natural Science Fund Project(62173049)for Key Projectthe Open Fund Project“Study on Transient Flow Mechanism of Fluid Accumulation in Shale Gas Wells”of the Sinopec Key Laboratory of Shale Oil/Gas Exploration and Production Technology.
文摘At present,the optimization of the plunger mechanism is shale gas wells is mostly based on empirical methods,which lack a relevant rationale and often are not able to deal with the quick variations experienced by the production parameters of shale gas wells in comparison to conventional gas wells.In order to mitigate this issue,in the present work,a model is proposed to loosely couple the dynamics of gas inflow into shale gas wells with the dynamics of the liquid inflow.Starting from the flow law that accounts for the four stages of movement of the plunger,a dynamic model of the plunger lift based on the real wellbore trajectory is introduced.The model is then tested against 5 example wells,and it is shown that the accuracy level is higher than 90%.The well‘switch’,optimized on the basis of simulations based on such a model,is tested through on-site experiments.It is shown that,compared with the original switch configuration,the average production of the sample well can be increased by about 15%.
