Lift Gas is used for increasing oil production. Gas is injected into the well casing, and infuses with the oil at different well depths depending on valve placement. The gas bubbles reduce the fluid column’s hydrostatic pressure and allow the reservoir liquids in the welll-bore to flow faster.
The lift gas comes up as associated or entrained gas in the oil. Lift gas applications can recover the “produced” gas and re-use it for continued lift.
Gas is not introduced to the reservoir itself.
Gas Injection is an Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) method. Gas is pumped into the reservoir and raises the pressure to “push” liquids towards the production well, or lower the viscosity to allow easier flow. In both cases, the reservoir composition is changed.
Lift Gas composition is dictated by the production composition. Apart from the supply required at start-up, the produced gas usually can be recovered and re-injected.
Injection Gas can be natural gas, but is often CO2 or Nitrogen. The packages can have high specification and metallurgy requirements based on gas analysis.
In both applications, discharge pressures are relatively high. These are determined to optimize oil production.
Gas Lift & Injection Compressor Solutions
Reciprocating Compressors are able to achieve adequate discharge pressures for lift and injection applications.
