Reservoir optimized plunger lift technology reduces hydrocarbon emissions from aging gas wells

The Science of the Total Environment
Zacariah L Hildenbrand, Kevin A Schug

Abstract

Gas well liquification is a problematic process whereby liquids collect in the wellbore and near wellbore reservoir resulting in production impedance in aging gas wells. Removal of these liquids is traditionally performed through human operated blowdown events; however, this practice results in the release of hydrocarbon emissions into the atmosphere. The removal process, called 'deliquification', can also be accomplished through the utilization of various plunger lift technologies. These allow the extraction of retained fluids from the wellbore and near-wellbore reservoir; however, these technologies vary greatly with respect to automation, intelligence, and efficacy. Here we examined the rates of production loss and the frequency of emission events in mature natural gas wells equipped with various automated plunger lift technologies. Overall, 'intelligent' plunger lift systems that base their optimization on reservoir and wellbore conditions, as opposed to standardized or scheduled operations, performed the best exhibiting a 0.13% loss of production gas to atmospheric emissions compared to a 1.37% loss of production observed from wells without a plunger lift system. Additionally, wells equipped with a next generation reservoi...Continue Reading

References

Sep 18, 2013·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·David T AllenJohn H Seinfeld
Apr 16, 2014·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Dana R CaultonBen R Miller
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Jan 17, 2017·Nature Communications·Daniel Zavala-AraizaSteven P Hamburg
Mar 30, 2019·Environmental Science & Technology·George G ZaimesTimothy J Skone

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