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Plunger lift

{{Cleanup|reason=list of criteria needs expansion into paragraphs and/or cites|date=January 2025}}

File:Principle of plunger lift.jpg

A plunger lift is an artificial lift method of deliquifying a natural gas well. A plunger is used to remove contaminants from productive natural gas wells, such as water (in liquid, mist, or ice forms), sand, oil and wax.

The basics of the plunger is to open and close the well shutoff valve at the optimum times, to bring up the plunger and the contaminants and maximize natural gas production. A well without a deliquification technique will stop flowing or slow down and become a non-productive well, long before a properly deliquified well.{{Cite web|url=http://blogs.mail.ru/mail/v_sh38/|title=My World@Mail.Ru: Stay in touch with your classmates and friends}}

The plunger lift has low energy cost, low environmental impact, low capital investment and low maintenance cost. Modern wellhead controllers offer a variety of criteria to control the plunger. The original controllers were just timers, with fixed open and close cycles.

Measuring the various pressures in the system allows intelligent and reactive control. The pressures often measured are casing, tubing, line, and differential (DP). The other items measured are plunger arrival times, flow rates, temperatures and status of various auxiliary equipment: oil tank level, compressor status.

Open well criteria

  • Plunger drop timer - Minimum close time to allow the plunger to reach the bottom.
  • Tube - Line pressure
  • Casing - Line pressure
  • Casing - Tubing pressure
  • Load ratio (Casing-tubing) / (Casing - Line)
  • Foss and Gaul equationFoss, D.L., and Gaul, R.B., "Plunger Lift Performance Criteria with Operating Experience - Ventura Avenue Field", (API Drilling and Production Practice,) 1965.
  • Tubing pressure
  • Casing pressure
  • Static pressure
  • External variables

Close well criteria

  • Flow time
  • After flow timer
  • Turner/Coleman flow rate
  • Load ratio
  • Differential (DP)
  • Flow rate
  • Tubing - Line pressure
  • Casing - Tubing pressure
  • Casing pressure
  • Static pressure
  • Tubing pressure
  • Line pressure

Notes

References

  • Lea, James F., "Dynamic Analysis of Plunger Lift Operations", (Journal of Petroleum Technology,) Vol. 34, No. 11, pp 2617–2629, Nov. 1982.
  • [https://soerok.com/store?sub_category=20&title=Lease%20Pumper%27s%20Handbook State of Oklahoma Margin Wells Handbook (pdf)]
  • [https://www.epa.gov/natural-gas-star-program/installing-plunger-lift-systems-gas-wells Installing Plunger Lift Systems, EPA 2006]
  • {{cite book | last = Lea | first = James | title = Gas Well Deliquification | publisher = Gulf Professional Publishing | year = 2003 | isbn = 978-0-7506-7724-0 }}
  • {{cite book | last = Guo | first = Boyun | title = Petroleum Production Engineering | publisher = Elsevier Gulf Professional Pub | location = Amsterdam | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-0-7506-8270-1 }}
  • {{cite book | last = Takacs | first = Gabor | title = Gas Lift Manual | publisher = PennWell | location = Tulsa | year = 2005 | isbn = 0-87814-805-1 }}
  • [http://members.igu.org/html/wgc2006/pdf/paper/add10470.pdf {{cite book | last = Medko | title = Operation of wells on the Medvezhie gas field on the basis of plunger lift at a final stage of the field development. 23rd World Gas Conference. | year = 2006 }}]
  • Сердюков О.М. СЧАСТЛИВОГО ПОЛЕТА! ж.ИЗОБРЕТАТЕЛЬ И РАЦИОНАЛИЗАТОР, 2002 г. 11(635) с.26, [http://i-r.ru/show_arhive.php?year=2002&month=11&id=1025]
  • [http://www.nov.com/Production/Artificial_Lift/Plunger_Lift_Systems.aspx "NOV Mono Plunger Lift Systems Page"]
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20160412091009/https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/AE0qcjtUlyMSrF15NY5gbdMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlink]

Patents

  • [http://www.freepatentsonline.com/1769637.html Pat #1769637 10/20/1925 ]
  • [http://www.freepatentsonline.com/1784096.html Pat #1784096 07/23/1929 ]
  • [http://www.freepatentsonline.com/1896232.html Pat #1896232 11/21/1931 ]
  • [http://www.freepatentsonline.com/2001012.html Pat #2001012 03/21/1934 ]
  • Patent SU 171351.Priority 14/11/1963. Bulletin No,16 05/05/1969 [http://195.208.85.248/Archive2/PAT/1924-1993/MSUR196165/DOC/DOCUSUA1/DOC001V3/D00171D1/00171351/00000001.TIF]{{Dead link|date=May 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} [http://195.208.85.248/Archive2/PAT/1924-1993/MSUR196165/DOC/DOCUSUA1/DOC001V3/D00171D1/00171351/00000002.TIF]{{Dead link|date=May 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
  • [http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4150721.html Pat #4150721 01/11/1978 ]
  • [http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5957200.html Pat #5957200 11/18/1997 ]
  • [http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6209637.html Pat #6209637 05/14/1999]
  • [http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6467541.html Pat #6467541 08/01/2000]
  • [http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7270187.html Pat #7270187 04/29/2003 ]
  • Patent RU 2214504. Flying valve, its detachable element and the method of wells operation. Priority 30.04.2002. Bulletin No. 29, 2003.
  • FLYING VALVE FOR A FREE PISTON. Pub. No.: WO/2008/060188 International Application No.: PCT/RU2007/000622 Publication Date: 22.05.2008 International Filing Date: 14.11.2007 [http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/wo.jsp?WO=2008060188]

Category:Natural gas technology