Talk:Gas lift

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Comments[edit]

gas lift is an interesting process function, whose study could prove elusive for many otherwise highly-literate oil and gas professionals.

80.89.176.35 (talk) 22:38, 20 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

merger[edit]

Gas lift and gas injection are two totally different things. I am removing the tag to merge. TastyCakes (talk) 16:12, 13 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The point isn't that they are the same thing, but that they are two processes which accomplish the same thing. I don't think there's enough for each of them to have a seperate article, but they can be combined under one title (maybe a new article titled secondary recovery methods). NJGW (talk) 20:49, 13 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

They do not accomplish the same thing. In gas injection, gas is pumped into the reservoir in order to reduce viscosity and maintain pressure. In gas lift, gas is pumped into the well in order to reduce density so the produced fluid flows to the surface without a pump. The former is a type of Enhanced Oil Recovery (in the reservoir engineering domain), the latter is a form of artificial lift (in the production domain). They are no more similar than a pump jack is to steam injection. Maybe there is not enough to justify having each article on its own, but if they are to be merged, it makes no sense to merge to each other. TastyCakes (talk) 23:27, 13 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It sounds like they accomplish the same thing, but inject the gas into different places. It also appears that the terms are very conflated in the industry, with gas-lift injection being a very popular term. What do you make of this usage (referring to gas lift as a type of recovery improval separate from other types of lifts): "It now pays to make the investments necessary to re-inject gas into a well to improve recovery, rather than use some other methods of artificial lift."[1] NJGW (talk) 00:02, 14 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

They do not accomplish the same thing. Gas injection into the reservoir can increase how much oil is extracted from the field. All gas lift achieves is making it so you don't have to buy and install a pump to pump oil out, or at least postpone doing so. In gas injection, the gas stays in the reservoir (or isn't recovered until breakthrough, which can be years later), while in gas lift the gas is constantly cycled up and down the well. All that magazine is saying is that it works out being cheaper in some cases on land to install gas lift equipment (essentially a compressor to push gas down the well) rather than installing a pump jack. They are not talking about injecting gas into the reservoir, which is what is meant when they're talking about gas injection into the field. I can see how the two could be confused, but they are very different processes and they really aren't as conflated as you seem to think, it is clear in all papers on the subject which one they're talking about. Yes you are injecting gas into well bores in both technologies, but in gas lift the gas never goes into the reservoir and it is there to lower the density of the produced fluid so it reaches the surface and in the other you're injecting the gas into the reservoir to maintain reservoir pressure, push fluid from an injector well to a producer well and decrease oil viscosity in the reservoir. For this reason gas lift is done on producing wells while gas injection or reinjection is done in designated injection wells. Gas injection is just like water injection but with gas. TastyCakes (talk) 03:36, 14 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I'm sorry I don't mean to be rude or snippy. But I really, really don't think these topics belong together. I could see gas lift being merged into the artificial lift article and gas reinjection merged into the enhanced oil recovery article, but to put them together doesn't make any sense technically. TastyCakes (talk) 14:57, 14 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think you're being rude, and I see your point... I just think it's unfortunate that sources I'm looking at are using the terms almost interchangeably. If you post a source which clearly differentiates between the two, I will reword these poorly written articles or merge them into appropriate places. NJGW (talk) 22:47, 14 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

They may be using terms interchangeably, but it's only in one direction. Articles on gas lift will unavoidably use some terminology in common with gas reinjection because they are still injecting gas, but only into the well. However, the term "gas lift" would never be used to describe the process currently covered in the gas reinjection article. Any articles you have found talking about gas lift are not talking about the stuff discussed in the gas reinjection article. Perhaps the gas reinjection article could be renamed something to make this distinction clear, like "gas reinjection (EOR method)". TastyCakes (talk) 23:02, 14 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

How about making a distinction at gas reinjection which explains that there are at least two different kinds of gas reinjection. NJGW (talk) 23:41, 14 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Sure that sounds like a good idea. TastyCakes (talk) 01:45, 15 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Bubble pumps merged[edit]

I appreciate this term is heavily used in the petroleum industry, but it is commonly used outside that domain to describe this technique for lifting fluids. I introduced a more generalized intro and merged material from a stub article on "bubble pumps". J JMesserly (talk) 02:26, 30 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]