Will Nelle
Estis Compression
Gas lift is long known to be an effective and versatile form of artificial lift and is widely used in oil and gas production. The gas lift process is dependent on gas pressures not naturally available from oil and gas production facilities. Rather gas must be pressurized through use of a compressor and thus compressors are a vital component to the gas lift process. Unfortunately, some operators have experienced unsatisfactory levels of compressor runtime, particularly during periods of cold weather. When the compressor is down, well production suffers. Thus, some operators have turned away from gas lift as a viable production method over concerns with compressor reliability. This is unfortunate and demands education on compressor design and operation strategies to increase compressor runtime, especially during cold weather operations. This paper addresses the key factors that impact compressor runtime during periods of cold weather and offers insight as to how to increase the reliability of gas lift system.