International Journal of Mathematics and Mathematical Sciences
Volume 2007 (2007), Article ID 81519, 15 pages
doi:10.1155/2007/81519
Research Article
An Investigation on Gas Lift Performance Curve in an Oil-Producing Well
1Industrial and Financial Mathematics Group, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Jl. Ganesha 10, Bandung 40132, Indonesia
2Departement Sains, Sekolah Tinggi Teknologi Telkom, Jl. Telekomunikasi Dayeuhkolot, Bandung 40257, Indonesia
3Reservoir Engineering Group, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Jl. Ganesha 10, Bandung 40132, Indonesia
4Drilling Engineering, Production, and Oil & Gas Management Group, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Jl. Ganesha 10, Bandung 40132, Indonesia
Received 1 February 2007; Accepted 13 March 2007
Academic Editor: Marco Squassina
Copyright © 2007 Deni Saepudin et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
The main objective in oil production system using gas lift technique is to obtain the optimum gas injection rate which yields the maximum oil production rate. Relationship between gas injection rate and oil production rate is described by a continuous gas lift performance curve (GLPC). Obtaining the optimum gas injection rate is important because excessive gas injection will reduce production rate, and also increase the operation cost. In this paper, we discuss a mathematical model for gas lift technique and the characteristics of the GLPC for a production well, for which one phase (liquid) is flowing in the reservoir, and two phases (liquid and gas) in the tubing. It is shown that in certain physical condition the GLPC exists and is unique. Numerical computations indicate unimodal properties of the GLPC. It is also constructed here a numerical scheme based on genetic algorithm to compute the optimum oil production.