A simple method to estimate the maximum liquid production rate using plunger lift system in wells

Abstract

Plunger Lift is a cyclic method of artificial lift that uses a plunger to establish an interface between the liquid accumulated in the production tubing and the reservoir or annulus gas pressure that will be used to lift the fluid in wells. In this work, the maximum possible liquid production rate that plunger lift will tolerate for a given depth and tubing size has been placed on a quantitative basis by means of simple equations obtained from correlations of field data. The predictive tool developed in this study can be of immense practical value for petroleum engineers to have a quick check on the maximum possible liquid production rate that plunger lift will tolerate for a given well depth and tubing size at various wells without opting for any expensive field trials. In particular, petroleum and production engineers would find the proposed method to be user-friendly with transparent calculations involving no complex expressions