The development of White Tiger field, which is specified by complicated physical-chemical properties of oil and low reservoir properties of the oil-bearing rocks, presents major challenges when requires a changeover from the natural flow technique to the artificial lift. The White Tiger basement development characterized by declining production, increased water-cut, natural flow stop. The wells, which stopped flowing naturally, had to be changed over to a gaslift operation in order to stabilize the declining production. The design of existed associated gas field-gathering system mostly ensured the oil production, while gas utilization was mostly performed by gas flaring. For the purposes of transporting the gas onshore and switching to gaslift operation, it was required to implement the associated gas gathering system. Increasing the pressure on the first step of oil separation at the fixed offshore platform, while ensuring the gas gathering and transportation to the compressor station inlet, was possible only simultaneously with the implementation of the gaslift. Vietsovpetro experience shows the necessity of including the gaslift wells into well construction designs, fitting them with the downhole gaslift equipment during drilling and workover operations. Such a strategy allows switching the well to gaslift operation by cable units avoiding well killing, i.e. without lowering the productivity index (PI). The wells that stopped flowing naturally, and those that have natural flow with high water-cut, are recommended for gaslift changeover. Such wells are expected to show the increment of oil production and this fact makes their changeover to gaslift more reasonable before they stop flowing naturally. From this perspective, therefore, the historical studies of techniques and technologies development for gaslift production are currently important and may contribute to the development of gaslift production techniques at offshore fields throughout the world.
References
1. Tu Thanh Nghia, M.M. Veliev, V.A. Bondarenko et al., Historical aspects of straight gaslift implementation in Vietsovpetro JV (In Russ.), Neftyanoe khozyaystvo = Oil Industry, 2018, no. 6, pp. 127–131.
2. Chubanov O.V., Gorshenev B.C., Kanarskiy V.V. et al., Higher efficiency of White Tiger field development through application of compression gaslift (In Russ.), Neftyanoe khozyaystvo = Oil Industry, 2003, no. 5, pp. 88–89.
3. Tu Thanh Nghia, Veliev M.M., Gazliftnaya ekspluatatsiya skvazhin (Gaslift operation of wells), St.Petersburg: Nedra Publ., 2016, 384 p.
