Mechanistic multiphase flow modeling: A new approach for gas lift design using dimensionless scaling curve for tubing size optimization.

Gas lift is one of the most popular artificial lift methods available in the oil and gas industry. It relies on reducing fluid density, henceforth reducing the pressure gradient along the wellbore and eventually enables liquid to be lifted at ease. As Indonesia's oil fields are reaching mature state, optimization in artificial lift method is one of the most feasible actions and it carries lower risk compared to injecting foreign substance into the reservoir. Previous efforts in optimizing gas lift design has been revolving around the application of Gas Lift Performance (GLP) curves, where changes in oil recovery is monitored as a function of gas injected. As established as this method nowadays, it still carries a heavy burden when dynamic pressure and rate changes should accounted in a very small time step. Therefore, the application of mechanistic modeling can be an alternative to reduce complexity in modeling dynamic GLP curves. This research presents a novel extension of Flow Pattern Map (FPM) as a function of tubing size in order to map optimum injection gas rate. A new correlation is also presented as a correction factor for highly utilized tubing sizes in oil and gas industry, therefore increasing the versatility of FPM application in gas lift optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]