EuALF presentation:  Active monitoring of gas lift wells with distributed temperature sensing

Our Senior Development Engineer Iko Oguche delivered a fascinating presentation on Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) at the recent EuALF conference in Aberdeen.

Iko summaries:  “Traditional gas lift systems use a combination of valve arranged along the well length to lift fluid in stages. The valves are calibrated on surface, installed at prescribed depths and must operate as designed for the system to be effective. Several monitoring methods exist for tracking and understanding down-hole behaviour for such systems but most of them involve using either calculations or disruptive operations like interventions.

DTS provides an alternative method for monitoring gas lift wells. It uses a fiber optic cable to provide a continuous temperature profile along the length of the fiber which can be interpreted to identify downhole events such as active valves, liquid levels, leaks etc. It however generates large quantities of data which can be difficult to manage as most DTS format are not compactible with standard database software, making data visualisation and analysis cumbersome and data recorded without ever being viewed.”

Iko’s presentation used data from different case studies to show applicable principles and methods for obtaining useful information from DTS data with respect to gas lift valve operation state. It also showed data management solutions for seamless acquisition, transmission and processing of this data. Furthermore, the application of smart algorithms to allow for real time data processing and alerts was also discussed.

Should you wish to discuss further, or missed the presentation and would like an overview, please contact Iko on 01224 238950 / iko.oguche@tendeka.com