Features of operation of a watered gas well with a plunger lift

To obtain high values of the current gas production and the final coefficient of gas extraction from deposits under the water-pressure regime, it is necessary to ensure complete and continuous removal of liquid from the bottom hole to the surface. An effective method of intensifying the operation of watered gas wells and extending the period of their natural flow is the use of a plunger lift. The purpose of the study was to substantiate the area of effective use of a plunger lift to intensify the removal of fluid from watered gas wells using the reservoir gas’s own energy depending on the value of the water factor. The tasks were solved by conducting research on a hypothetical (model) watered gas well using mathematical modelling methods. The proposed mathematical model of the plunger lift operation has been tested for the conditions of a hypothetical gas well at different values of the water factor from 0 to 125 L/thousand m3. For the well under consideration, the area of effective application of the plunger lift is limited to the values of the water factor of 12-41 L/thousand m3. According to the research results, the maximum value of the width of the gap between the plunger body and the wall of the tubing, which should not exceed 0.0025 m, is substantiated. The developed mathematical model of the plunger lift operation in a watered gas well, which includes the choice of the area of its effective application and the maximum value of the gap width between the plunger body and the tubing wall, makes it possible to ensure stable operation of watered gas wells with increased gas production due to the use of reservoir gas’s own energy and to extend the wells’ flowing period. As a result, in practice, the current gas production and the final coefficient of gas extraction from the field are increased