WANA (Aug 27) – The Petroleum University of Technology, in collaboration with Arvandan Oil & Gas Company, has successfully designed and developed advanced laboratory equipment and applied “Foam-Assisted Gas Lift” (FAGL) technology, achieving up to a threefold increase in oil production at the pilot laboratory scale. This innovation could revolutionize operations in wells with high water cut.

 

Shahin Kord, a faculty member at the Petroleum University of Technology, explained that many oil wells employing conventional gas lift methods face efficiency drops due to rising water content or horizontal and deviated well trajectories.

 

“Foam-Assisted Gas Lift provides an effective solution to this challenge. By injecting surfactants and generating foam inside the well, the fluid column density decreases, allowing oil to reach the surface with less energy,” he said.

 

The project involved selecting and testing suitable foaming agents, modeling and sensitivity analysis of key parameters in foam-assisted lift, and designing two innovative setups at the university’s research center.

 

The first setup assessed foamability and foam stability, while the second evaluated foam’s impact on improving production and the surfactants’ ability to separate emulsified water from oil under varying temperatures and pressures.

 

Kord added, “Results show that optimizing the choice of foaming agent and adjusting operational parameters can increase laboratory-scale oil production up to three times compared to conventional methods.

 

In this approach, produced water serves as the medium for foam formation, while injected gas and surfactants create a stable foam that lowers the oil column density and significantly enhances production.”

 

The project, titled “Design and Optimization of Foam Application in Gas-Assisted Artificial Lift,” began in September 2024 at the Research Center of the Ahvaz School of Petroleum.

 

It was led by Shahin Kord with the collaboration of Touba Hamoule and a team of graduate and undergraduate students. Arvandan Oil & Gas Company, which uses gas lift in some of its wells, provided financial and operational support for the initiative.

 

This achievement highlights the synergy between academic expertise and industry needs. Relying on domestic capabilities, innovation, and the collective effort of researchers and students, the project offers a practical solution to one of the major challenges in Iran’s oil production sector.

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