Opportunistic techniques for production optimization of gas-lifted wells

A computer system, comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• a processor in communication with the memory, the processor programmed to optimize hydrocarbon production in a gas-lifted hydrocarbon well while hydrocarbons are being produced by
• monitoring a gas lift rate of the well while producing hydrocarbons according to an initial gas lift performance curve;
• monitoring one or more well performance parameters for the well;
• detecting disturbances in the well, the disturbances being detected while monitoring the one or more well performance parameters;
• identifying a need for a forced disturbance in the well when the detected disturbances do not provide sufficient information to derive the initial gas lift performance curve;
• modeling transience of the well;
• deriving a new gas lift performance curve based on the detected disturbances, the modeled transience, and the initial gas lift performance curve;
• determining an optimal allocation of gas lift from the new gas lift performance curve;
• and
• generating an instruction to produce hydrocarbons using the determined optimal allocation of gas lift, wherein hydrocarbons are produced according to the determined optimal allocation of gas lift.