Gas assisted lift system

I claim a gas lift system comprising;

• a lift tube having an inside, an outside, a top end and a distal end being placed within an annulus with said top end in communication with a recovery system;
• a plurality of differential pressure control valves adapted to be attached to said lift tube such that said inside of said lift tube is in communication with said annulus through said differential pressure control valve and such that said differential control valve will close whenever the decreasing pressure within said lift tube approaches the pressure within said annulus and wherein fluid contained within said annulus may freely pass into said lift tube providing said differential control valve is open;
• a jet pump attached to the distal end of said lift tube said jet pump adapted to lift liquids up said lift tube whenever gas is applied therewith;
• and
• a source of pressured gas applied to said annulus.

I claim a differential pressure control valve for use with a gas lift system comprising

• a body having an inside, an outside, topside and a bottom side;
• an upper and lower conduit in communication with said inside of said body;
• a shuttle contained within said body and adapted to move between said topside and said bottom side thereof;
• a bias spring contained within said body between said shuttle valve and said bottom side of said body;
• wherein said valve has an open position and a closed position, and wherein said open position allows fluid to flow from said topside of said body through said valve and through one of said conduit and wherein said closed position inhibits said flow further wherein said valve shifts to said closed position whenever the differential pressure between said topside and said conduit becomes nearly equal.

I claim a method for operating a gas lift system in a well having a wellhead, a casing, a production string within the casing and having a lift tube with a series of differential pressure control valves placed within the production string and terminated at its distal end in an eduction pump and wherein the differential pressure control valves communicate between the lift tube and the fluid contained within the production string and wherein the lift tube is in communication with a recovery system and having a source of pressured gas comprising:

• a. applying pressured gas to the production string;
• b. allowing the pressured gas to force liquid from the production string through the first differential pressure control valve nearest the wellhead to the recovery system;
• c. waiting until the first differential pressure control valve closes;
• d. repeating steps b and c until the last differential control valve at the opposite end of the production string from the wellhead closes;
• and,
• e. producing the well through the eduction pump utilizing the pressured gas as a lift medium through the lift tube and to the recovery system.

I claim a method for reverse flushing a gas lift system in a well having a wellhead, a casing, a production string within the casing and having a lift tube with a series of differential pressure control valves placed within the production string and terminated at its distal end in an eduction pump wherein the eduction pump has a check valve in the inlet and wherein the differential pressure control valves communicate between the lift tube and the fluid contained within the production string and wherein the lift tube is in communication with a recovery system and having a source of pressured gas and water comprising:

• a. reversing the surface plumbing thereby allowing the pumping of gas and fresh water down the coil tubing,
• b. applying pressured gas and water into the lift tube thereby causing all differential control valves to open,
• c. circulating, under pressure, through the lift tube thereby carrying cleaning fluid through each differential pressure valve and returning said cleaning fluid to the surface through the production tubing,
• d. waiting for the flush process to finish,
• e. returning the surface plumbing to normal.