find8, if you have to google to find out what gas lift is, then one can draw ones own conclusions. Let me explain again. When a well is opened for production, if the reservoir pressure is sufficient then the oil will flow to surface. If there is an underlying aquifer, then the volume of produced oil is replaced by an inflow of water beneath and the pressure is maintained. If the water inflow is not available (ie no aquifer support) then the pressure will eventually drop and the oil flow will reduce and eventually require pumping. If gas is injected near the bottom of the oil column in the well, then a frothy mixture is created which is less dense, hence the column in the well weighs less and can flow again for a time at the reduced reservoir downhole pressure. This is a standard production technique. In this case however we are told to expect good aquifer support and therefore lack of downhole pressure should not be a problem. However if the oil layer in the reservoir above the water contact is thin, then at high flow rates water can be produced (coned) into the production column from the underlying water table as well as oil. The water is denser, hence not only does one get less oil per overall volume, because the oil plus water column is heavier than an oil only column the overall flow rate is lowered for any given reservoir pressure. In this latter case, gas injection will again reduce the density (hence weight) of the oil plus water column in the well and reinstate for a while a reasonable unpumped flow rate. Note it will not do anything to reduce a water cut directly, it will simply up the rate at which the combined fluids are produced. There are obviously more bells and whistles attached to the technique than outlined above, but this should give the general idea without reference to vague voodoo explanations. I do hope this is helpful and informative.
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