Presenters
Herald Winkler, Texas Tech University, Bob L. Herd Department of Petroleum Engineering
It is extremely costly to do wireline gas-lift valve replacement in wells with subsea wellheads. All gas-lift valves for these installations should be designed for maximum run life and known injection-gas throughput performance for unloading and gas lifting the well. The API Recommended Practice method for gas-lift valve testing is not economically applicable. This paper describes a practical inexpensive rapid method for performance testing individual gas-lift valves in the field utilizing the injection-gas source for lifting the well.