Smart valve stabilises monopod well performance

摘要

YEARS OF EXPERIENCE WITH OFFSHORE oil wells have taught Alaska-based Flowserve Flow Control distributor Joe Gross,president of Alpine Valve & Control Systems,that the oil production process can be a demanding master.'Oil wells are sensitive creatures,' he observes.'They are subject to upset at the slightest provocation.'Upset oil wells were what led Gross to meet Justus Hinks,a Unocal production engineer assigned to an Alaskan 'monopod' platform.Installed in 1967,the monopod was one of the first oil and gas platforms deployed in the Cook Inlet.Gross and Hinks joined forces to explore whether Flowserve's StarPac intelligent control valve offered a solution for a monopod well,A-15,presenting a series of problems,including well instability,restricted production and high gas lift usage rates.Their job:find out whether the StarPac could effectively control the well's gas lift flow rate,thereby stabilising the well,increasing its fluid production and decreasing the amount of gas it needed to operate.