Emerson and Interwell, a global leader in well intervention and integrity solutions, has announced the launch of the Adaptive Gas Lift System (AGLS), the world’s first retrievable electric gas lift system designed to meet internationally recognized safety and performance standards.
The AGLS enables continuous optimization of oil production without the need for invasive and costly well interventions, and its unique retrievable design reduces operational downtime while enhancing both the safety and sustainability of gas lift operations.
Conventional gas lift systems typically optimize production during the early life of a well, when tubing pressure is high. However, as reservoir conditions evolve, drawdown efficiency decreases and oil output can decline, often leading to over-injection or under-injection of lift gas. Traditional injection pressure operated (IPO) valves require reducing casing pressure to close, which limits injection depth and production.
Manipulating casing pressure and managing temperature-related uncertainties in valve behavior also frequently causes multi-pointing, where gas is injected at unintended depths, leading to inefficiencies and lost production. Addressing these challenges usually necessitates complex and costly well interventions to adjust valve port sizes or change injection depths.
The Adaptive Gas Lift System transforms gas lift operations by providing real-time remote control of valve port sizes, gas injection rates, injection depths and drawdown, without interrupting production. Because valve closure does not rely on reducing casing pressure, deeper injection is achievable, improving lifting efficiency over the life of the well.
The ability to make continuous data-based online adjustments eliminates the need for traditional intervention-based modifications, increasing uptime, maximizing production, enhancing safety and reducing project payback time. The unique retrievable design of AGLS allows for the complete replacement of entire valve assemblies using standard wireline techniques, without the need for costly workover operations.
The system is powered and controlled by Emerson’s Roxar™ Integrated Downhole Network—a permanent monitoring and control system that provides real-time data on pressure, temperature and flow to optimize reservoir management and production—and utilizes Interwell’s field-proven Side Pocket Mandrels and barrier-rated Gas Lift Valve.
AGLS is designed and qualified to the American Petroleum Institute’s API 19G1 (V1), 19G2 (V0) and Advanced Well Equipment Standards Group’s AWES 3362-36 standards.
By minimizing the number of interventions – which typically involve equipment mobilization, energy consumption, and associated emissions – the system also reduces the carbon footprint of gas lift operations. Additionally, by improving production efficiency, the AGLS lowers CO₂ emissions per barrel of oil produced, contributing to more sustainable and responsible energy production.
“We designed the AGLS to meet the most rigorous industry standards,” said Jan Inge Ellingsen, vice president and general manager for Roxar products at Emerson’s measurement solutions business. “This innovative technology will help unlock the full potential of assets in the field while eliminating the need for extensive interventions, improving safety, and supporting the transition toward net-zero energy production.”
“The oil and gas industry has long required a more dynamic and resilient approach to electric gas lift,” said Thormod Langballe, chief executive officer of Interwell. “Combining Emerson’s industry-leading digital automation expertise with Interwell’s specialized gas lift technology and know-how, we have developed a robust, real-time controllable gas lift solution that tackles these challenges head-on.”
