Abstract
Gas lift is a widespread method of artificial lift. However, on wells where there is no provision for Side Pocket Mandrels one way to avoid a heavy work over, is to run a macaroni string inside the existing tubing; gas can be injected via the macaroni and the lifted fluid flowed through the tubing-macaroni annulus.
On offshore wells, regulations or Company policy may impose the use of Surface Controlled Subsurface Safety Valve. This paper describes a new type of SC-SSV, run as an integral part of the macaroni string, which will close the macaroni string and the tubing-macaroni annulus. Associated equipment to set the SC-SSV in place and to seal the macaroni string system in the Chrismas-tree is also covered in the paper. In addition, field experience on over 30 offshore wells equipped with such a system is related.
