Evolution of Gas Lift Technology: A Journey Through Time

1. Shell and Gas Lift – A Historical Perspective ASME Gas Lift Workshop 4 February, 2009 Scheveningen, The Netherlands John Rusz 2009 ASME G/L Keynote

2. 1950’s • 1957 • Treaty of Rome signed – Forming the European Economic Community • Earliest report in the Shell Rijswijk Catalog on the subject of Gas Lift • “Gas Lifting of Yarigui Wells, Colombia” • Currently operated by Ecopetrol • Formerly on gas lift, now on Beam Pump and still producing • 1959 • Texas Instruments applies for a patent on the integrated circuit • Shell installs Camco “KCM” wireline retrievable side pocket mandrels in Olomoro field of Nigeria. The SPM, which revolutionised the industry, was patented by Camco in 1954.

3. 1960’s • 1961 • The Beatles played their first gig at Liverpool’s Cavern Club. • Ros / Ros-Gray / Duns & Ros two phase correlation developed at Shell labs. • 1964 • The first Ford Mustang car is produced. • JV Vogel published his landmark paper on Inflow Performance which is still used today. • 1968 • First Boeing 747 is delivered. • First Shell reference on calculation of the Equilibrium Curve

4. 1980’s • 1984 • Bishop Desmond Tutu wins the Nobel Peace Prize • Tulsa University Artificial Lift Project – gas lift valve performance • 1987 • IBM PC-DOS version 3.3 released • CO2 Tracer Developed at Shell Research in Bellaire • 1989 • “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” wins a Grammy award • WinGLUE Development begins • Personal use of compiled Fortran executables • Commercial product

6. WinGLUE Functionality (partial list) • Equilibrium Curves • Well Test Calibration • Valve Performance Clearinghouse integration • CO2 Tracer (“WellTracer”) integration • Fieldwide Lift Gas Allocation • Electronic gauge data import utility • File Export to Petroleum Experts’ “GAP” • PI server connection for SCADA view and import • Gas Lift Valve Reliability and Tracking database

7. 1990’s • 1991 – first electric Gas Lift Valve installed in Oman for PDO by HES/Otis • 1993 – Shell lab research into dynamic simulation of gas lift wells • 1994 – 18M Gas Lift Research Dual-Well Model installed in Rijswijk, now at TU Delft

8. 1990’s • 1995 – SGAS (Unix) fieldwide lift gas SCADA system installed in Oman • 1995 –12M Gas Lift Training Well Model installed in Noordwijkerhout, now in Rijswijk

9. 1990’s • 1998 – Charter Member of the Valve Performance Clearinghouse joint industry project. • 1998 – Virtual Gas-Lift Well Training Model

10. 1990’s • 1998 – Cableless electric gas lift valve developed and installed in Brunei and Oman. Commercialised

11. 1990’s • 1999 - Small Bubbles tested in Brunei and Cameroon. • Bubble Breaker now commercialised.

12. 2000’s • 2000 – Online Gas Lift Training deployed worldwide • 2000 – FieldWare GasLift deployed in Cameroon. Commercialised • 2001 – CO2 Tracer redevelopment. Commercialised • 2002 - High Reliability Gas-Lift Flow Control Device. Commercialised

13. CO2 Tracer

14. HRglO

15. 2000’s • 2007 – Retrofit Gas Lift on a Tension Leg Platform • 4000 ft. water depth, US$ 1 billion facility, 150 colleagues • 2008 – Smart Auto-Lift • Using smart well hardware to lift an oil zone with a gas zone in the same wellbore • The future • Shell has had a long relationship with the safe, and profitable production of oil using gas lift. We plan and expect for this relationship to continue for many years to come. • We strive to improve the integrity of our assets, to train and support our staff and to support the communities where we work and live.