Prospecting Papers and Patents of Gas Lift Valves Technology

Abstract

Between the phases of oil exploration and production, there is this oil transfer through natural or artificial elevation method. When this method is natural, the pressure in the reservoir is sufficiently high and the fluids in it can emerge to the surface, but when this pressure is insufficient, the fluids do not reach the surface without the use of artificial lifting methods. Among the struggles to be solved by engineering, there is the optimization of the geometry of the lift gas valves (VGL) and the sealing material. In this context, this article presents the prospecting of papers and patents related to the technological advances of VGL published in the last five years (2016 to 2020) and as a research contribution, there is the identification of solutions regarding the aforementioned optimization. The ScienceDirect, Scopus, CAPES Periodical Portal, and Web of Science databases were used, and the patent search in the database of the European Patent Office (EPO), Espacenet. The results showed that the number of papers published in this area is low, showing that there have been more publications on the subject in the last three years. In addition, China and the United States of America are the countries with the highest number of patents granted in the years surveyed, and the two North American inventors have the greatest number of inventions.