This work describes a comprehensive approach to tackle systemic failure in gas lift valves in pre-salt wells. Failure analyses in gas lift valves were performed after unexpected early failures leading to tubing-annulus communication. Understanding the root causes of this problem generates value for assets, increasing equipment life, preventing unnecessary workover, and reducing costs. Suspect failed valves are systematically removed from the wells, usually by slick-line workovers, and brought to an onshore workshop, where their integrity and mechanical functionality can be analyzed. The valve's run life, equipment model and manufacturer, annular fluid, flow through the gas lift valve, operational pressure and temperature, composition of reservoir fluids and solids deposition were verified. Besides, transient simulations were carried out to provide insights on the root causes of the failure. Also, a good understanding on how each valve works, including its engineering design, was necessary to thoroughly understand the failure process. The study of gas-lift injection valves early failure in pre-salt wells have been an excellent way to understand the life cycle of production wells before the need to start lift gas injection. That leads to a comprehensive understanding about the effects of the fluids left in annulus and have supported Petrobras in most effectively managing of well integrity and workover costs. The analysis incorporates the impact of oil production, water cut, completion type, annular fluid composition, anti-scaling fluid injection (composition and efficiency) and the differential pressure between the tubing of the annulus in the valve failure model. The composition of the deposit found inside the valves and the production history of the well were essential to assemble the puzzle of how the failure mechanism works. With the acquired knowledge, it has been possible to apply barriers to avoid future events of unwanted tubing-annulus communication arising from gas-lift valve failures. This article provides a methodology and examples for a most effective understanding of the gas-lift valves failure mechanisms and their root causes, which proved to be a valuable tool for the artificial lift design and for the planning of well operations. That has contributed to maximize equipment life, cost reduction and, at last, generating value for the company.

An Integrated Operations initiative is on going at Santos Basin in order to face the new challenges of Pre-Salt greenfields. This initiative is being conducted at Petrobras through a corporative plan called GIOp (Integrated Operations Management) and, to potentialize lessons learnt, the company is deploying a pilot in Santos (city located at São Paulo State – Brazil). Petrobras has already tried to apply the smart field concept in previous experiences. The company selected the 20 most interesting processes to be redesigned following the IO concept to run a Pilot in Santos Basin, aiming to test this concept, exercise the collaborative way of working, and acquire experience. This phase used some key available features as tools, temporary collaborative environments and resident professionals. The focus was to obtain early results with a quick wins strategy. Therefore, well and process plant surveillances were implemented for all units of the Santos Basin, followed by a 24/7 Operational Support, which is directly connected to the production units and offshore operations. This paper describes the implementation and execution of the production surveillance activities in Santos Basin, pointing to practical cases of application, across related processes. Many improvement opportunities have been exercised in several disciplines and production assets, in order to incorporate the lessons learnt to the process mapping and bring valuable information for the following phases of the GIOp implementation in Brazil.