2015 to be year of well integrity

With oil prices so low, operators can no longer put off developing an integrated approach to well integrity based on data management and shared best practice, an industry analyst has said ahead of a major conference on the topic.

“We have seen a definite sharpening in focus on well integrity over the past two years as operators face up to the fact that a partial or disjointed approach to this crucial issue has a big effect on their balance sheets,” said industry analyst Jamie Davies, of FC Business Intelligence.

“Figures suggest that since 2009, poor well integrity has cost operators globally over US$75 billion, with Macondo, Elgin and Montara being the most publicised.

“When oil prices were up around US$110 per bbl or more that may have been a cost operators felt they could absorb. Now, with the price down 30% since June, the unnecessary expense of well integrity negligence has really come under the spotlight.”

Davies said experts on the field are focussing their concerns on three major themes.

First, approaches to well integrity are disjointed, with not enough consideration being put into well integrity decisions during the initial stages of design and construction. This issue was highlighted earlier this year when founder of asset-integrity company Wood Group Intetech, Dr Liane Smith, told DecomWorld: “We’re called on to help a surprising number of clients with wells that are only weeks into production, which means they’ve been handed over with problems.”

Second, the majority of well integrity professionals are located in the well management or production teams, with integrity issues generally being dealt with during the operational stages of the well only. Industry is starting to move to a point where quality assurance models and integrity management strategies are being implemented at the design stages, but progress is slow.

Third, the opportunities for maximising control through data capture and analysis is starting to make an impact. Evidence for this came last month when Schlumberger announced a new well integrity service to help operators evaluate zonal isolation by gathering in real-time drilling, cementing and well logging data. Called Invizion Evaluation, the service evaluates drilling surface parameters, formation rock properties, cement barrier placement, and cased hole cement.

The 2nd Annual Well Integrity and Lifecycle Digitalisation Conference, taking place in April in Houston, is aimed at helping operators define an integrated and data-driven approach for well integrity governance, enhanced production and continued compliance.

Experts from top operators will be speaking, including: Marco op de Weegh, Well Control & Design Integrity Team Lead, Unconventionals, Shell; Valerie Wilson, Well Integrity Lead, ConocoPhillips; and Claudio Castaneda, Well Integrity Team Lead, EQUION Energia.

Attendees will hear industry-expert presentations from, among others, Ronald Sweatman, Oil & Gas Advisor, Baker Hughes; Pavel Shaposhikov, Well Integrity Domain Champion, Schlumberger; and Robello Samuel, Drilling Technology Fellow, Halliburton.

Exclusive case studies will be presented on sustained casing pressure modelling, corrosion management and mitigation, wellhead fatigue and integrated data management and well monitoring.

“Well integrity has always been paramount to successful oil and gas operations because it drives efficiency throughout the entire lifecycle, from design and construction to plugging and abandonment,” said FC Business’s James Davies. “Traditionally it has not received the levels of investment which you would expect for such a key focus area, but I think that, with all that has happened in the last several years, 2015 will see well integrity come into its own.”

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/exploration/12122014/oil-prices-low-operators-developing-integrated-approach-well-integrity-data-management-1991/