Being Prepared With the Right Technology
Authors: Irani Barry 
Published: February 2015

Hurricanes. Mechanical failures. Missing replacement parts. From routine maintenance to unexpected operational difficulties, a wide range of events can affect the integrity of producing wells and facilities. Unfortunately, when these events occur, they typically cause downtime, resulting in delays, disruption, and, in some cases, even loss of oil and gas production. In the case of offshore, deepwater high-volume wells, an interruption in production even for a few hours can mean deferral or loss of millions of dollars.

Managing well integrity is a complex business. One important ingredient to ensure and facilitate an effective way to maintain operational efficiency and minimize downtime, no matter what the situation, is information. It simply takes information—the right information, delivered at the right time, to the right people.

Safe in the Storm

A quick review of this year’s hurricane systems demonstrates what unexpected events can do to oil and gas production. Several major storms hit the Gulf of Mexico, including hurricanes Katrina and Rita, destroying some producing facilities and disabling hundreds for the short term. Were petroleum companies able to quickly and accurately prepare their facilities for the storms? How fast did operators of the damaged platforms get their production systems back up and running? The results depended in large part upon operators’ access to critical information.

Even under normal conditions, ensuring the safety and integrity of producing assets remains the focus of operating companies, especially in offshore production. Operators must have quick access to high-quality data to make good decisions and maintain the integrity of their wells and production systems. The data must be accurate. And they must be available at an instant.

Ensuring well integrity involves much more than crisis management or reacting to unexpected operational difficulties. Broadly speaking, well integrity management is principally concerned with ensuring producing assets operate safely and profitably from cradle to grave. That being said, however, actual strategies for managing integrity vary widely depending on the operating company and the regulatory environment in which it operates. Oil companies must address a variety of unique operational complexities, from health, safety, and environment to well tests, preventive maintenance, and regulatory reporting. What is more, operators must consider these factors not only for current production, but also throughout the asset life cycle, from drilling proposal to well abandonment. But no matter the situation, the common factor to successful integrity management is the ability to efficiently share reliable information with decision makers and troops on the ground.

Unfortunately, right now at a majority of petroleum companies a significant amount of critical information is located in personal files, on disparate computer systems, and in remote offices. These sources are disorganized. Additionally, where structured data and digital documents exist, there are often multiple versions of the needed data or document, making it virtually impossible to identify correct and approved information efficiently. As a result, during an emergency and even under normal operating conditions, required information is difficult to access, organize, and communicate.