Poor well integrity can cost operators billions of dollars. Factors like oil price declines and low margin make operators vulnerable to these risks. This makes it important to focus more on safety, wellbore integrity, and regular maintenance. Managing the integrity of wells is important to guarantee their safety levels. To maintain the integrity of a well, solutions must be applied to minimize the risk of unmanageable release of formation fluids throughout a well’s lifecycle.
Wells with ineffectively managed integrity problems can experience production losses, expensive workovers, and well shut-ins. Plus they can lead to significant environmental impacts like groundwater contamination, fluid spills, gas leakage to the atmosphere, and seepage at the surface. Major incidents emphasize the need to assure the oil and gas and petrochemical industry must pay close attention to the integrity of the well.
The following are some tips to effectively manage the integrity of wells:
Understanding the Current Implementation Levels
This step will help the company establish a way forward with an emphasis on vital items. This will reveal the integrity status of the well for the producing and shut-in well stock, resulting in more efficient operations that include improved safety and minimized operational risks. This includes reviewing the well integrity management system or other systems in place.
Identifying and Mitigating the Risks
It is imperative to perform a thorough risk analysis when planning for an operation to identify the vital factors that can cause major integrity problems with the well. To evaluate the dependability of a system, the effects, failure modes, and criticality analysis method is used. This method helps properly identify the risks. Once the risks are identified, they should be mitigated.
Picking the Best Technical Solution
To make this choice, it helps to define the requirements for the well barrier first. This makes sure the integrity of the well is maintained throughout the well’s life. A well can have leaks because of improper fit of equipment specifications. Any new solutions must be tested and qualified to industry standards. Also, to offer the best technical solution and guide for optimal field development and product, it is imperative to use a Field Development Plan.
Giving All Workers Adequate Training
All workers operating the well should get adequate training to reduce the number of operational errors and integrity problems. Proper training offers workers the knowledge to operate various equipment properly and safely. Also, they can make correct decisions on every aspect of ensuring the integrity of a well.
