February 23, 2023
More E&P companies today see Well Integrity Management (WIM) as a strategic operating lever instead of merely a compliance responsibility. Done well, WIM can help companies reduce their well downtime and intervention cost to improve their profitability and operating cash flows while minimizing safety and environmental hazards. The opportunity is more pronounced in the aging fields where wells typically encounter high casing pressure, mechanical failures, or corrosion problems which, if not addressed properly or on time, can lead to unplanned production downtime and intervention activities.
The key challenges, however, that stand in the way of an effective WIM are manual and inconsistent work processes, poor data management, and excessive dependence on very few specialists. These challenges cause slow and suboptimal responses to well integrity issues, causing production deferment and high cost of operating wells. A holistic response to this challenge must include better operating practices, competency development, and digitalization. The last one particularly merits attention as companies are increasing their usage of digital technologies, given their potential to streamline and automate WIM work processes and improve decision-making.
This article describes one powerful example of digitalization applied by Badr El Din Petroleum Company or BAPETCO to enhance the WIM processes and regulatory compliance. Formed in the early 1980s as a joint venture (JV) between Shell and the Egyptian General Petroleum Cooperation (EGPC), BAPETCO has been responsible for the appraisal, development, and production from oil and gas fields in the Egyptian Western Desert. Currently, the company operates on six onshore oil & gas concessions with a total of over 600 production and injection wells.
Shell’s exit from this JV in 2021 and the subsequent discontinuation of their in-house WIM system led BAPETCO to seek a digital WIM platform from the market. After rigorous technical evaluation, they selected Halliburton’s DecisionSpace® Well Integrity Management software.
Following were the key capabilities needed by BAPETCO to be delivered through digitalization:
DecisionSpace® Well Integrity Management Software is an industry-leading WIM software system differentiated by its modern user interface, wide ranging functionalities based on industry standards (e.g., ISO), flexible data management, and open architecture that allows easy customization as well as integration with a wide range of in-house and 3rd party data sources. The system was implemented in close collaboration with BAPETCO Well Integrity Teams who provided their specific requirements that had to be developed or configured within the software. This project is planned to be delivered in two phases with the first phase including delivery of the following functionalities:
Integrity Risk Assessment: Configuration of MAASP calculations, WFM, and HSE matrix to automate the integrity assessment of well barriers and the overall well, generate traffic lights and trigger actions based on the WIM corporate standards and business rules. Furthermore, Business Process Management (BPM) to monitor the implementation of identified remediation actions, Management of Change (MOC) or routine maintenance according to BAPETCO defined frequencies and the WFM matrix.
Barrier Management: Configuration of data entry forms to allow easy entry of results of integrity tests or annulus bleed offs by field technicians, as well as reporting of anomalies identified through visual inspection, along with BPM to track investigation and resolution of anomalies.
Interactive Dashboards: User-friendly dashboards to provide aggregated and detailed views of WIM Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in an easy-to-understand-format (e.g., traffic lights) for better visibility of well integrity issues, their quick identification, and detailed analyses.
Well Integrity Reports: In addition to ad-hoc reporting needs, delivery of 16 ISO standard reports to provide management and regulatory reporting on a range of WIM performance KPIs such as integrity status, exceptions/delays, annulus pressure and wellhead audits.
Well Integrity Database: Flexible and configurable database to store a wide range of well integrity lifecycle data including but not limited to integrity test results, operating limits, annulus pressure bleed-offs, wellhead audits, tasks and actions associated with anomaly management and deviation approvals, production/injection fluid sample analyses, and well files such as handover documents, photos and various reports.
DecisionSpace Well Integrity Management software will help BAPETCO to achieve several business benefits such as:
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