WELL INTEGRITY

WELL INTEGRITY

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In simple terms, well integrity can be described as an application, which provides organizational, operational, and technical solutions that are effective in curtailing release of fluids to the surface or subterranean formations from the well (Bellarby 2009, p. 14). It is considered as a multifaceted approach on managing well leakages and well barrier management (Alcantara 2014, p. 55). The role of a well integrity engineer is to interact with various aspects and disciplines consistently. This ensures their empowerment with the skills on well barrier envelopes and well barriers management (Vignes & Aadnøy 2010, p. 32). As elaborated, well integrity is characterized with different affects that outlines the roles of the well integrity engineer.

The first facet that is relevant in maintaining well integrity is accountability. It is imperative for the engineer to maintain accountability as it assures that all the responsibilities whose completion synchronizes with the well integrity assurance are fulfilled (Carpenter 2015, p. 45). From this angle, other additional personnel are also deemed accountable. They include the well service technicians as well as the operators (Matanovic, Gaurina-Medimurec & Simon 2013, p. 56). The second facet is well operating processes. Some of the fundamental processes include procedures to report anomalies, well startup and operational shutdown processes as well as corrosion control and personnel competency. This facet ensures that all the aforementioned processes are coordinated simultaneously.

The third facet involves well service processes. This is usually handled by the well integrity management systems abbreviated as WIMS (Oksta & Sangesland, 2009, p. 21). Through provision of meaningful solutions, engineers are able to fulfill the service processes, which include intervention procedures and competency. The fourth facet handled by the WIMS is the annulus/tubing integrity (Dethlefs & Chastain, 2012, p. 89). This involves the maintaining the integrity of the production tubing. Elements that contribute to the destruction of the tubing include corrosion and erosion that is caused by the production fluid. It is imperative for the personnel and engineers to ensure that the tubes are well monitored and maintained.

References

Alcantara, S, O 2014, ‘Technology Focus: Well Integrity (January 2014)’, Journal of Petroleum Technology, vol. 66 no. 01, pp.90-90.

Bellarby, J 2009, Well completion design, Elsevier, Amsterdam.

Carpenter, C 2015, ‘Effective Well-Integrity Management in a Mature Sour-Oil Field’, Journal of Petroleum Technology, vol. 67 no. 01, pp.93-96.

Dethlefs, J,  & Chastain, B 2012 ‘Assessing Well-Integrity Risk: A Qualitative Model’, SPE Drilling & Completion, vol. 27 no. 02, pp.294-302.

Matanović, D, Čikeš, M, & Moslavac, B 2012, Sand control in well construction and operation, Springer, Berlin.

Matanovic, D, Gaurina-Medimurec, N, & Simon, K 2013, Risk analysis for prevention of hazardous situations in petroleum and natural gas engineering. Springer, Berlin

Okstad, E. & Sangesland, S 2009, ‘Integrity Assessment of Well Barriers Threatened by Increasing Casing-Hanger Loads’, SPE Drilling & Completion, vol. 24, no. 02, pp.286-292.

Vignes, B, & Aadnøy, B 2010, Well-Integrity Issues Offshore Norway. SPE Production & Operations, vol. 25 no. 02, pp.145-150.