Offshore staff
HØVIK, Norway –DNV GL has established a joint industry project (JIP) to develop guidelines for a decision support framework for corrosion assessment and integrity management of aging wells.
Many wells are reaching an age of 30 or 40 years, and operators are facing a growing challenge to predict output, mitigate against risk, and ultimately decide whether to retire or rejuvenate aging wells. Life extension of aging wells is moving up the agenda for oil and gas operators in many regions. Factors driving this include high oil prices, technology advances, and regulatory requirements.
“As well as dealing with the operational changes in the well’s lifetime, such as long-term degradation effects, there can also be difficulties caused by uncertainty over the integrity of the well and access to design documentation; corrosion, in particular, poses a major threat to these wells,” says Shamik Chowdhury, project manager at DNV GL. “The JIP aims to close the existing gap in well integrity management and introduce proper corrosion assessments, as well as provide estimates on the remaining life of individual wells. The outcome will help operators squeeze the remaining life out of their wells safely and cost effectively, as well as to plan for decommissioning.
“The proposed guideline resulting from the JIP will provide a clear method to evaluate and manage corrosion for wells. This can be used on a field- or company-wide level to ensure that health, safety, and environment (HSE) and economical performances are balanced and that corrosion risks are sufficiently managed,” Chowdhury continues.
DNV GL is inviting participants to take part in the JIP, which will deliver a corrosion threat and integrity well screening assessment method, along with guidelines for a decision-making tool on corrosion evalution, monitoring, maintenance, and inspection.
The JIP will kick off later this year and will begin through to the end of 2015 with the development of a guideline for corrosion management in wells.
11/13/2014
