Agenda

In the current situation of low oil prices due to the impact of the global Pandemic, operators are facing challenges to continue production at lower operation cost than usual.  The focus is to manage assets as such; to maximise production whilst maintaining assurance of technical integrity at minimum cost. In addition, this emphasis will ensure economic viability of assets through to cessation of production, prior to commencement of abandonment and decommissioning process. 

Asset integrity strategies have evolved from prescriptive to risk-based and require a good understanding of the consequences of failures, potential degradations and failure modes.  Integrity threats are typically influenced by a host of circumstances such as change in operating parameters, material degradation, corrosion, fatigue, and a general lack of reliability, together with obsolescence of equipment and systems.  Service history and data analysis are essential in predicting threats, estimating remaining life and planning of intervention activities.  Data digitalisation has, in practice, proven essential in undertaking complex assessment and analysis and has significantly improved the understanding of the asset integrity status across facilities.

To be technically sound and cost-effective, asset integrity strategies and performance monitoring must be integral components within the on-going work planning process.  This session will address the strategies, processes, lessons learnt and technology applications (both existing and developing) that impact maintaining integrity in a cost-effective manner.

Late life asset operators face challenges particularly in managing depleting reservoirs and ageing facilities. These challenges can become even more complicated when operators intend to boost production at lower costs with the aim to generate profit and at the same time, aim to recover the abandonment cost. A systematic approach is required to ensure a successful business model is implemented for late life assets; hence, maximising production, flow assurance and managing integrity risk will be key factors that should be considered.

Innovation in artificial lift, production enhancement, production improvement should be considered to maximise the production. Operators are also able to embrace new technology and digitalisation to reduce integrity risk to the wells and the surface facilities. The original production facilities and utilities are generally designed to cater for high flow, to operate with existing systems, below the low turndown, may not be economically viable. Low cost methods are required to rationalise operations, especially involving rotating equipment such as pumps, compressors or power generators. Similarly, fluid separation and conditioning unit operations, methods that require minimum modification to improve the performance will provide a great advantage in late life facilities.

Throughout the producing lifecycle, late life asset may experience drastic increase in water production, sand production and existence of contaminant (such as scale, mercury, emulsion, corrosion and more). Integrated fit for propose treatment packages, couple with effective production chemistry, will be required to manage this issue.

As the oil and gas industry steps out further into the deepwater region, asset integrity challenges become even more pronounced. Deepwater development experiences various challenges, involving SURF (Subsea, Umbilical, Riser and Flowline) and structural (mooring and tendon) design, operation and maintenance. Challenges to deepwater integrity could come from properties of process fluids (HPHT, sand erosion, corrosion, hydrate and more), geohazards (gas hydrates, seafloor pockmarks, shallow gas and more), environmental loads (wind, wave, current, marine growth and more) and accessibility.

New technologies are already transforming deepwater operations across the lifecycle of a field with operators utilising digital applications to improve operating efficiencies. While still developing, remote operations enabled by technology and analytics will be part of future operating models.

The recent oil price slump resulted in our industry recognising the need to embrace the digital revolution and to move away from decades of poor cost management, bespoke but cost-inefficient practices and technophobia. Trying to make up for lost time, rapid strides in advancements are now being made in our industry in the fields of AI, machine learning and cloud computing, to name a few, to unlock new life from existing assets and improve asset integrity management. This session will deliberate on new ideas from emerging technologies to trigger thought leadership and focus on case studies that highlight the latest advancements in extending life of facilities, pipelines and wells using digital twin concepts, transformations in digital data and other disruptive technologies.

The recent oil and gas downturn has changed the oil and gas industry strategy to enable the adaption to hydrocarbon price fluctuations. Efforts for any conceivable pace for improvement in cost-saving initiatives and operational efficiency are today’s main agenda for both operating and services companies to remain profitable in the current volatile oil and gas market. At the same time, efficient well planning, cost-effectiveness in maintenance and reliability in predicting failures of wells are becoming a major area of focus for all companies to assure the integrity of their assets and to ensure prudent financial spending.

The session on well integrity will discuss challenges the industry is facing with productions fields in harsher environments, naturally declining production rates and ageing facilities.  Simultaneously, the industry is also looking to manage operating cost (on low side) by implementing smart well completion solutions, for lesser intervention. The discussion will also focus on well maintenance, planning and strategy, P&A, late life decommissioning, lesson learnt and good practices on existing installations.

With the downturn of the industry, it has never been more important to have oil and gas facilities running at optimal efficiency. Maintenance programmes are more and more scrutinised to have the best balance between cost, risk and desired outcome. Strategies for all life stages of assets (Green Field to End of Field Life) differ significantly yet they all remain vital to the safety, reputation and profitability of oil companies.

Major accidents still happen hence the oil and gas industry must be alert to the importance of having a robust and resilient safety management system as an integral part of asset integrity management. In addition, included in this requirement are suitable provisions for process and technical safety. Depressed oil prices are likely to continue to divert industry focus to reducing costs in every aspect, including asset integrity and process safety.