Application of Quality Standard ISO 9001 to Directional Well Planning

Abstract

Abstract Adoption of a quality system is recognised as an important step towards improving service quality, increasing efficiency and ensuring safety issues are suitably addressed. In this respect, ISO 9001, which is an internationally accepted quality standard, is well equipped to address the steps inherent in the directional well planning process. When an operator relies on a directional service company to provide essential well planning services, development of an optimum well path is dependent on the frequent exchange of information between the service company and participating groups within the operating company, for example Geology, Engineering and Drilling departments. In most cases, the well profile undergoes significant revision before the final well path is realised. Implementation of a quality standard such as ISO 9001 provides a means to address accountability for, as well as documentation of, quality systems in place during the well planning process. This paper describes an innovative application of an internationally recognised quality standard and focuses on the actual implementation of ISO 9001 to the process of directional well planning, detailing aspects such as document control, design review and verification procedures. Introduction The oil and gas industry has been successfully drilling wells in many locations under a variety of conditions without the need of a formal documented standard to control the management of business practices. So why should there now be a requirement for such a standard when all that went before was deemed satisfactory? The need, simply stated, is Quality Assurance. Quality Assurance has been described as: "All those planned and systematic actions necessary to provide adequate confidence that a product or service will satisfy given requirements for quality." Quality is many things to many people within our industry but the increasing interest shown in the ISO 9000 series of quality management and assurance standards is evidence of a growing consensus with regard to the quality issue. First recognise that ISO 9001 is not a standard that describes how to plan well trajectories, rather it is a standard that lists criteria that must be met if a company is to provide assurance in all aspects of its Quality Management to its customers. There is today no single available document from any of the recognised bodies (API, BS, ISO, etc) that addresses the design criteria necessary to plan wellbores with regard to wellsite operations. However, the design aspects contained within the ISO 9001 standard make its application to well planning the most appropriate. ISO 9000 Series Quality Assurance Standards The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies based in Geneva, Switzerland. Under the auspices of ISO technical committee ISO/TC 176, all relevant standards pertaining to quality assurance are drafted, reviewed and approved for circulation. P. 121^