The Management and Optimization of a Major Wellwork Program at Prudhoe Bay

Abstract

Abstract Over 800 remedial wellwork operations are performed each year at Prudhoe Bay. A hierarchy of performance measures and targets has been developed to facilitate the management and optimization of such a large and costly program of work. The paper discusses the Wellwork Evaluation Tracking System (WETS) which has been used over the past 7 years to assess the benefits achieved by a given wellwork operation, taking into account the appropriate facility constraints. The paper describes the process employed for using the performance measures to ensure the timely identification of both problems and opportunities across the field and it provides numerous examples of how the success of the wellwork program has been improved, despite more complex candidates, with the use of the performance measures.