Well integrity management in mature fields: a state-of-the-art review on the system structure and maturity

Abstract

Nowadays, oil and gas (O&G) fields are maturing and creating new threats. This urged the operating companies and industry researchers to have intensive focus on well integrity (WI). Building Well Integrity Management System (WIMS) establishes standardized criteria to guarantee that integrity of all wells is preserved during their lifespan, functions properly in healthy condition, and is able to operate consistently to fulfill the expected production/injection demands. Moreover, exploration and production (E&P) companies put Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE), assets, production, local and public image as top priority in their businesses. Having effective WIMS at all times and throughout all well phases reduces the frequency of major integrity failures and thus helps companies to be on track regarding the aforementioned considerations. In this paper, we present a comprehensive review on the system structure and maturity of WIMS in mature fields. This state-of-the-art review highlights the efforts made by different O&G operators all over the world to develop and start application of WIMS, which varies widely due to differences in the main WI challenges that are recurring in each field or concession. Moreover, it lists the goals and expounds the stages of launching effective WIMS. In addition, the key elements, around which the WI program is structured, are discussed and presented for various O&G operators. The major five elements of accountability and responsibility, well operations procedures, well intervention procedures, tubing and casing integrity program, and wellhead and X-tree maintenance are overviewed. Furthermore, this paper assesses WIMS sustainability through demonstration of WI maturity models, scrutiny of maturity levels, and analysis of transformative elements to convert WIMS into strategic framework. Risk management systems as well as application of analytics in WIMS are also covered and thoroughly discussed. In reviewing the literature covering different assets—all over the world for the last 15 years—it was found that real progress was made in WI area, and WIMS established in many operating companies through different approaches. However, the introduced systems lack universality and few of them are applying artificial intelligence as powerful tool for boosting the system. The most obvious finding to emerge from the analysis is that WIMS is crucial system that must be implemented and matured for well lifecycle. The findings of this study can help operating companies for better framing of key pillars to have robust and operable WIMS throughout different fields and concessions, hence improving the well integrity performance worldwide.