Wellhead Maintenance & Integrity Management Safeguarding against the unknown
N. Dale, D. Heskins, M. Bolton
Claxton Engineering Services Ltd.
Abstract
Technological and procedural advances in flow assurance and reservoir management have resulted in an increase in the estimated field lifetime and subsequently field hardware utilisation. In order to safeguard asset structural integrity, it is becoming increasingly important to adequately service and maintain wellhead and tree assemblies to confirm the well integrity is fit for purpose and ensure the surface barrier against hydrocarbon leakage can be relied upon in the event of an emergency situation.
Continuous high-quality and efficient production can lead to complacency about the integrity of the wellhead and a lack of focus on routine maintenance – but what if a catastrophic failure occurs which requires an emergency shutdown?
Lack of critical component maintenance and exposure to the elements can take its toll on mechanical assemblies, increasing the likelihood of production downtime caused by equipment failure.
These very real possibilities can be greatly reduced through a programme of planned and efficiently managed well maintenance including valve servicing, pressure testing, function testing and monitoring of general wellhead condition and operational trends. This can lead to more efficient production and will increase the asset life whilst reducing the costs associated with work-over programmes.
This paper details the most critical failure mechanisms of the wellhead-tree assembly and describes the benefits of a typical externally-managed long-term well maintenance
programme delivering full traceability and integrity assurance to the operator.
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