Wednesday 11 June 2014

Oil & Gas UK Publication on Well Integrity Updates Current Guidance

Oil & Gas UK is today (June 11) publishing the second issue of industry guidelines aimed at helping oil and gas well operators incorporate the latest developments in good practice across the full life cycle of well integrity operations. The guidelines can be found here.

Oonagh Werngren, Oil & Gas UK’s operations director, said: “The most important aspect of designing a well and planning well operations is assuring well integrity. This involves the selection, installation, verification, testing, maintenance and repair of suitable barriers to manage the entire life cycle of the well. These updated guidelines produced by Oil & Gas UK’s Well Life Cycle Practices Forum (WLCPF) collate the latest industry expertise on these aspects of well activities.

 “The first issue of the well integrity guidelines was published in July 2012 by the WLCPF, which was established following the Macondo blowout in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 as a permanent industry body focused on learning from well incidents around the world and identifying opportunities for improvements in safety and disseminating that information through regularly updated guidelines. This process aligns with the goal-setting philosophy of the UK offshore safety regime and the WLCPF has a number of work groups committed to continually reviewing and improving safety and performance in all aspects of well practices. 

"The latest guidelines are a great example of collaboration across the industry involving the participation of Oil & Gas UK member companies and representatives from the Norwegian well integrity forum, the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (OGP) well integrity workgroup, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the UK onshore operators group (UKOOG).”

The publication of these well integrity guidelines coincides with the release in June of the first two volumes of the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board’s (CSB) investigation report into the Macondo blowout which industry has described as an important milestone in the ongoing commitment to continual improvement in safety and performance in well operations. The report has been recognised as a valuable contribution to increasing the industry’s understanding of factors affecting the safety of well practices and the WLCPF will be studying the report in more detail to ensure that any significant insights are incorporated into future industry guidance on well practices . 

Delegates at the Oil and Gas Industry conference at Aberdeen’s Exhibition and Conference Centre tomorrow (June 12) will hear representatives from Oil & Gas UK’s Well Life Cycle Practices Forum and the CSB share the latest advances in safe well practices , which include industry guidance on BOP operations and well integrity. 

Ends.

Notes to Editors 

For further information, please contact Lucy Gordon on 01224 577331 or lgordon@oilandgasuk.co.uk.

1.Oil & Gas UK is the leading representative organisation for the UK offshore oil and gas industry. Its growing membership, which comprises oil and gas producers and contractor companies, now numbers more than 450.

2.The guidelines published today comprise: Well integrity guidelines (Issue 

3.The guidelines help companies (e.g. well-operators and drilling contractors) better understand and comply more effectively with the relevant legislation; mainly the Offshore Installations and Wells (Design and Construction etc) Regulations 1996 and the Offshore Installations (Safety Case) Regulations 2005. In these guidelines, well integrity is the application of people, equipment and processes to comply with this general duty throughout the well life cycle.

4.The Well Life Cycle Practices Forum is an Oil & Gas UK forum comprising representatives from over 45 well-operators; it interfaces with other key industry stakeholders such as the drilling contractor and well services contractor communities. 

5.*The Well Life Cycle Practices Forum has ten work groups focusing on:

•BOP Issues

•Competency, Behaviours, Human and Organisational Factors

•Well Integrity

•Well Suspension and Abandonment

•Well Capping

•Relief Well Planning Requirements

•Verification

•Well Examination

•High Pressure High Temperature

•Process Safety Key Performance Indicators (KPI)

All duty holders shall comply with their duties under all relevant regulations. These guidelines will help but are not a substitute for a full understanding of the regulations.

The guidelines are available to Oil & Gas UK forum members to download for free via the Oil & Gas UK extranet or to others in CD format for a small charge here. 

6.Further information about the Oil and Gas Industry conference is available here