13 April 2021
Astrimar to present to PACE Meeting
Astrimar is presenting our approach to Risk-based Well P&A ALARP Assessments to the PACE General Meeting.
Astrimar’s Brian Willis was delighted to have been invited to present our industry-leading approach to Risk-based Well P&A ALARP Assessments and supporting STEM-flow® modelling approach at the latest general meeting of the Plugging & Abandonment Collaboration Environment (PACE)* on 14th April 2021.
Risk-based Well P&A, supported by quantitative risk-based well barrier integrity prediction allows the operator to move away from the current prescriptive approach and better understand their long term well risks as well as focussing time and resources to reducing the technical risks of challenging well abandonments. Astrimar’s innovative approach offers operators and service providers the opportunity to reduce the cost of P&A without increasing the short or long term risk.
The approach involves a risk-based decision-making process supported by quantitative risk and uncertainty assessment. This process can be used to support ALARP demonstration of well abandonment designs which do not align with standard industry guidance or for de-risking new abandonment technologies. It allows for the abandonment design to reflect the intrinsic risks and uncertainty of the well, barrier elements, formations, reservoirs and the cross-flow potential from neighbouring wells. These intrinsic risks, if quantified via predictive barrier failure analysis, can allow for simpler designs for single or a series of interconnected neighbouring wells, while re-focussing resources on the more complex wells with technical challenges. Astrimar’s predictive risk-based well integrity modelling software, STEM-flow, provides a data-driven, statistical approach that directly supports Risk-based well P&A and ALARP demonstration.
Astrimar’s risk assessment process was designed to quantify the risk of novel cement barrier designs but it can equally apply to alternative barrier technologies. The individual risks of each barrier and new technology are assessed initially using reliability analysis tools, like FMECA (failure mode, effects and criticality analysis). Actual barrier failure probabilities are calculated using traditional reliability analysis tools, such as Fault Trees or Event Trees, or using Astrimar’s bespoke software STEM-flow, which has been created to be able to model individual well barrier failure mechanisms.
A copy of Brian’s presentation is now available here.
*PACE is an industry network, managed by OTM Consulting, that aims to promote collaboration on plugging & abandonment within the oil and gas industry in order to:
- Increase awareness of the global regulations
- Understand capabilities of current and emerging technology
- Share knowledge and experiences to improve operational best practice
- Collaborate on cost-effective solutions to common technical challenges