A key decision when executing an inspection survey for the selection or acceptance of a drilling rig is what to inspect. In an effort to be efficient, the typical approach is to focus on the critical equipment. Determining the list of critical equipment is fairly straightforward – it’s the equipment the failure of which would prevent the successful completion of your drilling campaign.
However, this approach places too much emphasis on a single critical element – the equipment. There are actually three elements that need to be evaluated – people (the crew), process, and plant (the equipment). Critical people (if poorly trained) and processes (if poorly executed) will also prevent a successful completion of your drilling campaign. Only an equally detailed look at the critical supporting people and processes can determine if there is a high probability that the equipment will continue to work, when you need it, over the course of your campaign.
Several real-life examples highlight the importance of considering all three elements in any rig inspection.
In one example, a comprehensive physical survey of critical equipment determined that the equipment was in excellent condition. However, the maintenance and critical spares processes were not in equally excellent condition. A single maintenance-related failure put drilling on hold for an extended period while a long lead time part missing from critical spares inventory was located and delivered.
In another example, the rig exhibited an excellent overall physical condition and appeared ready to operate. However, upon arrival at the location and drilling had started it was discovered that a necessary certification was missing, resulting not only in a suspension of drilling but also the imposition of hefty fines for violating regulatory requirements.
In a third example, a poorly trained and supervised repair technician neglected to correctly complete the service procedure for a BOP valve. The failure did not present itself during surface testing. It did, however, present shortly after deployment, resulting in the need to pull the BOP for repair.
So what processes are we talking about, and how do we look at them? In most typical cases, the critical processes are:
- Alarm Management
- Management of Change
- Configuration Management
- Maintenance and Spares Management
- Crew Competency
- Regulatory Compliance
- Quality Management System
How we look at them is also important. Five aspects of each process should be evaluated (these same five aspects are also applicable to the equipment):
- Current condition –
The process is evaluated to determine if it is up to date, all records are current and accurate, all documentation is current and available to the users. - Current operation –
The process is evaluated to determine if it is in regular use according to its period and frequency requirements - History –
The process is evaluated to determine if their sufficient history to prove it has been consistently followed. In addition, the history must also support the process goals. For example, if it is a predictive maintenance process, there must be enough relevant historical data to support a prediction. - Crew competency –
The ability of the crew to understand and execute the process is evaluated. The normalization of deviance is considered here – are the procedures being modified in any way from original requirements to cut corners. - Compliance –
The history, condition, operation and crew competency results are evaluated against all relevant regulatory, standards, client specific requirements and industry best practice.
Athens Group Services principal technical staff have been designing, building and verifying integrated controls-based equipment systems longer than many of these types systems have been in use in the Oil and Gas industry. We implement a domain-specific engineering discipline to design and execute a survey, inspection, and test activities, rooted in the principles of evaluating the people, plant, and process integrated systems. Only a comprehensive consideration of all three elements will yield a proper evaluation of what is actually critical to the success of your drilling campaign.
