Effective Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM) Strategy for Well Control Equipment

15 Oct 2019

Intertek DeepView3D:  Enhanced Inspection, Smarter Decisions

Condition-based maintenance (CBM) is a preventive maintenance (PM) strategy that requires permanent inspections and diagnostics to understand equipment condition and predict failure of mechanical systems. CBM as a concept appeared in the mid-70s and has gained popularity as "Best in Class" and "World Class" maintenance practices in the last 20 years.

Since the decline of oil prices in 2015, the drilling industry has been adapting to new business models to survive the challenges of operating at lower margins while battling the costs of non-productive time (NPT). All of this requires downsizing, but also allows for greater attention to safety, reliability, and maintainability of equipment. There has been much emphasis on implementing maintenance and reliability concepts such as CBM, Reliability Center of Maintenance (RCM), Root Cause Analysis (RCA), Life Cycle Management, etc. These practices are in large part new to the drilling industry and have also been misunderstood on how best to apply them. Nevertheless, reliability efforts are the norm today. Operators, OEMs, and drilling contractors are equipping themselves with new technologies to satisfy productivity at lower costs and regulatory demands. In this context, large amounts of data have been captured and analyzed, but until today, critical decisions have been made "after the fact". Without clear understandings of the equipment technical characteristics, its potential failure history, and maintenance considerations to prevent issues, the industry leaders are still struggling to anticipate and mitigate asset failures ahead of the failure curve. Drilling contractors are operating in harsh environments with "copy and paste" maintenance programs that often do not identify equipment corrosion, dimensional changes, fatigue, etc., found in their daily working environment. Operators are suffering the cost of stack pulls and shutdowns because they are being blindsided under this scenario despite their investments in new technologies such as monitoring systems, risk assessment tools, and/or trend analysis methods.

Intertek presents a unique solution that could prevent and predict problems in their early stages, provide strategies that will simplify maintenance activities and potentially identify manufacturing flaws, and, most importantly, create historical data that will change the way the drilling industry operates and could satisfy what regulatory agencies have been seeking since the implementation of the new well control rule.

Intertek's DeepView3D is a unique solution that combines Laser Scanning, Metrology, and Phased Array to provide component and system measurements, design tolerances, and provide dimensional information applicable to Life Data Analysis. It captures as-is condition data, generates 3D representations, and establishes Digital Twin baselines for simulation for Deep Dive Analytics processes and Design for Reliability (DfR).

DeepView3D is an advanced digital alternative to sustain robust and accurate CBM or Risk-Based Inspection efforts beyond traditional methods. In conjunction with Statistical Process Control (SPC) techniques, DeepView3D can upgrade maintenance drilling programs by offering an opportunity to minimize scheduled restorations and objectively switch to scheduled "on-condition" maintenance activities that will reduce the life-cycle cost of the asset.